Pirating media/software

[trueandhonestfan]

I'd might actually feel bad about piracy if most of the big game companies didn't release half finished buggy garbage as standard these days.
If the cunts don't put the effort in to finish their product why the fuck should I hand over good money for it ?

That reminds me of when I downloaded School Days HQ. The game had all of the bugs from the original release in Japan. It literally seemed like the only thing they did was replace the Japanese text with English. I might have paid $30 for it, but not $60 or $70.

 

[bradsternum]

I have zero problem with it. On a list of immoral shit that I may or may not be involved in, downloading software that's too expensive to start with is a petty sin. If I can, I will pay for products put out by smaller companies.

 

[LordCustos3]

I have zero problem with it. On a list of immoral shit that I may or may not be involved in, downloading software that's too expensive to start with is a petty sin. If I can, I will pay for products put out by smaller companies.

This is a point that should not be overlooked.
Once something can be digitized, the actual cost drops through a hole in the floor.
Google "post-scarcity economy".
When it comes to objects and items that can be digitized, we already ARE living in a post-scarcity economy.

If the RIAA/MPAA/MAFIAA can't adapt, it deserves to fade into irrelevance.

Especially considering the RIAA was formed as a union to protect the artist from predations by the record companies, but is now totally owned BY the rercord companies (a situation no different than when CultWatch was conquered and co-opted by the Church of Scientology) that the death of the RIAA is not only something to applaud but contribute to.

 

[Konstantinos]

I'm more amoral than I would like to admit about piracy. Then again, I'm a college student and I'm poor as shit so I don't exactly have a lot of money to spare.

If the government doesn't really care about stopping piracy than they shouldn't make such a big deal about it.

 

[Whatisgoingon]

If I want something, I will do my best to buy the product unless one of three things happen:
1. It is way too expensive (like $100+), this one doesn't happen too often.
2. It is out of print so if I am able to purchase the game/movie/show ect. the money won't actually be going to the people who made it and will most likely be overpriced compared to when it was in print.
3. A company whose practices/things they've done make it so I can't stand them acquires a series I like (although even then I might buy it with the rationale being that the company will continue the series).

Although I very rarely pirate, I don't really give a crap if anyone else pirates. In my opinion, the effect that piracy causes is very minimal, because usually if someone is pirating something, they either can't buy it legally or weren't going to buy it legally anyways.

 

[RV 229]

Since somebody somewhere must be losing money from it, I can't say it's the right. But I do it anyways.

 

[niggers]

nobody steals if they can buy it, at least generally (some folk break the law just so they can)

if i could buy what i pirate, i would. i can't, so i don't.

the best way to circumvent it is to offer some kind of bonus for paying users (exclusive content, online connectivity, etc) or make what you're selling cheaper. you can't do this for every album, game or piece of software but it's pretty effective when you can. just look at steam. want a game? wait for a sale, and get all the updates/cards/emoticons/access to multiplayer servers.

sales go up, pirates still get what they want, the consumer gets perks.

 

[Tragi-Chan]

I've had a lot of stuff that I published online pirated. For instance, I had several paragraphs of a blog entry I wrote that showed up, almost word-for-word, in a Daily Mail article with no attribution. That really pissed me off, not so much because of the theft (I wouldn't have made money out of that entry), but because someone else was making money for my work. I've seen lots of things I've written republished elsewhere online, but I tend to view it as an occupational hazard - in some cases, it's work that's so shit I'm happy for someone else to take credit.

Spoiler

While I would ultimately like to make money off my work, I tend to think of it as more of an issue of respect, in the case of the stuff I do. For instance, last year I wrote a play that was performed and fairly well received. It's not been published, because it's a one-act play and publishers aren't interested in those. A couple of months ago I got wind that one of the cast was mounting his own production of that play at uni. I was pretty livid. It wasn't a question of money, I would have let him perform it for free, because he was a friend and because the publicity I'd get would also be valuable - but he didn't ask. I did come down on the production like the metaphorical ton of bricks and it got pulled, and there was a lot of bad feeling all round, but fuck 'em if they're going to use my work without meeting my terms.

All this being said, I'm probably a bit of a hypocrite, because there is stuff I've watched online that wasn't entirely legal. In most cases, though, it's either something I watch to get a feel for a series prior to buying it legit or something that you can't buy legit.

Spoiler

A specific case of the latter was a series called Tugs that I used to watch as a kid. When I was about six, it was my absolute favourite show bar none. However, only one season was made before the distributors went bust. I discovered a small but active fandom online, who were campaigning to get it released on DVD, but the problem was that no one knew who owned the copyright now - it seemed to have been chopped up between a number of different companies. The fans got in contact with several different people who had been involved with the series, but got nowhere. One of the stranger episodes was when they managed to get hold of one of the creators of the series, who was quite adamant that he could help and was willing to endorse the project, only to deny all knowledge later on. Then he died, which was a bit of a bummer. The general consensus is that no one knows, and the series wasn't popular enough to make it worth any distributor's while to get it all sorted. I'd absolutely buy it on DVD if I could, but I can't, so I watch it on YouTube.

 

[Cheeseburger Picnic]

My stance is simple; I buy something if I like it and keep it. I downloaded The Sims 4 the other day and thank fucking god because I don't have an extra 60 bucks to spend on three hours of mediocrity.

 

[TheRedRanger]

An interesting thought from something I did a while ago.

I live in the UK, so release dates are sometimes delayed. A while ago, I was looking forward to the release of the Enemy within expansion for X-Com, I was fucking stoked!
I'd pre-ordered it on Steam, paid the £19.99 for it, and was going nuts with anticipation. So when it came out in the US, I pirated it from an American site. Was this wrong of me? Pirating something I'd already paid for? After all, the publishers hadn't lost out, and I got what I'd paid for, albeit not through the means I'd paid for. I didn't do anything wrong, right?
Any other thoughts on this?

 

[Sanic]

Don't mind buying FNAF or the sequel; as well as Serious Sam and other indie games. I could care less about many others, though (especially EA).

 

[Marvin]

An interesting thought from something I did a while ago.

I live in the UK, so release dates are sometimes delayed. A while ago, I was looking forward to the release of the Enemy within expansion for X-Com, I was fucking stoked!
I'd pre-ordered it on Steam, paid the £19.99 for it, and was going nuts with anticipation. So when it came out in the US, I pirated it from an American site. Was this wrong of me? Pirating something I'd already paid for? After all, the publishers hadn't lost out, and I got what I'd paid for, albeit not through the means I'd paid for. I didn't do anything wrong, right?
Any other thoughts on this?

The only people who'd give a shit about this are trying to make a bunch of noise to get on the news. Also they have sand in their vaginas.

 

[exball]

A little off-topic but Far Cry 4 has already been leaked and pirated.

 

[Segue]

As much as I hate to admit it, I pirate music. I wish I didn't HAVE to pirate music but reasons like money and feeling like I may not get my precious money's worth but I'm just stingy like that. However sometimes I feel like it is justified, like an album being overpriced or certain albums having bonus tracks that you can only get through specific means. Bonus tracks are goddamn asinine and its just an incentive to pirate an album rather than paying 10 bucks for an incomplete one.

 

[Holdek]

9/10 piracy is essentially stealing but people will come up with as many justifications as necessary to keep doing it. They download anonymously and in the relative privacy of their own homes, unlike shoplifting, so they don't risk any social judgement. And, like all stealing, the main bonus is that it turns stuff that costs money into free stuff.

 

[Mister Lister]

I have a friend who is a weird mix of programming genius and star-child, flowers-in-his-rank-unwashed-dreadlocks, hippy. He created a game a few years back called 'Wheelz' which is basically a clone of the old BMX Trials flash game.

He released it for free on Android and iPhone, with adverts, and a paid version for a couple of bucks with no adverts. He actually ended up making more money through the free version, even with the tiny revenue the adverts produced, and I will point out over 10,000 people downloaded his paid version last time I checked. So we aren't talking just a little bit of cash here.

He also released it on Demonoid for people to pirate for free. That's right, he pirated his own game to other people. If people emailed him about the game, saying they loved the free version, often he would email them back telling them where to download the full version for free. Building that kind of relationship with your customers is what makes the difference between piracy hurting a company, and it strangely making you a success.

I know when it comes to a company such as Valve, I will happily pay for their products, because I genuinely WANT them to have my money. I love their products, and I love how they treat their customers. I think Gabe himself once said something along the lines of "Piracy is not a pricing problem. It is a service problem." and I would fully agree.

 

[Sanic]

Stealing is wrong, but I won't lie, I pirate the shit out of music. Sometimes games too, especially older ones that can't be found anymore.

 

[Henry Bemis]

Re: music. Two words: Interlibrary loans.

 

[Uzumaki]

9/10 piracy is essentially stealing but people will come up with as many justifications as necessary to keep doing it. They download anonymously and in the relative privacy of their own homes, unlike shoplifting, so they don't risk any social judgement. And, like all stealing, the main bonus is that it turns stuff that costs money into free stuff.

Conflating piracy with theft is childish nonsense. It's copyright infringement, there's not reason to get hysterical about it.

 

[Holdek]

Conflating piracy with theft is childish nonsense. It's copyright infringement, there's not reason to get hysterical about it.

Who's getting hysterical? Just calling a spade a spade.