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Gamertag: SniperXan
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I have a question...
Why is it that as soon as stealing loses its "danger factor" that suddenly (mostly) everyone in the frikken world jumps on the bandwagon? So, I was browsing Joystiq and reading the comments on their news story about MW2's $80 "Hardened edition" and the VERY first post is, in my opinion, worse then the infamous "First!" post. The guy proudly exclaims "thank god for my modded 360 i dont have to spend a penny on games" The wrath of the gaming public soon ensued, and rightfully so. The guy is stealing and adding to the economic trouble or shared hobby has endured the past few years. Then this one guy posts a wake up call, "[i]LOL. I love how gamers get so butt hurt when people mention they download games. Like they themselves don't download any media at all[/i]." followed soon by the slightly less cynical but far more sarcastic, [i]"Don't download pirate games, man. It's ok if you want to illegally download music, tv shows and movies, just not videogames. Because havind a double standard is a good thing. Right? "[/i] Yes, asshole comments they are, meant to do nothing but anger and annoy the general population but they are totally right. Most of us who read game blogs and follow up on the gaming news are loyal to our cause. We buy our games, pay for our DLC and generally do the right thing when it comes to our hobby. Not because its right, not because its lawful, and certainly not because its our only option. just because we have taken up this "noble quest" in the name of gaming to ensure its survival. I say this because if it where because it was right, lawful or whatever so many of us wouldn't have pirated movies, or MP3s or whatever sitting on our hard-drives. We're hypocrites of the highest level, willing only to defend our one love while taking part in the ravaging of the rest of the family. People in general don't give two craps about doing what is right. People don't steal from store shelves in general because of the fear of getting caught. People steal music or movies because there is no getting caught, there is no fear factor and no store owner getting jipped. ... Ah, but there are those who will cry out that they are stealing because of the INJUSTICE of being overcharged or giving money to some EEVVIILL corporation. That somehow stealing is justified because of the many injustices in this dark and gloomy world. BULL SHIT! If something is overpriced.. DON'T BUY THE SHIT! Leave it alone, just ignore it and maybe...if enough people do it'll come down to something more reasonable. Don't tell me stealing the game helps some sort of cause... all you have there is some lame ass self entitlement issues. You don't want to put money towards something but somehow feel entitled to it anyway? At the heart of the piracy issue is this lame ass entitlement issue. I was reading another comment about some guy who lives in some poor little town where the local game shops charge upwards of $100 for games. Is this outrageous? Damn right it is. But what is the answer this person comes up with? Weellll, seems everyone in the town has modded XBOX360's because they can't afford to buy the games. So, you can't afford something so you steal it? Is it really that necessary? Now, some of us would say that we couldn't live without games but I'm sure we could if we had to... we might even flourish. Games are a luxury. The only reason these people are stealing these games is not because they "need" them. Its because some injustice has stopped them from having what they are entitled to and they will not stand for it. Can anyone else see the bullshit there? Its the same with music, we can;t be bothered to buy music cause we just don't want to part with our money, we're entitled to this music anyway so what the hell... lets just go DL it who cares right? Because nobody cares about right and wrong anymore, its about us, this "me now me now me now" attitude that has swallowed not just the west, but at this point nearly the entire world... its sick really... Rant, over. Thanks for reading
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Living the dream since March 16, 2006
Living the dream since March 16, 2006
There's no absolute right or wrong. What is right or wrong is decided by society and changes as time goes. If a majority of people think it's now ok to pirate stuff (which is not the same as stealing but I won't get into that) then it's ok to do so. If it results in the death of an industry, which I don't personally believe it can/will, then that's ok too, people will just adapt.
I have to admit I follow my own code of ethics of what seems "right". I don't download movies if they are in the theatre... but I've downloaded TV shows I've missed (Lost) and also TV mini-series. Any movie that has been on TV is also fair game. Essentially anything I could have had on my DVR I figure it's ok to download. I don't download music... just no interest. In regards to games... I do share PSN games/DLC content with my husband on his PS3. We do pay full price for BD games and often buy two copies so we can play online together (Resistance 1 and 2, Killzone, Warhawk and several others have been 2 copies)... so I don't feel bad about downloading DLC to both systems under my own name. (Besides, occasionally I use his PS3 instead of mine). I don't even buy used games unless I can't get it new or unless I don't support the devs (as was the case with Orange Box where I waited till I could buy it used, cause Valve apparently hates the PS3... so was just showin a little hate back.)
... then again, I'm probably rationalizing! :)
This is a very complicated discussion and anything I say at this point could be handwaved away as a thief's rationale. Think of it what you will.
Downloading does not equate to theft, at least not on the one-to-one ratio that the industry would have one believe.
For example, there are cases in which the game is simply unavailable for purchase in the "thief"'s home market. Many games are not officially sold in various regions, such as China, Russia, and other parts of Asia. If a resident of those areas decides to buy a burned copy of The Sims 2 (the most pirated game in history by numerical scale), instead of flying to the states and walking into GameStop, has EA lost a sale?
That's difficult to figure. A lot of anti-piracy rants are operating from a limited perspective, namely only seeing piracy as downloading games and whatnot via the internet, and not from that of the vast majority, which is buying content via a secondary black market.
As such, they tend to devolve into "if you can't afford it you don't deserve it" moralistic arguments. Now THAT'S bullshit. As was said, games are a luxury. No one DESERVES a luxury, no matter the price. At that point, it's purely a business decision. Companies will charge what they think they can get away with, and it's up to the consumer to decide. Clearly at this point, companies are NOT getting away with $60 per unit in Southeast asia and China. It's up to them to adapt their business model, if they want to sell the same games and make money.
Obviously, many do pirate because they can get things without paying for them. I freely admit that before I moved to the US (and thusly into an appropriately-priced income bracket), likely 90% of the games I played were pirated. And though I now legally buy all of my games (believe it or not), the proportion of my income that I spend on them has not changed at all. Relatively speaking, I spend no more now, here, than what I spent before, there, as the market has changed.
This discussion is not about morality, but about business.
I can concede to the morality vs. business thing a bit. I can't really agree that morality is completely separate from the issue but modern times have decided that morality is an unwanted nuisance. I dislike this line of thinking but won't really stand against it.
UNANGBANGKAY, thank you for your well thought out input and I'll certainly put more thought into what you have said.
Thats what I love most about Destructoid, overall its community is one of the smartest I have seen. Well thought out reasonable comments are very common and a breath of fresh air.
For myself, does stealing make me a thief, or am I a thief therefore I steal?
Actually, I'm just a thief.
Speeding is wrong too, but any time I hit the highway I'm always at least 5 miles over the speed limit. Is the risk of a ticket really worth the extra 5 miles, probably not.
I could argue that the lack of a solid PC game rental market as a factor, but that's really another issue entirely and wouldn't do much to prevent piracy so I won't pretend it would.
Nobody 'needs' to download games or movies or music, but so long as they aren't trying to sell the copies they download and just use it for themselves then I can't fault them. Yeah it hurts the developers and I equate stealing indie games with walking into some guy in a store, punching him and taking $5 from his wallet, but I can honestly say I've never downloaded anything that I would've bought instead. If the free version wouldn't have been an option I would've just gone on without it.
I know this doesn't make it right, but I don't think it makes me immoral either. Maybe I'm just not as rigid as I should be in my quest for moral righteousness, but if this was my biggest offense I guess I'm not so bad off.