Odd vote i came across

Point is, there is no valid reason to own a single player game that you've already taken the trouble to warez. What will you get by owning it? Your game is fully functional. You can still download updates. There's no multiplayer, there's no cdkey, there's no benefit to owning a legit copy at that point.
That's the biggest problem I have with people who claim to "test" games with piracy
 
i will buy it because they deserve it basically.. i know i wont be gaining anything but since i downloaded and enjoyed it.. i pay for it

besides i like having all the games i liked original :) (hl, SOF2, neverwinter, quake, starcraft blabla)
 
I'd just like to say this. You can delude yourself all you want, but there's no difference between you and a guy who steals a car. Or steals anything.
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<-- LMAO!!!

Well, tbh, if people could COPY my car, I'd probably let everyone have a copy ;)
 
I have pirated alot of games that I ended up buying because they have been very good. If a developer earns my cash by producing a good game, then I will buy it. In the past I have pirated, and subsequently now own legitamitely, Ghost Recon, DF: Black Hawk Down, Medal of Honour, Collin McRae 2.0 and a few more.

If the devs earn my money then I will pay for the game. This includes producing a good game that I will be playing for a long time (excellent, re-playable SP, or good SP and MP), and offering good support to customers through patches, if they are needed.
 
iamaelephant said:
I have pirated alot of games that I ended up buying because they have been very good. If a developer earns my cash by producing a good game, then I will buy it. In the past I have pirated, and subsequently now own legitamitely, Ghost Recon, DF: Black Hawk Down, Medal of Honour, Collin McRae 2.0 and a few more.

If the devs earn my money then I will pay for the game. This includes producing a good game that I will be playing for a long time (excellent, re-playable SP, or good SP and MP), and offering good support to customers through patches, if they are needed.
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Why don't you just use the demos?
 
Mechagodzilla said:
Why don't you just use the demos?
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cause many devs like to put best parts in demos etc (far cry).. plus not all games have demos (hl2)
 
A demo wont show you how much you will really play the game, they usually put parts of the game that you can play over and over again, but the full game generally only has a handful of levels like that. Also most demos these days are too short. Bring back games like Doom that game you 1/3rd of the game for free :)
 
Justifying why you pirate a game is possibly one of the stupidest things a person can do. Stealing a computer game is not necessity. A computer game is a luxury item, nothing else.

Want to try out a game, download the demo, download the in-game movies, read a review, or wait for word of mouth from friends. If you do those things, you have no reason to pirate a game. Here is an advanced rebuttal - yes you can trust the people who review video games, if you are so doubtful, consult multiple sites.



Here is an economics lesson for you people. Lets says 10 million people a game. Which means there is 0 economic profit (actually could be a cost) for the developer. Lets assume there is no pirating and we will assume on 5% of people who pirate that game will buy it (completely arbitrary number). 10 mil * 5% * $50 = $25 million dollars of extra revenue. That is enough revenue to make a difference. Even 1 million pirated copies could bring $2.5 million dollars of extra revenue to the developer. Pirating has a dramatic affect on what games are created. After all, a game could be incredible popular and widely praised but if it doesn't sell well, the developer has no incentive to create another title like that.

Another point is that buying a game early in its release cycle is very important to the developer. A Publisher does not want to wait 4 years to return its investment on a game. The sooner the return on investment, the more profitable it is to the company which means the developer will be allowed to make newer, cooler games.

Extending on my two previous points, having potential pirates buy the game and purchase the game early in its life cycle will have its benefits later on. What if Valve had an extra $30 million (from HL sales)? That extra money could be spent on additional labor which means a better game experience for HL2. In response to a rebutal - Yes, you may have bought Half-Life, but the same goes for any game developer (except EA games ;)).

Downloading a pirated game and then buying the game is equally wrong. Thats like stealing a car and then trying to pay for it after you have driven it for 2 months.

Again, lets say you buy a game after you have pirated it. You are only paying for the game if you feel that you at least will get your money's worth. There is nothing wrong with that, but you could do some simple research and find out if a game will be worth your money. Example, you don't go to McDonalds and steal a hamburger. You eat it and then decide if it is worth your money to go and pay for it. That is just wrong.

For those claiming that games are too expensive. Maybe you shouldn't be spending your money on computer games. For example, I don't have the $120,000 to buy a BMW 720iL. But I really really want that car. Just because I want something but don't have the money to buy it, does not give you the right to steal it.

Anyway you put it, you can not justify pirating a game even if you have the intention to buy those "quality" games.

[Edit]: World's longest post :O
 
i am sooo fed up of talking about this now :(

hmm.. blitzkrieg is out for dload ... /me downloads
 
I hate the copying a game == stealing a car thing. That is really bugging me now.

It always pisses me off when I see a game I've bought available for download, but there's no way that it equates to the same type of stealing. A lot of the people who pirate games simply would not buy the game if they didn't, so the developers are losing very little extra income. I do not know a single person who has never downloaded a game for free, and generally said game gets deleted in 3 days.

Other games, such as Half-Life, were played originally as a copy, and then people bought them after a while.

Hell, I have bought 3+ copies of Half-Life so far..


Here is an economics lesson for you people
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Truly laughable. The prime principles of economics are supply and demand, these aren't even mentioned.

Microsoft: We don't care if people pirate software, as long as it is OUR software.

Also, if it weren't for pirated games (I must stress I have NO pirated games on my computer, BUT I do think this must be addressed, Half-Life and counter-strike wouldn't have been half as popular.

How often do I buy games, and go online to see 3 players playing. I would like the game a lot more if there were a couple of hundred pirates to play with, and that would make me think of the game more positively, and then more people might buy the game because it seems fun and has a larger community.


Example, you don't go to McDonalds and steal a hamburger. You eat it and then decide if it is worth your money to go and pay for it. That is just wrong.
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No, but you can eat it and ask for your money back if it tastes bad. Is that wrong? No, it's your statutory rights, so you could see this as an extensions of people's staturory rights. Also, in restaurants, this is PRECISELY what you do, so this argument makes no sense. You can choose not to pay the bill if it tastes disgusting, or perhaps get a different meal as a replacement.



For those claiming that games are too expensive. Maybe you shouldn't be spending your money on computer games. For example, I don't have the $120,000 to buy a BMW 720iL. But I really really want that car. Just because I want something but don't have the money to buy it, does not give you the right to steal it.
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Umm, the fact one costs $30 and one costs $120,000 is kind of a loop-hole in your argument, don't you think? And the fact that you only buy one car every 5 years unless you're the Crown Prince Abdulla also makes this a completely inaccurate analogy. People aren't saying "Games are too expensive for to buy one" they're saying "Games are too expensive for me to buy 30 and only play one."


I don't see any software developers that make good games eating of the streets, whereas I see some people who pirate games that are close to that. Reminds me a little of Robin Hood.

I am in agreement that pirating games is not ideal, but I do not think it is so terrible as some people would have us believe. Bill Gates is one of the richest men on earth, and how many people own a legitimate copy of windows?

It just pains me to see relatively poor people screaming and shouting for the benefit of people who wouldn't look them in the eye if they saw them on the street (as they flew over and spat on you from their helicopter).
 
Crusader said:
Microsoft: We don't care if people pirate software, as long as it is OUR software.
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Exactly what I expected from billy...

Umm..Crusader, Economics is based on demand and supply, but it's not neccesary to mention it where it's not neccesary. What blah is talking about is more on the lines of revenus, profits/losses and break-evens.
 
Yes but you can't talk about those things unless you take into account the changes in demand that will take place. A game that is popular has increased demand. It's not a linear relationship, piracy of a game will cause market fluctuations, for instance a game has many players because it is highly pirated, demand will increase because the game is popular and more people hear of it.

The general point is that you cannot compare the revenue generated if a game is pirated and if it is not so simply as that. Thats why it was laughable it was tagged as an economics lesson. Tbh it didn't even make sense anyway.

For instance: Lets says 10 million people a game.

I think that if a developer makes people feel it is worth their money to buy their game, people will buy it. It's that simple. In fact it's a trueism, if you want to buy something you want to buy it.
 
The section of the lesson that had me laughing was "Lets assume there is no pirating" immediately followed by "and we will assume on 5% of people who pirate that game will buy it."

What's 5% of nothing, you say? Pardon me if I don't break out my calculator, but doesn't that come to approximately... oh... zero?

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Anyway, the difference between electronic data and practically every other product in existance is the ability to quickly make/distribute/download an exact copy of said electronic data. What does this have anything to do with why people want to pirate games before buying them? Well, you can return practically any other product you buy at a store and get your money back... except music and PC Software/Games.

I could copy PS2 and XBox games if I wanted to... but it isn't worth the effort because I have Blockbuster, Gamefly, etc to try the full product for a small fee without gambling $50 on whether I'll like it or not. I only end up buying less than 1/3 of the games I think I might actually enjoy. If I were to buy 18 games that looked interesting I would pay $900. By renting those same 18 games and buying only the ones that live up to my expectations I spend easily less than half as much money. Where can I do this with computer games? Who would offer such a service if I can just rip the game within the hour I get it home and take it back to get another one? That is also why stores don't let you exchange your PC software for your money or another program/game of equal value. If I could test all of the PC games I want to try for a few dollars a piece or for a reasonable monthly fee I would do that... but until I find such a service I'm going to keep downloading games to try them for a couple of hours before deciding to spend money on them.

This is where Valve's pet project Steam comes into play. We already know it can encrypt software and unlock it upon payment. It could be modified to disable access of the software (the entire installations being encapsulated within encrypted gcf files) when the payment stops (a monthly fee that allows any one or two games at a time to be repeatedly checked out for periods of one week at a time... without checking them out again they will disable themselves at the end of the one-week period) or after a certain length of time (a Blockbuster-style rental). You would need to have a broadband connection for it to be feasible to download entire games frequently but if you satisfy that requirement it could be a great service. If they had a large library of games I would pay to use it. Now, Valve just needs to get some partners to help handle the bandwidth and support from a lot of game developers... and with some relatively minor tweaks to the Steam platform they could be in business!
 
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