What percentage of gamers use pirated version of game softwares?

kanette

kanette

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What percentage gamers use pirated version of game softwares?

Straight talking. For my country, thailand, we(probly 99% of population) use pirated cds for whatever programs that is out from Microsoft to Photoshops to Simcity to mp3's and to nudes. I mean if you have been in my country, somewhat like hongkong, there's a huge mall selling copied cds the whole hall and people are just shopping like on a regular basis. There's never a permanent close down because it's still a developing country - no harsh laws are up yet plus the corruption.


So, I wanna know how different our countries are to copyrights roles.:devil: :devil:
 
Should be in the Off-Topic forum FYI.

But, it's similar pretty much everywhere. The worldwide laws on piracy of any sort have never been strong enough. During the PSX era, when it was first getting popular, there was a lot of busts on people selling copied games but there's not really much enforcement anymore.
 
we'll i more and more buy my games cuz i wanna play online
 
Plus, in countries such as Thailand, the salesmen usually set up shop for an hour or so and then close down, sell somewhere else, and never come back for weeks. That makes it extremely hard to nail anyone for selling the pirated software.
 
ARRRRRRRG mi mateys I be pirating anything but the cream of the crop i/e uh nope I pretty much do it all

The best things in life are free
 
I do to an extent. Usually the demos I play are not "finished" so I can not judge a game by its demo. If I seem interested in it I will "pirate" it, play if for a bit and decide if I want to purchase it or not. Case in point Hitman2. Was not happy with a friends version of 1, but I heard a lot of good stuff about it. Pirated it. Played it, liked it, bought it. I am probably a minority but hey If its good the people deserve my money. If I do not like it it gets deleted.
 
This actually not an off-topic.
every software coming out, they sell here only 3$ per cd.

So, HALF-LIFE2 will be 3$ here!!!
 
Originally posted by Aknot
I do to an extent. Usually the demos I play are not "finished" so I can not judge a game by its demo. If I seem interested in it I will "pirate" it, play if for a bit and decide if I want to purchase it or not. Case in point Hitman2. Was not happy with a friends version of 1, but I heard a lot of good stuff about it. Pirated it. Played it, liked it, bought it. I am probably a minority but hey If its good the people deserve my money. If I do not like it it gets deleted.
Click to expand...

a lot of people plan to do that, but when it comes down to it and you only have 50 bucks to your name, and you ALREADY have the game... well, you see where this is going.
 
Originally posted by Homer
a lot of people plan to do that, but when it comes down to it and you only have 50 bucks to your name, and you ALREADY have the game... well, you see where this is going.
Click to expand...

I understand that. Its all about what is important. Im not going to get into a "moral" discussion but you REALLY dont need the game it is a luxury.
 
Piracy is one reason that I want something like Steam to succeed.

A company could very easily turn Steam into a PC game rental system... which hasn't been done in the past because the CDs get copied and the person gets the game for 5 or 6 dollars.

Piracy of console games is less popular for several reasons... one of which being that you can rent them for a week for a small fee and beat the game (or find out if you like it) instead of buying the game for $50.

Everything that they would need for a rental system is already built into Steam.
 
Piracy of console games is less popular for several reasons
Click to expand...

Go to my local market/carboot sale and nearly all the bootlegged games are for consoles.
 
Originally posted by kanette
What percentage gamers use pirated version of game softwares?

Straight talking. For my country, thailand, we(probly 99% of population) use pirated cds for whatever programs that is out from Microsoft to Photoshops to Simcity to mp3's and to nudes. I mean if you have been in my country, somewhat like hongkong, there's a huge mall selling copied cds the whole hall and people are just shopping like on a regular basis. There's never a permanent close down because it's still a developing country - no harsh laws are up yet plus the corruption.


So, I wanna know how different our countries are to copyrights roles.:devil: :devil:
Click to expand...


i know Bali, thailand singapore...those countries rule...its so cheap..like 50 cent - 1 dollar for a game with covers and everything!!


EDIT: the prices i got from my grandma when she was in singapore
 
I download all my software (more than £2000 worth :D ), I usually buy my games (for the cd-key)
 
Contary to popular belief in countrys where the game is released, only 20% of the copies that people own are pirated. In Countrys where the game is not released i.e Russia almost all the copies are pirated becuase nobody can afford to import them or would want to if they could.

When publishing statistics on game piracy the people who pay for the research to be collected and published, ( e.g EA, vivendi) like to include countrys in there statistics where there games have never even been released so they get figures like 80% of games are pirated, giveing them a reason to icrease the cost of games above both the rate of inflation and game developement costs.
 
Originally posted by greeny
Go to my local market/carboot sale and nearly all the bootlegged games are for consoles.
Click to expand...
It's still nothing compared to PC software piracy.

There are millions of users for each file sharing program I have tested (last I checked WinMX alone had petabytes of files being shared).
Also keep in mind that most of the users that have pirated games do not share them or only share a few.

Combine that with all the file sharing channels in IRC servers, piracy through newsgroups, and burning copies of games for friends.

There are also warez web sites but using those is just asking for trouble.

All that in addition to operations like the one you described means that there are quite a few PC games that aren't being paid for.

... and yet games are still grossing more than the movie industry.




MrChimp, if you ran a business in which more than a quarter of your merchandise was stolen wouldn't you want to do something about it?
Sure their figures are way off but the amount of piracy is disgusting.
 
I dont actually pirate software, I download them and if i think there good and worth the money, then i buy them. I do that with everything, music, applications, movies,.....etc.

The main resone i do that is because with most places, if you buys software and open it then you cant return it. Why waist money when you can test it first.

My favorite way to download stuff is threw

www.************ - you have to download and install bittorrent 3-2-1 in order for it to work.
 
Originally posted by Your Mother
I dont actually pirate software, I download them and if i think there good and worth the money, then i buy them. I do that with everything, music, applications, movies,.....etc.

The main resone i do that is because with most places, if you buys software and open it then you cant return it. Why waist money when you can test it first.

My favorite way to download stuff is threw

www.************ - you have to download and install bittorrent 3-2-1 in order for it to work.
Click to expand...

DUDE!!! :cheers:

I don't think you should post that link here.. but thanks a lot anyway!!!!!
*drools*
 
Oops! I was just going along with the thread. You think they will ban me?

Suprnova Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I dl games if I want to try them, its like a big demo, thats all.

Even in the nfo files it states that they think you should buy the game, its kind of an oxymoron but whatever.
 
Originally posted by Your Mother
Oops! I was just going along with the thread. You think they will ban me?

Suprnova Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Erm... dunno, but I'd delete that link if I were you..
anyways, thanx again for the link.. it's just.. man, it's like heaven.
Thums up for bitTorrent :cheers:
 
Originally posted by 6iXx
I download all my software (more than £2000 worth :D ), I usually buy my games (for the cd-key)
Click to expand...
Same here...
 
i buy strategies with little MP possibilities on pirated CD's.

but i buy MP games legitimately.
 
I buy games that i would normally buy if i didn't have cable. In other words the amazing games, like 2 or 3 a year. Plus these are the ones I usually want a cd-key for to play on proper servers.

If i just wanna try a game cause i like the look of it, i will download it. No-one is losing out on any money, cause i wouldn't buy the thing anyway.

As for my movie collection *cough... have over 200 i havn't even watched... cough* :-P
Downloading is far too addictive... it'll ruin my life.

Emule/EDonkey RUUULLLLLEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
 
I am actually 100% legit, you will not find one bit of illegal software on my computers or cd's.
I've been burned a little in the past and just don't trust any illegal software, Anyway if I want some software I can usually afford it.
This doesn't mean I don't object to some prices being up in the sky but it's a lot less hassle to stay legal.
 
I'm to much of a goody goody to use pirated games.
 
I only buy games which I think are worth it .. those are few and far in between
 
Originally posted by mrchimp
Contary to popular belief in countrys where the game is released, only 20% of the copies that people own are pirated. In Countrys where the game is not released i.e Russia almost all the copies are pirated becuase nobody can afford to import them or would want to if they could.

When publishing statistics on game piracy the people who pay for the research to be collected and published, ( e.g EA, vivendi) like to include countrys in there statistics where there games have never even been released so they get figures like 80% of games are pirated, giveing them a reason to icrease the cost of games above both the rate of inflation and game developement costs.
Click to expand...

MrChimp,

Not challengeing you or anything but do you have any "sources" to back this up? It sounds like some good reading and some "ammo" for me for another project.

Thanks
 
I can't remeber where i got most of those statistics from but they are based on things like pc magazines (i.e the October issue of PC gamer uk had an article on Russian game developement) and the news on TV which often contradicts itself on the game piracy situation depending on whether they got there information from an independat commision paid for by game publishers, the uk police or the european union (which includes countrys where games arn't released).

I'm sure if you did a google search you would eventually come up with some reliable sources, if your going to use me as a source I would give my statistics a 10-15% margin of error.
 
Usually i buy my games, i want a proper CD (plus key) and a manual.
Plus, i'd like to think that me buying the game will encourage the devs to put out more quality. Occasionally, when i can't make my mind up off demo's or screenies/movies, i'll look for it on the net.

I used to be a big time downloader, when i just got broadband.
But it's just too much of a hassle nowadays, with broken downloads, waiting lines, fake files, no multiplayer etc etc...
 
I generally find the SP of most games (with a few exceptions) to be boring so that pretty much forces me to buy the games I like so I can play them online. Plus there is that little something extra to owning the CD, manual and artwork that makes it feel a little bit more special than just having some rar archive with half the sounds missing on your hard drive.
 
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