How Bad Is PC Piracy Really?

[o.pwuaioc]

If you don't have the money to pay for it, then you aren't entitled to use it. Simple as that. Anyone at any income level could use the money they spend on games (or movies, music, etc) on something else. Piracy does not equal thriftiness.

But who does it hurt if he wasn't going to buy it anyway?

[Inazuma]

Piracy is bad when it harms others. The way that it harms others is by not giving them the money that they would have gotten otherwise.

If you are so poor that you simply cannot afford to buy any movies, games, etc., piracy won't do any harm. However, don't use this logic as an excuse. It needs to actually be true.

Only pirate stuff that you wouldn't have bought normally, and no harm is done. Piracy is a tool that has the potential to be used incorrectly. It's always illegal but it's not always wrong.

[Erik_Twice]

I don't expect you know these things, but I volunteer for a youth charity, I organize non-profit nights for niche tastes and local charities and I sponsor three different national charities.

Donating to charity doesn't absolve you from other crimes.

It's also easy to donate money when you don't pay what you should.

[RXRob]

I don't expect you know these things, but I volunteer for a youth charity, I organize non-profit nights for niche tastes and local charities and I sponsor three different national charities.

Donating to charity doesn't absolve you from other crimes.

It's also easy to donate money when you don't pay what you should.

But it also makes you calling me a douchebag rather harsh, especially when you were just pulling out dictionary definitions. Without looking the word up, I'm am absolutely certain that I'm not a personal hygiene utensil.

And I didn't mention anything about donating money. I donate time and expertise, things that I can afford to be generous with for the right people/causes, including a retro gaming event that's currently on the cards.

[MrPopo]

There is no magical cosmic balance. The charity work you do does not erase the piracy.

[Erik_Twice]

Without looking the word up, I'm am absolutely certain that I'm not a personal hygiene utensil.

I'm using the second acception.

douche bag 
noun
2.
Also called douche . Slang: Vulgar . a contemptible or despicable person.

Seems appropiate to me. But I have to admit it's rude and unpolite, my apologies.

And I didn't mention anything about donating money. I donate time and expertise, things that I can afford to be generous with for the right people/causes, including a retro gaming event that's currently on the cards.

So you care enough about gaming to do events but not enough to actually pay the people who create them in the first place?

Anyways, I'm out.

[RXRob]

There is no magical cosmic balance. The charity work you do does not erase the piracy.

Well now we're entering the realms of religion. Or to keep on the subject of gaming, Karma points.

I'm not seeking redemption, I'm trying to point out that personal insults do nothing to further the discussion of the rights and wrongs of piracy.

If I may state another opinion for people to consider, I feel that the publishers need to do more to encourage me to purchase a legitimate copy (and for that matter so do the movie and music publishers)

I have a large collection of legitimately purchased media. Some of it because it's the only way that I can use it such as console games or DVDs in the days before broadband internet. Other parts because it was at a price that seemed reasonable to me.
But the part that I feel publishers should focus on is the stuff that can't be downloaded. Special cases, large posters, models, boxsets and digipacks are all things that have worked on me in the past. Other things that could work would be restricting players to official servers, so that only legitimate copies could play online, although this avenue has be slightly tarnished by the selling of codes to re-enable used games and by games such as Spore being so rubbish.

The bottom line for me is, I don't want to spend around £30 - £50 for an experience that I could enjoy for free.

[isiolia]

If you don't have the money to pay for it, then you aren't entitled to use it. Simple as that. Anyone at any income level could use the money they spend on games (or movies, music, etc) on something else. Piracy does not equal thriftiness.

But who does it hurt if he wasn't going to buy it anyway?

The developers, still. Regardless of whether a pirate coulda/woulda bought a game, the indisputable fact is that by pirating it, they have the end product, at that particular time, without paying. The best case scenario for the developers in that case is that the "customer" tries it, then goes out and pays whatever the current retail price is for the game, as they should have to begin with. Pretty much anything short of that is giving the developer no money, or less money, than the time of acquisition warranted.

The argument you're presenting is certainly common for piracy, and I don't necessarily disagree with it from the other side of the table. A company can't assume every pirated copy is a lost sale - but some would have been.

IMO, there are also a couple other angles to consider:

First is the long term. Maybe someone doesn't have money -now-, but down the road they might. Kind of a grey area, since in some cases the interest wouldn't be there if not for the piracy. I've still got plenty of fansubbed anime that I haven't bought DVDs for - but I don't think I'd have bought all the anime that I have were it not for that.
Still, motivation to ever pay for something might be lower as a result. You already have that...why not go for something you don't?

Second is the mentality. That things don't need to be paid for. That those who do are suckers. I've seen that time and again from people regarding anime n' movies online. I think it was back in Napster days when I heard some kids - in the music section of a store - scoffing at the idea of actually paying for CDs.

Personally, I do think there are grey areas (like, not available in one's country), but I do have a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to the sense of entitlement I see in a lot of people. It's very easy to write everything off with a "well I wasn't going to buy it anyway, so it's okay", instead of working with legal options you can afford.

[RXRob]

First is the long term. Maybe someone doesn't have money -now-, but down the road they might. Kind of a grey area, since in some cases the interest wouldn't be there if not for the piracy. I've still got plenty of fansubbed anime that I haven't bought DVDs for - but I don't think I'd have bought all the anime that I have were it not for that.
Still, motivation to ever pay for something might be lower as a result. You already have that...why not go for something you don't?

Excellent point. I remember watching District 9 at the cinema and absolutely loving it. The first thing me and all my friends did was download a dodgy cam copy, promising to buy it properly on DVD when we could. By the time the DVD came out, we realised that it was actually a bit rubbish and we'd been sucked in by all the hype.

You also bring to mind another point. I have a friend who can't watch 3D films due to being blind in one eye. He's also a fan of Jackass, which means that the theatre release of Jackass 3D was unwatchable to him. Was he wrong to download a 2D version from a torrent site? Personally I think that he was perfectly justified in that download as he really wanted to join the rest of us in the cinema to watch it, and only didn't because they failed to accommodate his needs.

[Inazuma]

I watched the South Park movie twice in theaters, pirated a cam version so I could watch it a few more times, then I bought the DVD when it came out. Oh, and I bought the soundtrack too.

That Uncle Fucka song was so catchy.