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223 Comments
- Wuss, on 08/14/2008, -12/+212A lot of those reasons are pretty "noble", but lets be honest. Those of us that do pirate games, for the most part, do it because we don't feel like paying the money. We're not crusaders of DRM, or better game design, etc.
If developers/publishers did everything these pirates requested, i.e. remove DRM, lower prices slightly ( i mean, they still have to make a profit right?), I highly doubt some nerd like me, after year and years of doing this will be like, "Oh Wow, my political statement of pirating games have finally come to fruition, time to start paying for all of my games!". - obliviousfool, on 08/14/2008, -3/+117What ever happened to free demos?
Before I buy a game, I want to see it in action, and I want to know that it will run on my machine. - matthewkg, on 08/14/2008, -2/+87I used to pirate games. I still do, but I used to too.
- HolyChimp, on 08/14/2008, -2/+86I had my first problem with DRM the other day. Installed Spore Creature Creator for a quick bash and was told I'd used all 3 activations. That's right. 3. All on the same laptop. It then went on to tell me that I could buy another copy, reinstall and then play. Customer support gave me another activation 36 hours later, but now I'll have to email EA every time I want to install it. Or I could just download a copy off the pirate bay, where the DRM isn't even present.
That's the problem I have with DRM, it rarely ***** the consumer, but it NEVER ***** the pirates, so why bother? - ronintetsuro, on 08/14/2008, -19/+91Let's just get this out of the way:
***** DRM - Brew, on 08/14/2008, -1/+62Price is a major problem for games and software in general (there is a reason everyone pirates Photoshop.) With that said I have not resorted to pirating games at this point, I respect the work of developers and the costs of production, but I cannot see games getting anymore expensive and remaining relevant. If game prices keep getting higher and higher in price you will see people turning to piracy more. It is the same reason why people pirate software. 400 dollars for Microsoft Office? 2500 for Adobe creative Suite? It is just not affordable for a lot of users and they could make more money selling the product for cheaper then they are now.
- bdawg123, on 08/15/2008, -5/+63"1. The information wants to/free anarchists think copyright shouldn't exist."
Am I the only one who doesn't understand this sentence? - decadre, on 08/14/2008, -1/+43I have no idea what Kudos is, but I think I'm going to plop some money down for it and Kudos 2 for a Dev who appears to be at least trying to listen to his customers.
- Ubername, on 08/15/2008, -3/+37"5. Going to the shops is annoying"
What a brilliant excuse. - Tedricks, on 08/14/2008, -3/+32Price is a huge factor in Australia too. The exchange rate is almost AUD/USD 1:1 yet for a new video game we're looking at AU$100-$120. Good article none the less. I'd be much more inclined to support developers that actually listen to their market.
- Neoanarchist, on 08/15/2008, -1/+28No matter how good you are at tennis, you'll never be better than the wall.
- Tantrum, on 08/15/2008, -2/+23I pirate because most of the time there is no demo available for the game i'm interested in. I can't go buy it, try it and take it back because resellers don't allow that. And i'll be damned if i'm going to spend 50-60 bucks on something to find out it's either A) crap or B) won't run on my system. So i hit the usual haunts and download a pirated version first as a 'demo'. If it works, i'll seek out a discounted place to get the game from because games are just too expensive, but i do in the end buy it if it's decent and works on my system. Case in point, a year ago i bought Simcity Societies when it came out. Damn thing didn't even boot up after it was installed, it got as far as the launch splash screen, you click play and nothing happens. Forums revealed this was a wide spread problem. THIS is why i pirate games first. it was like pulling teeth to get the store to take it back because as far as i was concerned, it was defective.
- barc0001, on 08/15/2008, -4/+24It really depends on a lot of things. If a kid's got no cash and the parent won't buy him the game, even if he pirates it, the publisher hasn't lost any money as the sale wasn't happening anyway. My feelings on it are there are some times where pirating is not a bad idea. I've bought games that had no demo, and were complete *****, and of course there's no returning opened games, so there goes $60.
Pirating gives you the option to preview sometimes, and also ironically allows more exposure and buzz for your games/apps. The exposure can be priceless sometimes. Does anyone here seriously believe Adobe would be anywhere near as big as they are today if everyone and their dog couldn't "borrow" Photoshop to use at home and become proficient with? Hell, even Microsoft VPs are quoted as saying that they'd prefer the asian markets to use pirate copies of Windows instead of Linux. It's all about market penetration. - inactive, on 08/14/2008, -4/+21Modders... The Modders got so good at modding, that games like Doom 2 demo were heavily modded into whole new gaming experiences and you didn't really need the game at all...
- Brew, on 08/15/2008, -0/+16Fair argument and I agree to an extent; but while most people are willing and do pay for the student and teacher edition of Office the student discount for adobe suites run in the excess of 500-600 dollar. That is not very affordable if you are a student. Now I know that you can get a elements version and I even think their is a crippled version for free but that really doesn't cut it.
- BrainInAJar, on 08/15/2008, -2/+18Not everyone needs the professional tools, but sometimes people want the professional tools...
If photoshop, full version were $60 with the tag "for noncommercial use only", I'm sure a bunch of pirates would buy it...
***** crippled "works" or "elements" *****... - T440, on 08/15/2008, -3/+18Here's the article in-case something happens to the site:
"6. Because piracy is easy to do with low risk for getting caught.." - hawarkarem, on 08/15/2008, -4/+18In my opinion, this whole "research" has been taken place (publicly) help promote his games.
- Wuss, on 08/14/2008, -1/+15*i haven't actually pirated a game in many years, but I used to*
- Aeric, on 08/15/2008, -4/+18Why do I pirate?
90% of games suck and are a waste of time and money. As for the other 10%, I play them, but I never finish. Even though they are good, I just don't get in to them.
Crysis for example; good game, but I haven't beat the first mission and have had it for 6 months. I wanted to see what the fuss was about and I would have be PISSED if I paid.
The games that I would sit down and play right now, I really do own because of a great replay value, like Counter-Strike/TF2
In short. Make me a good game with replay value and I'll buy your product. - Natnie, on 08/15/2008, -2/+15Can drills be perfectly duplicated for no cost and no materials?
- dood, on 08/15/2008, -0/+10Let me augment that a bit:
5. Calling multiple shops to find one that has the game in stock, asking them to hold it for you knowing they probably won't even if they say yes, and then driving to the shop and finding that they in fact never had it at all, is annoying.
The gaming world is entirely ready for digital distribution. That so much piracy occurs makes this obvious to everyone. Well, everyone except game publishers, apparenetly. - rowjimmy, on 08/15/2008, -0/+10"Can drills be perfectly duplicated for no cost and no materials?"
*really ***** important point!!!* yes, it costs money for adobe to develop photoshop. and yes, i understand if a professional design firm is using their software to make lots of money there could be a legitimate claim for charging a lot for the software. but trying to apply antiquated, archaic notions of "intellectual property" to digital media is plain and simple retardation - we have a new paradigm of information, we need a new paradigm of "property" - rowjimmy, on 08/15/2008, -0/+10and your average (professional) designer pays for it. however, your average, say, student who likes to fool around with graphic design as a hobby isn't going to recoup that absurd price-tag anytime soon, and if they have the slightest bit of know-how, will far sooner download a copy for free.
- scy1192, on 08/15/2008, -0/+10there are people that think we should get everything for free, because it's all just "information" and we all have a right to information.
- allenu, on 08/15/2008, -4/+14People pirate because they're getting something for nothing and they don't see anybody getting hurt by it. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but I think that's really what it boils down to. People will rationalize their actions, but deep down they do it because they can and they feel no repercussions. Twist it into a political statement all you want, but you always had the choice of NOT buying the game at all if it cost too much or it was too much of a bother to deal with DRM or even go to the store. At the end of the day, we're talking about GAMES here, not food or shelter.
- Slackdragon, on 08/15/2008, -1/+11Valve's strategy with Steam has been brilliant so far. I was hugely skeptical at first, but I've been really pleased with the service. And not having to deal with CD's is a blessing. There's been a few hiccups along the way, but nothing to rant and rave about.
They really go overboard to give massive value for what you pay for. I'm still getting loads of fun out of Team Fortress 2. Didn't play for a while and the Pyro improvements snuck up on me, so I've been enjoying the hell out of that for the past few days with the new maps and whatnot. Not too many other gaming companies seem to continue to support their product like Valve.
Their DRM is there, but not too intrusive. It's a nice balance of protected content and end-user Value. You don't feel like their throwing half-cooked ***** at you and then punishing you for trying to reach it. - inactive, on 08/15/2008, -2/+12Let me preface this with a disclaimer: I like to buy my games because I support to the developers and at this moment in time I'm not exactly poor. If you want to pirate games, then that's cool and I'm not trying to fight you.
> 1. The information wants to/free anarchists think copyright shouldn't exist.
I don't think we should see games as "information" - maybe the game engine or tools to develop the game, but not the content (i.e. art and sound).
> 2. Games are too expensive.
We're quickly getting there. Games keep rising in price, much like music has done. Unless it's bundled with goodies or swag, I would buy a lot more games if they were $25-$35 instead of $45-$60. However, I've waited a while after the release of less-than-awesome games to find that their price has dropped a lot (I picked up Stranglehold for $5 including shipping - IMO a fantastic deal).
> 3. The quality of gaming is too uneven.
If this was even an issue, then the solution is simple. Pirate the ones that are of low quality, and buy the ones that are high quality to support those who make them.
> 4. DRM is hurting the legitimate customers.
***** CORRECT.
> 5. Going to the shops is annoying.
What? Why? I don't buy a large amount of games but I do like to walk into GameStop every once in a while.
> 6. Because piracy is easy to do with low risk for getting caught.
There's nothing I can really say to counter this.
If it's tl;dr then ***** off. - screwtheman, on 08/15/2008, -1/+10I wished you clowns would RTMFA. This guy is a one man indie shop trying to eek out a living making small games. He's not selling $60 AAA DRM'ed games and that's why he doesn't understand why his software being pirated....
"I know what I don’t know. And what I don’t know is WHY people pirate MY games. I might be able to get a general idea as to why people pirate stuff *in general* from reading warez forums, and every other story on digg, but I’m not interested in the general case. I want to improve my business, and ensure I stay afloat, and to do that, it would be mad to sit in the corner and ignore the opinions of that section of the public who pirate my games." - greevar, on 08/15/2008, -0/+9You just abandoned one DRM model for another. What are you so proud of? If anything, consoles are worse than PC for consumers. $60 for a game that once damaged is unplayable and worthless? You can't archive your console games so that if you do lose the original, you still have your backup. What about just general wear and tear? At least with PC games, you can crack it so that it will play without the disk in the machine which isn't even needed after installation. You can crack the copy protection so that you can make a backup of the disk so you don't have to worry about losing the disk or having it get scratched. Some PC developers even include a wonderful tool set that allows you to create your own new content for the game extending the life and the value of that game (Elderscrolls, Source, Crytek sandbox, etc.).
- jbob2000, on 08/15/2008, -2/+10Honestly, the only game i've bought in a long time is Warcraft 3 TFT. You need the cd key to play online and the online play is amazing compared to some other games. That's what gets people buying games. Who the ***** wants to drop 80$ on a game with a short or half thought out campaign and no online play?
- xGeneric, on 08/15/2008, -1/+9"Games are too expensive, The quality of gaming is too uneven."
The quality one especially. I've pirated games all my life, but looking at my legit collection, I still do buy quite a few games. What I've noticed from my "Legal" and "Pirated" collections, is that my Pirated collection is mostly made up of games I've only played a couple of times, and really have no intention of playing them again.
Hell, I even bought Crysis, just because I knew I was going to play through it a few times, and play a little Multiplayer. I mean, the game is more like an extended tech demo than a great game(Far Cry was amazing though, which I also bought), but I did buy a new Graphics Card right before, so what the hell. However, Unreal Tournament 3 I downloaded, simply because I had a feeling it was nothing more than previous UT games... I was wrong, it was worse(seriously, no Assault?). Played it for maybe 5 hours total, then it was off my hard drive.
Then you have games like WoW and Counter-Strike, which can't be pirated as easily. Of course I have both. Actually I've legally obtained every thing Valve has ever done, as well as most Blizzard games(even Blackthorn). - solistus, on 08/15/2008, -0/+8Positech games are pretty cool. I enjoyed Democracy for a while as a casual game, and after reading this article I'm now downloading the Democracy 2 demo. The games aren't super complicated or 'deep' in terms of content, but they are well-balanced and implemented and, most of all, fun. Democracy is especially amusing for the 'role-playing' aspect (more so than Kudos, strangely, for me at least); aside from actually trying to win, trying to run a police state or an anarchist utopia is a blast. The difficulty slider also added some replayability, although the original game suffered from lack of dynamic policy effects; certain policy options were ALWAYS good ideas based on the stats in-game (e.g., free school lunch - basically no disadvantages and tons of advantages). Hopefully that's been improved so successful play on higher difficulties requires one to react to in-game events. I can definitely see myself dropping $20 for this game down the line, especially given the creator's commitment to no DRM and very pro-consumer policies in general (I switched from PC to Mac for my main gaming system and Positech provided me a free copy of the Mac version of a game I had purchased for Windows... Many companies won't do that for you).
- BrainInAJar, on 08/15/2008, -1/+9I dunno, a lot of the time when I do pirate stuff ( which is actually not very often these days ) it's because I don't feel like dredging out the CD, which is probably either lost or scratched to ***** now, because it doesn't recognize the .iso that's sitting on my 4TB fileserver as valid... so I download the pirate copy, and since I already have it, why go buy the box?
- LMN8R, on 08/14/2008, -14/+22Very nice read. While DRM like SecuRom and what Steam uses isn't enough to keep me personally from buying a game - they've never made my life more difficult, though I know that's not the case for everyone - I hope that more developers scrap it in the future. It just plain doesn't work, and as this guy says, it gives pirates a superior version of the game than the people who actually paid for it.
That said, no matter what the excuse, game pirates are still pieces of *****. No matter what excuse they come up with, no matter what justification they provide, no matter how many problems they may have had with DRM, they're still pieces of *****. Mostly annoying little kids who think they're entitled to everything, haven't worked a day in their lives, and will bitch and moan about there being nothing good out there while simultaneously stealing every piece of entertainment he can get his grubbly little fingers on.
The good thing is that, even with the epidemic of piracy, developers still manage to thrive. Despite all the terrible PR and all of the alleged piracy, not to mention a complete lack of any mainstream marketing whatsoever, games like Crysis still manage to sell 1.5-2 million copies. Games like Orange Box have PC versions that still out-sell both console versions combined by a huge margin.
The industry isn't going anywhere, with or without piracy, but I'd welcome any move to make the customer's experience better. - greevar, on 08/15/2008, -0/+7@BrainInaJar
I like that idea! I wish Autodesk would do that with 3DS Max. Who wants to pay $3500 or even the $700 just so they can learn how to use the industry's first choice for 3d animation and game asset development? Instead, I'm forced to crack it with a keygen so I can do my homework for 3d animation so I don't have to run up my student loans even further. - Katana314, on 08/15/2008, -4/+11Why do people pirate?
Well, they say it's because of quality of games and a whole bunch of "in my day" arguments. But in reality? They pirate because they don't want to pay money. Then, they come up with arguments to make their actions seem valid. Trust me, that is the only way it has ever worked. - AmaDaden, on 08/15/2008, -0/+7"I don't feel like dredging out the CD"
"I have lost CD keys or install discs"
I love Steam. It's solved this problem for me several times already. I ended up buying the games twice but the extra $10 in order to play Deus Ex again with out going crazy looking for the disk was worth it to me - xceptionaly, on 08/15/2008, -2/+9They forgot a couple.
7) "Hey, you should pay me $50 to beta test my buggy piece of ***** shovelware game."
8) System requirements for games are TOO HIGH. As an avid gamer/PC dork, I built my own rig, so I know exactly whats in it, what it can run, and what it can't. But developers often forget that 90% of people look at their inside of their computer like its a ***** spaceship or a nuclear reactor. They know nothing about processors, ram, and video cards. When someone buys a game, and they don't understand why it runs like ass on their "brand new Dell" and you tell them "Oops. You didn't buy the super special video card that costs $400 and you have to buy the right one, and then you have to take your computer apart and blah blah" you've just lost a HUGE portion of your possible install base (everyone who owns a computer).
9)No new ideas. The industry has been doing nothing but shoveling out Generic Shooter and Generic Strategy game over and over and over. Nothing but sequel after sequel to franchises that were already tired and on the brink of death 10 ***** YEARS AGO. Give it a rest, and try something new for the love of God! Gaming used to be my #1 hobby but now I don't buy or even bother to pirate games anymore because its all the same, tired, hackneyed ***** from 15 years ago. Yeah, the graphics have gotten flashier, but see point number 8 for why thats irrelevant, and even if it weren't, its just the same game you already own anyway. - solistus, on 08/15/2008, -3/+10As someone who has both purchased and pirated games in the past, I agree wholeheartedly with the DRM argument. If I can get features and/or remove annoying obstacles from a game by pirating it instead of buying it, I'll pirate out of principle. I hate companies that intentionally implement 'features' that are contrary to the user's interests.
As for price, I will only pay $40+ for a game if I am 99% sure it will be a great game. Certain companies, such as Valve and Blizzard, have such a consistent record of producing quality titles that I don't think twice about paying full retail for them. Some random EA title or whatnot, not so much.
That said, one of the big obstacles re: price is not willingness to pay, but ability. I'm a college student, as are a good number of the active gamers I know. $50 is a lot of money when you're already going into debt to pay for school and don't have the time for a full-time job. Without piracy, I couldn't afford to be a modern gamer. There are two general approaches to pricing and piracy: keep prices so low that people will be willing/able to pay, or jack up the prices so the dwindling fraction of people who legally pay for the game will provide a bigger profit stream. Sadly, most software developers seem to take the latter approach. If a game costs $50 and I don't have $50, there is a 0% chance that I will pay for the game, no matter how awesome and DRM-free it is. If I can acquire that game for free and play it anyway, I see no reason not to.
Most pirates only see even the potential for an ethical dilemma when it comes to pirating something that one would otherwise have chosen to buy. As with music, much (maybe even most) of software piracy involves people pirating things they had no intention of buying. All pirated software is free software, so something that wouldn't have been worth paying for but is worth using for free is apt to get pirated by someone who was never a potential customer. Personally, my standard is that I do not use piracy to avoid paying a fair price that I could reasonably afford for software I'm planning to buy that is not DRM-laden (see above). If I can't afford it or would have opted out of choice or financial necessity not to buy the software... Pirate away! As a developer myself, I tend to be more sympathetic toward indie developers and shareware titles than big studio games. I'll go to greater lengths to support the Ambrosias and Positechs of the world than the EAs and Capcoms. - ryusen, on 08/15/2008, -0/+7Professional applications are targeted at professionals. For them, those costs are tax deductible and will be recouped in one or two jobs. From what i've read, Adobe really doesn't care if some student pirates their work, because once he becomes a professional, he (or his company) will likely buy a legal seat for the software.
- jthei, on 08/15/2008, -1/+8Don't copy that floppy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpv6_6pCpY8 - chispito, on 08/15/2008, -0/+6There are still demos for a lot of good games. With some games, it's not practical to have a demo, like, say, Oblivion. I downloaded and enjoyed the demo for Bioshock for my PC, and it gave me a good idea of how well it would run on my rig. Although, that may be a bad example, since I heard Securom was even on the demo.
- Gizza, on 08/15/2008, -0/+6Notice how you never see Valve and Blizzard complaining about DRM? Also notice how they continuously sell millions of copies of their games?
The concept is pretty ***** simple. Make good games and people will buy them. - killerbob2323, on 08/15/2008, -0/+6Steam works great for me never had problems with it. and i like that fact that i just have all my games in on place. no need to have billions of ***** in my start menu. auto update is pretty sweet to. so is the game store no need to leave your house which eliminates one of the excuses on this site.
- barc0001, on 08/15/2008, -1/+7Just some food for thought from Bill Gates on how bad he thinks piracy is:
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/07/we-love-microso ...
Today Gates openly concedes that tolerating piracy turned out to be Microsoft's best long-term strategy. That's why Windows is used on an estimated 90% of China's 120 million PCs.
While it was terrible that people in China pirated so much software, if they were going to pirate anybody's software he'd certainly prefer it be Microsoft's. - LetsGoHokies, on 08/15/2008, -0/+6Are you kidding me? I'll just take one of your points....
"- Make games require a constant online connection with a secure database."
First of all, not everyone in the world has high speed internet. I guess those people are just ***** right? And for the people that do have it, they have to be tied to their internet to play a game THEY PURCHASED? Sounds like a rental to me if you have to be connected to play it. And an expensive rental at that. - DarKnyht, on 08/14/2008, -9/+15$2500 price tag is why they sell the Elements series, and the $400 price tag is why Microsoft has the Works software and Microsoft Student Edition. Not everyone needs professional quality tools to edit home videos of themselves and their family. If you do want the professional tools, then unfortunately, you need to pay the professional tool price.
I can buy a cheap drill at Sears that will get most work done, or I can buy an industrial drill that handles anything and everything. I will pay out the nose for one and not the other, but both will get most (if not all) of what I need to do done. The software you named is priced the same way, you are paying for professional grade equipment. - solistus, on 08/15/2008, -0/+5To extend your somewhat pained analogy, though, if you address the root causes that drive people to piracy, you can reduce the overall number and influence of pirates.
- jtbell04, on 08/15/2008, -0/+5>>Neoanarchist
I pirated that CD (after he died, RIP Mitch Hedburg). -
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