Making piracy right

[RCBH928]

So I won't lie , I do pirate some stuff and I would like to make that right. I thought that for whatever media I pirate I will pay for. But then I get into this problem.

Movies/TV shows:

movies are probably the easiest of the bunch. I can go to iTunes and choose RENT which only costs $3 a movie. Fair price. But then again, there are some movies that has no RENT option forcing you to buy the movie that you do not want to buy. You just want to view it once. Why should I pay full price? $15 per movie.

and then you have the HD price and the SD price. Do you think that I should pay the HD price if my pirated media was viewed in HD?

As for TV episodes, there is no rent option last I seen. You have to buy it. But I do not want it. So should I buy a used DVD/Bluray copy and then resell it for the same price? Does this make sense? SHould I buy a new copy and sell it as "used" and lose some money on it and that would be the fee?

should I go to my DVD rental store(yes they still exist here) and pay him a rent for 30 movies and tell him "I have seen those already , just keep the money I do not want to take them out?" What if he uses pirated copies in the first place? (pirated copies and originals rent for same price)

What gets to me is, if I pay only $8 for netflix then I can see all the shows and movies I want . So shall I just pay netflix $8 and just play all the movies I have watched already back-to-back over a month's time, will that make it right? But even Netflix won't allow me to sign up because I am NOT in the USA. I can use a VPN and fool them, so would that be legal or illegal? I know that Americans would use a VPN to access US only content when they are on travel.

Should I pay a rent AGAIN, if I ever rented a pirated movie/series , even if the original is rented for the same price?
Can you provide a solution?

Games:

Current games is easy. I can pay for the digital version and never download it(since I have it) and no shipping fee. But what if no digital version exists? SHould I buy a used copy and then resell it? Or should I tell the seller, I will buy this game from you for $10 and sell it back to you for $7 . There, did I make it right now?

The problem is with retro games. I am not sure how a developer would benefit from me buying a Genesis game. Sure, if there is a port/remake on a newer device (Wiiware , iOS, GOG) I can buy that and it will fix it I guess. But sometimes that option does not exist. What if the game turned out to be rare and now it costs MORE than its original retail price? SHould I pay for the whole thing?

What if prices differ from one place to the other. Say I played pirated a 360 game that is in retail for $40 , but on Steam its only $20 . Should I pay the $20 , does that make it right?


****************

This might sound weird but my solution is that all content providers should have like an account just for this kind of thing. Where they say "If you pirated game/movie X , pay $10 and that will make it right" . So like Capcom can have their whole library since the first game they published and people can just send over money through paypal or whatever to have a clear conscience . The problem is, will the FBI track back and hold you responsible for these actions?

I'd love to hear a solution

[AppleQueso]

I think you're overthinking it.

Nobody but you knows what you have pirated and what you haven't. Nobody's going to know what you have and haven't 'made right' either.

If it makes you feel bad, just don't pirate in the future.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

^ ding ding!

I vote if you can't afford it just go without, it may suck sure, but there are plenty of free or abandonware games to enjoy your time with now.

I don't really have an issue with piracy unless what is being pirated is easily bought from a retailer still.

I don't think Sega makes much money on Saturn and Dreamcast games anymore.

[Luke]

I'm very anti-theft on all issues. Making copies of stuff you own though is fine by me.

I do, however, love when a friend touts "I just downloaded DJANGO UNCHAINED" and the movie is in terrible quality/has no sound/ is corrupted/contains a virus/etc.

Wait.

Are we doing another piracy thread? Don't we already have a thread for that?

[Ivo]

I like this thread's concept!

(...)
movies are probably the easiest of the bunch. I can go to iTunes and choose RENT which only costs $3 a movie. Fair price. But then again, there are some movies that has no RENT option forcing you to buy the movie that you do not want to buy. You just want to view it once. Why should I pay full price? $15 per movie.

and then you have the HD price and the SD price. Do you think that I should pay the HD price if my pirated media was viewed in HD?

For all of them, I support buying used and as I discussed in threads about used games, people that buy used ARE supporting the creators / publishers of that particular game / movie / work. This is not a rationalization.

The following are to some extent rationalizations, so it will be a bit more personal.

For movies, you can try the following - if the movie is old enough that it was aired on (free) TV and you could have seen it, don't pay. By then it is covered by advertising, and you could have gone to the toilet or something when the ads were showing.

For TV shows, the same applies but they usually air on (free) TV sooner...

Your Netflix comparison is another interesting one, although I presume that Netflix does compensate the providers more or less according to the number of people viewing it, I'm pretty sure it will do so on a much less granular scale than "title by title".
In any case, I don't know how Netflix works, but if they count views regardless of watching the whole movie, you could make a list of the stuff you want to "support", pay the minimum amount of months you can (I suppose 12?) and before that time is up, get everything else you want to pirate as counting as "viewed" by you so that Netflix would support the respective providers accordingly.

Regarding HD and SD, I think you should feel no qualms about "paying" for SD version while viewing the HD one UNLESS they remastered / re-recorded it in HD or explicitly filmed it with better cameras - then they incurred extra costs to produce the HD version and you perhaps should consider supporting them with a higher amount than otherwise (regardless of the means you use to support them).

SHould I buy a used copy and then resell it? Or should I tell the seller, I will buy this game from you for $10 and sell it back to you for $7 . There, did I make it right now?

In my opinion, yes - but many people here in the forum think that used games do not support the industry at all (which is an inconsistent point of view, so it has to be wrong; my point of view is consistent, which does not mean it is correct, but at least it can be correct).

What if the game turned out to be rare and now it costs MORE than its original retail price? SHould I pay for the whole thing?

If you buy a used game for a premium over the original price, you are supporting the original retail price of the game entirely, and the extra (discounting the adjustment for inflation and interest / opportunity cost) is just "supporting" the seller for taking care of it in the meantime.

This might sound weird but my solution is that all content providers should have like an account just for this kind of thing. Where they say "If you pirated game/movie X , pay $10 and that will make it right" .

I agree they should do that, but most providers want you to pay full price, period. I'm glad for the many "Pay what you want" efforts appearing in games now.

You can also (instead of buying used) support the same company indirectly by buying a new game - often not the same developers though. So if you played 20 Capcom games and think 60/20 is a fair price for each, buy a new Capcom game for 60.

Ivo.

[8bit]

Like the others have said... you are over thinking this. Just pirate and keep it to yourself or don't do it at all. Spending any money on used items will do nothing for publishers of the content so buying new is really your only option and obviously goes against the reason you pirated in the first place.

Pirating and trying to make up for it later is just dumb IMHO.

[Hazerd]

If a game cant be bought NEW from retail anymore, or digital, then it's fair game imo.

With that said, Xenoblade Chronicles is open game for pirating!!!!

[BurningDoom]

I'm very anti-theft on all issues. Making copies of stuff you own though is fine by me.

This is exactly how I feel on it. I also don't consider it piracy when you download never released or fan-made stuff like Starfox 2 or Zelda: Parallel Worlds.

[8bit]

If a game cant be bought NEW from retail anymore, or digital, then it's fair game imo.

With that said, Xenoblade Chronicles is open game for pirating!!!!

I bought Xenoblade Chronicles new from gamestop last week. Stocks are dwindling though... so I understand if its not at the gamestop near you. However considering the massive fan uproar that it took to get the game localized... this is the one time I would urge someone to seek the game out brand new from gamestop so that Nintendo continues to see the demand for new high quality games that are not their usual series.

[Hobie-wan]

I don't pretend to be perfect, but I'm a lot better than I used to be. That being said, entertainment is a luxury, not a necessity. Nobody is going to die if they can't play or watch something. Content creators like to eat too and no matter how many layers of corporate bullshit and asanine payment schedules are piled on top for things currently available on the market, someone still took time to create it. If you liked something that is no longer available for purchase in a manner that benefits the creator, consider their future projects, then at least the older stuff worked as inoffensive advertisement.