Piracy - is it a dirty word?

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Originally Posted by Lycanthrope

Well, I've just infringed on 14 copyrights by buying 14 games second-hand.

Damn piracy.

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Ive had this discussion with Raven. Yes buying pre-played doesn't fill up the publishers coffer but somewhere along the lines someone did pay for it. That is key. To gain some money from the pre-owned market is the main driving forces behind EA's project $10 or exclusive release DLC.

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Originally Posted by Tsar

You know listening to music on youtube is a copy infringement? You know downloading music and movies and series is a copy infringement.

Just saying;)

And lending your games is also an infringement;)

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Google BBC Iplayer. Ever TV station in the modern world has an on demand feature, allowing people to watch any show broadcast with in x amount of time to be watched online. Thats where the Sky feature on ur xbox comes into play. Set top boxes like Google TV or Apple TV do the same thing. Just coz here at the ass hole end of the universe where our tv station is more broke than a church mouse that this isn't available here. Yes downloading movies is wrong, but I pay my tv licence and eventually the shows will come to SA.

Personally I use to pirate when I was in high school but haven't pirated anything since matric. Neither games,music,tv shows,ect.

My opinion is if you can afford it you should buy. I don't buy the try before you buy argument either. I can accept school kids pirating because it gets them interested in the media, hopefully by the time they mature they purchase the stuff thought.

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Originally Posted by OmegaFenix

Ive had this discussion with Raven. Yes buying pre-played doesn't fill up the publishers coffer but somewhere along the lines someone did pay for it. That is key. To gain some money from the pre-owned market is the main driving forces behind EA's project $10 or exclusive release DLC.

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So your stance is based on morals and ethics rather than law? So then surely you can't argue against people who pirate with the intention of buying? Ergo, piracy isn't 100% morally or ethically reprehensible.

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Originally Posted by Lycanthrope

(At least) Nine threads in less than two years about the same thing. It's pretty stale. Either that, or this feel-good back-patting support group mentality sells.

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My point wasn't so much to discuss piracy in general, although of course that's part of it, but rather exactly as the title suggests - its not a dirty word. I find it interesting that its become something that people will openly discuss without concern of being judged or getting a funny look, even if talking to a total stranger. At least that's my experience anyway.

Sorry you find it a bit stale, I'm personally finding this discussion very interesting :)

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Originally Posted by Stefan9

My opinion is if you can afford it you should buy.

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Agreed. However:

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I don't buy the try before you buy argument either.

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Any particular reason why not? There were a number of games I was suspicious of, tried and loved and bought. There were also games I didn't buy because I pirated them, they were awful and I was on a tight budget so spent the money on games I did want.

Ethically, I don't want to support foul games, financially, I don't want to throw money around on foul games.

Should a gamer be expected to buy every game, no matter how little interest they have in it, purely because they MIGHT have liked it?

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I can accept school kids pirating because it gets them interested in the media, hopefully by the time they mature they purchase the stuff thought.

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Yup, I feel the same.

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Originally Posted by Lycanthrope

I'm quite sure you've read my stance. Feel free to read through the nine threads I linked to.

The irony here is that you don't quite seem to understand what constituted "piracy" (read: copyright infringement). Buy second-hand games? Well done, you've just done the equivalent of piracy. Make use of a library? Well done, you've just committed another socially-acceptable copyright infringement. Lend or borrow games? You guessed it, copyright infringement.

I've done this argument to death already and I've argued both sides of the spectrum yet I remain in defence of piracy.

It's a stale topic because it's like arguing religion. If you're under its self-righteous brimstone and fire spell (either 100% for or 100% against) you're too blind to see the opposing sides. I've said before, it's a grey area and it is my personal conclusion that it does more good than bad.

Or, to translate into how you're interpreting this, "Blah blah blah, I support piracy, I'm a thief, blah blah blah, I should be in prison, blah blah blah, fined a fortune, blah blah blah."

Oh, and if you really feel like judging me, let me know when you feel like comparing game or book collections and see who supports developers and publishers more in the long-run, mmkay? :)

Actually, no, I take that back. That would just be lowering myself to the equivalent a cock-measuring contest and petty argument while ignoring the reality which, I'm guessing, is exactly what you types want :D

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You have missed the plot completely here, dude.

Sorry if I did not make my point clear enough in my post, but what I meant so say is that we cannot just ignore something because it's "getting stale". That's what I said. I don't want a cock-measuring contest, wtf dude, I'm not like that, thank you please.

As a side note, I have also pirated games in my life- but buying them feels good. It feels good to support the developers that make the games that you love to play. That is all.

Now, if you can kindly step away from the mirror with your ruler, I would appreciate that greatly. :)

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Originally Posted by Subversion

My point wasn't so much to discuss piracy in general, rather exactly as the title suggests - its not a dirty word. I find it interesting that its become something that people will openly discuss without concern of being judged or getting a funny look, even if talking to a total stranger. At least that's my experience anyway.

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*nod* I actually agree with you :D

It's just one of those things that is like nails on chalkboard to me. I love discussing games.

My stance on piracy isn't really so much SUPPORT for piracy as it is DEFENCE of piracy. I'm a gamer because as a kid friends would copy games for each other; there are so many games I would never have heard of or even played (and today, own) it not for piracy.

The black-and-white stance annoys me :)

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Originally Posted by to0kenZA

You have missed the plot completely here, dude.

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The /sarcasm parenthesis raised an eyebrow.

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Sorry if I did not make my point clear enough in my post, but what I meant so say is that we cannot just ignore something because it's "getting stale". That's what I said. I don't want a cock-measuring contest, wtf dude, I'm not like that, thank you please

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lol... Well I wasn't sure what you were trying to get across, whether you were trying to say every pirate in the world is, by their very nature, a leech on developers and publishers, regardless of the fact that people like myself consider themselves pirates yet buy in excess of 20+ games a year (depending on the year and I'm including old games I find and add to my collection :p)

I consider it stale because few are ever ready to listen and most just want to preach (either for or against). I suppose I like preaching the grey as well, which is why I'm still here, ranting away :p

It just feels like it's becoming a tired one-sided discussion though, because few (read:no-one) want to actually discuss or accept the plausibility of the benefits AND the cons. It's like when people get into discussing piracy you either have to be FOR it and pretend the cons don't exist or AGAINST It and pretend there are no good elements to it.

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As a side note, I have also pirated games in my life- but buying them feels good. It feels good to support the developers that make the games that you love to play. That is all.

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I agree. Troika was one of my favourite developers. I only ever bought two of their games as a kid (Temple of Elemental Evil and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines) and wish I could've done more. It was only a few years after that I even discovered Arcanum and that Fallout was their baby before they left Interplay.

I know how you feel and the feeling is mutual. I still defend piracy on those grounds though, because without it, I would never have grown to love games as much as I do today. Who knows, in a different life I may have found some other hobby :p

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Originally Posted by Lycanthrope

So your stance is based on morals and ethics rather than law? So then surely you can't argue against people who pirate with the intention of buying? Ergo, piracy isn't 100% morally or ethically reprehensible.

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My stance is if i cant buy it here i download it. The when i go to Europe, like i did last December, i go ape shit and buy all the ones i couldn't find here. The main reason my movie collection is in the 5 hundreds not counting the series. So if that makes me a pirate than yeah im a damn dirty pirate.

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Originally Posted by OmegaFenix

My stance is if i cant buy it here i download it. The when i go to Europe, like i did last December, i go ape shit and buy all the ones i couldn't find here. The main reason my movie collection is in the 5 hundreds not counting the series. So if that makes me a pirate than yeah im a damn dirty pirate.

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I love it when you talk dirty http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/images/smilies/twisted.png

I'm currently saving up for the Star Trek Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Next Generation series. However, at R3,300 a box it's going to take a while :o But it'll definitely be rewarding <3