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If you’re rocking pirated software, you can still ask for help online from other users through any number of forums, but beyond that you’ll be out of luck. In order to grab the attention of any publisher sanctioned helplines, chats, or other resources, software users require either a legitimate activation key or a support code provided after activation. While this might not be a big issue for most users, it’s definitely a let down for individuals unable to overcome software related glitches, freezes, and fails. That’s what you get when you procure something for nothing.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking video, audio, or software (or audio/video software for that matter,) piracy can land you in a whole lot of hot water. In 1998, the United States passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act - a piece of legislation that makes it illegal to circumvent DRM measures put in place by content creators and publishers. To keep things more or less on the same page, the European Union passed a similar set of laws in 2001. Despite changes made to the American DMCA last year to legitimize the ripping of CDs, DVDs and other select forms of digital media for personal use, make no mistake, big business is still deadly serious about suing to protect their investments. Don’t drop a ton of coin on your legal defence: just pay for what you play instead.
While the rumours of the death of PC Gaming may be greatly exaggerated, software piracy has definitely left the industry looking a little browbeaten. This past week, word came down from the DRM-loving scamps at Ubisoft that one of their most anticipated titles won’t be released for PC due to—you guessed it—piracy concerns. Looking at the numbers, you have to admit, those fears are well founded. When 2D Boy’s World of Goo was released for the PC sans DRM, the developers noted that as reward for trusting gamers not to pirate their creation, they were suffering a 90% piracy rate. Then there’s Crysis: A title pirated to such epic proportions that the game’s development, which was at one time devoted solely to developing for the PC, was forced to swear off PC-only development if it wanted to stand a chance of securing anything resembling fiscal sustainability.
If you’re tired of crappy console-to-PC ports, Xbox 360 or PS3 exclusives titles and long for the days when PC Gaming reigned supreme, stop torrenting and start buying. It’s still not too late to turn things around.
No matter how you spin it, for the most part, software development is a business like any other. When a developer’s product flies off of store shelves or is downloaded through legitimate channels, developers and publishers are motivated to cultivate improvements to their wares, be it in the form of additional content or service packs or an entirely new edition of a popular application. Conversely, more piracy means less money for developers and publishers. This translates into less motivation to produce add-ons, patches or hot-fixes for existing titles, and in some cases, as too few people are buying what they’re selling, there's no money in the pipe to be used for future development efforts.
Perhaps out of all of our legitimate reasons not to pirate, the fact that you’re screwing hard working developers over every time you download a pirated ware is the most important. When it comes to software, most titles represent months, if not years of someone’s daily work. If you’ve opted to swipe a copy of an indie house gem, you’re benefitting from the passions of perhaps a few individuals without paying them a reasonable dollar value for the the hours and hours of their personal time poured into their product. If enough people illegally download software from large publishing houses like EA or Ubisoft or Microsoft, the dollar value of the revenue lost to pirating is often compensated for by initiating lay-offs of the development teams that worked hard enough to make something awesome enough to steal in the first place. With tough economic times quickly becoming the norm, rather than the exception, it’s easy to justify the theft of intellectual property, but screwing over your fellow geeks in the name of saving a few bucks? That’s harsh.
Comments are closed on this article
phaseone
December 05, 2011 at 1:42am
Are you serious? Really? This is a PC magazine website, the majority of people here actually know what they are doing and you come up with a reason like that to pirate? Please before making silly comments look it up before posting, there are many ways to watch different region DVDs and none of them invole pirating the DVDs.
livebriand
December 02, 2011 at 6:12pm
Stability: never had a problem there. If it's a movie or mp3, that's not applicable.
Storage: If it's that big of an issue, go burn a copy to a DVD, stick it in the closet, and delete the setup files from your hard drive. You can also put it in a 7-zip archive split by 100MB or so, and upload it to skydrive (the split aleviates their per file spsace limit), so that you can download it if needed.
Updates: This is only applicable with software, and even adobe CS5 and office 2010 update just fine even though I have pirated copies.
DRM: Those companies will put DRM in the product anyway, and if you pirate you can avoid it, so why not?
Malware: Just check the comments on the torrent first and you'll be fine. I've never had a malware issue with them.
No Tech Support: I've NEVER contacted tech support, EVER, in my entire life. Typically, a little searching on forums will net you a solution. Worst case, legitmately buy the software.
Legal Issues: Use a proxy when downloading and you probably won't get caught, or you can use a public wifi hotspot to do that. It's pretty rare that you'll get sued anyway.
Killing PC Gaming: Look, Ubisoft is an asshole that puts DRM in their games anyway. The thing is, whether the game can be pirated or not, I still won't buy it. If piracy isn't an option, I'll just live without the software. My attitude toward Adobe CS is that way - I pirated it because it costs so much, but I just about never use it, so they won't get my money even if I can't pirate. Actually, I uninstalled adobe cs the other day to save a little disk space and get rid of its' services and such.
Slows R&D Efforts: What about music and movies from big companies that make TONS of revenue already? And again, there are lots of people who just don't have much money and won't buy the software legimately; if they can't pirate they'll live without it.
You're Screwing Developers: Well, maybe. But again, with music and movies, it's all going into the pockets of the rich executives of the movie studios or record companies. In that case, piracy is fine with me.
Also, I often pirate to see if I like a program, try the whole thing out, and then I'll consider buying if I think it's worth it.
HydroHam
December 02, 2011 at 4:12pm
"No Tech Support" This shouldn't even be on the list since tech support hardly ever helps users. Most people fix there problems by doing a Google search and tackling the problems themselves.
"You're Screwing Developers" Oh yeah? Well, developers screw us with their buggy, unstable, incomplete products. Oh, and add in the fact that a lot of companies (like id Software and Acronis) ignore problems and write them off as nonexistant. A lot of people who bought RAGE a few months ago STILL can't play because id Software hasn't addressed the problems. Complete silence from them other than Carmack's snide remarks on how the PC sucks. As for Acronis, they screwed up BIG time with their latest edition of True Image Home. Most of the backup features don't work correctly and cause OS instability. What's worse is the uninstaller. Using the uninstaller corrupts the OS. Perhaps if developers stopped screwing the customers with broken and buggy software, more people would buy their products.
hollanddjw
December 07, 2011 at 3:57pm
The reason they're so buggy is because people pirate their software, hence cutting their R+D budget. You may say, "oh, but I didn't take their product, so they lose nothing," but the truth is that you're preventing them from making more money, hence preventing them from delivering a flawless, bug-free product.
Wonko33
December 05, 2011 at 1:31pm
if their products are bad don't buy them and move on, but you want to play the game so much you steal it, how does that make any sense? If you waited 2 days and read reviews you would have known Rage was a buggy pile of crap so the "I wanted to demo it" excuse is just lame too.
phaseone
December 02, 2011 at 1:40pm
After reading all the comments so far, I still see no reason to pirate software period. Not one person has put forward anything resembling a good reason for it. The problem with the people that support or atleast condone pirate software is the fact that it is illegal. Pirating software is the same as walking into gamestop or your favorite store and grabbing what you want and walking out the front door without paying for it. You people on here trying to defend it and giving these really lame excuses just shows how bad people are.
livebriand
December 02, 2011 at 6:13pm
If you pirate, you're not stealing the physical media that someone else otherwise would have bought. And if you are someone who still won't buy software, even if piracy isn't an option, then it doesn't matter to them since either way they won't get any revenue from you.
phaseone
December 05, 2011 at 1:38am
Are you really that ignorant? Please I do not mean that in a angry sort of way I am just trying to be plain here. The medium that any software/game is distributed in is not in and of itself the software. The makers of software programs and games are not restriced to the phyiscal media that it is placed in therefore any taking or using of the software or game without actually paying for it is stealing. There is no way around it. Pirated software is just that hacking and in some cases ripping it and using it without paying for it. Using any pirated software is like using manual labor from someone without ever paying them for it, be it a lawn service, mechanic or what have you.
Nikon285
December 02, 2011 at 1:25pm
For all the games I've ever acquired through piracy and enjoyed playing (quite a few) I search Steam or other similar sites EVERY DAY for discount deals of those games. I suppose it makes me feel better that I'm supporting the developers (not quite like I would have at the full retail price...hence my "attempt at atonement"). Regardless, I feel better about it when I see those titles in my Steam games list. Plus its helpful knowing I can delete those saved images from my external drive (with prices up on hard drives space is more valuable) and finally enjoy the ease of installing those games after each reformat with a few mouse clicks.
Funny, cause although I'm not pirating games for my consoles, I almost always buy used games to save cash. I may be wrong, but I don't think developers see a dime of that. At least through Steam I'm doing more to support PC titles. (more justification perhaps)
LatiosXT
December 02, 2011 at 12:11pm
With the advent of digital distribution, I find the space a problem anyway. The only reason why I upgraded my hard drives in the past three years was because I didn't want to bother downloading any of my games from Steam, Direct2Drive, or GoG.
Deviate
December 02, 2011 at 12:08pm
I get the feeling this is a can-o-worms topic that should have never been brought up.
It's basically like conservatives vs liberals. There is no end to this debate. Like someone said below, people are going to do whatever they want and come up with any reason to rationalize and justify it.
Athlonite
December 02, 2011 at 10:57am
also to all those nay sayers out there there's just as much IP theft going on for console games as there is for PC games
WellTheresGotToBeOne
December 02, 2011 at 9:01am
Well i give you a 11th reason... You have the money...
Couldn´t disagree more with the implicit argument of many postlers that a 15 y. old kid who "pirates" a game he couldn´t buy does in fact shoplifting.
I don´t pirate most stuff couse i´m 27 years old, single, and earn enaugh money to support the next album, next game, next season of the stuff i like. quite strange that when i buy a cd i can lend it to my friends or neighbours, but when i buy it on iTunes (which i won´t do unless someone holds a gun to my head) i can´t go to the most beutiful girl around and say:"listen to it, my number is on the disc!".
If you really think that a guy who had the bad luck to be born into a place on the earth where his work (with same quality & same amount) is value 10 times less than ours (who are born or are working on the rich "valued" places on earth) is stealing by copying a season of a show or an album from britney spears... Then you can go and fuck yoursef! (No offence, i was just kiddin & makin a point.)
btw the piracy ads in cinemas... You know: "You wouldn´t steal a car..." where simply an offence to everyone. The argument that someone who watches a film in a small pc screen with the bad quality of a video recorded movie is "stealing" the movie expirience is simply absurd...
Greetings & have a nice weekend.
!!!!!!!!!!!PRIVATE PIRACY WITHOUT REVENUE IS NOT STEALING!!!!!!!!!
h e x e n
December 02, 2011 at 5:21am
I know I don't pirate and that's all I can really do.
Everytime I try to convince someone not to, I get an endless stream of rationalization on why it's OK to pirate. I've figured out it doesn't matter what I say, people rationalize their behavior and actions to suit their needs, whether it's morally vacant or not.
t.y.wan
December 01, 2011 at 10:47pm
If you know what you are doing, and knows how to do it well.
Pirated games and softwares are USUALLY better than their retail counterparts...
Stability.
My Old pc came with a version of XP and it is unstable, performance wise, weak.
Then, I installed the modded version, so called improved version, with a lot of craps removed, seriously, who really needs tablet input devices, Media Center and loads of other useless services?
The few that I used actually yield better performance and stability.My Newer PC which is a notebook, came with win7 and weirdly enough, it just have random BSODs...
Did the obvious, reinstalled win7, didn't work... RMA it, then it works - -" I don't think "LEGIT / LEGAL" softwares are any more stable...Storage.
Are you serious? With that much terrabyte drives found in the streets at fairly decent prices (which would be lower if Thailand didn't have a flood...)
Why would it be that much important...
Taking me for example, I have a 50GB C: (partitioned from a 320GB 7200rpm drive), a 500GB D: (which is usually 410GB free...) and a 50GB E: which is also not quite full...
I am not saying I broke any laws or whatever, but it seems like system restore and microsoft office's cache takes up more than most other stuffs... (with a default settings, which I had to change after each time I format the pc...)Updates.
Jesus... Win7, XP, Photoshop, Sony Vegas and many many others which is pirated have updates available within 2 weeks of releasing...
And most of the times, I hated those "new changes" they made... Like the latest version of MSN, Skype, and Alcohol120%...
Yet, I had no choice but to search for alternatives to satisfy my old minded, traditional way of thinking...DRM.
I loveD the way Assassin's creed is played, I love the game, I do. But why the stupid DRM? - -"
I just can't have play even a little bit in hotels that do not have "Free" internet connections? I can't play a little bit in the airport waiting for transfer flight?
You serious?
MW3, I want to play a little bit of survival mode just to get the iche off, you serious? I need to sign into steam to play offline mode?
I do own MW3 for the PC, and it sucks so bad... They just don't understand people with a 200ms reaction time (which is slower than most other ~150ms MLG trained players...)?
You stand no chance playing NOT AS A HOST... You can get decent score, but you can't beat the system if you are not the host...Viruses and Malware.
As I said before, if you know what are you doing, you are fine.
But if you don't think straight, you are in trouble, even in real life.No Tech Support.
em... are you serious? when does help support ever work?
Even Adobe's phone activation method have stupid people working for them...
Have you ever helped a high school (even in certain Uni) departments setting up retail softwares but got blocked by stupid proxies, gatewayssss and firewalls?
cough* someone had to use cracks just so that it's functional just before school starts cough*
ISP and mobile services, notorious on bulls***ing their way through problems, never get things right or done...Legal Issues.
No argument, it's illegal, but for practicality, it works and it works better.Killing PC development.
I honestly don't know but selling beta versions as retail products? Many many games have game broken glitches and numerous driver problems PRIOR AND POST LAUNCH. There is no explanation except the developer's fault.
You don't test it outside your ingenious, super optimum condition lab, and think tend to break.
With the special case of dead island, releasing beta version of the game as retail version? Who is killing the pc development?I am not saying pirated games are good and all that, but it's like a tailored, more ironned out version...
Taking the larger titles as example, would it hurt if you let MW3 and BF3 singleplayer campaign to run offline?
90+% people buy them for multiplayer, many doesn't even care for the SP part... Why would you bound the customer from doing so?Slows R&D Efforts.
Was there really that much efforts in the larger titles like BF3 or MW3 or even Rage and Skyrim?
How much have they made? How much bullcrap do those games still have? If there is any corolation between fixes, patches, add-ons, and SALES, I just can't see it...You're Screwing Developers.
I have wasted too much time and money on so called, someone's work. Like MOVIES and lots of games, the preview, trailors, and even reviews say they are great, loads of fun, and price-performance ratio is nice!
But at the end, few reviews reflects what really they are selling...
Especially those supercomputers rendered cut-scenes which reflects nothing about the game or the product it is selling.
t.y.wan
December 01, 2011 at 10:49pm
Just saying, the crap I wrote only reflects why someone might possibilty pirate software, games and movies.
Ashton2091
December 01, 2011 at 9:21pm
The conversation should go beyond wether it's wrong or right to pirate at this point. Although, it is wrong. But the issue is larger than this now. The conversation should be about what can be done about it. Face it, people will always pirate games, music, software, books, etc. It's just the way it is now. So there has to be other ways other than simply DRM and not making games for PC (which doens't help the matter) to deal with it. As I stated before in a earlier post...with console game pirating on the rise...what will be the solution then? stop making games all together? The fact is, wrong or right...we nor the devs can stop pirates from pirating.
CHR15x94
December 01, 2011 at 8:06pm
I try to avoid piracy if I can. The only time I illegally download something is if it's next to impossible for me to obtain (AKA old/collectable games). That being said, I don't like doing it. At all. If I ever get the money for some of these games, I'll certainly buy them (oh, Earthbound, why must you cost $100+...)
As for the whole why people pirate, it's because they know they won't get caught and (as mentioned like 10 times already) they feel they should be able to have whatever they want because it's there and they "deserve it".
The whole "the developer's aren't losing anything because it's all digital voodoo/not physically taking something from them" is a complete bullshit argument. That's just some lame excuse at justifying stealing.
If your boss one day says "Yeah, we're not going to pay you this week because we don't feel like it, and you're not losing anything because we didn't physically take anything from you, so it's all okay", is that okay? No, of course it's not. They're stealing your time, and you're doing the same thing to developers when you pirate the content they spend countless hours producing.
C'mon. If you want something, you buy it. If a developer releases some crappy piece of software that you don't feel is worth $60 (or whatever), that doesn't justify you pirating it. If it's that "bad", you should have no reason to illegally download it. Simply don't buy it.
[/rant]
yammerpickle2
December 01, 2011 at 6:07pm
It is simple checks and balances. If you reward good developers by buying their products they are more likely to continue to make great software. If you pirate software the developers are more likely to apply more DRM. For those of you who claim you would not have bought the software anyhow so there is no loss of sales. We all know the law of supply and demand. By making more copies you are increasing the supply and therefore devaluing the product. It’s like inflation, the more money you print, the lower the value of each dollar. I like the comment about coping the dollar and see what the government thinks about that. Also if you believe that if you are not going to buy anything you should be able to use it free. Let every homeless person in your neighborhood sleep in your apartment or house. After all they were not going to pay rent anyhow, might as well let them live there for free. A why not let them use your computer, TV, car, sleep with your significant other, etc. They are not stealing after all, just using things they would not pay for. The argument about the cost of games is bunk too. Everything cost more these days than it has in the past. That is called inflation, get over it. As an adult I make choices about what to buy and what not to knowing I can’t have every piece of junk that I see. Instead I don’t buy junk and save my money for things that have value and invest in those products and companies. It also means I don’t have to worry about wasting my time on every piece of junk that comes along only to find out it is a piece of junk and a waste of time and then complain that it is junk and a waste of time.
RUSENSITIVESWEETNESS
December 01, 2011 at 5:57pm
I don't use any pirated applications; I buy everything I use, even though I don't have to. I do realize what kinds of hours programmers and designers put in, and I really, truly do not want to screw them over.
Too bad it doesn't work the other way.
If a game is going to install a rootkit virus on my PC as part of its copy protection, I'll pirate the damn thing before letting a publisher hijack MY property. I'd love to play BioShock, but SecuRom rootkits aren't going to be part of my Windows experience.
I'll first look for other outlets besides physical discs, which tend to be the most intrusive and devious with copy protection schemes. If I can get a game off Steam that won't hurt my PC, I will.
But rootkits? Not happening. You think you will disable software you don't like? No, you won't. I will screw you before you screw me. Promise.
The only ones hurt by copy protection schemes are legitimate, paying customers.
Gezzer
December 01, 2011 at 6:16pm
I'll admit I used to pirate the occasional game, and most utilities for my computer.
I grabbed the utilities most times to see what they were like, did even buy a couple that I liked. Now? The "freeware" and open source programs have reached a point where there's no reason to steal a retail version of a utility.
Games were often because I either had the game already and wanted a new/no CD copy or I couldn't find the game at retail so decided to try the "warez" version. With digital delivery there's no reason to steal those either.
Don't get me wrong I know and knew what I was doing was stealing. I just didn't care that much. Call it the intractableness of youth. I think that's what many of the people supporting piracy are dealing with. They've decided on a course of action and then find whatever reasons they can to support that decision.
And are there reasons? Lots. The projected lost sales BS for one. You'll take what we give you and be happy with it BS. You need tp jump threw our hoops to play BS.. etc. It still doesn't make it right. Just more palatable. The major problem with the pirate's arguments is when there is a great game that has no intrusive and draconian DRM like Witcher 2 they pirate it anyway.
I'd be more incline to support the pro piracy arguments if that wasn't the case. Because it is, I feel the main reason for piracy is the same one I had. Because I wanted to, could, and didn't care how it effected anyone else.
Though some of the points in the original article were redundent or stretching things a bit. The overall idea is sound. Piracy needs to end least we kill the hobby that so many of us love.
RipperXT
December 01, 2011 at 5:53pm
It sucks, but pirating will always be a problem. Not developing for the PC altogether because of pirating is stupid. PC gaming is what it is because of its flexibility (mods, patching, digital download, genes that don't work on other platforms, etc. ). All those great pros don't come without their cons. The hard truth to swallow is those that want to follow the law and purchase games are the only ones that truly suffer from piracy. DRM has added annoyance to the PC gaming experience that only hurts us ( yes "us", I think pirating is the same as taking the box of the shelf). Developers will continue to throw money that could be used for better game development at trying to create better DRM, they will continue to fail.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
Albert EinsteinTrying to beat piracy with DRM is pure insanity. Give people better reasons to buy games, not make it harder for those that do to enjoy them.
kyled921
December 01, 2011 at 4:50pm
Frankly, developers just need to come out with more demos and gameplay reviews before purchasing. I bought MW3 and Assassins Creed ($120 USD) and have been severaly dissapointed by the fomer. MW3 took me 8 hours to beat, ON VETERAN, and had a horrible story line and minimal improvements in grphics (for 360 version at least). The only money in MW3 is the multiplayer and even that sucks with the amount of camping and quickscoping (totally bullcrap). AC has been great, but the concept of the "Online Pass" being used by EA and Ubisoft are horrible towards those tight on money. I like to try and buy games at will, getting my gameplay out of them, and then moving on. My roomate was even suprised when purchasing Battlefield 3 for 360 and he had to input a code to play. I can't borrow and play this game now simply because EA puts a stipulation that even people willing to TRY their games cannot play them unless paying for them.
Whitechip
December 01, 2011 at 7:47pm
All you have to do is buy the game new, they where having huge sales all over the place for bf3.
jtrpop
December 01, 2011 at 4:47pm
First, I am not advocating piracy (and own all my software). I have been shafted countless times from multiple companies with software I paid for with bad & unresponsive customer service, software that does not perform as promised, being treated like a criminal for DRM that fails, buggy or slow performance, lack of updates, high cost, and problems that are "fixed" in the new version (you have to pay to fix), just to name a few. Treat your paying customer right, give a value, and people will buy, just look at Steam. When you pay good money and get treated like crap, I can see why people pirate.
holingpoon
December 01, 2011 at 3:20pm
On one hand, these are good, noble and pragmatic reasons not to pirate software. On the other hand, this is a vicious cycle, particularly for the case of DRM, where the more fiercely companies want to protect profits, the more severe pirating results.
The whole business model needs some re-thinking. I think tech support is where the money is. I'm not suggesting the software to be completely free. What about a secure download of MS Office for $150, for everybody, rather than having these different level pricing to be as high as $350 a seat? There's no need to print installation disks, though a business can still make more money by charging people that want CDs. Then throw in a phone based or subscription based tech support team to do tech support, charge people by the minute on the phone or by monthly subscription fee for online chat. In fact, make the tech support still available to people with pirated copies. You can count on a small population of people tech savvy enough to do pirating, you can also count on the flock of being technologically challenged, willing to pay for tech support.
Ashton2091
December 01, 2011 at 3:09pm
fun question that should be researched. Would people who normally pirate games even buy the games if there was no pirating? If so, how many of those games would they actually buy? IF they wouldn't buy they game anyways, then how is this a lost sell? I don't even know the answer to this question, but I do think some kind of survey should be held to get an idea.
Deviate
December 01, 2011 at 2:55pm
As far as "killing PC gaming" goes, people pirate console games as well. They mod-chip their consoles to be able to play downloaded and burned DVD games.
kixofmyg0t
December 01, 2011 at 4:18pm
Ur right they do. But have you ever actually PLAYED a chipped console?
It's not fun at all. It's buggy, they shut down for no reason and freeze all the time and take F-O-R-E-V-E-R to load anything. Basically mod chips turn it into a PC gaming experience.
People who chip their consoles are VERY few and that's just cuz they are HARDCORE about pirating that they deal with the crap that comes with it.
Total number of console players are in the hundreds of millions.
Total number of mod chipped consoles? Maybe 30K total in everywhere but South Korea. In Korea EVERYTHING is pirated. You can't buy a console there that's NOT chipped. I spent 3 years there.
Ghok
December 01, 2011 at 6:42pm
"Total number of mod chipped consoles? Maybe 30K total in everywhere but South Korea. In Korea EVERYTHING is pirated. You can't buy a console there that's NOT chipped. I spent 3 years there."
Did you just pull that number out of your ass, or is actual data? I'm just curious, "Maybe 30k total in everywhere but South Korea" sounds like weirdest statistic I've ever heard.
kixofmyg0t
December 01, 2011 at 8:22pm
That's my honest opinion. Because I've been down that road my friend, I've been in that scene before. Their really arn't that many chipped consoles in the USA. Around the world it's more, Europe for example. South Korea of which I spent 3 years in, is the worst by far. The only console I ever saw the entire 3 years I was there that WASN'T chipped was MY PLAYSTATION 2.
Consoles arn't big in Korea, so they mod them all so it's more appealing to them. They only care about StarCraft anyway.
Mortal_M
December 01, 2011 at 5:06pm
"Basically mod chips turn it into a PC gaming experience"
Have you had a crappy computer your whole life, or have you been playing only console port games?
kixofmyg0t
December 01, 2011 at 8:31pm
I don't play FPS's ALL THE TIME. So I don't really have many choices for PC games now do I?
PC games fall into one of two catagory's
the "Crysis/Battlefield ZOMG TEH GRAFICKS ARE SOOOOOO MUCXH BETTR THAN CONSOLE U NUB LUK LUK AT DAT TREE! SEE DAT TREE? SEE HOW GODD TEH GRAFICKS ARE? THATS A AWESOME LUKKIN TREE U SEE CONSOLE DONT MAKE TREE LUK DAT GUD" majority
and RTS's/RPG's and that's pretty much it.
The last PC game I bought and played was StarCraft 2 because that's the only game that interested me since Red Alert 2. Everything else I'd much rather play on PS3.
Mortal_M
December 02, 2011 at 7:50pm
I forgot to put the :) smiley in there.
I didn't meant to sound like an asshole, and I'm not one of those people who say those things.
But I have played computer games for a long time and they have always been superior to console games (IMO) but that has changed in the last couple of years.
That's why I was asking because it sounded like you said PC games are crap.
oh, and they are more diverse than FPS and RTS/RPG (or at least they where), the problem is that today's developers only make what sells.
:)
lindethier
December 01, 2011 at 2:34pm
Eh, I can't stand people pirating games, but many will do it anyway.
w2ed
December 01, 2011 at 2:23pm
Two points I want to make before I continue reading the article:
1. Some software can only be found either via pirating or, if you're very lucky, eBay. While this won't matter for certain types of software. it matter if we have to replicate a work enviroment because our jobs won't pay the money every year to upgrade. If software companies kept copies for sale and continued to maintain older software after they release a few versions (aka if they were made to continue to make it work, like motor vehicles are supposed to for a period of time after the new release) this wouldn't be a problem - however, that is increasingly becoming harder to see, especially among companies like Apple and Microsoft. I understand that it's costly to put resources into older programs, but it's better than the thing you keep complaining about.
2. Even if everyone stopped pirating, the scare has been presented to these companies. Some companies - we'll call them the trusting ones - would probably stop DRM development altogether. The ones we'll call the "Smart companies" will continue to do so, but in such a way that we, the user, will never know is there - until, of course, we come across a pirated copy of the game, which shouldn't happen if everyone stopped, right? Then we come across what will probably be done by the majority of those dong DRM - we'll call them the "paranoid companies" - who will continue to keep the course and tow the line, because they'll be afraid of it starting again. It's a sad, scary thought, but getting people to stop pirating isn't going to solve the DRM problem - Companies who feel threatened will continue to do so. Getting them to use DRM that doesn't even get noticed by the end user will.
And now, for page 2 - felt these were important to get across first.
w2ed
December 01, 2011 at 2:35pm
Not going to waste your time with a second post for page 2 - only have to say that I think the last two points made in the list are probably the most important. When you pirate anything, whether it's software, videos, music, or books, your telling the people creating it that they're wasting their time and efforts, and while you can make it up in some cases (bands and movies always love paying audiences), it takes a lot to make up for the amount of time and, more importantly, money being invested into top-tier games. How many console-exclusive titles like Halo and Gears of War would have been better on a PC, had they been made PC-exclusive? This is where piracy is killing things, people.
OK, I'm done with this soapbox, back to your normally scheduled arguments...
chronium
December 01, 2011 at 1:58pm
I have to say this a very poor list.
Stability - This is as much of an issue with retail copies as it is in pirated versions. This should not be on the list period.
Storage - This also has no place on this list because storage is cheap. and if you bothered having an ounce of data managment you will never have a issue Flash drives, DVD's, and cloud storage (photobucket, flikr, etc) solve's this issue.
Updates - Again not an issue pirated software gets access to the legit updates as well depending on the software you just need to update the crack.
DRM - One of the only legitamate things on this list. But what do you mean when pirates become more adept there hasn't been a DRM system that is not hardware based that has provided any challenge at all.
Viruses & Malware - This would really be issue 100 of a top 100 not a top 10 issue. From over a decade of pirating software i've only downloaded 1 program that had an actual virus.
No Tech Support - You get the same ammount of tech support from the people you downlod the program from as well as from the developers you buy the program from. (grammarically couldn't think of the right way to say that)
Legal Issues - dpends on the country but since your an american company I can let it slide.
Killing PC Gaming - This is a myth that just needs to stop. What's killing PC gaming is poor business decision and not maximising of a products distribution choices.
Slows R&D efforts - hahahahahahahaha look at how much things have changed since the 1980's to now I don't see R&D slowing down I see it speeding up.
You're Screwing Developers - yes that is true but some times it's intentionally directed at a developer. There are just as many reasons to pirate as there are not to pirate.
Athlonite
December 02, 2011 at 10:22am
I'd have to say you've hit the nail on the head and agree with everything you've said
that being said I pirate TV programs that don't get shown here in NZ and I pirate the odd game too mainly because I refuse to pay 4~5 times more than somebody living in the US or UK even steam is a ripoff here in NZ and Aus and...
DRM the likes of which Diablo 3 and MW3 use are just to restrictive for my liking why should I need to be continually online just to play single player missions and why should my save games be soley held onto by online servers
Quake III FTW!!!!! 60 maps 50 bots to choose from and a whole heap more I can DL all for free (and I can Play it on a LAN without problems)
Ashton2091
December 01, 2011 at 2:46pm
I agree all the way. I would like to see a list of "Things companies/developers can do to Prevent piracy besides DRM". There are ways. For one...make a game that's actually good. The quality of games have tanked year after year. Every once and again (this year for example), you'll have a handful of titles that are bound to sell. Why? Because they are great titles. The Elderscrolls, Battlefield, Mass Effect, and especially Call of Duty (not my fav, liked the earlier ones more...but anywho). The point here is, if great games are made, great games will sell. Not GOOD games, GREAT games. Even if revenue is lost, the amount made will overshadow the lost. Don't get me wrong, I'm realistic. I know all great games won't benefit. But I do have to say that price vs quality raises the bar for PC developers. I have paid good money to play single and multiplayer games if the price is right and the game is excellent. It seems that what I now pay is generally not worth it. I usually wait for them to reach the bargain bin now.
Also, I'd like to mention that console piracy is on the rise. There are plenty of modded consoles out there now that play backup games. Soft Modded. What happens when console piracy becomes a big concern? Will Devs simply stop making games?
Not saying piracy is right. Just saying there are things the companies can do to make the games they create more attractive.
TommM
December 01, 2011 at 2:42pm
"There are just as many reasons to pirate as there are not to pirate."
There are NO reasons to pirate. You're stealing. Period. It's theft, dude. STEALING. Do you steal milk from the grocery store? Did you steal your car? Did you walk past the ticket-taker and go see the latest movie for free? Are the jeans you're wearing stolen? I'm pretty sure all the answers to that are no.
But as soon as you have the anonimity to the Internet, then it's a no-holds barred free-for-all on games and other software. Quit trying to justify flat-out theft with pathetic excuses.
The Corrupted One
December 01, 2011 at 5:28pm
Agreed
If you want games without DRM, buy them and rip them. If you want it for free, that's called shoplifting. And the downside is jail time.
chronium
December 01, 2011 at 3:08pm
It's only stealing if you are selling it. Otherwise it's the digital library that doesn't exists yet, giving you more control over what you deem worthy of your money, trying before you buy since demo's has only started coming back with steam and even then it's still lacking. and for cheapskates.
kixofmyg0t
December 01, 2011 at 4:26pm
Holy crap REALLY? It's only stealing if I sell it?
HELL YEAH I WILL NEVER HAVE TO PAY FOR ANYTHING EVER AGAIN!!!!! I'm gonna go get some gas without paying for it, because since I'm not gonna sell it and I couldn't afford it in the first place because it's so expensive....it's not a lost sale!
HELL YEAH DUDE THANK YOU!
SodaAnt
December 01, 2011 at 3:05pm
There's an important difference there. Lets say the milk costs $0.50. If you steal it, the producer is losing $0.50 of product. If you stay at home, they don't lose any money. As for software, it doesn't cost any money to make each distinct product, the marginal cost is zero. If you don't download it, the producer doesn't get any money, but they don't lose any if you pirate it, unless you would have bought the game in the first place. And thats the difference. Many people that pirate software, like photoshop, would never have bought that software at the price its sold at. If they couldn't pirate it, they would just use something like GIMP, so its not really losing adobe any money.
kixofmyg0t
December 01, 2011 at 4:36pm
"but they don't lose any if you pirate it, unless you would have bought the game in the first place"
How are you this stupid?
Let's use Photoshop for example.
I want Photoshop. I download Photoshop because I can, it's easy and the best part is I don't have to pay for it. I get to use Photoshop just like a paid customer, even though I did not pay for it.
How in the world do you justify piracy like that dude?
"but they don't lose any if you pirate it"
You are basically saying that, for example if Valve release Half-Life 3....and EVERYONE pirated it instead of buying it....because they "wern't gonna buy it anyway"....that Vavle DIDN'T LOSE ANYTHING. If that's the case then WHY BUY ANY SOFTWARE? I mean it's perfectly OK to download it, as long as ur attitude is "well I wouldn't buy it anyway so I can use it and they didn't lose a sale".
You must be from West Virginia or something. Normal logical people know the difference between right and wrong. You think you're "entitled" to everything just because it's there.
