Morality of Piracy - Yet another quality FuckedUp thread

[FuckedUp]

Okay, here's my new hot take:

Piracy of media from large corporations is completely fine, because they do all kind of shady shit themselves. Pirating from indie devs is horrible, though.

Same deal as COVID lockdown fuckery benefitting big businesses by killing all the small ones.

 

[Win98SE]

I pirated when I couldn't afford to buy the product (be it movie, game, whatever.) Now that I can afford most reasonably-priced things, I pay for nearly everything. For video games, Steam's refund policy is good enough to avoid pirating to "try" the game. Exceptions for all forms of media are rarities that are either cost prohibitive to obtain or are no longer available for purchase.

I have a different view on music since streaming has more or less rendered it all free. I think the artists themselves would agree - the money is in touring and merch now instead of the songs/albums themselves.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

Most people who pirate would not even be able to buy the product anyways, at the end of the day the company makes same amount of money but gets a lot of brand recognition and word of mouth. What happens if a third world poorfag like me can't watch a pirated show online is not that i go buy subscription, i simply won't watch it.

When Metallica came to my country the place was packed, there were like 70k people in there. But heres the thing, 99.9% of people here only know their music through piracy because caribbean poorfagland, i personally never owned an original Metallica cd, only cheap burned copies that we passed around in highschool. When James shouted something "you already bough the new album right?" (it was around the time of Death Magnetic) there was a stark silence, it was one of the funniest moments because it was the one time in the whole night no one shouted anything back. If it wasn't for piracy they would not have sold a single ticket to that show but people were more than willing to show up because they had spent their entire youth listening to them by pirating their music.

I would love to have a huge library of books and comics in physical format, i fucking love artbooks, tankobons and omnibuses but i can't afford them, most stuff is not even available here, there are no stores selling those and is too expensive a habit to buy from amazon and get raped for delivery fees so i only buy a book when i can, like in christmas or something, the rest of the time if i want to read something have to make due with libgen and mango and comic sites.

 

[Lonely Grave]

The proliferation of streaming services has me convinced we will see an uptick in piracy soon. Nobody wants to sub to a service just for one show or movie, they want instant options and the ever-changing libraries of the services will alienate the consumer in the long run. Post-restructure, monopoly Netflix was the sweet spot where content was aplenty, but now with different services and subscriptions up the wazoo people will just not want to deal with this bullshit.

 

[FuckedUp]

The proliferation of streaming services has me convinced we will see an uptick in piracy soon. Nobody wants to sub to a service just for one show or movie, they want instant options and the ever-changing libraries of the services will alienate the consumer in the long run. Post-restructure, monopoly Netflix was the sweet spot where content was aplenty, but now with different services and subscriptions up the wazoo people will just not want to deal with this bullshit.

I can count the number of times Netflix had what I actually wanted to watch on one hand. Thank God my parents also paid for Hulu.

 

[Lolcow Imperium]

maybe if paradox didn't charge like 20 fucking dollars each time they released a new shit tier dlc thats barely functional, I wouldn't pirate their games.

 

[OfficerBagget]

Some games are fleeting from existence.


Theres a ton of games from the early 2000s that you cant purchase anymore and the only way to play them is to Pirate Them or try to find a copy from someone online.


I remember this Jurrasic Park Tycoon sim that is basically going to become lost media if they dont rerelease it on steam.

 

[Ascendancy0]

haha torrent client go brrrrr

 

[Red Hood]

Some games are fleeting from existence.


Theres a ton of games from the early 2000s that you cant purchase anymore and the only way to play them is to Pirate Them or try to find a copy from someone online.


I remember this Jurrasic Park Tycoon sim that is basically going to become lost media if they dont rerelease it on steam.

Rights issues and collectors driving prices of original materials way up means sometimes it's the only way to go if I want to play Batman on the NES or whatever.

 

[heyitsmike]

There's already a thread on this so I'll just quote my answer from it. But basically, it's immoral and no amount justification will ever change that.

It's wrong. The mental gymnastics needed to justify why it's not are insane. Taking someone else's work without the compensation they demand is stealing, plain and simple.

The fact that the pirater wouldn't have bought the good anyway so the creator doesn't lose any money in the real sense misses the point. The pirater is still getting to enjoy goods they're not entitled to. So it's a distinction without a difference.

Nor is it convincing that some random study says piracy increases sales by exposing the creator to a bigger audience or that many people will ultimately buy it legally because they were able to try it first. Even if that's the case, it's not for the pirater to make that business decision for the creator.

So yeah, it's wrong no matter how it's justified.

 

[RA-5C Vigilante]

I pirated HOI4 because I wanted to try it, and I honestly don't want to support Paradox given how they treat their fanbase and their atrocious DLC policy.

Of course, I'm probably going to get it legit when it goes on sale so they can make less money, and I still am technically supporting them, but I feel better letting them know I like their product, but don't think they deserve to get the full amount they think they do.

 

[heyitsmike]

What a perfect demonstration of how predictable people who try to justify piracy are: my post from two months ago addresses both of your points and in the order you made them.

Most people who pirate would not even be able to buy the product anyways, at the end of the day the company makes same amount of money

The fact that the pirater wouldn't have bought the good anyway so the creator doesn't lose any money in the real sense misses the point.

gets a lot of brand recognition and word of mouth.

If it wasn't for piracy they would not have sold a single ticket to that show

Nor is it convincing that some random study says piracy increases sales by exposing the creator to a bigger audience or that many people will ultimately buy it legally because they were able to try it first

 

[Son of Sparda 84]

Here's my morality. I'm cheap

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

What a perfect demonstration of how predictable people who try to justify piracy are: my post from two months ago addresses both of your points and in the order you made them.

You didn't actually adress shit, you just named arguments without even proving otherwise like a true autist. Also, my comment was before yours, if anything is your response who is the predictable standard type of black and white "piracy is bad i said so, thats proved it".

 

[Sperghetti]

After years of arguments, I have realized that I simply don't care about the morality of it. I have better things to care about. I will pirate what I like because fuck you, that's why.

In fact, I have gotten to the point where I am so sick of people whining about not getting money for their infinitely-reproducible creation that I now pirate out of sheer spite.

 

[Gun Safety]

If you believe that creators are entitled to the exclusive ownership of music, writings, artwork, etc. then piracy is immoral. It’s pretty cut and dry.

 

[DDBCAE CBAADCBE]

I pirate anime pretty regularly to decide if I actually want to buy the boxsets. That is to say that my collection is pretty extensive because I believe in supporting the companies that put them out. Though, I generally don't see an issue with minor piracy of shows and films so long as you lend your patronage somehow.

 

[Pickle Inspector]

It’s immoral but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I agree with Gaben though:

We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem.

If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable.

Hence the popularity of the likes of Netflix.

 

[DDBCAE CBAADCBE]

It’s immoral but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I agree with Gaben though:


Hence the popularity of the likes of Netflix.

Yeah, one of my big issues is I like older series and films that you can't find on places like Netflix. I especially have this problem finding specific video games.

 

[Orion Balls]

If you're going to engage in piracy, it's best to use a cat-like tread, lest ye get caught. So far as morality is concerned, I feel like it really doesn't matter.
I mainly pirate things that I already own, and don't feel like paying for a second time, or things so far out of print they'll never see the light of day, again. Do what thou wilt, and all that jazz. (I hate Chicago. No link for you.)