Piracy

[Meshy]

Hello Ladies, Gentlemen, Non-Gentlemen and Aliens.

I would like to talk to you guys about Piracy. This topic is getting more popular since the release of SOPA and PIPA ( Stop Online Piracy Act.) and (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act).

Now, I can say why someone who has poor pirated a movie/game/music but unless they can't afford it/having a finical crisis/ debt they shouldn't really have an Internet connection to save their money up ( hopefully didn't offend anyone there, sorry if I did.) I mean we all know someone who always downloads illegal games and movies.. This issue is not reflected to consoles but more towards Computers because Windows/Apple/Linux do not know what and how to prevent this, it is up to the developer to fix this problem.

Now, anybody who pirates and ***** (wont swear because I'm family friendly) there computer is liable for all damage, if it's a virus, keylogger, trojan, backdoor, spyware, malware or whatever.

Trust me I know a lot about computers. I reckon about at least 35% of pirated stuff out there is a virus.

I mean I know the developers/artists/producers already have millions in terms of money but seriously they made whatever you pirate,but they deserve. Even if they're doing it for the money, they still earned it.

If piracy grows and becomes bigger, they maybe no more games/music/movies. You know why?

Because there will be no sales. Because everybody will pirate.

You really want that to happen? Buy it then.

I personally don't support SOPA or PIPA because that's just a bit of an exaggeration.

What are your opinions on this subject, and why.

[MrLlamaLlama]

Now, anybody who pirates and ***** (wont swear because I'm family friendly) there computer is liable for all damage, if it's a virus, keylogger, trojan, backdoor, spyware, malware or whatever.

No kidding.

I mean we all know someone who always downloads illegal games and movies.. This issue is not reflected to consoles but more towards Computers because Windows/Apple/Linux do not know what and how to prevent this, it is up to the developer to fix this problem.

http://nerdreactor.c...-leaked-online/ Well done, this^ shows how out of touch you are with the issue. 360 version of the potential game of the year out and playable on 360 before PC, being seeded and leeched at a vastly higher capacity.

Trust me I know a lot about computers. I reckon about at least 35% of pirated stuff out there is a virus.

Firstly, If you're enough of an idiot to download '[email protected]' then you deserve a virus. This is a fact. I don't think I've ever contracted a virus from anything I've downloaded / browsed / torrented / magnet bitch thingy linked since I turned 14.

This leads me onto my next point. The difference between the pirates and the game developers are that the pirates know more about the consumer. They also care more about the consumer. To this end, piracy is always becoming easier, and occasionally becomes more 'safe', less incriminating and quicker. Pirates always want to be the first out the gate when it comes to making it easier for the common man to get hold of what they want. Meanwhile, companies like ubisoft/EA/activision who are stamping out sequels with frightening regularity and similarity, at a frightening consistent £44.99 / whatever pricepoint, with a horrible attitude to DLC (seeing it as a method to eek cash out of customers, rather than extend a game experience) introduce always more intrusive DRM which leaves gamers out of what they paid for if servers go down, or it's a tuesday, or if they want to install it a few times after reformatting / whatever.

This is why convenient, cheap, consumer friendly services like steam, netflix and spotify are making money out of their arses, capitalising upon the desires of their consumers instead of focusing on how to bind the consumer to a contract / ensure they can't breach contract, etc, etc. They're also out marketing fantastic indie products such as limbo, super meat boy, Magicka and REALLY contributing to the industry in a way that benefits the creative that truly drive it, instead of the bank managers and accountants who use it to buy out these creative's intellectual property and spread it thinly over 4 sequels at nearly 50 quid a go, instead of a modest price point.

Also, as a (somewhat ranty) note before I end this rant - DEMOS - when I was growing up in the 90's I could sure as shit download a demo before buying a game I wanted, I could see it, feel it, use it and judge for myself instead of letting a multimillion dollar ad campaign brainwash me. Not too long ago, i wanted to play the Dead space 2 demo. It didn't come to PC. I pirated the game. I immediately regretted the decision, since the game was fucking terrible. I coulda spent 40 quid on it and then had my refund denied because of the stigma surrounding PC gaming. But I didn't. I probably played it less that the time / distance limit on a demo would have been.

To me, Piracy seems like a conequence of the entertainment industry getting a bit too greedy. Ubisoft spend alot of time and money and stress and manpower on stopping it and notch encourages people to do it if it's what they wanna do. Notch just paid his 20 man team 3 million dollars. A hundred and fifty grand each.

[Meshy]

Yes Notch told a fan over twitter to crack Minecraft and if he can afford it in the future, he should buy it.

As for demos, I watch YouTube gameplay. Urm I meant that its bigger on PC because if you pirated a PC game you can play online. Microsoft's Xbox bans people from playing online. And its not easy too install custom firmware on a console.

[Huckleberry Pie]

As for viruses, well, if you aren't vigilant enough, or if you think that file you downloaded in Sharecash is worth a shit (which isn't - they'll ask you to fill up some stupid survey and you'll end up getting gypped with malware or a dud file). In all honesty I did pirate a gigabyte or so of media, and rarely did I encounter anything malicious. Now before you bash me for thinking that I'm encouraging it, let me tell you that while it is on the gray to black spectrum of morality, it's also a consequence of how the big media treats consumers as Llama said earlier.

Why do other gamers ciritcise Activision on Call of Duty? I won't be surprised, cause they're releasing, year after year, sequels that offer practically nothing new, and they're just milking on underage kids and deadbeats for a perk or two. The incident with Spore and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory/Conviction is another thing. Sure, piracy is rampant and you don't want to lose money, but that doesn't mean that you would waste time implementing some Fort-Knox DRM which would be cracked later on. I'm fine with DVD checks and serial numbers, I don't want another song and dance number to be performed upon installation. Another thing that Jonathan Coulton and I pointed out is that, sure, you're willing to shell out quid on a Star Wars, Doctor Who, American Girl or w/e sequel, but the problem is that it isn't available in your area. Sure, certain jurisdictions have restrictions, like Germany who dictates that M-rated games be edited out (which is silly IMO, even if Nazism was a stigma to Deutschland that doesn't mean that they have the right to nanny the youth on what they should watch or play), but this ultimately forces legitimate consumers to either spend more on importing it, or pirate the whole thing if they have no choice.

I once had a somewhat heated debate with my dad on the merits and downsides of piracy, and while he insisted that "they worked hard on this", and cited those Indonesian bootleggers who made quick $$$ leeching someone else's songs into cassettes back when he worked in Saudi Arabia, as well as bashing Google for what he thinks is a way of allowing piracy to continue, I think he's missing the point that Google is just like a pistol that only needs to be used properly, and that the copyright holders who "worked hard" aren't as nice or as squeaky-clean as he thinks.

Edited March 5, 2012 by Huckleberry Pie

[MrLlamaLlama]

Yes Notch told a fan over twitter to crack Minecraft and if he can afford it in the future, he should buy it.

Any AAA game developer would have likely reported them to the authorities instantly, instead of sympathizing with his situation.

As for demos, I watch YouTube gameplay

You can't convey feel, atmosphere, or an experience over youtube, I don't think. I watched loads of videos of Amnesia : dark descent and figured it wouldn't scare me at all and I should give it a go. Got it for £3 in a steam sale (!) and the build up in a properly rendered game environment had me shitting myself. But I digress.

There are obviously people who feel a bit entitled and just download shit left right and centre, I know a guy who downloads so much that he has to buy new HDDs every month to cope. The guy's a douche. He's also fucking loaded though - he'd have no problem at all buying all the stuff he downloads, but he does it because as a service, piracy is easier. He has programs set up to download his favourite American TV when it comes online, rename it, move it where he wants it on his PC, and begin seeding it for his fellow pirates. He can then stream it to his TV over a home network. If he wanted to do this legally, the amount of DRM, bloatware and general red tape he'd encounter would be enormous, not to mention the amount of time he'd have to wait for it to make it across the Atlantic in the first place.

[MrLanceVanceDance]

Screw Piracy. The only people who actually get hurt by piracy are the rich guys at the top of the economic table. Besides, they have tonnes of money. Who cares if they lose a small amount. They have loads of money to compensate for the small loss.

[Huckleberry Pie]

@Llama @Lance - This.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoYWdHe4tQ4

[Spaz The Great]

The media and arts should be free. I shouldn't have to pay to enjoy someone else's hobby. But then again I don't believe in the currency system, anyways. That's a slightly different discussion though.

Here's the thing, WHO is entitled to the money, who is GETTING the money, and who are we stealing from by pirating media? In the record industry, the artist gets virtually NOTHING from cd sales, so who is out the money? The artist, who deserves the money, is out the money either way. We're ripping off record execs who do NOTHING and get MILLIONS, exploiting ARTISTS. It's justice. Pure and simple.The artists get money from increased ticket sales due to higher exposure because of people getting their work for free, and the record company gets less(but honestly, not much less) dirty money. Everyone wins, except the assholes at the top.

[Huckleberry Pie]

The media and arts should be free. I shouldn't have to pay to enjoy someone else's hobby. But then again I don't believe in the currency system, anyways. That's a slightly different discussion though.

Here's the thing, WHO is entitled to the money, who is GETTING the money, and who are we stealing from by pirating media? In the record industry, the artist gets virtually NOTHING from cd sales, so who is out the money? The artist, who deserves the money, is out the money either way. We're ripping off record execs who do NOTHING and get MILLIONS, exploiting ARTISTS. It's justice. Pure and simple.The artists get money from increased ticket sales due to higher exposure because of people getting their work for free, and the record company gets less(but honestly, not much less) dirty money. Everyone wins, except the assholes at the top.

Which is why I release my mods and stuff under a free license. And yeah, there's waaaaaaaaaaaay too much red tape in the industry.

[Meshy]

Yeah but the more pirates the less money the ''people who are at the top table'' and more people pirating.

Now, i am going to tell you something very remarkble:

GoDaddy Supported SOPA., they lost 21,000 customers ( along with domains) to another host in just two days.

Even Wikipedia left them...

That's like 21,000 websites changed hosts over SOPA.

[MrLanceVanceDance]

Which shows how much SOPA is opposed to and hated. I wonder who would be idiotic enough to support SOPA. SOPA is one of the dumbest bills I have ever known.

Edited March 20, 2012 by MrLanceVanceDance

[Huckleberry Pie]

Yeah but the more pirates the less money the ''people who are at the top table'' and more people pirating.

Now, i am going to tell you something very remarkble:

GoDaddy Supported SOPA., they lost 21,000 customers ( along with domains) to another host in just two days.

Even Wikipedia left them...

That's like 21,000 websites changed hosts over SOPA.

And that's a significant loss, obviously.

[MrLanceVanceDance]

Moral of the story: do not make it public that your website is in support of a controversial bill. Doing so will result in loss of domains and customers.

[Alvas.]

My thoughts about piracy...

Piracy, I think is important. It just cannot be done away with. Not everyone has the money to buy Photoshop(seriously $699?). Many do not even have the money to buy an original $10 book. But they can however get it very cheaply when it's pirated - same with software. What I am trying to say very clearly is that everyone doesn't have great money, but there are many who have got great talent in them. There are many great innovatives, creatives and revolutionaries out there waiting for there talents to be discovered. But they are going to need tools - software like Photoshop, like Dreamworks, like Final Cut. What makes great people come alive? Education and inspiring books - knowledge. Everyone should have the chance of reading an autobiography of a person like - Steve Jobs or maybe say, Hitler. Everyone doesn't have the money though. Piracy isn't really just about stealing, it's much more. More about education, more about spreading knowledge, more about giving the necessary tools that end up helping those who need them the most. Movies and music too play an important role in spreading knowledge. Piracy acts a way to create opportunities, to give chances to those who need them and in the process maybe even to those who don't.

And all that companies get from piracy is loss, right? Wrong. Adobe wouldn't have anywhere near the revenue or installed base it has now if it's stuff(especially Photoshop) wasn't pirated enough. Piracy helps Adobe, it has admitted the fact itself a lot of times. And not just Adobe, it helps a lot of the other companies. Consider reading this article - http://piracy.ssrc.org/adobe-logic/.

Really, if you look the other way - Piracy has much, much more advantages than disadvantages. Many famous authors openly support piracy. And they should, it may help millions and billions of people and may help in making the world a better place to be.

So, those are just some of my own thoughts. I am welcome to criticism.

Why History needs Piracy - http://technologizer...oftware-piracy/

Edited March 22, 2012 by Alvas.

[MrLanceVanceDance]

My thoughts about piracy...

Piracy, I think is important. It just cannot be done away with. Not everyone has the money to buy Photoshop(seriously $699?). Many do not even have the money to buy an original $10 book. But they can however get it very cheaply when it's pirated - same with software. What I am trying to say very clearly is that everyone doesn't have great money, but there are many who have got great talent in them. There are many great innovatives, creatives and revolutionaries out there waiting for there talents to be discovered. But they are going to need tools - software like Photoshop, like Dreamworks, like Final Cut. What makes great people come alive? Education and inspiring books - knowledge. Everyone should have the chance of reading an autobiography of a person like - Steve Jobs or maybe say, Hitler. Everyone doesn't have the money though. Piracy isn't really just about stealing, it's much more. More about education, more about spreading knowledge, more about giving the necessary tools that end up helping those who need them the most. Movies and music too play an important role in spreading knowledge. Piracy acts a way to create opportunities, to give chances to those who need them and in the process maybe even to those who don't.

And all that companies get from piracy is loss, right? Wrong. Adobe wouldn't have anywhere near the revenue or installed base it has now if it's stuff(especially Photoshop) wasn't pirated enough. Piracy helps Adobe, it has admitted the fact itself a lot of times. And not just Adobe, it helps a lot of the other companies. Consider reading this article - http://piracy.ssrc.org/adobe-logic/.

Really, if you look the other way - Piracy has much, much more advantages than disadvantages. Many famous authors openly support piracy. And they should, it may help millions and billions of people and may help in making the world a better place to be.

So, those are just some of my own thoughts. I am welcome to criticism.

Why History needs Piracy - http://technologizer...oftware-piracy/

I totally agree with you Alvas. Well Spoken! Other than poor quality DVDs and games, there is nothing bad about, and there is nothing wrong about piracy. It is actually more good than bad.

[Alvas.]

Yeah and people should understand that. Piracy helps in giving power to the people.

Edited March 24, 2012 by Alvas.

[Spaz The Great]

My thoughts about piracy...

Piracy, I think is important. It just cannot be done away with. Not everyone has the money to buy Photoshop(seriously $699?). Many do not even have the money to buy an original $10 book. But they can however get it very cheaply when it's pirated - same with software. What I am trying to say very clearly is that everyone doesn't have great money, but there are many who have got great talent in them. There are many great innovatives, creatives and revolutionaries out there waiting for there talents to be discovered. But they are going to need tools - software like Photoshop, like Dreamworks, like Final Cut. What makes great people come alive? Education and inspiring books - knowledge. Everyone should have the chance of reading an autobiography of a person like - Steve Jobs or maybe say, Hitler. Everyone doesn't have the money though. Piracy isn't really just about stealing, it's much more. More about education, more about spreading knowledge, more about giving the necessary tools that end up helping those who need them the most. Movies and music too play an important role in spreading knowledge. Piracy acts a way to create opportunities, to give chances to those who need them and in the process maybe even to those who don't.

And all that companies get from piracy is loss, right? Wrong. Adobe wouldn't have anywhere near the revenue or installed base it has now if it's stuff(especially Photoshop) wasn't pirated enough. Piracy helps Adobe, it has admitted the fact itself a lot of times. And not just Adobe, it helps a lot of the other companies. Consider reading this article - http://piracy.ssrc.org/adobe-logic/.

Really, if you look the other way - Piracy has much, much more advantages than disadvantages. Many famous authors openly support piracy. And they should, it may help millions and billions of people and may help in making the world a better place to be.

So, those are just some of my own thoughts. I am welcome to criticism.

Why History needs Piracy - http://technologizer...oftware-piracy/

I give you an A+ on your post. Excellent.

[Huckleberry Pie]

And all that companies get from piracy is loss, right? Wrong. Adobe wouldn't have anywhere near the revenue or installed base it has now if it's stuff(especially Photoshop) wasn't pirated enough. Piracy helps Adobe, it has admitted the fact itself a lot of times. And not just Adobe, it helps a lot of the other companies. Consider reading this article - http://piracy.ssrc.org/adobe-logic/.

Amen on that. Even Microsoft themselves admitted that XP won't be this popular if it wasn't for the warez groups.

[Alvas.]

My thoughts about piracy...

Piracy, I think is important. It just cannot be done away with. Not everyone has the money to buy Photoshop(seriously $699?). Many do not even have the money to buy an original $10 book. But they can however get it very cheaply when it's pirated - same with software. What I am trying to say very clearly is that everyone doesn't have great money, but there are many who have got great talent in them. There are many great innovatives, creatives and revolutionaries out there waiting for there talents to be discovered. But they are going to need tools - software like Photoshop, like Dreamworks, like Final Cut. What makes great people come alive? Education and inspiring books - knowledge. Everyone should have the chance of reading an autobiography of a person like - Steve Jobs or maybe say, Hitler. Everyone doesn't have the money though. Piracy isn't really just about stealing, it's much more. More about education, more about spreading knowledge, more about giving the necessary tools that end up helping those who need them the most. Movies and music too play an important role in spreading knowledge. Piracy acts a way to create opportunities, to give chances to those who need them and in the process maybe even to those who don't.

And all that companies get from piracy is loss, right? Wrong. Adobe wouldn't have anywhere near the revenue or installed base it has now if it's stuff(especially Photoshop) wasn't pirated enough. Piracy helps Adobe, it has admitted the fact itself a lot of times. And not just Adobe, it helps a lot of the other companies. Consider reading this article - http://piracy.ssrc.org/adobe-logic/.

Really, if you look the other way - Piracy has much, much more advantages than disadvantages. Many famous authors openly support piracy. And they should, it may help millions and billions of people and may help in making the world a better place to be.

So, those are just some of my own thoughts. I am welcome to criticism.

Why History needs Piracy - http://technologizer...oftware-piracy/

I give you an A+ on your post. Excellent.

Thanks, I even published it here - http://www.quietwrite.com/writing/83605/why-i-think-piracy-is-just

And all that companies get from piracy is loss, right? Wrong. Adobe wouldn't have anywhere near the revenue or installed base it has now if it's stuff(especially Photoshop) wasn't pirated enough. Piracy helps Adobe, it has admitted the fact itself a lot of times. And not just Adobe, it helps a lot of the other companies. Consider reading this article - http://piracy.ssrc.org/adobe-logic/.

Amen on that. Even Microsoft themselves admitted that XP won't be this popular if it wasn't for the warez groups.

Yep, that too, is very much correct.