To Pirate or not to Pirate
- Thread starter DblD
- Start date
mikdog
New member
If you can't afford it - don't do it. That's the most stupidest argument I've ever heard. 'I can't afford a rols roys so I steal one'. Dayeem. Do you NEED games to survive? No. 'I can't afford a ROLEX so I steal one'. Sorry bud. Your argument holds no water. Games are a luxury, not a necessity. I can't get over how miff your point is. No good. I'd perhaps understand if you said 'I can't afford food so I steal' but even THEN I'd say WORK TO MAKE SOME MONEY FOOL. But videogames? Pff. That argument's as bad as a crack junkie needing a fix.
Kage
New member
Shamrock
New member
Piracy is honestly a stupid argument. It's made out to be a huge problem when it really isn't. There are so many ways to support something other than buying it. My whole argument on it is that the internet is the best line for promotion; games and music practically make up 30% of the internet. The other 70% is porn.
But take a program like Adobe Photoshop. It's one of the most common programs, but not many people buy it, and I doubt many people who download it end up paying either way, but it does attract more sales, and it eliminates competition. If no one pirated, there would be less sales of programs like Photoshop, not more. That's how I see it.
I'm not willing to pay a couple hundred Rand for something which I've only used for 30 days unless I profess in that field. There are, however, other people who are willing to and will buy a Student's Version of Flash and Adobe products and whatever else so that they can learn how to use it, but that's still money, and that wouldn't have been generated were it not for Photoshop being so easily and readily available on the internet.
Another example is a while ago a friend of mine gave me links to a whole bunch of albums. I downloaded them and it was a completely different style of music, I loved it, so I bought several CDs from the bands and a bunch of other merchandise (T-Shirts and stuff). I wouldn't have streamed a song on Youtube and decided to buy their CDs though.
Not only that, CD sales are not going down in any way, but for some reason, artists and game makers whinge about it as if they'd be making way more money if piracy wasn't an issue.
Sure, I think this has it's limits. But when it comes to the argument of pirates (yarr) are "robbing game makers," I see it as their helping them along. The people who pirate wouldn't really buy the game if piracy wasn't an option, they'd just probably vouch for not getting it, which is fine, but at the same time, by their action of spreading the game around there are still several people who get the game and really love it so buy the original.
What I think is incredibly lame is when people start selling pirated games. Buying and selling pirated games is just stupid, no doubt.
But take a program like Adobe Photoshop. It's one of the most common programs, but not many people buy it, and I doubt many people who download it end up paying either way, but it does attract more sales, and it eliminates competition. If no one pirated, there would be less sales of programs like Photoshop, not more. That's how I see it.
I'm not willing to pay a couple hundred Rand for something which I've only used for 30 days unless I profess in that field. There are, however, other people who are willing to and will buy a Student's Version of Flash and Adobe products and whatever else so that they can learn how to use it, but that's still money, and that wouldn't have been generated were it not for Photoshop being so easily and readily available on the internet.
Another example is a while ago a friend of mine gave me links to a whole bunch of albums. I downloaded them and it was a completely different style of music, I loved it, so I bought several CDs from the bands and a bunch of other merchandise (T-Shirts and stuff). I wouldn't have streamed a song on Youtube and decided to buy their CDs though.
Not only that, CD sales are not going down in any way, but for some reason, artists and game makers whinge about it as if they'd be making way more money if piracy wasn't an issue.
Sure, I think this has it's limits. But when it comes to the argument of pirates (yarr) are "robbing game makers," I see it as their helping them along. The people who pirate wouldn't really buy the game if piracy wasn't an option, they'd just probably vouch for not getting it, which is fine, but at the same time, by their action of spreading the game around there are still several people who get the game and really love it so buy the original.
What I think is incredibly lame is when people start selling pirated games. Buying and selling pirated games is just stupid, no doubt.
robdutchmonkey
New member
Lol simple answer, If you pirate, you're a criminal making all us who buy the originals suffer, this is with games, movies, cd's etc. And you're likely to make us a little peeved.
I can understand young people who can't afford games etc to do it (I did) but it's still wrong and there's no excuse
I can understand young people who can't afford games etc to do it (I did) but it's still wrong and there's no excuse
Dohc-WP
Ron Burgundy
Why are we suffering ?
The reason why Games cost more is not because of piracy at all but because of development costs. In the early nineties games were alot cheaper to make because less people were busy working on a single game and the development costs of games were alot less back then, compared with if u look at the amount of people involved in developing a single title these days. I remember when shenmue came out on the dreamcast it was considered to be the most expensive game that was ever developed. To develop games these days cost more because most developers use famous actors for voice acting, go to real locations to shoot photographs, promoting the games etc. Look at gears of war, the 1st one ended up being over 10 million dollars, and the only way to get back those development costs is to sell the game at a premium price. To be Honest People that pirate the game wouldnt have bought in the 1st place so the company didnt lose a customer at all.
And yes all My Xbox games are original (i'v even spent over R1000 replacing 2 discs which cracked)
robdutchmonkey
New member
The reason I say we suffer is not because it necessarily drives costs up, but because we pay plenty of money to do the right thing and to support the developers for making the few games we love.
You can't tell me games take about R500 to develop etc, otherwise, why are places like shopto selling brand new games for 20 GBP?
The problem we face in our country is the fact that certain places monopolise the distribution of our gaming and hardware forcing many people into piracy, but still, there's no excuse for commiting a crime is there? It just makes you as bad as the ones sitting in prison.
You can't blame a person for having a few pirated things, we're all human, but the ones who do it quite a bit and/or sell it for money are really bad.
When it comes to old games like ps1 games etc, I don't see a problem as you can't find them firstly, and secondly the developers don't care about it anymore profit-wise.
Dohc-WP
Ron Burgundy
Well Firstly the developers do care about old games if they didnt then Sony wouldnt have released the ps1 emulator for the psp or they wouldnt have even bothered to make the ps3 bc with ps1 games. Ask urself why nintendo have the virtual console, why did capcom remake Street fighter II in Hd or why ms have xbox classics on XBL. If they didnt care then why are they going through all the trouble to still support it.
Secondly the reason why games cost so little in britain is 1. they are a first world country and 2. most of the big development houses are in britain and europe, thus they make most of the games in europe (codemasters, Ubisoft, vivendi, eurocom etc.)thus they dont need to ship it halfway around the world. to get it to stores (less transport costs can lead to cheaper price).
I never said a game cost R500 to make ! I said the cost of games are alot more than they used to be back in the day due to the increase in development costs. Ask urself why AAA titles usually cost more instore than unknown releases. The reason is simple AAA titles usually cost more to make hence the higher price.
N3cTr0
New member
I used to download alot of games etc, but eventually most of the games I downloaded I didnt enjoy. So now I normally first check out reviews etc and I actually buy the games. With the way the global markets are now, I can see alot of game companies shutting down due to piracy and not being able to recover costs. So to be a legit person, I decided to start buying the originals.
robdutchmonkey
New member
You misunderstand me, the reason I say they don't care much, is because it's impossible to buy, there's a reason they made the ps3 backwards compatible with the ps3, to mnake more money as they sell them as downloads off psn. I said it's still a crime, but I can understand people downloading them (which is piracy if you don't have an original copy), but that doesn't stop it from being illegal
Warlynx
New member
In my teens and early 20's I pirated all the titles I played. Sucks being a sorry arse student with no cash.
But, I am happy to say that I buy all the titles I play now, yes, some of them were horrid like UFO Aftershock and Turning Point, but that was only my own mistake because I didn't bother to visit gaming forums to read up on them.
Face it boys, it's worth while paying that R350 or R400 for a PC title that keeps you busy for 5 hours without giving you a hangover or some dodgy STD
But, I am happy to say that I buy all the titles I play now, yes, some of them were horrid like UFO Aftershock and Turning Point, but that was only my own mistake because I didn't bother to visit gaming forums to read up on them.
Face it boys, it's worth while paying that R350 or R400 for a PC title that keeps you busy for 5 hours without giving you a hangover or some dodgy STD
Voicy
Resident Panty Kicker
Agreed, Warlynx
Look, the long and the short of it is this: We knew we were wrong by copying games. We told ourselves that since we didn't physically steal anything it was ok.
See it as you will, personally it just makes me feel better and proud to be able to buy games now and not have to worry with copying them - seeing as I now have no excuse i.e. finance/availability NOT to purchase legal copies.
Look, the long and the short of it is this: We knew we were wrong by copying games. We told ourselves that since we didn't physically steal anything it was ok.
See it as you will, personally it just makes me feel better and proud to be able to buy games now and not have to worry with copying them - seeing as I now have no excuse i.e. finance/availability NOT to purchase legal copies.
Jase
New member
I walk into a pc store, look at the prices and walk out again. I went for online games instead (as my sig so blatantly states). The R172 / month give me all the enjoyment I need (and yes I am boring because I only play one game bla bla).
I will be buying D3 when it comes out though (Whether it is rubbish or not!)
I will be buying D3 when it comes out though (Whether it is rubbish or not!)