P I R A C Y ~ Good or Bad? (Feedback ENCOURAGED)

[eXtremeAzure]

W A R N I N G : The following article is rather long in length. If you have a short attention span (no offense, of course) and/or do not like to read long articles, simply don't bother to read this.

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Okay. Now I know a question like this is rather odd, seeing that the Zone is quite popular for it's decent amount of free quality downloads. One of the most iconic cases, back when it was the ROMs, were the  mass amount of Sonic fans wanting to get their little hands on a copy of Sonic Adventure DX without paying a single penny.

Any-who, the reason why I'm talking about this is mainly because this has surprisingly been bothering my conscience quite a lot lately, and I wanted to see what you all thought about the subject.

Now, when the lot of people hear the word "Piracy" they most likely will instantly think of stealing, or theft, whatever you want to call it.

But is it really stealing?

If I wanted to steal something from someone, that would involve me taking it directly from them. Meaning that I would deprive that person total ownership of the item. But, if I copy it from them, then we both have the same item. Only difference is; I obtained it without paying any money. So that's where most people get Piracy wrong. It's not exactly stealing, since it's not like you're storming into the office of the creators, and directly taking the item from them, thus claiming it as your very own. But try telling that to the Government when they're trying to get you locked up for a couple of years because you downloaded a single movie off of the Pirate Bay. We all know how that would end up.

Anyway, not every pirate is necessarily the same. How so? Well, people do different things with their pirated items, and may pirate for different reasons.

Some, like myself, could just be a teenager with no income, who lives outside the U.S thus locking him off to a lot of different things. Some of which include, software. Thus, I would have to travel to a different country to buy those items for myself. Even if the item is avaliable in my country, due to Import Taxes, it would probably cost much more. E.g: $50 Item inside the U.S ~ $150 Item outside the U.S. So that's one instance. Or maybe, I'm a teenager who lives inside the U.S, but still isn't able to buy what I want. It could be a relatively old game, or software that may not even be supported anymore, and it could also even be newer software and games as well.

Then there may be pirates who have income, but don't want to spend it. Let's say they want a $200 piece of software, and can buy it, but prefer to save their money for the more important things (food, water, electricity, etc.) - or just want something else. So then they go ahead and pirate the software, instead  of buying it with their own money. And then there are some who have income, but not enough to buy anything beyond the bare essentials.

And of course, there are the pirates who would like to try the software, before they buy. Chances are we've browsed through a Game or Software or Movie section of a store, and found something of interest. We look at it, and want to give it a try, but then we see that price tag, and then reluctantly put it back. Many thoughts come to mind. "What if I don't like it?" "What if it doesn't work?" Either way, if we do have to return it, chances are that store's dumb Return Policy wouldn't allow it, even if we have the receipt.
These are where these sort of pirates come in. They try software and evaluate it for themselves. If they like it, some may go ahead and buy it. That way, they save money (seeing that they wouldn't have wasted their money on faulty software, or they didn't like it) and avoid stress.

Then there are some pirates who would pirate software, copy it, and then sell it. If that's the case, then it really is bad.

So, yeah. Pirates aren't all the same. Some have good intentions, others have bad intentions. Although they're all doing the same thing, they may not be necessarily doing it for the same reasons.

But now, even after going through all these different scenarios, the question still remains; Is Piracy as Bad as the Media and Law Makers make it out to Be, Or is it Actually a Good Thing?

Here's where you come in. It's Discussion time.

[Mikey]

It's not stealing, you're simply making a copy of it.

[eXtremeAzure]

It's not stealing, you're simply making a copy of it.

I get that it's not exactly stealing. The question was if you think it's a good or bad thing, and why. But like you said, and I agree, piracy isn't stealing. It's just illegal copying.

[Mikey]

Personally I don't see it as good nor bad. I am an avid pirate.

[SonicNo1Fanatic]

As you said it depends on the pirates intensions; if they copy the software with the intesionsion to make an illigal income, then it's bad; if they copy the software without the intension of selling it to make an income, then it's fine.

[billyhatcher312]

As you said it depends on the pirates intensions; if they copy the software with the intesionsion to make an illigal income, then it's bad; if they copy the software without the intension of selling it to make an income, then it's fine.

i guess i agree as long as ur not makeing money on it

[Tanassy]

Piracy is bad, yes. But companies take it too far when dealing with offences.

Yes, it's not stealing the item, but what you are doing, is essentially stealing money from the developer. Every pirated copy doe not make any money for the people who put their heart and soul in to creating the product. That's unfair to them.

But Piracy, to a very small degree, also is a good thing. When a company is making a good profit, it matters not if a few people are on the fence and decide to try their product. Often, it just means the product still reaches many people's hands, therfore spreading the developers desire to make people happy with their product.

A good mentality to have as a developer is "Please support us if you enjoyed using our product", and a good customer mentality to have is "I appreciate this, so I will support the developer".
However, you can consider yourself a pretty bad person if you pirate something and use it a LOT, and yet still refuse to pay for it. Quite often, this mentality is the reason such things as Trial periods, basic licenses, Shareware and F2P exist.

What I don't like is companies that snap back and say "You didn't pay for our product, you have broken the law, you will be punished" and don't take into account that maybe, you just didn't like it, and don't think it's worth the asking price.

Really, online piracy is a game of trust. So keep this in mind.. especially with games- The only way a developer knows their game is successful is on how much they sell. So if you like a game and want to see it supported, or followed up, show your support. The customer acts first in any industry, and piracy is often what has killed a great many companies who have actually done some great work. It's a shame, because they were all the ones who supported your ideas of "trying everything free"

As for those Pirates who copy and sell other people's work, they can all go to hell.

[eXtremeAzure]

Piracy is bad, yes. But companies take it too far when dealing with offences.

Yes, it's not stealing the item, but what you are doing, is essentially stealing money from the developer. Every pirated copy doe not make any money for the people who put their heart and soul in to creating the product. That's unfair to them.

But Piracy, to a very small degree, also is a good thing. When a company is making a good profit, it matters not if a few people are on the fence and decide to try their product. Often, it just means the product still reaches many people's hands, therfore spreading the developers desire to make people happy with their product.

A good mentality to have as a developer is "Please support us if you enjoyed using our product", and a good customer mentality to have is "I appreciate this, so I will support the developer".
However, you can consider yourself a pretty bad person if you pirate something and use it a LOT, and yet still refuse to pay for it. Quite often, this mentality is the reason such things as Trial periods, basic licenses, Shareware and F2P exist.

What I don't like is companies that snap back and say "You didn't pay for our product, you have broken the law, you will be punished" and don't take into account that maybe, you just didn't like it, and don't think it's worth the asking price.

Really, online piracy is a game of trust. So keep this in mind.. especially with games- The only way a developer knows their game is successful is on how much they sell. So if you like a game and want to see it supported, or followed up, show your support. The customer acts first in any industry, and piracy is often what has killed a great many companies who have actually done some great work. It's a shame, because they were all the ones who supported your ideas of "trying everything free"

As for those Pirates who copy and sell other people's work, they can all go to hell.

I agree with you, Iris. I pirate different things, but they usually come up under personal reasons. Hardly do I ever do it to make a few bucks. Originally, I used to download music off of YouTube and put it on an iPod for my friend, and get a few dollars in return. But I've decided to never do something like that again. I may pirate software to keep my computer in good condition, like TuneUp Utilities. Or I may pirate to enhance my experience, like SRS Audio Essentials, which is an audio enhancing program. Or it may be for entertainment. The most of which I pirate are games. A lot of them can be bought online, but I don't have a PayPal account, which makes using a service - like Steam for example - unusable. Recently I pirated Rayman Origins for the PC. I liked it, so I decided to go ahead and buy the Wii version, on my latest trip to the U.S.

Sometimes I also pirate because it's a necessity.

I had a copy of Microsoft Office 2007, but the Activation Key had been overused. I scoured for a new key, but to no avail. So then I pirated a copy of Office 2010. This really was a necessity, seeing that I need it for my School Assignments. Then there's my OS. I originally had a clean version of Windows XP installed, but it wasn't working as well as it should have. So I decided to re-install it, but the Product Key was no good. So I ended up having to pirate a copy of it, and then decided to switch over to Win7 since XP was just too basic for me.

Bottom line is, I've been pirating for awhile now. I still buy games, when I can, but other software are a different story. I live outside the U.S, and have no income, so when I find a program, I usually pirate it. I like a lot of the products I pirate. If I could buy it for myself, I would, but I'm unable too.
Post Merge: August 16, 2012, 01:29:39 PM

As you said it depends on the pirates intensions; if they copy the software with the intesionsion to make an illigal income, then it's bad; if they copy the software without the intension of selling it to make an income, then it's fine.

I agree with your statement. I have a history of downloading songs off of YouTube, for personal use. But I also used to do it for a friend of mine, and they would give me a few bucks in return. I have no intention on continuing to do it for commercial use, but possibly for personal use.

[Hakudamashi]

Pirating games are my demos.
Remember how I was on the "F*ck SFxT" Bandwagon, but when I pirated the PC I'm actually gonna buy it once the price drops.

Also, because the Wii doesn't do Demos, I pirate all my Wii games, games that I enjoy 5 hrs in, I buy (Disney Epic Mickey, Xenoblade Chronicles), games that I get bored with 5 hrs in, I don't buy (Conduit, Super Mario Galaxy 2). And games that I get bored with, but I still like the idea and want to support the product, I buy (Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Pokemon Battle Revolution.)

And I also pirate games on my PSP where no demo is available like Fate Extra, and as usual, if I enjoy it 5 hrs in(which I did), I buy it.

I.E., if companies released more demos, I'd stop pirating.

[Elija2]

Pirating is bad. I still do it, but I can't justify doing it.

[billyhatcher312]

Pirating is bad. I still do it, but I can't justify doing it.

i have the R4 card and i dont buy as many DS games as i used to get so i dont really care about it

[Hakudamashi]

Pirating is bad. I still do it, but I can't justify doing it.

Well that just makes you a criminal...

[Supersonic196]

Pirating is bad.

[Hakudamashi]

Pirating is bad.

Well maybe if they gave us less reasons to pirate

[eXtremeAzure]

Pirating games are my demos.
Remember how I was on the "F*ck SFxT" Bandwagon, but when I pirated the PC I'm actually gonna buy it once the price drops.

Also, because the Wii doesn't do Demos, I pirate all my Wii games, games that I enjoy 5 hrs in, I buy (Disney Epic Mickey, Xenoblade Chronicles), games that I get bored with 5 hrs in, I don't buy (Conduit, Super Mario Galaxy 2). And games that I get bored with, but I still like the idea and want to support the product, I buy (Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Pokemon Battle Revolution.)

And I also pirate games on my PSP where no demo is available like Fate Extra, and as usual, if I enjoy it 5 hrs in(which I did), I buy it.

I.E., if companies released more demos, I'd stop pirating.

I agree with you when it comes down to demoing games; Some demos are really under-whelming, and don't give you a chance to get a real feel for the game - ESPECIALLY - when they're time trials. My PC is too under-powered to play Wii games, so I have to "Buy and Try" the game for myself, to see whether I like it or not. Seeing that I don't live in the U.S, it isn't a very nice experience when I buy a game, and don't end up liking it, but can't return it. I buy all my Wii games, but rarely do I buy a PC game. I usually pirate ones that I've never seen nor heard of before. Can't even find them in stores. Although my PC Game-Pirating hasn't been all bad, though. Due to the fact I pirated Rayman Origins and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, it moved me to purchase both games.

I still can't justify it as being necessarily a bad or good thing. It all depends on what you use it for, and what your circumstances are.