The ethics of stealing video games

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TecKnoe

Molten Core Raider
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51
yes i go to the movies, for the ones WORTH seeing sorry not everything is needed to be watched right away in theatres, ill go see things like lord of the rings, etc in theatres stuff i really enjoy, nope i havent bought a book since middle school and goosebumps, yes i have been to an expensive restaurant, does this mean anything? no if i could have found a way to shyst and get all that shit free i would wtf?

No i dont think its stupid because i buy 300-500$ watchs, and 400$ sneakers, just because i support what i feel is worth my dime aint nothing wrong with that, i dont NOT shop at wal-mart cause its a big corp or its cheap clothes, no i dont shop there because their shit is ugly and i dont want to look like every other puerto rican with their wal-mart graphic T's

i shop at express, macy's, zooyork, i go to NY to do my shopping, i dont bother with a local mall here in CT... or department stores like wal-mart or target, only thing ill touch in CT are the outlets and they suck.

im dumb too, i have a pair of 500$ jordans sitting in a box i havent even wore once, im sure all of you wanna call me stupid for it
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but thats ok, im cheap about certain things bro the things i CAN get for free i will and be cheap about, but when i want something i dont care what the cost is, they are space jams so probably worth more than that now.
 
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Izuldan_sl

shitlord
154
0
TecKnoe_sl said:
yes i go to the movies, for the ones WORTH seeing sorry not everything is needed to be watched right away in theatres, ill go see things like lord of the rings, etc in theatres stuff i really enjoy, nope i havent bought a book since middle school and goosebumps, yes i have been to an expensive restaurant, does this mean anything?
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So is Witcher 3 not WORTH your money? You already mentioned you spend money on things you think are worth it.

That's what's so completely illogical about your argument. You won't spend $60 for a game that will give you over 100 hours of enjoyment because it's single-player? That's bullshit. I'm sure you've spend $50 on a multiplayer game before that you played for less than 40 hours.

Call a spade a spade. You won't spend $60 for the game because you can get it for free without repercussions. You can steal it and have little chance of getting caught. If you could have stolen those $500 Jordans without being caught, you would have, amirite?

This isn't about the ethics of stealing video games, it's about the ethics of stealing, period. Some people won't, you will. Then it goes into the broader discussion about what it says about your character, or lack thereof.
 
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TecKnoe

Molten Core Raider
3,182
51
Ive never stolen anything from a store, or anyone never even attempted it, but yes if i could have found a way to get the shoes for free why wouldent i?

its funny you say its ethics about stealing when i am pirating video games, not breaking into houses, stealing from stores, etc if i was a thief as you try to brand me id be stealing anything and everything i could get my hands on.

and you're really reaching with 100 hours of enjoyment..... really fucking reaching what is that playing each difficulty 4x? and thats enjoyment for some i guess, thats ok.

and yes you're right i bought battlefield 4 and i played it for 22 hours, total waste, no witcher 3 and the 30 hours it will take or less to beat it is not worth 60$ to someone like me that does not value story, or replaying the same shit on a different difficulty.
 
Denaut

Denaut

Trump's Staff
2,739
1,279
TecKnoe_sl said:
what shitty games have you worked on denaut? if you're gonna put it out there give us the resume.

we will decide if any game you were involved in deserved our money, dont worry well be polite.
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By your logic, since I've only ever worked on MMORPGs and multiplayer games, they have all been worth your money!

But that is stupid logic. Out of the 7 released projects I've worked on I think only one has been worth the money. And that one doesn't include the free-to-play game that was my first project as a lead. I've played dozens and dozens of single player games that were worth way more than them.
 
Quaid

Quaid

Trump's Staff
11,859
8,265
TecKnoe_sl said:
what shitty games have you worked on denaut? if you're gonna put it out there give us the resume.

we will decide if any game you were involved in deserved our money, dont worry well be polite.
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Demands a successful man's resume to discredit his work.

Has job so shitty he has to steal games.

It's a TecKnoe post!
 
Rezz

Rezz

Mr. Poopybutthole
4,488
3,531
Devil's advocate here, but I sort of see the pirate stance, to a degree.

One of the problems with current games is that if they are a sack of boiled rat-shit, they tend to either have no demo or a demo that incorporates none of the obvious problems occurring in the game. So either you can't legally try before you buy (or one of your friends buy) and if you can, it isn't the same experience that actually occurs in the game. The games that have fully functional demos tend to be games that don't have anything to hide and/or aren't complete shit.

Admittedly, I have spent so much money on steam I should honestly be ashamed of myself, and my PS3 is loaded full of digital purchases I have made. I have no problem paying for a game that I think or know isn't going to be a waste of money. But outside of that, it's open season.

I liken it to music. I would happily purchase every album of every artist I generally enjoy without even thinking. Except I have been an adult for 16 years and I -know- that there are simply some albums that have one good song and the rest is complete shit. I picked up the In Flames album "Sounds of a Playground Fading" because I enjoy In Flames and they have always been a favorite of mine. But that was a shit album and literally not a single song was worth listening to. Had I pirated before I paid money, I would have found out how worthless that shit was, and not spent a dime on it. But instead, because I made the mistake of "trusting" corporations to accurately portray their product, I bought something that was most definitely not worth the money I spent on it.

So to video games. Demos only started cropping up really in the world of PS1. But goddamn there were a lot of shitty SNES and previous games that had I know what I was buying beforehand from firsthand experience, I wouldn't have spent the money. The same goes for today. Look at FFXV on PS4. That demo is fucking retarded, because it shows graphics and a story element and nothing else. That's not a game demo; that's a graphics presentation. I liked what I saw, but it gave me absolutely no idea about the game as a whole. A demo should do that, and the sad fact is that most don't. So when companies don't let you test drive their car, and instead show you promotional videos, do you simply have to go "Nope." and not even give it an illegal test drive, then toss money at them when they prove they aren't shit? Or do you blindly throw money at projects and hope that one out of five isn't complete shit?

Me, I'm a test drive man. I also buy products that are worth the money, and sometimes multiple times depending on platform.
 
Pyros

Pyros

<Silver Donator>
11,313
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Rezz this isn't really Devil's Advocate though. You're advocating a fairly decent line of thought. Testing games via torrented versions to know if the game is actually worth buying or not. That's fair. I mean, a lot of people will argue that you're literally stealing and raping the devs children, but imo that's fair. I believe this thread was more about people not buying the games at all, regardless. They're not testing the game, they're just playing it and not buying it.

Which, I should say, isn't a massive ethics issue to me. I used to do that when I was a kid, I'd download everything and play only cracked games unless it had online components that forced me to own the game. I thought it was nice and it was the same with music back in the days of Napster and whatever the other shit was, I downloaded everything. But as I grew up, I kinda stopped, I just started buying games. I guess on the other hand, I don't play as many games because I try to be a bit more responsible about what I spend money on(mind, I still play a lot, having more time than most people and shit, but still less than what I could). Another aspect is the fact that I play online games so much, I've also stopped actually needing to buy like 4-5games a month.

That helps with rationalizing that paying for games is better than using cracked versions when I don't need to spend several hundreds of euros every month on them. I generally buy like one game every couple of months on average, and that's why I don't mind paying for them. Rest of the time I'm playing some mmo/dota/path of exile/diablo3/random F2P korean stuff. That and steam sales and GMG and all that shit, I end up paying half of the price for most games even though they're brand new or only a few months old, so I'm cool with that.
 
ZyyzYzzy

ZyyzYzzy

RIP USA
<Banned>
25,295
48,789
TecKnoe_sl said:
yes i go to the movies, for the ones WORTH seeing sorry not everything is needed to be watched right away in theatres, ill go see things like lord of the rings, etc in theatres stuff i really enjoy, nope i havent bought a book since middle school and goosebumps, yes i have been to an expensive restaurant, does this mean anything? no if i could have found a way to shyst and get all that shit free i would wtf?

No i dont think its stupid because i buy 300-500$ watchs, and 400$ sneakers, just because i support what i feel is worth my dime aint nothing wrong with that, i dont NOT shop at wal-mart cause its a big corp or its cheap clothes, no i dont shop there because their shit is ugly and i dont want to look like every other puerto rican with their wal-mart graphic T's

i shop at express, macy's, zooyork, i go to NY to do my shopping, i dont bother with a local mall here in CT... or department stores like wal-mart or target, only thing ill touch in CT are the outlets and they suck.

im dumb too, i have a pair of 500$ jordans sitting in a box i havent even wore once, im sure all of you wanna call me stupid for it
smile.png
but thats ok, im cheap about certain things bro the things i CAN get for free i will and be cheap about, but when i want something i dont care what the cost is, they are space jams so probably worth more than that now.
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No good stores in CT? Lol you wigger. You ashame all the CT WASPs
 
Caliane

Caliane

Avatar of War Slayer
15,913
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Let's plays are the new demo.

I love me demo's. But I also have to accept and agree with the devs point of view on them.
They cost time and money, and can only result in lost sales sadly. The likelyhood of a demo, of even a great game, resulting in lost sales is much much much higher then any chance of generating sales. Buzz and word of mouth will generate sales. A potentially buggy bite sized package of a game wont.

Lets plays give the buzz and word of mouth. And create anticipation because the players can't get their hands on it directly without buying.


Open betas, Early access, and FTP also feature into that discussion.
An open beta is very similar to a demo of course. But generally its better as it will be feature complete, the normal build so no extra costs to devs, and a limited time deal generating buzz to play during that limited time before release.
Early access is also similar... and honestly, I think most of us would agree a failure 90% of the time.
 
K

Knytestorme_sl

shitlord
532
0
Had a similar mental argument today.

I have the CE PS4 edition waiting for me on tuesday but trying to decide if grabbing the torrent for the weekend is worth it or not even knowing that when I do the new build after coming back from holidays I'll get it from GoG as well.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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Rezz I'm so sorry you still buy In Flames albums, you poor, poor man!

If I want to hear an album before buying it, usually you can find the entire album on Youtube nowadays. In fact, most companies stream their new albums there just for this reason. Additionally Spotify lets you listen to them too. All free legal alternatives.
 
A

a_skeleton_02

<Banned>
8,130
14,248
I do not pirate music games or TV shows I think its the same as stealing honestly.

You can do all the mental gymnastics you want but in the end you are taking something that has an assigned monetary value and getting it for free.

This attitude is lending itself to the continued escalation of bullshit DRM and microtransaction that are slowly choking out the industry.

I will not defend scumbag music and game companies though that try and bankrupt people for pirating I think that is unethical as well.

What angers me is the people who say video games are an artistic medium and should be appreciated then go and steal it from the creators because

"Single player experience only"
"Its not hurting them because if didnt steal it I would of never paid money for it"

How entitled are those people? If you don't want to pay for it then you have no right to play it,view it,listen to it.

I boycott all EA and Ubisoft games and that means I don't play them or buy them Im not a hypocrite who steals assassins creed and justifies it by saying ubi is evil.

Anyways I hate thieves and this is a rant.
 
Tuco

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
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Izuldan_sl said:
Your "I only pay for multi-player games" is just some strange excuse/ethos you've made for yourself to make yourself feel better about pirating games. At least be honest with yourself.
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Yep. You have to be pretty dumb if you think your ethics just happen to align with what you are able to pirate.

My view on piracy is this: Any time someone releases content they want you to pay for, and you get it without paying you're acting unethically.

That includes streaming Mayweather's last $100 snoozefest PPV, streaming Game of Thrones, pirating the next SimCity after being burned by SimCity5, pirating the latest soft-release of Assassin's Creed 8, pirating Windows 10 after suffering Metro's UI or Adobe's $1000 suite of bullshit.

How you mentally cope with acting unethically is up to you. Some people say, "Well, I'm not doing anything wrong because EA are a bunch of dicks.". Others say, "I can only spend so much of my money on games and it's better to give it to developers who deserve it.". Some say, "I spend so much $ on games that I deserve some freebies."

Personally I cope with that by saying, "It's unethical and I don't care, I want to play some games but don't want to spend the money on it.".
 
K

Knytestorme_sl

shitlord
532
0
a_skeleton_02_sl said:
I do not pirate music games or TV shows I think its the same as stealing honestly.

You can do all the mental gymnastics you want but in the end you are taking something that has an assigned monetary value and getting it for free.
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In regards to this, and I think it's off topic since it's not games but still....latest season of Community is not broadcast here, yahoo geoblocks the site to watch it from the source so downloading is the only option, is that unethical? Second to that is it stealing or unethical to download shows because you want to have them on your NAS to watch when (and as often) as you want until the season box set is released....or are you just talking about pirating the box sets when you talk about pirating something that goes free over the airwaves?
 
zombiewizardhawk

zombiewizardhawk

Potato del Grande
10,308
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Noodlemod_sl said:
Rezz I'm so sorry you still buy In Flames albums, you poor, poor man!

If I want to hear an album before buying it, usually you can find the entire album on Youtube nowadays. In fact, most companies stream their new albums there just for this reason. Additionally Spotify lets you listen to them too. Allfree legal alternatives.
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No videos (especially music and/or anime/movies/etc.) ever get reported and removed from Youtube for being up there illegally amirite?
 
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