I hate gaming piracy

[Box]

I literally hate this. There is no justification for it. The only time I could see it being "ok" is if there is no other way to get an OLD game via official means (ex: The Battle for Middle Earth: Rise of the Witch King)

1. "But I need it/can't afford it"
No, this is not an acceptable excuse. Gaming is a luxury, not a necessity. A piece of bread for a dirt-poor family is a necessity. You're playing the newest game on the market is not a necessity. There are a lot of luxuries people can't afford IRL, that doesn't mean they are entitled to something a rich person has.

2. "DRM is intrusive"
Quote:
"2D Boy's World of Goo was released without DRM, and the creators said they trusted their audience. One of the two-man development team, Ron Carmel, noted afterwards that he was seeing multiple torrents with 500 seeders and 300 leechers, and added that the piracy rate was at about 90%. This was 2D Boy's reward for trusting PC gamers."

To act as if people wouldn't pirate games if there was no DRM is laughable.

3. "I wasn't going to buy it anyway"
BULLCRAP you weren't. If you had no way to obtain it illegally, and you wanted to play it badly, eventually you'd cave and buy it. If you had zero intention of buying it, you shouldn't be playing it AT ALL.

4. "The game isn't up to my standards, I won't pay for this piece of junk"
...but you'll still pirate it and play it. lol

I am starting to have a lot of contempt for the PC gamer community that thinks pirating is justifiable. You are the reason we have annoying DRM. You are the reason we are getting F2P models with microtransaction gouging. Sony games on PC are pirated by millions of people.

Perhaps I don't like seeing polite/passionate devs that trust the gaming community by not putting DRM in their PC games getting crapped on with 90% piracy rate.

 

[Snes nes]

I do agree with this. whether your pirating or not you Still are using that product and utilizing piracy does Make some products more popular as time goes on.

 

[historia]

ok what do you think about titles that devs no longer sell but they still throw fit about like a certain company named N?

 

[Box]

ok what do you think about titles that devs no longer sell but they still throw fit about like a certain company named N?

My first point already addrsses that question.

My problem is people pirating games that are already available, PC gamers poet beg Sony to put their games on PC only for them to pirate it.

 

[Vertigo]

I’m against stealing unless it’s from the government. In that case… fuck em good

 

[Zzero]

I don't like it either but can understand why people choose emulating for, for example, things that came out prior to the two thousands or that just don't work on modern systems. Even "official" solutions" like NSO are just so damn limited compared to even a basic emulator.

 

[TaySan]

I wont get on my high horse about it especially for games that are no longer on the market and are unreasonably expensive to obtain. But if they are still commercially available I highly recommend you purchase to support games like those being made if you have the means to do so.

 

[Darth Vader]

IMO piracy would also be lower if developers released demos for their games. I know quite a few people that just download to test, and then either buy or just don't play anymore.

 

[MiyazakiLovesKojima]

 

[Falcs]

IMO piracy would also be lower if developers released demos for their games. I know quite a few people that just download to test, and then either buy or just don't play anymore.

I used to do this a lot.
I pirated Skyrim because I'd never played an Elder Scrolls game at the time and had no idea what it was. I loved it so then bought it on Steam.
I pirated a few FIFA games back in the early 2010's or something to see if I liked them. I didn't, so I deleted them.
I also used to pirate old games from the 90s that I couldn't find any other way to get my hands on 'em.

Did I break the law? Yes.
Was it stealing? Not in my opinion.
Would I do it again? Probably not. I don't have enough free time anymore. I just buy what I know I will play.
Would I download a car? Of course!

 

[ksdixon]

C'mon bro I was like 10 or something, and the guy had WWF SD2 for £5, lol.

I still appreciate jailbreaking to make devices more usable/accessible, but I think that's separate to piracy, piracy denotes looking to not pay for something, right?

 

[8BiTw0LF]

I think piracy is a civil duty - especially when piracy can deliver a better product. That's the only way to truly give the finger to those corporate fucks who thinks they can release stuff with DRM, commercials and subpar resolution for movies and shows.

I have a Spotify family subsription (~$27 ) and YouTube premium created through Turkish VPN (~$3) - and that's only to be able to have everything synchronized on all my units. I go to the cinema occasionally and I buy 95% of all new games I want to play.

I should have pirated Starfield cause that shit has been one of the worst experiences for me in a loong time - but I bought the premium edition and it feels bad. Bethesda and Microsoft haven't earned my trust to receive my money in the future.

 

[JAHGamer]

I kind of agree with you, if you live in a first world country and have the means to purchase a game there's no excuse to pirate. But I know people in 3rd world countries that work 60 hours a week and will still never come close to affording a full priced game if prices aren't localized, I don't blame them for pirating at all. If you love gaming and want to keep the hobby going, you should support it as best as you can.

I hate when I go to check Steam reviews and people are just crying that the game has DRM, yes sometimes it can mess with a games performance but a lot of the time it doesn't. Like Lies of P, that game is very well optimized, runs flawlessly on even low end hardware, but because it has DRM, PC idiots still cry in the reviews about it. Makes no sense to me, whats wrong with a small studio protecting their product that took years of hard work?!? Same with HiFi Rush, one of the best games of the year and it only costs $30, runs perfectly on all levels of hardware, but people still complain that it has DRM so they won't support it.

I think these clowns are just looking for any excuse to pirate. There is even an entire PC launcher that's dedicated to optimizing the experience of pirating games, these guys are just entitled leeches.

 

[Nomen_Nescio]

This is definitely not a black/white situation. Yes, it is illegal and not OK, but there ARE exceptions. Pirating a shitty game made by a massive corporation (whether just to try it or to play all of it) is absolutely OK. Pirating games that have intrusive DRM systems and mess up the performance drastically is OK. Pirating if you are too poor to afford it is OK (whether it is because you are a kid wo income or live in a shithole). Don't give me that "games are a luxury" crap, kids are way more expensive and most people still have them and most people think that is OK. We bought pirated games when I was a kid, had we not the games industry would be poorer for it today. How many people are in the same situation, that grew to love games by pirating them as kids and are now buying them as adults? I still sometimes pirate games to try them (only games genres that are dominant on PC like RTS or sim games), because a new, fully priced game will cost me a weeks worth of work. Steam sales help greatly with that though. Another thing I do not like is that I do not actually own digital games, they could all be taken away in a moment and that is not enticing to a paying customer.

 

[Falcs]

I pirated ~85% of all SNES games that I ever played when I was in my teens because I was poor.
I pirated most Sega Genesis games too because I was poor.
I purchased pirated/copied PS1 games for my modded PS1 console because I was poor.
I pirated PC games from the 90s/00s because I was poor.

I spent 1000s of hours gaming in my youth thanks to piracy.
Now as a adult with my own money, I spend 1000s of dollars in gaming because that's what I grew up doing, it's what I love to do, and if I hadn't been able to do it as a kid I may not enjoy it now.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm justified.