thoughts on piracy?

[sev]

what do you think of the act of pirating music, movies, games (if applicable), etc? specify reasons if possible

[Sinitron]

most music sucks shit

i have most KMFDM albums which i would not have if i hadn't pirated their stuff first

i should have pirated some games because they turned out to be kind of not worth it

imo if people would stop making so much fucking garbage i would be more inclined to oppose piracy

but as-is, i don't care, people will support things they like and everyone else just pirates crap like linkin park or whatever so fuck it

ubisoft makes shitty games with obnoxious drm and stealing them is thus morally acceptable because they probably spend more money on crappy drm than just making decent games

i don't watch movies a lot they mostly suck but i do sometimes go to the cinema to watch stuff like rango

i pirated some ancient movie a while ago because my friend was like OMG C DIS MUTHAFUCKA and it kind of sucked anyway

pirating good software is a little iffy because even though i wouldn't mind paying for quality it i have trouble affording it and wouldn't make any money off it anyway

[rtil]

i have torrents running pretty much all the time, i even run some torrents. piracy exists for many reasons and expands and enriches media experiences for many people who could not otherwise gain access to it.

piracy is not stealing, piracy is piracy. if i steal something, what was once yours is now mine. when i pirate something, i make a duplicate of what's yours, and now i have one, too.

if i truly enjoy something i pirate and want to have the fulfillment of actually owning it (be it a game with full support and multiplayer, a box set with bonus features and a physical copy, or just the tangibility of it), then i will buy it. if it's music, i will go see them in concert if they're on a label (buying the album doesn't really help them out), and if they're independent, chances are i can just buy a digital copy of their album on a site that doesn't require me to have itunes installed.

piracy exists partly because ease of access to entertainment has not been fully modernized or is inhibited in a way that does not consider the consumer first. take steam, for example, and how easy it is to buy games on steam and how much money people spend on steam. why do they do it? because it's easy. no region locks, no third party, no wait times, no restrictions, no ads, no loopholes. if everything was as easy as steam and offered as good of a service, piracy would only exist for those who simply can't afford a service - because if what you are offering is better than what the pirates offer, why would you take it?

[ZennyPLUS]

DO WHAT YOU WANT CAUSE A PI---wait.

In general sense, I'm against pirating when something is within buying range and availability. For instance, pirating a recent copy of a new game, (say Batman Arkham City) when you can easily buy it. For something as rare as an old NES or Commodore 64 game, it may be best to pirate it since you'll probably never find a copy on the market. Since I'm an aspiring developer, I'd like to view pirating as competition rather than a terrorist hell bent on destroying the good name of gaming (see SOPA).

[naturally]

i pirate things pretty frequently. i don't really think it's "fine" but i don't ever feel guilty about it either. generally when i really enjoy something i pirated i'll end up buying it anyway, but i'm sure that's how most people who pirate things feel.

[cipher]

While I wouldn't say that I'm 100% against it, I try not to do it. I've never really pirated games, but with music it can be tempting (especially with hard to find albums/soundtracks or whatever). I would much rather have money go to the creator of whatever I would be downloading. I feel like I want to support the people who make the things I like, especially if I can afford to. Every now and then I still do it, but I've pretty much narrowed it down to just a few things a year (and usually things as small as a single song, still haven't pirated any games ever). But yeah I used to download a good bit of music when I was younger.

[Sinitron]

For instance, pirating a recent copy of a new game, (say Batman Arkham City) when you can easily buy it.

The difference here is that Arkham City is a sequel being sold at full price, and after countless disastrous attempts at simply cashing in from the popularity of one game it would almost be justified to pirate it first to make sure it was a quality product, at least if there is no demo available. That's a point too, if there is no way to sample a game or whatever I am inherently suspicious that the developers know it's shit and just want to you to buy before you can try it out.

Ryan's point about Steam is also good, I have hundreds of games on Steam, many of which I previously owned through retail such as Serious Sam, because it's all very convienient and doesn't feel like I'm trying to eat a rubber boot when trying to buy something. The only drawback is that Steam doesn't seem optimized for people who do own a lot of games, as it tends to be more sluggish to start when I have more games installed, and if I reformat my computer I have to manually select every game I wish to install instead of checking a list or something and clicking 'install all', that would have been a nice feature.

[dilly]

I FUCKING LOVE PIRACY



SHIVER ME TIMBERS

[put]

I pirated arkham city cus it comes with gfwl, that shit's almost as bad as origin

[Sinitron]

I pirated arkham city cus it comes with gfwl, that shit's almost as bad as origin

yeah this is an example of what i mean, gfwl is really irritating and bad and does nothing but make people *want* to pirate shit

also dilly the MPAA, RIAA, FBI and local county police department are comin for yer plunder, best grow a beard if you care for your booty

[zhicago]

i havent bought an album in well over 6 years but if i hadnt been pirating music, and thereby learning about new bands and torrenting their albums to see how i felt about the music, i would have neevr been able to spend the hundreds of dollars i have spent in the same 6 years going to see the bands in concert. without torrenting (and many years ago, p2p wire programs) im sure i would still be confined to what was being played on the radio, so the bands i like are actually benefitting from the simple fact i even know about them through music sharing

[sev]

i feel like if something is easily accessible and free, you can't expect the world to want to pay for it. no one should have to pay for something they can essentially get for free. it's a little bit different per medium of entertainment, but it's sort of broken down like this for me:

cartoons, anime, "shows", etc., i will just about always stream or snag off the internet somehow. there are really only two other choices -- sync up your schedule of whatever you do during the day with the time it airs live on television, or buy individual dvd's or box-sets whenever publishers end up putting those out. the former i've never enjoyed. i find watching things on tv to be kind of antiquated and inconvenient, and think that its sort of amazing it hasn't wholly been replaced by the internet. unless there's something i really want to catch on my 90-channel basic cable (lol), i will pretty much always watch whatever it is on my own time.

film i treat differently. with new showings, i consider going to the movies an awesome life experience in its own way and will always take a seat at the theater when something interesting or reputable comes out. when it comes to old films that i missed, i feel really differently -- when a film's (or anything, really) showtime has passed, i've always felt like it's fair game and has no reason not to be free.

comics, manga, books, graphic novels and other forms of written/drawn material, it depends on whether i care about owning it. i can't ever see myself buying a digital copy of any form of literature, no. sometimes it's worth it to buy a hard copy of a book, comic, etc that actually matters to me, and comics/manga have collector's value -- and while i am not a collector of really anything (i probably own few enough things to pack into a pickup truck and travel cross-country with), i can understand why other people would want at least hard copies those sorts of things.

music is the big one, definitely, and my opinion on that one is kind of considered a dick opinion, but i'd be surprised if there's absolutely no one here that shares it with me: i think that digital copies of songs should always, unconditionally have the option to be downloaded for free. if i want to go to concerts to support musicians i like, i'll do that, because that actually supports them, but i seriously don't give a fuck about record labels. indie musicians, (though the term "indie" is thrown around like currency) if i like them enough, will usually be worth the money because i feel like i'm actually supporting them by buying their shit. that's why i like it when people release a "pay what you want" kind of deal, because the artist is actually getting exactly what the world feels like they deserve, and people can easily and freely enjoy their music. i think music is different from other things due to how different it is as a creative medium. music obviously comes in shorter packages than film, literature and games, and thus takes less time to experience, but you also don't need your full attention to enjoy it. where film, literature, and games are an actual experience that you spend your time on, music is something you can have in the background while you do other things. this is taken out of play with concerts, which is where i've always been told musicians actually make bank. live performance is part of what makes music so unique and amazing, part of what's always made it so unique and amazing. it's also why i respect quality performers a lot more than people who only sound good on tracks.

finally games. this is where perspective really comes into play, because before i cared about wanting to be a game developer, i'd pirate pretty much anything i could, and begrudgingly threw down coin on steam games (unless other people like Sinitron graciously bought said games for me) because there wasn't really any alternative. however, after getting older, being able to actually spend my own money and beginning to care about the time that goes into game development, i have become a little bit more biased and i actually do love owning copies of games, digital or otherwise. that's sort of a collector instinct though like i mentioned before, so in a lot of ways the factors that justify paying for things are different for different people -- to each their own. games i feel though, are different, and i always feel alright paying for a good one. i mentioned how i feel about life experiences -- things like watching a film, getting through a series, or even going to a concert is a step up from something more peripheral like listening to a song, but i feel like in some ways, i can consider video games a whole different animal from every other form of entertainment. games have the power to provide a sort of deeper immersion that makes them so unique in their own way; you're actually fully engaged in the experience, using your actual motor capabilities to progress as well as taking in the aesthetics provided by the developers through the art, music and writing. that's why i sort of frown when i see games that are literally just stories in the form of games when there's a whole other dimension of perception that can be used to make the experience even stronger.

tl;dr:
i will usually get things for free if it's possible and easily accessible. as for what's worth buying, it depends on the person. to me, if it has collector's value or can be a cool life experience, it's worth paying for because that's fulfilling and enriching -- exactly what i feel like entertainment should always be to the audience that enjoys it. i'm a little biased about music and games in different directions, but i will always go to a concert performed by an artist/band i like near my town if i know about it, and conversely, i do think that the price of some of the big game titles released these days are ridiculous and in a lot of cases, consider getting a game cheap or even free to be a logical choice.

texta walla. i think there's nothing wrong with getting things for free. if you don't want your shit being "pirated", make it something not worth pirating, like online play/content exclusive to a game's native server, or a concert tour, or a first-time showing at a theater. otherwise, it's fair territory.

[Crabarms]

I have lost a few cd keys and I don't really want to spend more money on something I already own. Some games though I will buy more then one copy because the game was that good. Emulation has made it easier to revisit old games without having to switch around different consoles and controllers that take up space and time.

Don' t have that much music and probably much less than anyone here. Most of it is made by you guys.

Will not spend much on software that I will not use that much or make money off of. Or I use alternative programs that are just like it or even better.

Probably seen tons of old television and movies nothing new or recent have been seen.

[Sef]

The rare instance where I use money to obtain music is when I receive an iTunes card, aside from that Ill torrent. The only time I actually torrent a game is when its under 2 gigabytes, aside from that Ill make the money, or save it up, and purchase it through steam. and since I rarely have the desire to watch television or movies, I never really torrent either.

[ExistingViolation]

Im conflicted on the issue of piracy. Its true that Hollywood is suffering from the rise in piracy. What people are forgetting is the entertainment industry gives a lot of artisans jobs. But at the same time, It's 15$ a ticket to see a movie. 25 to 40$ for a Blu-ray/Dvd and 60$ for a new game. Often times, whatever it is you're buying is shitty and you didnt know it, and the resale value is shit because the uber deluxe doki doki version just came out. And Im certainly not gonna throw money into the waste-hole that is today's pop culture when I can download it for free and decide to spend the money after I know what Im getting.  What im saying is, if you dont want your shit stolen, make it too good to steal. I will willingly part with my money to support art, but I refuse to reward hollywood for the crap they produce.

[Sinitron]

yeah hollywood sucks ass

[ZennyPLUS]

I don't pirate a game to demo it and see if I like it. I get the word of fellow gamers and reviewers and I based my decision on that. I guess I'm old school when it comes to that stuff. It's funny, with all this technology using advanced communication, people still don't have the ability to learn about something that's within reach. Piracy arose because the industries weren't fast enough to cope with the change in technology, hackers learned about their products and ripped through the sources, uploading said content to the Internet. Now the industry is fighting back against piracy, treating it like the new wave of terrorism to hit the U.S. with their b.s. bill SOPA.

Adding exclusive items and content to their products is one way to keep their customers. A smart businessman said once that piracy is not a plague but another form of competition. I agree with that entirely, and it should be treated as such. rtil makes a good point, if the product from the businessman is better than the pirated crap, why go for the pirated?

[sev]

i am also totally not afraid to admit that i often find independent things a lot better. a lot of things that are indie just have more heart and soul in them rather than being designed to make as much money as possible. the criteria for art and entertainment being "successful", to me, should be about how much people actually liked it rather than the amount of copies it sold. of course, since the former is not economical, the latter is inescapable.

sometimes people get too caught up in that whole idea though and make really boring, bland things and pretend it's for super refined tastes, or something. like some indie games these days that are basically interactive poems, shit like that is just pretentious

[Casey Pixmintro]

First time I ever felt guilty about torrenting something was Louis CK's comedy special he released directly online a couple weeks ago. Mainly because you know you were taking money directly from him. It didn't stop me from torrenting it. I tried buying it and after realizing my PayPal shat out on me, then I ended up downloading it... Then got it gifted to me from someone else the next day.

[ZennyPLUS]

like some indie games these days that are basically interactive poems, shit like that is just pretentious

Lmfao