Piracy - is it a dirty word?

I actually think this article from Cracked sums piracy up perfectly:
http://www.cracked.com/funny-4003-the-pirate-bay/

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Just The Facts
1. No matter how you cut it, The Pirate Bay is ultimately just a collection of thieves.
2. However, its chief rival is the RIAA: An even larger and more vicious collection of thieves.
3. Which makes TPB the lesser of two evils - kind of like Robin Hood.
4. Except instead of money, they're giving pornography and pirated episodes of The Celebrity Apprentice to the poor.

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That said, I don't like piracy. I think it's correct to pay for games. I also have downloaded a crap load of albums and gone on to buy them later. I can't exactly justify it, but as soon as I can find The King Is Dead in a record store here I'm buying it, until then I'm listening for free.

As far as games are concerned, I think piracy is a problem and I don't like how people can get the full benefits of great games without paying for it, but I also think game makers need to back down and stop caring. Seriously. They're not accomplishing anything by making their games unplayable.

So yeah, I think game makers, recording artists, movie studios, etc., are all entitled to their deserved earnings. I also think they are, for the most part, greedy assholes who work off of copyright laws which make absolutely NO sense. In addition to that, instead of just shoving the label of "illegal" under piracy, why is it so hard to find the actual, documented copyright laws? I'm serious, I've searched google for hours and only managed to piece together small paragraphs of real laws.

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Originally Posted by Lycanthrope

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

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Which is why i buy my series in the uk when i go. R500 for season 1 to 6 of house. BARGAIN. Yes i downloaded the entire animated batman series but the moment i see it on dvd or blu-ray its mine.

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Originally Posted by Lycanthrope

The /sarcasm parenthesis raised an eyebrow.



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.



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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Yup, I agree with your points.

There's just one thing that bothers me. It's true that there is an obvious grey area (like with all things in life, when it comes to ethics :rolleyes:) but to me there is quite a clear line between outright piracy, feeling that you don't need to support developers at all and supporting them in some way or another by buying some of the titles that deserve all the praise it gets.

Ok fine, even if you copy a few games from friends, somewhere along the line you will buy a game or 5 to show your support and because of your love for the industry, but saying "I will pirate alles and not buy one game" is not cool? Right?

Paradox publishes its games without DRM...

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Originally Posted by Shamrock

That said, I don't like piracy. I think it's correct to pay for games. I also have downloaded a crap load of albums and gone on to buy them later. I can't exactly justify it, but as soon as I can find The King Is Dead in a record store here I'm buying it, until then I'm listening for free.

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http://www.take2.co.za/music-king-is-dead-8946631.html This? :D

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As far as games are concerned, I think piracy is a problem and I don't like how people can get the full benefits of great games without paying for it, but I also think game makers need to back down and stop caring. Seriously. They're not accomplishing anything by making their games unplayable.

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Better benefits: No DRM.

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In addition to that, instead of just shoving the label of "illegal" under piracy, why is it so hard to find the actual, documented copyright laws? I'm serious, I've searched google for hours and only managed to piece together small paragraphs of real laws.

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South African Copyright Act:

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11B. Copyright in a computer program vests the exclusive right to do or authorize the doing of any of the
following acts in the Republic:
(a) Reproducing the computer program in any manner or form;
(b) publishing the computer program if it was hitherto unpublished;
(c) performing the computer program in public;
(d) broadcasting the computer program;
(e) causing the computer program to be transmitted in a diffusion service, unless such service transmits a
lawful broadcast, including the computer program, and is operated by the original broadcaster;
(f) making an adaptation of the computer program;
(g) doing, in relation to an adaptation of the computer program, any of the acts specified in relation to the
computer program in paragraphs (a) to (e) inclusive;
(h) letting, or offering or exposing for hire by way of trade, directly or indirectly, a copy of the computer
program.

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Lycanthrope that was the most amazing post I have ever seen, ever. I'm absolutely speechless.

deja vu.

quickly sum it up
1) i was an XXX and now found the light.
2) raven : phew phew, qq + rant rant fuck off.
3) throwing in of a third spanner.
4) reading all this again...again...again...

...sticky and combine into one almighty piracy thread ? only thing more stale is this is the evolution VS creationism talks. takes seat, waits for next "new" round of piracy threads to arrive ;}

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Originally Posted by OmegaFenix

Which is why i buy my series in the uk when i go. R500 for season 1 to 6 of house. BARGAIN. Yes i downloaded the entire animated batman series but the moment i see it on dvd or blu-ray its mine.

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Jeez... R500 isn't bad at all >.<'

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Originally Posted by to0kenZA

Yup, I agree with your points.

There's just one thing that bothers me. It's true that there is an obvious grey area (like with all things in life, when it comes to ethics :rolleyes:) but to me there is quite a clear line between outright piracy, feeling that you don't need to support developers at all and supporting them in some way or another by buying some of the titles that deserve all the praise it gets.

Ok fine, even if you copy a few games from friends, somewhere along the line you will buy a game or 5 to show your support and because of your love for the industry, but saying "I will pirate alles and not buy one game" is not cool? Right?

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The thing is, I was having an argument with someone ages ago (don't ask me who, the Who I've Argued With Before bit of my memory is pretty weak at the best of times) who used this chick he knew as an example. He said that this chick walked up to some band-member friend of his and said that she loves his music but she'd never buy an album because "I don't buy music."

Methinks the crux of the matter is exactly that: there are people who will never buy music/games/series/books because it's just not important to them. It's sort of like... "something nice" to them but not something that is a passion of theirs.

Actually, a few days ago I came across an article about brand loyalty and personalities. I can't remember where I found it and Googling only turned this up. But, the basis of it was that there are people who are "brand loyal" and that people who tend to be loyal to certain brands tend to also be loyal to their partners.

While I don't remember details and don't have the patience to write a thesis on those findings right now, the idea was basically that you get people who are loyal and support certain products and people who basically just don't give a rat's ass.

I think the essence in gaming/piracy is much the same. I'm under the impression that you just get people who don't care about something like gaming because it's just a convenience or a luxury not a passion. If gaming had to one day disappear of the face of the planet they'd just shrug and find something else to amuse themselves with. Know what I mean?

It's part of why I firmly believe that if someone was never going to buy a game, they'd simply just never buy a game. Same with music, books, movies you name it. I think you just get people who don't care.

But this still brings the question to me, it doesn't fit, why pirate a game you claim will be rubbish but play it through completely. It doesn't fit.

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Originally Posted by Lycanthrope

Jeez... R500 isn't bad at all >.<'



The thing is, I was having an argument with someone ages ago (don't ask me who, the Who I've Argued With Before bit of my memory is pretty weak at the best of times) who used this chick he knew as an example. He said that this chick walked up to some band-member friend of his and said that she loves his music but she'd never buy an album because "I don't buy music."

Methinks the crux of the matter is exactly that: there are people who will never buy music/games/series/books because it's just not important to them. It's sort of like... "something nice" to them but not something that is a passion of theirs.

Actually, a few days ago I came across an article about brand loyalty and personalities. I can't remember where I found it and Googling only turned this up. But, the basis of it was that there are people who are "brand loyal" and that people who tend to be loyal to certain brands tend to also be loyal to their partners.

While I don't remember details and don't have the patience to write a thesis on those findings right now, the idea was basically that you get people who are loyal and support certain products and people who basically just don't give a rat's ass.

I think the essence in gaming/piracy is much the same. I'm under the impression that you just get people who don't care about something like gaming because it's just a convenience or a luxury not a passion. If gaming had to one day disappear of the face of the planet they'd just shrug and find something else to amuse themselves with. Know what I mean?

It's part of why I firmly believe that if someone was never going to buy a game, they'd simply just never buy a game. Same with music, books, movies you name it. I think you just get people who don't care.

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I hear you, man. Makes a lot of sense what you say. Especially about some people that just don't care and will find something else to do if gaming would cease to exist. Kinda a sad thought. :/

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Originally Posted by czc

But this still brings the question to me, it doesn't fit, why pirate a game you claim will be rubbish but play it through completely. It doesn't fit.

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You could slap me with a Salmon if I knew.