Pirating Games, does the community grants it to be normal? [EDITED]

I am not ashamed to say that I spent about 18 months torrenting games when I finally "discovered" torrenting (yes, I was very late to the party on torrenting)...I treated it like a rental service though, I'd play a game enough to know if I liked it or not and then delete it. And yes, I bought every single game I liked enough to want to keep playing...

I pirate a game to try it and get a feel for the game play, any bugs, etc. Ill play it for long enough to know if its something I want to keep playing, and then I go buy it. I wish more dev's would release demos to be honest. I mean, money for me is pretty tight and I cant justify spending 40-60$ on a blind game purchase when there is an option to "try" it before I go buy it.

I used to pirate all my games but 4 years ago I stopped because of Steam.I had a bunch of games (under 10-15) and I promised myself to stop pirating games unless it's just for hardware/software testing.I never pirated since and I have over 1k games (only started hoarding games 2 years ago).

I don't regret pirating games back in the day and if I really can't afford a game and really really want to play it right away(very very unlikely),I probably would just pirate it and play it.

I don't condone it but I also don't consider someone doing it a criminal/scum/etc.I just don't care TBH.

Most people pirate cuz they also don't care,or they don't know how easy it is to acquire games.I bet that 90% of pirates would quit being pirates if they knew how easy it is to hoard games and end up with hundreds of games and tons of backlog.Everyone desires original stuff,that's why companies throw a logo on it and make tons of money,same goes with games.Everyone wants the real deal but most are oblivious to the fact that you can actually acquire it cheap and easy..

As for punishment....I don't consider pirating games a great offense by any means..soo..dunno.

Strange how most don't even bat an eye when it comes to music piracy despite that being a far bigger thing relatively speaking. I've seen people talk on and on about how movie and game piracy is bad but they for some reason don't see an issue with their MP3 collection. Maybe they think that the YouTube description and MP3 conversion sites saying "no copyright infringement intended" really does make it okay somehow.

Anyway, if you pirate a game and you like it then you should buy it. Maybe you don't think it's worth $50 and that's fine, buy it when it goes on sale at the price you'd be willing to pay.
If you pirated a game and you didn't like it but completed it anyway then you should buy it too.
If you pirated a game and you didn't like it and didn't get very far then I guess that was a proto Steam Refund.
Either way, do what you want. You probably had no intention of buying the game full price one way or the other so it's technically not a missed sale. Or, maybe you did buy the game and for whatever reason can't access it in which case go ahead.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/18/7240459/piracy-free-game-this-war-of-mine-11-bit-studios

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-11-27-this-war-of-mine-made-its-money-back-in-just-two-days

Your all arguments againts piracy is invalid now.

1. piracy will remain as it is
2. you can "Ban steam accounts, DRM, only online play, server verifacation" and hope for sells.
3. you can make a good game, accept piracy, and let the community support you.

My own story with this game:

Pirated it. played it. Awesome game. bought the game. Seen the devs reply to piracy. Blown away by theyre comment. played even more.

Seriously. I know people are sensitive about Digital Rights vs the fact that a "Copy" of a game is just that
"A copy", after Development they can just sit there and make more and more money off of a game for years.

Personally, I feel that as long as I am buying a legitimate Code Key then I am Paying for the game.
There are so many Great Bundle Sites now, and they sell the games for so little, that I think it is Fair.

Now I think Steam is Unfair and Too much money, but because I can buy Game Keys and "Activate"
them through Steam it's ok, although they have good deals at Holidays, and I will buy my Inventory Gifts then.

Even though I do not have much money, I like to give game gifts to my friends just like any other game player.

It's a lot more "normal" when you're a child. When you grow up most people can afford to just buy the games they want, and if they can't then they likely aren't worrying about games anyway.

99% of my games are pirated cause i cant buy legal games from my countries if a could i really would buy them and support the devs but sadly i cant and its the only way i can play games

Sometimes piracy can be helpful if a game is an abandonware. For example: Wolfenstein (2009). You can't find this game legitimately anymore, only through piracy, but the game was a disappointment anyways so... But there are other games that are REALLY GOOD, but good luck finding these. Sometimes even torrent sites don't have them, or they do, but have dead seeders.

I recommend checking out a game called PREY. This game was an innovation in mechanics on an id Tech engine game. It had mind bending combat - changing gravity, going through portals, spirit walk, a great gem.

As long as people get the option to get something for free with basically no consequences, piracy will be popular. Its really about that. When you have the choice of paying 40 euro for a game or downloading it for free...then the other question is about morality of what you are doing - but seeing as you give yourself the idea that "Its a victimless crime" and "Everyone is doing it", you get over it. It just feels like its the same crime like crossing the sidewalk when its red, but no one is around. You want to get to the other side quickly, but you don't want to wait and no cars are in sight and lots of people are doing it so who cares.

Except its not the same. You kinda realize this the first time you make something and then you find it on internet.

There has never, and will never be a purpose to trying to stop piracy, they will always overcome anything you try to do to stop them. The only people effected by anti piracy, is people who pay for the games. Publishers finally started realizing this a few years ago, this is why all those awful cards that used to come in the cases to get online are gone, because they only hindered paying customers.

If they wanna make more money, make better games, have better customer relations, don't be Konami or Capcom in recent years is an easy rule to follow XD

There will never be a stop on piracy. If the developers try a stricter DRM, it would only kill more legitimate user. As others have pointed out, some also pirates for the sake of trying the game. Seeing that AAA title costs a lot, people are at risk if they purchase the game without trying it first. But this is somewhat alleviated by new Steam's policy to let players try their game for 2 days.

So, what developers can do is try to deter piracy, maybe by online play or something. Or by subtle message. Once I have pirated the Game Dev Tycoon, and a message about piracy inside the game makes me think about piracy.

Personally, I pirated a lot of games in the past. But after I know about Steam and the bundles, I stopped pirating completely. Even I will purchase games that I like in the past, like Fallout 3. I won't be playing it again, but I purchase it because it has given me fun for hundreds of hours in the past.

There are countries where the normal game price tag is half of monthly income too a household. I understand supporting the devs and me myself i stopped pirating when a i got a good job. But sometimes seriously i'm downloading AAA tiltle first just too check it out, if the game works fine on my pc and have good fun things to offer i eventually buy it. The new refund steam policy will be good for some people. But that will never end piracy. Piracy is a demo version for people who want to check things out before they make a purchase. And i'm not a lefty wing man but for fuck sake give some really poor people a little bit of fun too. It's only digital crap it is not like beating you in front off ATM and grabing your fking cash. Free internet. You want ACTA? Go to Korea.

slave inside

-Problem is piracy covers lots of people nowadays
Yet......I believe in piracy!
I think it's not wrong at all to pirate a game to see if it works on my computer or if I like it or not, in other words if it's worth buying
You see in my days there used to be this little thing called a demo, and lots and I mean lot's of games had demos, it was the best! But now they're mostly gone

-I also think games are still a huge ripoff, I mean the norm for a game is 50€...WTF...50€...srsly? why do they think lot's of people will spend 50€ to buy that game specifically? I mean with 3xgames 150€ I could buy a bike/graphics card etc... Games are just to expensive IMO
And if I had the money...not the money to buy all the games I wanted, I don't mean that, but I mean if I had more money I'd totally buy more games
Anyway that's not surprising since a CD with 20 songs costs 20€, I have like 5/6 CD's all from bands I truly like and appreciate, I bought them as a way to support the band, I later figured I should have just donated 20€ to them directly as it would be better for both of us, but whatever
Do I feel bad for the music I didn't buy......no.....most are dead anyway and the ones who aren't can't fill more money in their pockets (they probably can)

-At this point you may argue something like "if you don't have money to buy games, get some or don't pirate/steal them!" like anyone can't afford a car, shouldn't just steal one right?? but imagine you could take a picture to a car and 3dprint it in your home, that would be fun!

Well thing is, I consider games a work of art, a creative product, just like music or a painting!
Shouldn't the artist(s) involved with the said work, rejoice as the people appreciate their game, sure they need/want money too but if one isn't able to pay for it should he be unable to appreciate it?
Just like a painting/picture/drawing/etc , you can buy the original, a replica, a poster or just download and print the painting at your home.....is that considered piracy?

-And yes, maybe if I was on your end I wouldn't have this "the world is good and beautiful" kind of speech, but you get my point a view, don't ya?

BUT DON'T WORRY, piracy is killing itself! lot's of virus but mostly bitcoiners are inside most pirated content nowadays, those people are just the worst, they speak of a free€/$-culture world and yet they don't spread culture for free at all...well there's also the ones who just pirate and are all like....I cracked this so you mine bitcoins for me as payment...well those aren't that bad people I just think they're wrong.

I am disgusted. I just voted for the Steam VAC ban and 74% of the people here say that people should be allowed to pirate.

If I'm interested in a game that doesn't have a demo, I'll probably play a pirated vrsion first. If I don't like the game I uninstall it and don't play it again. However, if I like it I end up buying it to support the developers, even if I have to wait some time for a discount, due to not being able to pay full price...

Dear lord. I check back on this to see I voted the least popular choice. R.I.P.

The best example at this point is cdprojektred ant they customer "Witcher" policy is so wanted, they don't give a F for some DRM crap. You can download game from any torrent site whatsoever and you don't need any crack or things like that. Game alone is awesome and you normally just like that, want to pay for it. This is future! The game that you actually want to pay for and you see that developer respect you. The UBI, Actyvision, EA policies they are all for profit they give you crapy game and they want more and they say this is piracy foult. Dam even all the DLC's are free for Witcher, when you get assasins, battledieds cut off half just to make profit from DLC's.

Honestly? With all the bundle sites, discount stores like GMG and game sales....There's really no reason to pirate IMO

rofl that poll,,, "Report them to the goverment", why do you care if people pirate games? it is not your problem, you will not stop it, you will not change it, and honestly, you never pirated any software/movie?

report them to goverment....hahahahahaah good one

Good idea! if they pirate a uplay game ban them from uplay so they wont have any possible way to buy the game at all and continue pirating! Good job mate i think u really thought this through! Or ban their steam account so they will say at the end " FxxK this sh1t ill just go pirating. You cant ban an account where people have payed for products btw.. you can get sued.

Have u thought that if they wanted people to support their game the should have lowered the games price O.o

This whole thread shows how well many of the people even in this site are brainwashed or have no idea how piratism truly affects the industry.
Simply put piratism is a double edged sword that helps and hurts both sides of the spectrum. Just like with capitalism, it doesn't help everyone.

I played cracked games from around the time that the ps3 came out till about a year ago, since then I had the money to afford all those classics I love & I don't do it anymore except to see if a game works or not. Most new games that are being put up on sites like kat nowadays are unfinished/broken anyway. People should be allowed to pirate because I believe that those people won't buy games anyway for whatever reason they started downloading cracked games. Live & let live

Telling people to stop pirating is like telling people to stop walking. Sure people will stop but not everyone. And it is impossible to stop everyone.