Piracy - Don't mention it

[Dirty Sanchez]

Following on from a post in the COD4 thread where the emergence of the ISO for COD4 was raised. It was 'unfortunate' from one poster and queried by myself as to why it's unfortunate.

Every media available today is at the fingertips of all of us. For free, virtually untouchable. Even this forum has even opened up the 'custom covers' can of worms, an offshoot of the piracy scene if there ever was one.

So why the shock and disappointment from some when said media inevitably ends up on a torrent somewhere?

Everytime I see post like that I wonder what the point was, those that pirate already know where to get the stuff from and will already know it's out. Those that don't pirate will have their interest raised, maybe encouraging them into doing it. A similar situation to canabis perhaps, everyone knows it's wrong and bad for you but if enough people do it then it's acceptable.

Some pretty half arsed attempts from the industry to stop it make me feel they actually want their stuff to pirated, in a viral advertising way. I know for a fact that Sky constantly measure the volume of US TV stuff being downloaded, including retaining all the IP's of those downloading and seeding. Do they try and stop it? No, even though they have concrete proof that people are stealing their exclusive content.

The only model that has kept me on the straight and narrow has been the 360/Live combo, they have even addressed the 'download for review' by supplying a steady stream of quality demos. Sat TV has almost nailed it but the actual content is available elsewhere, esp US TV shows.

So, piracy, is it really worth mentioning or should we just ignore it like speed limits and only cry about it when someone gets caught doing a ton?

[eastyy]

well its when companys say that there console/games etc is pirate proof it just gives more incentive for the hackers to try even harder to break them

[Ouenben]

I think unskippable anti-piracy ads on DVDs are what annoy me most.
I've just bought the retail version of a disk and they punish me with a couple minute long unskippable ad saying not to pirate the dvd!

It's why I use the xbox 360 as a DVD player because it goes to the main menu on a dvd I've been watching (IE simpsons) so if I want to see the last 2 episodes on the disc I don't need to sit through those damn ads again!

As far as piracy goes, gaming anyway, I don't like it at all. Why should I pay £40 of my earned money and others able to download it for free on the same day of release? It's unfair.
Years ago I bought a P!NK Album for £10, bought it home, next day 2 friends came round and my mum copied it (Without my permission) for them both. This annoyed me because I paid £10 which was alot for me at the time for this album and they get it for free!
I'd happily lend it to them etc, Im not selfish with my posessions, I just hate that others are easily getting what I pay for, for free.
Also I don't like piracy because I like having physical material for my games and not cheapo copied discs either.

I think PS1/PS2 owes a large chunk of it's success to the pirates.

[Brats]

I'd gladly see any talk of piracy banned from this site including torrenting US TV shows, but I accept that for a lot of people it is a way of life.

Piracy is a moral choice. I've made the choice not to download anything not legit (I don't download TV shows, I don't use emulation ) and whilst I try to gently persuade people to do the same, I accept that some people have different morals to me.

I base my choice on this simple question - if everyone did it, would it be bad? If the answer is Yes, then I don't do it. Others feel comfortable with downloading TV shows because they view them as 'free' (which I'd argue is wrong) and they hold a strong dislike to aby kind of delay. Others feel happy to download music and films and then buy what they like. I still think that is simplyfying the issue somewhat.

[jimmbob]

Years ago I bought a P!NK Album...

That was your first mistake.

[Red Hogg]

Why was the thread locked anyway? Still valid opinions of the game. Whether he was playing a yarr copy or not isn't any of this site's concern.

[Ouenben]

That was your first mistake.

True, I knew I'd be slated for it so I was gonna mention just buying an album but it looks like I'm too late for that now.

[importaku]

Why was the thread locked anyway? Still valid opinions of the game. Whether he was playing a yarr copy or not isn't any of this site's concern.

Because it goes against the site rules as they didnt have a proper copy of the game so they cant start a first play thread.

[Brats]

I think PS1/PS2 owes a large chunk of it's success to the pirates.

I believe this is a myth. Piracy on the PSone didn't take off until a good few years into the console life, by which time the console was already established as the leader. On the PS2, if piracy is so rife why are Sony making so much money from PS2 software sales?

The PS2 sold such big numbers that you only need a fraction of consoles to be chipped in order for piracy to seem like a big deal. If only 10% of all PS2's were chipped, that would still mean 12 million chipped machines. Interestingly in places like Singapore where piracy is rife, the machine isn't a massive success compared to places like the UK.

[charlesr]

I don't think there should be any surprise about piracy in this day and age. It's so easy for people to find and generate their own media. In the music world they are having real problems because with today's BB speeds, even a lossless copy of a CD can be downloaded in a few short minutes. Even 4-9GB of DVD/Game won't take too long although will affect those with capped bandwidth allowances. HDDVD and Bluray discs should keep things slightly ahead of the curve because of the sheer size of data, but despite this, if there's a demand, everything will appear somewhere.

Having come from my 70% pirated tapes in the C64 days when even affording £1.99 Mastertronic games was pretty tough, to a fully legit hoard of games and CDs, maybe I'm going against the flow here, but I'd still be more surprised if new stuff didn't instantly appear on some torrent somewhere.

Slightly off topic, but I still don't think eradicating piracy will inject much more money into the industries affected because people won't suddenly overnight discover vast extra cash reserves to spend on games/music/films. Maybe a small amount.

[Dirty Sanchez]

To a large extend Brats I agree with you, whether I'd go the whole hog and attribute it to morals probably goes a bit too far.

I do preview films by torrents, going on to buy plenty when they are released. Example would be Ratetouile, won't pay £18 to watch it at the cinema but quite happy to pay for the DVD when it comes out next year, even though I've already got a copy of it.

By previewing I have saved myself from some real stinkers, Shrek 3 being the most recent disappointment.

In a funny way my 7yr old daughter is my moral guardian, she loves seeing the movies when they come out but gets a real buzz from picking up the 'real' one fromt he shops months later. She likes the quality packaging and especially all the extras, including trailers etc.

[eastyy]

thing is though with the PC anyway some of the anti piracy stuff will probably encourage people to pirate games

I cannot prove this but X3 the threat and splinter cell chaos theory had starforge protection and i am pretty sure that had done something to my dvd drive as it had not worked that well soon after.....of course i couldnt prove that.

half life 2 steam.......well when i got that game i did not have broadband and steam was a nightmare for me i just wanted to play the game but had to sit through hours of it updating before i could play it

that sort of stuff would turn me to pirate games

oh have to say when it comes to downloading movies and stuff i do that previewing it.....but i always buy the full release anyway as i like the better quality and the extras to

[charlesr]

I fully expect MS to release a hotly anticipated game early to the scene. Full game, but modified version with a tiny bit of code that reports back over Live the next time it's connected. So they can confirm numbers, not necessarily take action. Numbers for modded consoles have always been a bit finger-in-the-air.

[charlesr]

I think unskippable anti-piracy ads on DVDs are what annoy me most.

The latest version of XBMC has an option to just jump straight to the menu. It's instant. Excellent!

[tom-nook]

I personally don't see any harm in people discussing the subject, stating their views on it (regardless if they agree or disagree) etc. We discuss how other things impact upon the industry so don't really see the difference tbh. It happens so no point in pretending it doesn't.

Actively encouraging people (by either producing guides, links etc.) is another matter entirely and should definitely be off-limits. If people want to find out about or d/l warez etc. then I guess that's their prerogative but they can do it somewhere else.

The viral marketing thing sounds too much like a half-baked conspiracy theory to me....seems like a way for people to justify what they're doing in order to help ease their conscience. Companies spend millions on advertising, promos, beta testing etc. so don't see what they gain from allowing people to pirate their games.....(well I guess Sony in theory could going by some of their other wacky PR stunts). You only need to look at the music industry to realise it's a very slippery slope.