The Witcher 2 developer CD Projeckt RED has, as promised, started going after those individuals it believes have pirated the game. According to TorrentFreak, thousands of BitTorrent users in Germany are being told by an external law firm to pay €911.80 ($1230).
Speaking to PC Gamer, VP of business development Michal Nowakowski says that "We're addressing only 100% confirmed piracy causes that are 100% possible to prove. We are not worried about tracking the wrong people. As this is the trade secret of the company working on this, I cannot share it."
Nowakowski wouldn't name the company being used to reach such impluasibly high accuracy, but he did comment that "In terms of the compensation, the amounts that were circling around the internet were higher than what is actually asked from people as a settlement."
I hope for the studio's sake they are correct; we wouldn't want them to fight against DRM to avoid causing unintended harm only to turn around and pursue pirates based on, say, IP addresses while unintentionally targeting the wrong people.
The Witcher 2 devs claim 100% accuracy in identifying pirates, demand money from thousands [PC Gamer -- Thanks, Henriquegds]
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Contest:
5:15 PM on 12.15.2011 | 
What if you bought the game but kept it sealed so that you'd never have to open it?
I know that sounds do dumb, but reading this story earlier today it was the first thing I thought of.
Sort of like people who buy a DVD then still go download it do they can have a portable copy.
Bought for full price, I regret nothing, aside from the fact my computer can't handle it...
[theft] Show IPA
noun
1.
the act of stealing; the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another; larceny.
2.
an instance of this.
3.
Archaic . something stolen.
pi·ra·cy
[pahy-ruh-see] Show IPA
noun, plural -cies.
1.
practice of a pirate; robbery or illegal violence at sea.
2.
the unauthorized reproduction or use of a copyrighted book, recording, television program, patented invention, trademarked product, etc.: The record industry is beset with piracy.
3.
Also called stream capture. Geology . diversion of the upper part of one stream by the headward growth of another.
In summary: Theft =/= Piracy.
No, I'm not justifying anything, just seems like people didn't pay attention in English class.
...Oh boy, it's going to be this discussion again. Really?
Theft. Theft never changes.
Semantics.
Piracy is illegal, that's true but it has a relevant place in our society and pushing consumer choice froward.
I say "call an apple an apple" and you see "IT'S OKAY TO BREAK THE LAW"
Please learn to read.
Relevant for pushing consumer choice forward?
Pirates aren't the Robin Hoods of video games. They're simply criminals. Nothing more or less.
FURK YOU PIRATES!
So what real justification is their for pirating it now?
Because, if they use by tracking it's IP then will never be 100% accurate, and not showing what company that tracked just makes it more strange. (also, thanks Jordan for the shout out :D)
Nope, you're a thief and a disgrace. Trash of the internet arguing semantics thinking it somehow legitimizes what they are doing to the industry they piss on.
Example
Person A: Sunny days are good.
Person B: If all days were sunny, we'd never have rain, and without rain, we'd have famine and death. Therefore, you are wrong.
Problem: B has misrepresented A's claim by falsely suggesting that A claimed that only sunny days are good, and then B refuted the misrepresented version of the claim, rather than refuting A's original assertion.
Example 2:
I say: "Piracy is not the same as theft"
You say: "Piracy isn't technically 'theft' by the strict definition. So that means it's okay, right?"
----------------------
That's all for today. If you need further education, I'll be here all week.
Words do change. Thats normal. Happens a lot. If not, english wouldn't exist and you people would still talk some medieval form of german, like ca. 1000 years ago.
But it will bring in money. And it's the correct way.
Instead of stupid DRM, hunt down the pirates and sue them dead.
and @Adonai in case people pirated before and later bought it they will still have to pay the 911€ hell even if they pirated the game while they own them they would be basically forced to pay since going to court is most likely more expensive even if you are in your right not saying they are but still any situation where people are basically forced to pay and going to court only costs them more is a bad situation.
-----------------------------
"...arguing semantics thinking it somehow legitimizes what they are doing to the industry they piss on."
Please point out to ME where I said Piracy isn't theft and that makes it OK.
NO, Piracy is NOT JUSTIFIED
NO, I DO NOT THINK IT SHOULD BE LEGAL
NO, I DO NOT SAY IT IS "OKAY"
The fact that I had to spell that out for you betrays your ignorance and defensiveness.
How will it bring money? I don't think these supposed thousands of pirates will actually go to court or pay this.
And what if someone bought the game later or simply don't have money (yes, it's a minority, but it does exist) to pay for it?
My point is that you are wrong. You say the word is used that way because you read or learned that somewhere, but if people call illegal downloading piracy then at some point in the future this explanation will just be added.
It's not wrong. It's not possible. Language evolves and if you can't keep up, that's your problem.
Cheers.
What.
The.
Fuck.
I'm buying the game but developers have to get into their thick minds that piracy will always exist, and they can't do shit about it except for being customer friendly. Just google "steam Russia" and you'll get what I mean.
Well, I guess then they have to go to jail for a while. Just because you don't have money doesn't mean you can steal. At least not in Germany. In the past it was a seperate matter to steal food if you can't afford it.. but gaming isn't a need where that right would apply. And it doesn't exist anymore, anyway.
Since stealing is an official delict the german court has to act upon it. But most people pay the bill anyway, because they fear to have to go to court. Costs a lot of money in Germany. Way more than 1000$ at least.
No, because you use the definitions of yesterday no one cares anymore about. Besides some old men.
I'll never for the life of me understand why people feel this way. Why should they have to bend over and take this? What's wrong with looking for ways to push back? People are always going to shoplift too but you don't hear anyone suggesting Wal-Mart should just turn a blind eye to it or ask shoplifters nicely if they wouldn't mind please not doing that anymore. I don't understand this mentality that publishers/developers should be fine with their games being stolen.
Then I'll go and check a dozen different REAL dictionaries and find that they agree with me and that you are clearly only motivated by some infantile need to be "right" rather than correct.
Cars, dude. Go for the cars analogy. The timing is perfect and it ALWAYS works.
And you want prove? Well, look at how piracy is used in this and dozends of other articles and you will find that your definition from dictionaries don't apply to the real world anymore.
They will correct that in 5-10 years, like always, but thats not the fault of the people, but the fault of the old guys writing dictionaries. And "Klugscheisser" (look that up yourself) like you using them on sites where no one cares about grammar anyway.
Piracy is not legal
Piracy is not to be excused
Piracy is bad
Piracy can be rationalized
The impact of piracy is a lot less than the industry wants you to think.
Arguments like I know it is bad but it still saves me a lot of money are logical arguments for pirating and really I can see the logic in wanting to save money even if its not legal but that doesnt change the fact that its bad.
The only legitimate reason to pirate in my opinion is if you already own the license on the game and want to have another copy because for example your disk broke.
"Just because you don't have money doesn't mean you can steal. At least not in Germany."
True. Though if they REALLY don't have the money, then what is the problem if they pirate it? Since they wouldn't be able to buy the game anyway, I fail to see why they should be cursed upon and demanded to pay an arbitrary sum of money. They did not steal from a store, they downloaded of the internet. If they don't have money, they are not making the developer lose money!
I am a professional philosopher and my recommendation is do not try to argue over the net. No amount of reasoning will convince people otherwise, especially when dealing with semantics and pragmatics. Really, anytime language is involved, everyone comes out of the woodwork.