Does the hunt on piracy piss off anyone else here?

[Hatta]

monitor really? do you add the cost of an hd tv when buying an hd
console?

Yes. Yes I do. That's a large part of why I have no Xbox 360 yet.

[jp1]

@JP1

What you're saying is a bit of a paradox. If a person has access to the DRM free version (IE the superior product) what incentive is there to go out and purchase the DRM version (the inferior product). These companies need to learn that to combat piracy they need to offer a superior product to the pirates. The implied illegality of piracy isn't enough to put people off pirating, so these companies need to try a different tact.

I agree with that. I was simply saying that the people that claim to take a moral high ground by pirating because of DRM don't have a very valid argument they could choose to still support the developer and have a DRM free product. Of course there isn't any real incentive to do so other than having "done the right thing".

I don't do a lot of current gen gaming so I haven't had any real problems with DRM but as a consumer if I purchase something and it doesn't work properly I would be pissed. If the option was available to me to fix the problem I would take it. My last concern would be if the company that sold it was "OK" with me doing so.

I think some of the nicer ways to circumvent piracy are the pack in controllers or other bonuses that add something to the game rather than punishing those that purchase it. If companies do indeed want the game to be treated as both intellectual property and physical property they should start making a bigger effort to treat it that way.

The last type of DRM I dealt with was "enter the last 4 digits of the last word on the second paragraph of page 15 in the manual."

[fastbilly1]

The last type of DRM I dealt with was "enter the last 4 digits of the last word on the second paragraph of page 15 in the manual."

My favorite will always be the code wheel for Lucasarts Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain

[Inazuma]

The DRM aspect of the argument doesn't hold much water as far as I'm concerned. You can purchase the game and then download the DRM free (pirated) version online. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Using DRM as an excuse for piracy makes little sense.


Anyone that will say it is wrong to download the DRM free version after you purchased the game retail should seriously reevaluate the way they think. It is one thing to want to do the right thing and have morals about it but it is an entirely different thing to be brain washed by corporations into screwing yourself out of the rights you should be entitled to.

I love video games and I have high morals. If there is a new computer game I want to play, and I find out it has some annoying DRM, I cannot buy it for moral reasons. I will either download a hacked DRM free version or skip it altogether. Anything is better than supporting DRM methods that annoy the customer. I want to help the game industry get better, so supporting these horrible DRM methods would be the opposite of that.

There are times when doing something illegally can be more morally correct than doing something legally, and I think this is a great example of that. As soon as these game creators get their act together and ditch the DRM, I will gladly give them money to encourage it.

[aaron]

There are times when doing something illegally can be more morally correct than doing something legally, and I think this is a great example of that. As soon as these game creators get their act together and ditch the DRM, I will gladly give them money to encourage it.

i will agree with the first part of this statement, but i don't think this is a very good example of it. history has shown that all piracy leads to are more obnoxious DRM implementations, those that hurt the real consumer. when i think of someone doing something illegal to prove a moral point (rosa parks, for a simplistic layman's example), they're usually doing something that will help the greater good.

downloading things for yourself because you don't want to pay for them is a selfish act, you either come to terms with this or you don't. i download shit all the time, do i feel bad about it? well, no, but that's because i am a bit of a motherfucker.

[jp1]

The DRM aspect of the argument doesn't hold much water as far as I'm concerned. You can purchase the game and then download the DRM free (pirated) version online. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Using DRM as an excuse for piracy makes little sense.


Anyone that will say it is wrong to download the DRM free version after you purchased the game retail should seriously reevaluate the way they think. It is one thing to want to do the right thing and have morals about it but it is an entirely different thing to be brain washed by corporations into screwing yourself out of the rights you should be entitled to.

I love video games and I have high morals. If there is a new computer game I want to play, and I find out it has some annoying DRM, I cannot buy it for moral reasons. I will either download a hacked DRM free version or skip it altogether. Anything is better than supporting DRM methods that annoy the customer. I want to help the game industry get better, so supporting these horrible DRM methods would be the opposite of that.

There are times when doing something illegally can be more morally correct than doing something legally, and I think this is a great example of that. As soon as these game creators get their act together and ditch the DRM, I will gladly give them money to encourage it.

I'm afraid your moral reasons are misguided. You are actually supporting DRM by downloading the game. If you purchased the game and then downloaded a DRM free version you would get the same thing and also discourage DRM by increasing sales.

Game creators won't stop putting in DRM because people pirate more games...if anything they will find more invasive and stronger types of it.

[Kebo]

Not buying a game because of DRM will do one of the following:

1) Cause them to drop DRM.

2) Cause them to increase the DRM to new levels. After all, if it can't be pirated, you either buy it or don't play it. Most people wouldn't simply choose not to play, say, Starcraft 2.

3) Hurt the PC game industry, slowly killing off exclusive games developed for PC, preventing new studios from opening up or lasting, and so on. This is more or less what's been happening since 2001. Before DRM got to the point it is now.

DRM hasn't been a big problem except in the past few years, and only for select games. What are the excuses for the constant decline since 2001? Xbox? Give me a break. What are the excuses for games without much DRM getting pirated to hell?


How likely is #1? Not likely, given the trend of the PC gaming market right now. If you're a huge developer or make a ridiculously popular game, you can overcome the piracy. Or if you have a strong community of gamers that are willing to support you (Sins of a Solar Empire). But if you don't? You're out of luck, have fun selling 40,000 copies of a game and having 400,000 pirate it. Hell, send the company a generic check out of appreciation for their games if you don't want to specifically support a game with DRM.

[Inazuma]

The DRM aspect of the argument doesn't hold much water as far as I'm concerned. You can purchase the game and then download the DRM free (pirated) version online. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Using DRM as an excuse for piracy makes little sense.


Anyone that will say it is wrong to download the DRM free version after you purchased the game retail should seriously reevaluate the way they think. It is one thing to want to do the right thing and have morals about it but it is an entirely different thing to be brain washed by corporations into screwing yourself out of the rights you should be entitled to.

I love video games and I have high morals. If there is a new computer game I want to play, and I find out it has some annoying DRM, I cannot buy it for moral reasons. I will either download a hacked DRM free version or skip it altogether. Anything is better than supporting DRM methods that annoy the customer. I want to help the game industry get better, so supporting these horrible DRM methods would be the opposite of that.

There are times when doing something illegally can be more morally correct than doing something legally, and I think this is a great example of that. As soon as these game creators get their act together and ditch the DRM, I will gladly give them money to encourage it.

I'm afraid your moral reasons are misguided. You are actually supporting DRM by downloading the game. If you purchased the game and then downloaded a DRM free version you would get the same thing and also discourage DRM by increasing sales.

Game creators won't stop putting in DRM because people pirate more games...if anything they will find more invasive and stronger types of it.

That's an interesting way to look at it. It still wouldn't make me buy something I don't wanna buy though. If the pirated version didn't exist, I still wouldn't buy the game because I don't want the DRM. If the lower game sales end up causing more DRM to get put into games, so be it. I won't give money to people who are trying to sell me DRM, end of story.

[fastbilly1]

PC gaming has other problems it needs to worry about that are just as important as this drm fiasco.

Big titles like Starcraft 2 and Modern Warfare 2 not supporting lan play or dedicated servers is a MAJOR issue and is enough reason for myself and most of my friends to not buy the titles. Even worse, changes like this are simply killing one of the major platforms for PC gaming - the lan party. Sure lanparties have died down in recent years, but they are still there, they still draw large crowds. Piracy of pc games is just going to happen, hell Ive got some on my network right now, but if the only way they can stop it is requiring you to be logged into their server and being pinged for data every few seconds, we are done.

[Niode]

Developers should have a 'donate' button their websites and people should donate money to the company if they pirate it but still want to support the devs. Somebody should seriously do that.

If people donated (which to be honest, I can see quite a lot of people doing) then they essentially get money for the game, that they didn't distribute, it's 100% profit. No packaging and no server fees. I mean, even if they only get a few pounds/dollars from each person that donated, that's still money they might never have gotten anyway.