US PC Game Piracy Nearing 80%

[RazorclawX]

So basically, I know it's wrong, but I'm going to do it anyway, when it's convenient for me.  Damn, no wonder 235423523 people are doing it.

Get a job.

Believe it or not you're not entitled to all those games.

because internet downloads are fast and gamers only have a finite supply of money to spend on games & other things

You also need to get a job.

Better yet, work at an indie studio. Let's see how long your simpathies to the pirating gamers last.

Also the hulabaloo about piracy is seriously overblown, Stardock is doing just fine and they make niche RTS and 4X games. Valve is still getting the majority of their money from PC gamers and Blizzard is hardly starved for cash. It's all about people respecting those companies, and enjoying their product because the developers show atleast some respect to the consumer by not insulting them with restrictive and intrusive DRM and not calling all PC gamers pirates.

It goes both ways. A lot of gamers don't respect the developers all that much, either.

[WB]

Most Gamers have an inflated sense of entitlement. They don't owe you a goddamn thing other than what you pay for. Tired of buying shitty games? Thats the purpose of review sites, things like meta critic, and word of mouth.

Caveat Emptor.

Don't get me wrong, my first copy of Starcraft was pirated because I had no money and I was a kid. I ended up buying 3 copies of the game over the past decade, so whatever. But since I got a job and started making money, I'll buy it. The last shitty game I bought was Hegemonia, just be careful with your purchases.

Does anyone here honestly plan on pirating games like D3 or SC2? I'll probably be picking up a collectors edition or two.

[DrumsofWar]

Yeah, entitlement is definitely higher than it ever used to be, in part because developers are being more open to players even if that policy also engenders more player loyalty (and thusly lowering piracy).  Of course, that also opens the question of whether you'd prefer dealing with 100,000 paying gamers who feel entitled to every single patch change they post or flame about or 50,000 pirating gamers who slowly whittle down and buy your product over time.

Once you're able to make more than 50 dollars a week in money, most people's urge to download games goes away.  There's only a very small handful of people who refuse to ever pay for a game or movie (and everyone knows at least one person like that).  With that said, I think developers have to do a better job of adjusting to piracy rather than pretending they're entitled to 100% of all profits from every human being who ever sees their game client.  Multiplayer security checks and more openness are probably going to be the best ways rather than horrific DRM or going after the Torrent sites.

[IskatuMesk]

Does anyone here honestly plan on pirating games like D3 or SC2? I'll probably be picking up a collectors edition or two.

I'm still on the fence about SC2. The beta will decide what I do with it. Chances are if I don't buy it I won't even bother pirating it, though. As much as I am a pirate, I haven't downloaded a game for a very, very long time, simply because there hasn't been that many games that interest me that haven't been worth buying for whatever reason, usually co-op (left 4 dead 2 ect). Stuff like Modern Warfare 2 are just so worthless and pointless that they don't even interest me to the point of pirating them to try them.

I will definitely be buying d3.

[Negi]

Most Gamers have an inflated sense of entitlement. They don't owe you a goddamn thing other than what you pay for. Tired of buying shitty games? Thats the purpose of review sites, things like meta critic, and word of mouth.

Caveat Emptor.

Don't get me wrong, my first copy of Starcraft was pirated because I had no money and I was a kid. I ended up buying 3 copies of the game over the past decade, so whatever. But since I got a job and started making money, I'll buy it. The last shitty game I bought was Hegemonia, just be careful with your purchases.

Does anyone here honestly plan on pirating games like D3 or SC2? I'll probably be picking up a collectors edition or two.

So your answer is: Buy the game without playing it first.  If you don't like it, you're fucked on your money.

My answer to you is: If I have a way to see if I'll enjoy a game before I buy it, I am going to exercise that power.  I don't care if 80% of game developers go out of business, they're mostly garbage.

I don't see that as a sense of entitlement.  How can you make your argument with all the news of review sites being paid for their reviews in perks and prereleases?  I could give a fuck about copyright infringement.  I'll pay for games that I enjoy.  They're welcome to try to sue me. 

[ShadowFlare]

I'm sure I'll play through the SC2 campaign, but I'll also be getting it for the same reason that I ever play WC3 after I had finished the campaign - for the custom maps.  That alone is probably enough of a reason that I'd buy it, regardless of whether the rest of the game is any good.  I'll probably like the regular multiplayer more than WC3, though.  I never really liked regular multiplayer on WC3.  I think it is probably because of the heroes, and that's why I'll probably like SC2's multiplayer more than WC3's.

[DrumsofWar]

So your answer is: Buy the game without playing it first.  If you don't like it, you're fucked on your money.

My answer to you is: If I have a way to see if I'll enjoy a game before I buy it, I am going to exercise that power.  I don't care if 80% of game developers go out of business, they're mostly garbage.

I don't see that as a sense of entitlement.  How can you make your argument with all the news of review sites being paid for their reviews in perks and prereleases?  I could give a fuck about copyright infringement.  I'll pay for games that I enjoy.  They're welcome to try to sue me. 

There's tons of good independent review websites that routinely skewer the crap that comes out.  (Avault used to do this but Yahtzee Croshaw is one easy example.)  Besides, you can say you're fighting the power regarding copyright infringement but there are tons of good small companies who really can't afford or deserve mass piracy just because they were nice (or poor) enough to NOT put a metric ton of DRM into their product.

[Mr.]

So basically, I know it's wrong, but I'm going to do it anyway, when it's convenient for me.  Damn, no wonder 235423523 people are doing it.

Get a job.

Believe it or not you're not entitled to all those games.

No shit.  That's exactly what I said.  I can only think of four games that I have pirated in well over a year.  They are:

1 - Max Payne
2 - Max Payne 2
3 - Planescape: Torment
4 - System Shock 2

Tell me how downloading those particular games that I'm not entitled to in 2008-2009 has damaged the gaming industry.

I spend a lot of money on games.  A whole lot.  In fact, there's not really much else that I DO spend money on.  I know that I'm not "entitled" to those games.  That was the point I was trying to make.  I knew that, but I downloaded them anyway.  If I wanted to play those games, how else would I get them?  Buy them used online sellers, or from Gamestop, or something? (Gamestop totally wouldn't have those, anyway)  That would not be supporting the companies that made them in the least. 

I COULD buy Max Payne 1 and 2 on Steam currently.  If I had known that they were available before (If they were at that time), I might have bought them.  But having played them, I'm pretty sure I would have regretted that $15, but that's beside the point.  Planescape: Torment, and System Shock 2 are not available on Steam, or on gog.com.  I'm not really sure where else I could find them, aside from used sellers.

Granted, I didn't look very hard, but lol.

In that case, simply pirating was far more convenient, and it's kindof hard to say that it cost them a sale, many years after the fact.  I don't feel remotely guilty about pirating those games.  Actually, I've been meaning to find an actual copy of System Shock 2, because that game kicked ass.  OH!  And you know what!  I DID support those guys!  System Shock 2 was such an awesome game, that I was inspired to go and buy Bioshock (a little less awesome, but still good).  And I will possibly buy Bioshock 2. 

Another thing is, even if a game is old, and harder to find, there seems to be a lot of companies releasing them for download.  Like Steam, as I mentioned, and gog.com, as well as the Wii's Virtual Console, and PSN releasing PSX games.  I really really like those.  I've downloaded lots of old games from them.  And I will download many more.  (Although they have lost some sales from me actually finding hard copies of those games, which I'd much rather have)  Like I said before, convenience.  Those things are very convenient, and I'm happy to pay for those games, which I could obtain absurdly easily through other means.



What I'm trying to say is, while I'm not entitled to those four games, I can comfortably believe that I have done no remotely significant damage to the gaming industry by pirating them.  What I think HAS done damage is the fact that I am so accepting of piracy.  It just seems like it's become so common, that it's almost nothing.  If I were to pirate a game that had just recently been released, I would probably feel a little bad about it.  But that slight guilt would not stop me from doing it at all.  I mean, it's just right there, it's free, and it's so easy.  But it should stop me.  I should be able to say that I will either buy it, or not play it.  Instead, I just say "meh, whatever."

I really don't ever do that, though, as far as newer games go.  But I don't really care about doing it, and I don't really care about other people doing it.  I'm contributing to the mentality that piracy is A-OK!  That's the part that I feel guilty about. 

[Negi]

So your answer is: Buy the game without playing it first.  If you don't like it, you're fucked on your money.

My answer to you is: If I have a way to see if I'll enjoy a game before I buy it, I am going to exercise that power.  I don't care if 80% of game developers go out of business, they're mostly garbage.

I don't see that as a sense of entitlement.  How can you make your argument with all the news of review sites being paid for their reviews in perks and prereleases?  I could give a fuck about copyright infringement.  I'll pay for games that I enjoy.  They're welcome to try to sue me.  

There's tons of good independent review websites that routinely skewer the crap that comes out.  (Avault used to do this but Yahtzee Croshaw is one easy example.)  Besides, you can say you're fighting the power regarding copyright infringement but there are tons of good small companies who really can't afford or deserve mass piracy just because they were nice (or poor) enough to NOT put a metric ton of DRM into their product.

And if I play the game and enjoy it, I buy it.  DRM has never stopped me from infringing copyright before.  All it's done is encourage me to wait for DRM-free cracks for the game. 

[IskatuMesk]

All DRM does is piss off legitimate users. In no way does it curb piracy, only encourage it.

Don't get me started on Securom. I had to edit my fucking dvd rom driver settings just to get securom to stop saying my legitimate fucking NWN2 cd wasn't in the drive.

[Negi]

uh get a crack dude.

[DrumsofWar]

Bioware is notorious for making their games allergic to cracks.  It took years for them to take the CD check off Neverwinter Nights 1, especially when players protested having to repurchase the game every 2 years because their disc got scratched.

[tipereth]

If you are in a situation where you do not have the disposable income to support buying video games, perhaps there is a better way to spend your time than playing video games.

I have nothing to say about the 'most games suck' argument 'cause it's pretty solid.

[Negi]

If you are in a situation where you do not have the disposable income to support buying video games, perhaps there is a better way to spend your time than playing video games.

I have nothing to say about the 'most games suck' argument 'cause it's pretty solid.

If that was a veiled, "Get a job!", then this is a veiled "insert your foot into your rear end!". 

My plan is to not have a job until I have a career.

[IskatuMesk]

uh get a crack dude.

Yes, but you see, as a customer I should not be forced to find third party applications to fix problems with the game.