Piracy: When is it "acceptable"?

[MalicE]

Now before SOME of you go off on a tangent about how all piracy is bad and wrong (badong), hear me out. I've put some thought into is and come to the conclusion that in certain cases it is justified...

DSTV is on the war path now to crack down on interweb pirates, but this is not because they are picking up the cause against piracy but merely because they are trying to get more money into their own pockets.

SO, my argument is that there are MANY shows not available on SA broadcasts, be it DSTV or SABC. So it should be fine for me to download it then. Right?

Games are a bit more technical...

Now since I got the internet at home say more or less 4 years ago I have not pirated any games. Except 1. Deadpool.
After some less than favourable reviews the devs threw a hissy fit and pulled it off steam and any other site you could get it from. the ONLY way to get it was a cracked copy from a torrent download. so I see that as perfectly acceptable to pirate. But now in a shameless PR stunt I see they put it back on steam right after the movie trailer released...

Also acceptable is when a game is so bad and/or buggy that it doesn't deserve your money. Especially if you're not even sure it will actually run on your system *cough*Batman*cough*

....thoughts? HARRRR!

[Avatar]

Funny you should post this now. I've recently pulled a pirated game for the first time in about 5 years as well. Since I joined the working force, and got a salary, I haven't really had trouble buying enough games to keep me busy. Recently, though, money has been a bit tighter, and so when I bought myself Metal Gear Solid 5, and my wife got me Starcraft's new expansion, I figured it'd be worth having a look at a certain very expensive game before buying. I played it for an hour yesterday, decided in that hour that I'm going to buy it, and won't play it again before I bought it.

[PsychoFish]

I have no shame in downloading a TV program if Multichoice/DSTV deems it acceptable to show adjacent/concurrent shows with crossover episodes out of sync. I also have no issue getting something if the evil overlords decide to show it 6 months after it aired in the US. Also goes for shows they don't bring over to good old sunny south africa. Take Portlandia for example, I love watching it, but Monochoice decided that they wont air it.

With games it's slightly different, before I decide to fork out my hard earned cash I would like a demo of the title to at least get a feel of what the title would perform like on my rig and to get a feel of the game in general. Example is now with Fallout 4, I believe its a great game, but I'm a little torn between doing my Skylake upgrade or postponing my Skylake upgrade and getting Fallout 4. So i'm forced to either pirate it to see if I really need the upgrade or just do the upgrade and get the game later.

[Blazzok]

When I know I'll love a game (I'm still wrong sometimes :3) I buy it straight out.

However, when I have doubts, I'll sometimes download a pirated copy first. With Witcher for instance. I bought Witcher2 when it released and I played maybe 2hours and that was it. Tried to pick it up again at a later stage and it just didn't work for me.
So when Witcher3 released I was very cautious, I didn't want to blow $60 again on something I wouldn't like, so I got a test copy first and played it. I loved the game, so I bought it.

For me it is like test driving a car. You aren't going to buy a car just because you saw it in a book and maybe read a bit about it (unless you are dead set on it because reasons I suppose). You are going to want to drive the car and have a look at the interior and build quality. Only then you will know if you are buying it or not.
For me it is the same with games. I like to check it out first and then decide if I am buying it or not.
Demos of games used to cover this and gave a good idea of what the game would be like. Nowadays you are hard pressed to find a demo of a game.

So, if you pirate the game, like it and play it for hours, buy it. If you enjoy it then the developers deserve your money. However if you pirate it and play one hour before you decide you don't like it, don't buy it.

[MetalSoup]

I don't think it's ever "acceptable". That doesn't mean I don't do it from time to time, but I know damn well it's never right. We always find a way to justify what we do though.

[Solitude]

I don't think it's ever "acceptable". That doesn't mean I don't do it from time to time, but I know damn well it's never right. We always find a way to justify what we do though.

Basically what you said. And I can't rep you.

[Donisia]

I find it acceptable when they are no longer airing a show or if there is no ways i could afford to actually get it

[PsychoFish]

Demos of games used to cover this and gave a good idea of what the game would be like. Nowadays you are hard pressed to find a demo of a game.

So, if you pirate the game, like it and play it for hours, buy it. If you enjoy it then the developers deserve your money. However if you pirate it and play one hour before you decide you don't like it, don't buy it.

That is the key...try it and if you like it, buy it. Hell continue playing the pirated version if you wish, but at least make sure the devs get what they deserve.

[MalicE]

So, if you pirate the game, like it and play it for hours, buy it. If you enjoy it then the developers deserve your money. However if you pirate it and play one hour before you decide you don't like it, don't buy it.

Completely agree. I played a pirate copy Kingdom of Amalur back when it came out (my pre-internet days, spent MANY hours on it and loved every second. Some time later, after I got the interweb, and it was on special, I bought it purely for my love of the game and to play the DLC's (which I am still to do). But I shopped it after Big Huge Games shut down so I don't actually know who got my money

[Wlad]

I also often download a game before buying it just to see if I'll enjoy it. If I do, I delete the image and wait until I buy it before playing.

I don't watch a lot of TV shows and when I do it's usually on Netflix on Hulu but I'll download something from time to time. Same goes for movies, but I download a lot more of them.

Music I just download or copy from friends as I can't get original CD's here anymore, unless I import them myself and that's too expensive for me.