What do you think about piracy? - I'd see no problem with it depending on the source.

[ES 195]

I love piracy and fully support anyone who does it. Paying for useless things or overpaying for things is retarded and buyers remorse and/or feeling ripped off is one of the worst feelings. Stuff like Photoshop, Adobe Premiere and school textbooks are just too costly to make them worth buying and it's much more satisfying getting them for free after seeing the full price than scrounging around to try find some xx% off deal.

 

[WhoBusTank69]

Piracy is irrelevant when it comes to sales and your standard AAA game will make its money back and more through legitimate purchases. It's when they equate torrenting to robbing a Gamestop that the discussion becomes pants-on-head r'tarded.
I typically refuse to pirate indie games unless there isn't a demo provided - if I don't like the developers then I probably won't like the game and it's not worth my time. If I do like them and it's not an overpriced WarioWare minigame, then I'll buy it.

 

[An Account]

Pasty programming nerds and Hollywood degenerates aren't getting a single one of my precious shekels.

 

[CreamyHerman’s]

It's aight. I don't pirate as much as I used to. That being said, I do pirate epic exclusives, since Sweeney buys our copies for us already.

 

[Dom Cruise]

It depends on what you're pirating.

In this day and age you have little excuse to pirate video games for example, what with digital marketplaces and frequent sales pirating is a bigger hassle than just simply buying a game legally, although to be fair that's kind of changing with the growing number of said marketplaces most recently.

But then we have anime, I pirate my anime, because as a US fan my money would be mostly going into the pocket of middle men US publishing companies than the actual original creators and especially now when it comes to Funimation, who aren't going to get a dime of my money after how they handled the situation with Vic, these US companies are increasingly becoming ticks on the industry.

And I'll be frank, anime can be expensive as hell and I only have so much disposable cash.

Then we have movies and TV shows and in those instances you have a lot of stuff that is either on out of print media or was never legally available to begin with or wasn't released in your country, in which case piracy for preservation is just fine.

So yeah, I'm kind of middle of the road on it, it just depends.

 

[BW 182]

I try to buy if the option is there and I'd like to support the developer, but I see nothing wrong with piracy if the options aren't. Streaming has made it where you don't even own your things, and it's useless to any consumer who wants to make a purchase. Also, companies eventually stop making things or supporting them, which gives more reason to pirate.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

I don't see it as stealing. It's like when you use an adblocker, the advertiser doesn't lose or gain money; and when you download digital files, the IP owner doesn't lose or gain money.

It's not like you're stealing a physical copy of something that costed money to manufacture.

I mean depending on what we're talking about, you have to manufacture, develop, or produce the product itself. If you pirate a new video game release, sure you didn't technically steal anything but the makers did produce the product. The product isn't the packaging (which costs peanuts compared to the actual product in the packaging), the product is the what you've "stolen" through pirating. So if the main point of the product is the digital product you're using right now, you've effectively dodged out of paying for it which to me is the point of stealing a product, to avoid having to pay for it.

This is ignoring the idea of, pirate something then buy the actual product once you're satisfied with paying for it, I'm purely talking about pirating then never ever legally purchasing it regardless of how satisfied you would have been with purchasing it.

 

[Colmerry]

I mean depending on what we're talking about, you have to manufacture, develop, or produce the product itself. If you pirate a new video game release, sure you didn't technically steal anything but the makers did produce the product. The product isn't the packaging (which costs peanuts compared to the actual product in the packaging), the product is the what you've "stolen" through pirating. So if the main point of the product is the digital product you're using right now, you've effectively dodged out of paying for it which to me is the point of stealing a product, to avoid having to pay for it.

This is ignoring the idea of, pirate something then buy the actual product once you're satisfied with paying for it, I'm purely talking about pirating then never ever legally purchasing it regardless of how satisfied you would have been with purchasing it.

Like I said, I see it similar to using an adblocker, and I could say the same for advertisers since they invest millions into advertising and people who make ad-funded content on the Internet get money this way, but most just block ads anyway. It's not a completely apple to apple comparison since most people hate ads and people who make ad-funded content don't typically invest millions into what they're making, but there's still a comparison to be made.

I usually buy it if I like it (buy it physically, that is - I don't see a point in paying for files, unless it's a game or something), although it's not a strict personal policy of mine.

Another thing I would like to add - which specifically pertains to music - is that if you're streaming music on, say, YouTube, and are using an adblocker, why not just download the album? The artist isn't getting money from your listen, and most artists/labels put their entire discography up for free. Usually if I'm talking about piracy with people I bring this up, because I don't really see a reason why you shouldn't be allowed to just download music seeing as free streaming is so widespread nowadays, and most people just use adblockers. If it's OK to listen to it online, why does downloading it make it illegal?

 

[Niggernerd]

I'll stop pirating Nintendo games when Nintendo stops overpricing their classic digital downloads.
Pirating movies is good because fuck giving my money to Hollywood. only the people of greater Nippon deserve my money because their vidya games are lit

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

Like I said, I see it similar to using an adblocker, and I could say the same for advertisers since they invest millions into advertising and people who make ad-funded content on the Internet get money this way, but most just block ads anyway. It's not a completely apple to apple comparison since most people hate ads and people who make ad-funded content don't typically invest millions into what they're making, but there's still a comparison to be made.

I usually buy it if I like it (buy it physically, that is - I don't see a point in paying for files, unless it's a game or something), although it's not a strict personal policy of mine.

Another thing I would like to add - which specifically pertains to music - is that if you're streaming music on, say, YouTube, and are using an adblocker, why not just download the album? The artist isn't getting money from your listen, and most artists/labels put their entire discography up for free. Usually if I'm talking about piracy with people I bring this up, because I don't really see a reason why you shouldn't be allowed to just download music seeing as free streaming is so widespread nowadays, and most people just use adblockers. If it's OK to listen to it online, why does downloading it make it illegal?

I was more looking at the idea of downloading files for something then never ever paying for it, just because you didn't "steal" a physical product doesn't mean you aren't effectively doing a similar act. I think it equates to the same general idea as stealing assuming you never pay for it. I personally watch YouTube ads and other ads from things that people find annoying such as news sites for that same general reason in relation to downloading something illegally. The only time I use an ad blocker is for sketchy looking sites with ads that lead to websites I have reason to believe aren't safe (like chinese bot farming websites that sell MMO currency for real money) or has some stupid baiting pop up ad, so fuck'em is my personal stance on that small section of the internet.

My exception to pirating software or streaming something illegally is if it is something old that is basically impossible to buy from the original developer(s) or doesn't have a legal form of distribution, buying a old video game off eBay isn't supporting the original developers in anyway so I personally don't care about pirating a game and using an emulator. I also don't personally mind if people can't legitimately buy something due to country reasons, this usually comes up with illegal streaming.

As for your music question, I don't have an honest response because I listen to music on YouTube that are uploaded on various YouTube accounts through random YouTube accounts quite often. So I don't really have an answer to that point that makes it relevantly different to my position about pirating digital goods like software, movies, streaming content, whatever. Though if the copyright owners take down these music related videos on YouTube I'm perfectly fine with that and won't throw a fit over it. I've never downloaded music illegally though, but in the end listening to it on YouTube isn't that much different outside of it being a minor inconvenience at best.

In short: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[AverageAnimeWatcher]

Everyone loves piracy until they are the ones selling that thing.

Personally, I do think piracy can be beneficial to everyone. It can protect you from being ripped off, archive old stuff, beat region blocks, and imho it can even be the best publicity ever.

Have you seen how expensive some software is? Maya, Z brush and Photoshop are inaccessible for someone broke.

But let's not kids ourselves. Lot's of people just like free things. That's all there is to it,

 

[CWCissey]

I see piracy as a necessary evil.

I'll rip songs off YouTube until I know an artist hasn't written two or three good songs and the rest of the album is filler and I'll stream stuff that shows weeks or months earlier in Burgerland. But I will support the official release if I deem it good value.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

I don't see it as stealing. It's like when you use an adblocker, the advertiser doesn't lose or gain money; and when you download digital files, the IP owner doesn't lose or gain money.

It's not like you're stealing a physical copy of something that costed money to manufacture.

Meh, I can try to convince myself that I don't see it as stealing either, but it kinda is.
I'm still OK with it, though. I can't tell you how many times I went to see a movie that sucked balls that I had already paid to see and therefore couldn't do shit about it. I only had the foresight to walk out of a movie once.

If I see a movie I like via piracy, I'll probably pay for it somewhere along the line to make up for it.

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

been one since the age of 12 beacuse why pay for something when i can get it for free? i know that its wrong and illegal but i just dont care. i do buy things if i want to support a game dev or an artist.

 

[CakeCutey]

I think it's okay when your using games that can't be played conveniently anymore.
If I have to go through several downloads or subscriptions for a single product it's probably not worth buying it.

 

[UnclePhil]

It's when they equate torrenting to robbing a Gamestop that the discussion becomes pants-on-head r'tarded.

Which also benefits them when they use piracy as a scapegoat. Is no one going to the theater anymore, buying Taylor Trainor's new album, or putting down $60 for the latest AAA game? We did nothing wrong. It's those damned dirty thieves.

 

[Pontiff Sulyvahn]

I refuse to finically support anything remotely related to Hollywood. That being said sometimes I like to throw on the occasional Jewish propaganda film on a rainy day if it’s decent. You won’t catch me ever paying for it. The only video game company I support currently is CD Projekt Red. Everything else is dogshit except maybe Dwarf Fortress.

Edit: Typo

 

[Adolf Von Merkel]

I don't 100% agree with this video but Gaiman said some interesting things.

I mean , the first weeks are vital for a product(bad sales may kill it) but how many games or film have we watched/played because a friend lent it to you.That also hurt the sales if we think about it.
In the end , I don't care, I will buy what I think is interesting and ignore what's not.

 

[ZeCommissar]

In the mid-late 2000's when I was younger I would pirate things without abandon.

Now I buy 90% of what I play. I might pirate something if I don't like the company (ubisoft) or if I just really want to play the game and don't want to spend $60 on it. I never pirate indie games anymore, usually if I do I plan on playing for maybe a hour or two to see if I would enjoy it enough to buy it.

Its easier to buy something and get all the acesss to it then wait for someone to crack through the DRMs nowadays.

 

[Webby's Boyfriend]

That being said I watch stuff online illegally all the time and don't feel bad about it. I support their rights even though I infringe them.

"O somebody looked at a thing and we didn't squeeze profits out of his eyeballs. Let's try to criminalize seeing for free."

And I'll be frank, anime can be expensive as hell and I only have so much disposable cash.

WTF who watches anime?!?