Piracy and Illegal Downloads

[MrIndigo]

From what I've heard, piracy doesn't hurt Game Developers half as much as it does the actual publishers. As with most creative enterprise (comic books are probably the strongest example), the actual artist does not actually make that much from their continued sales.

It's more hurtful on independents who publish their own stuff.


In Australia, they've fucked up in understanding the market, and actually encouraged piracy indirectly. A number of people have been driven to piracy because of this:

Local Music Store has a large 'catalogue' of CDs for their store. However, only 20% of that catalogue actually sells that well; 90% of their volume are those 20% of their CD collection. It thus is not cost-effective to be storing the other 80% of their catalogue in the store. They don't have the room, and they won't sell fast enough.

Local Music Store also has an online store. The upload costs of their catalogue are minimal. They could put on their entire catalogue. But they don't. Despite having chosen not to sell 80% of their material in store, they don't want to compete with their own future CD sales, so they refuse to release their music on their online store. Unable to purchase the CDs they want, potential customers are forced to pirate the songs.

Another thing stores do in Australia is artificially hold back release dates so we get things later than everyone else. There's no localisation issues in the product, they just do it to drive up demand. Aggrieved at not being able to play/read/watch the stuff they want, Australians take acquiring it into their own hands.

tl;dr - Many companies have tried to use their IP rights to be anti-competitive (especially to prevent future-competition), and so the consumers have moved to an alternative. The companies should not be surprised.


There's a lot of bullshit in IP law. My personal grievance is with the way the US Patent Office just rubber stamps patent applications so things get awarded to companies and individuals that should be unpatentable for being insufficiently specific, or only being an idea (patents protect implementation, not concepts) like "I patent the idea of making a car that's powered by hydrogen; I don't actually know how to make such a car, but if anyone ever works it out, it was MY idea".

 

[Terrador]

I download games illegally and don't feel bad about it. I figure that Nintendo gets most of the money that goes through me anyway.

 

[zenzen~]

I pirate older games not available on a digital store (I rarely do that for new games, and if I do it's because its JP-only, see Arcana Heart 3), music, and anime (considering most things I watch are not licensed in America or out of print).

I only pirate movies on very rare occasions, because DVDs are cheap, BDs on sale are cheap, and I have Netflix to watch things.

 

[MofoPopo]

I Jailbroke my iPod and got every app free, but it crashed and all deleted. Karma :(

I don't feel bad about it because things like music are overpriced right now anyway.

 

[Xaqwais]

I Jailbroke my iPod and got every app free, but it crashed and all deleted. Karma :(

I don't feel bad about it because things like music are overpriced right now anyway.

I'm assuming since you had access to every app, you downloaded some games that are 99 cents? I'd say majority of apps on the AppStore aren't overpriced, so I'm wondering do you have a different logic to justify it?

I found it pretty interesting to read different responses from justifications to "screw it." Keep it coming, I guess.

 

[Krul]

I think in these times it's getting harder not to pirate at least music, if not indirectly. For example, I have about 15000 songs, a mixture of myself and several friends compiled together. This is obviously too many songs to purchase legally, barring some incredible fortunes coming my way.

Plus, to me anyway, downloading an album is the same as getting it from a friend, but quicker. And honestly most of my friends pirate as well, meaning I'd be getting pirated files THEY downloaded instead of downloading it myself. Either way, to me, music piracy is fine and enables people to broaden their musical tastes. I attend concerts for bands I like, which boosts them much more than my one record sale would.

As for games, if my Australian Internet wasn't so terrible I'd give a few PC games a go too. Alas, I rarely do download any.

And movies? Fine by me too.

Though I do buy things that mean a lot to me. I recently bought Red Hot Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magik album, as well as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Hot Rod. No point buying something, then finding out it's trash to you right?

 

[Chubbs]

I pirate shit. It doesn't exactly matter, does it? I mean, Photoshop, for example, is £500.Now Adobe make millions/billions every year, making piracy not exactly expensive for them. Also: most people who pirate stuff wouldn't buy it legitimately anyway and are pirating it because they cant afford it; meaning that no money is lost by the devs.

 

[cim]

Not reading the thread because it's an "answer the OP" thread and I don't really want to get into arguments so w/e

I generally download a relatively small (<2000) amount of music. Usually I download for the purposes of playing the music on radio. As the station is pretty much licensed to play the music over air, it'd be nice to have said music to even play. When I like a band a lot, I buy their CD and rerip it at a better bit rate if needed, and go to their concerts / get their merch / etc. This is largely the way music is consumed today and buying music without listening to it first is retarded.

Pirating software is generally something I very rarely do - only when I need to do like one thing and don't want to drop $150 for a single use. Software costs a lot to make and taking stuff for pure convenience / laziness isn't really something I'm comfortable with.

Games even more so, especially because gaming culture has to deal with the massive - and largely true at this point - stereotype that gamers are hyperactive, lazy, entitled horny fuckwits looking for instant gratification. I like to think of myself as better than that, so I'm not going to stoop to the level of pirating software, ESPECIALLY independent work. I'm not going to shit on the lawn of someone making a video game because it's easier or I don't want to spend a little money.

So basically I pirate in small amounts because I have a skewed moral compass that rationalizes my behavior. Got it?

 

[Xaqwais]

Not reading the thread because it's an "answer the OP" thread and I don't really want to get into arguments so w/e

It doesn't look like we have any "wow you guys are dicks for pirating, stop" people anyway.

 

[deadliestwarrior]

i download games for all of my consoles except for xbox (i do a combo of pirated and legit for ds). i youtube-mp3 songs and i watch movies online. i also get costly programs for free..

 

[DetroitLolcat]

I pirated Pokemon Black, but I'm going to buy it later anyway. I pirated 3 iPod Touch apps (probably about $10 in total), and I pirated Fire Red but only for patching ROM hacks.

 

[BinarySolo]

I pirate a fair bit of stuff. Since I got faster internet + more data allowance I've started to download discographies and albums of bands, however I still don't download music often. I usually only download a TV show if it was on TV but I missed it or if a station stops broadcasting a show. Movies I might download if I enjoyed the movie, to date I'm pretty sure I've only downloaded Iron Man 2 illegally. I download games sometimes for my DS but so much of the DS library is shovelware that I rarely ever download games for that. Tried to mod my Wii to allow it to play downloaded GC and Wii games but that was too hard for me, plus the file sizes are pretty huge even for GC games - not to mention it would probably take a full day to download a Wii game.

Oh and I also pirate software, pretty much just Adobe Flash though. Since I got it for free I figure it would be immoral to make money of games I make with it so I'll distribute what I make for free. GIMP is a good enough free alternative to Photoshop so although I have downloaded CS5 I don't really use it. Also iOS games and apps. Haven't pirated them in a while but I have a somewhat extensive library of apps 'n games I've already pirated.

I've got a couple of iTunes gift cards so I guess I'll temporarily take the legal road, but I'll definitely pirate stuff in the future. I make an effort to pay for stuff made by people I respect, i.e. some (mainly local) bands and developers, though.

 

[mtr]

I've pirated entire discographies of my favorite artists. I don't really download games (too much effort, and my computer is bad anyways), but I get movies if I don't watch them free from streaming sites.

Very few people buy music anymore, and I'm pretty sure everyone's implicitly accepted that sharing music is here to stay. Which is a good thing, since it lets people explore more music without cost being a factor. If they like the music, they'll go to live shows. I mean, I never payed for Senses Fail or Bayside, but I've watched them in concert.

Of, and of course, we have to justify our behavior. So here it is.

Justification:
If I have to watch advertisements to get there, then someone's collecting revenue. Who exactly collects how much is not my problem.

 

[Giga Punch]

I pirate any and everything I feel like. I suppose the whole "having morals" or being anti-piracy applies to me in no way at all. Pirating music at the bare minimum I will always support. Regardless most artists that are not at least major label really do not make much money from CD sales. You would be doing a better service getting their new album through illegal means and if you liked it told all your friends or such about it then went to one of their concerts and bought a t shirt or whatever than simply buying a cd (or worse digital files) that you really didn't like but decided it was the 'better' thing to do. Aside from buying an album which you really enjoy and want to support however you can. YouTube or similar can only provide you with so much information that

For music where the artist or such is no longer making music, together, or alive I suppose I find even less reason to want to ever consider buying it but maybe that is just me. I am fairly certain there is no more Miles Davis to support.....and what do I care at all about some big record label. The best they could offer me at this point is possibly some unreleased material of his or something similar.

As for pirating psp games, ds games, just about any movie that exists, roms for older systems like snes etc, e-books for my Sony eReader and just about whatever software I feel like grabbing the only ones I actually think about somewhat are software. The amount of people that pirate games does not compare to the amount who actually buy it for Sony, Nintendo or the like to suffer any kind of lose. Software is obviously different as the company spent a fair amount of time making though anti virus or such (which isn't even insanely necessary for any 'smart' computer user) are the only things I would consider willing to purchase sans various good programs at decent price tags.

 

[ungulateman]

I pirate because it's the only way to get things where I live. It's either off the internet, from the markets where they get it off the internet, or going to Bangkok (where it's still probably pirated).

When I'm in Australia I try and get legitimate stuff though.

 

[Fury1994]

I'll mostly only download music, but I'll download DS ROMs of games that either are no longer produced, or that I'm going to end up purchasing physically. As for console games, I just buy them. I end up not being the only one who ends up playing it so yeah.

 

[TEA_DEMON]

i download music illegally because otherwise i'd be fucked in terms of music acquisition (no money, most of the stuff i like you can't get here/is extremely expensive to import). i've done it enough to not give a shit, although tbh i never did in the first place. if i like a band enough i make an attempt to buy the cds though.

i also download roms because they're just too fucking expensive to get otherwise.

 

[SalTheThief]

I pirate a lot. I regret nothing, though. I have 400 gigs of illegal content on an external hard drive. It has movies, music, and TV shows. Most of it is TV shows from the '90s/'00s, so I have it to relive my childhood. I torrent without a second thought, but I hold no moral high ground or act like I'm doing it to get back at big business. I just want free stuff.

 

[Magic Toaster]

this video is relevant right

 

[Veedrock]

But I ask you this, what about used CD stores? What about garage sales? What about Gamestop's deals on used games? None of that money goes back to the producers? But we still consider it to be “legal.”

Why is legal in quotations as if it shouldn't be? Or that it justifies your argument? Why shouldn't it be legal to sell your property?

I may pirate things, but it leads me to buy from people who I would never have known of if I hadn't...

people who pirate things have no intention of buying the product regardless.

Contradicting statements.

And concerning the second statement, if they had no intention of buying it then they shouldn't have it or experience it. That's how the world works. Piracy isn't some legitimate method to experience games/movies/music/etc that you don't feel deserve your cash. If you're not going pay for a theme park ticket, why should you get to ride the roller coaster?

But it's different because it's a digital good right? Well some food for thought, the amusement park analogy works infinitely better than the "you wouldn't steal a car" comparison. The argument is always that digital goods can be reproduced endlessly while a car is a single tangible product. The money was already put into developing the game so copies cost nothing, making your pirated copy harmless, while each individual car has a production cost and finite supply. However, this entire scenario is fully applicable to roller coasters; the money was already poured into the creation of the roller coaster, and each ride costs virtually nothing to recreate. So humor me, why should you get to experience it if you don't have intention to pay for it? Why do you think you're entitled to it?

I'm not going to exaggerate and say that piracy is killing our entertainment or software industries (exception: music), but it's ignorant as all hell to say that makes it acceptable.

FUCK piracy.

EDIT: Hip I don't see how that invalidates the comparison by any means but I'll roll with it.

So ignoring the cost of reproduction argument (or rather, moving past it to the inevitable response), the other nonsense I hear from pirates all the time is "X company makes too much money, they shouldn't get mine/it doesn't hurt them." If everyone had this line of thought they wouldn't make so much money, but because the masses don't and you do that makes you a special, allowable instance? How do their profits make you entitled to their product?

I just do not get the train of thought when people try to defend their pirating.

 

[Hipmonlee]

Well, it actually is different. If you ride a rollercoaster someone else has to wait. If you download something they dont.

People need to stop making analogies and stick to what actually happens.

Have a nice day.

 

[TheValkyries]

I Pirate only Music. I find it more difficult to Pirate anything else as that directly takes away compensation for the hard work put into the product by the makers. The only games I've pirated are games that have been offered for free at one point, but are no longer, or games I already owned. As for movies, I like the DVD extras more than I do the actual movie, so I buy those too. Software? Meh, I'll stick to my rinky dink free versions, it makes things more challenging, and I don't feel a pressing need to get the next latest and greatest Adobe product.

In the Music industry, it's vastly different however. Most of the money you pay for the album goes to the Record Company and Distributor, and the residuals for the artist is absolutely miniscule in comparison. The money artists make in the Music Industry is off of concert sales, and the best way to get concert sales is to get more widely known. Best way to get more widely known, is to give people better access of your music. The concept of giving away free music to widen your fanbase has gotten so strong that bands have done it outright, and cut away the middleman of piracy. Piracy itself has revitalized careers, and should be, in my opinion, encouraged.

 

[Reginald]

Music piracy is why a lot of good musicians are struggling. No-one's buying their music. It's not a great thing to do but, despite being a musician, I pirate music.

I'll often ask for CDs I've pirated for christmasses/birthdays anyway.

 

[Chubbs]

I will only pirate things when I don't have an alternative (I.E: I can't afford it). I also have found that Hosts file patching and finding Serials on the net is much more efficient than downloading cracks that may of may not have more viruses than a (BAN ME PLEASE) prostitute.

 

[gvmgvm40]

I pirate games. IDK how much it costs in USA but DS games are way too expensive here (like, 200 TL for HG/SS? That's like one tenth of my monthly salary...) and so are PC games (Fifa 2011 costs 150 TL).