I look at it this way:

think of how much you spend on food, gas, and bills in a given pay check.

now think of what corners you would have to cut if whatever your employer sells was suddenly being stolen. even a fraction of it, how much of a product would have to be stolen for you employer to need to let you go? how much for the employer itself to have to close?

and you can't even make a profit margins argument, because if a buisness weren't profitable, it would close. as much as big oil, big buisness and the government screws people on a regular basis, they are the exception in the buisness world, not the norm.

if you've ever pirated a game, or even if you legally own some, look some of them up and see what happened to the companies that made them; if you pirated a game and its developer went belly up, you had a part in that, whether you like it or not.

if you want free entertainment, watch non-cable TV or go to the library, if you want quality entertainment that has more value to you, prove that value by helping the people who made it pay their bills, so they can keep making games for us.

I generally pirate things that will work better pirated than not, for example... anything with game crippling DRM or StarForce (*shudders*). In general, I buy games because I support the gaming industry, and it's going to be a major part of my future employment, so I really don't want it to crash. On the other hand, I do not support DRM. If I buy a game, I want to be able to do what I want with it. I think that putting DRM or any other sort "Rights Management" system that keeps you from having complete freedom with your own property is unethical, so I support (imho), the lesser of the two unethicals and pirate.

BTW, I never pirate from indie games or smaller companies, thats just dirty.

In short, I don't pirate because I don't want to pay for things, I pirate because I want to be able to freely use the things that I pay for.

@a9bejo: actually, that is definitely helping =)

What do you think the long-term implications of wide-scale IP infringement might be?
The internet will implode...
nothing on here is truly original

well i have downloaded a couple games in the past but only because i had already bought them on one of the consoles and so i figured why pay twice for the same game but one of the reasons for piracy i think is the price, DRM. I mean I buy atleast 4-6 games a year (usauly on the consoles)and if i were to buy those same games again on the pc it would cost anywhere from $200 to $300 without tax, but thats if there even on the pc. and the for the movies, same thing i eithier bought them at some point and lost or broke them or they were on vhs and i didnt want to buy them again on dvd. so i think that if you owned the movie or game at somepoint then i think it's ok if your just regetting it because they eithier broke or for games you just want to be able to play it on your pc aswell as your console or your console version got messed up, in the end though if you never bought whatever you pirated then it is theft, because it took time and money to make that game, movie or music and so in a way you stole that from them by getting it for free

@Slapme7Times

You missed my point. I was saying if you make it illegal to buy/sell used games, you would have to make it illegal to buy/sell ANYTHING used. And that would not benefit anyone. You say it's wrong to sell anything used because the companies that made those things get no profit. I understand that. BUT.. I still fail to see where they go wrong. And I fail to see where this is "hurting us all". Imagine if it was made illegal to buy/sell used things, like you want, and just think off all the businesses that would be forced to shut down. Gamestops, used car dealers, antique shops, used clothes stores, pawn shops, ebay, ect. That's a huge spike in unemployment right there. Plus what would happen to all their merchandise? Well, it certainly couldn't be SOLD. God forbid. So what then? Thrown away? Given away? Well it certainly couldn't be traded for, seeing as the buisiness no longer exists, and even if it was than they would be stuck with a bunch of traded stuff that they don't need-but cannot get rid off. It would be economic suicide. (hmm..or maybe not. If everyone WAS forced to buy only new things, hey, that may actually HELP the economy. O_o) ((But it still certainly wouldn't help pollution/clutter or unemployment rate.))

And even if it was still legal to borrow/trade games, how is buying a used game any different than borrowing a game from a friend. Either way the game company makes no profit, yet the person gets to play the game. O_o..

See, These businesses are only there for everyones convenience and efficiency.
They provide a service, and deserve to get paid for it. Just like everyone else.
And if you still think it's wrong, then don't shop there. Simple as that.

And like I said before, if these used business were a threat to all these companies, something would have been said long ago.

You know I'm actually glad you brought up this point though, I'd never thought of it that way before. It's a very interesting point of view.

As I see it publishers lose little money.

When I pirate a game it is becauce I have no intention of spending that money on games. Had I not pirated the game no money would have gone to the publisher anyway. Still 2/3 of my games are bought in the end.

If I pirate a game that I feel deserves recognition and money for originality and a good crafted product I generally try to pick up the game from a retailer, as well as tell my friends to buy it (Not pirate it) thus generating free advertisment.

Morally this is still a tricky question but practically the producers lose little money since most of that money would never end up in their hands anyway.

I would think this goes for most piracy.

Then there are other reasons, I would gladly pirate Spore since I haven't gotten it to work and the DRM is an atrocity. But that is mainly becauce I want to hurt EA games financially, thus I urge my friends to pirate the game til there are some patches. I have bought many of their games and they have always been shoddy with patching. I would much rather give my money to the artist than an organisation who exploits him and damages his work.

Third reason I sometimes pirate is availability, it is often difficult to get a hold on old games like Fallout and these times my laziness gets the better of me. I would pay the developers if it was made easier as long as pricing is not off the whack.

Also as Nemiswes points out it is stupid to pay for the same game twice becauce you want it to work on your console. I mainly buy PC games becauce I want to play mods if available and such things prevent me from buying console games.

Here's my opinion..I tried a pirated version of crysis and have since then bought 2 copies one thru steam hear recently..the ideah is to truly try it out before paying for it,..if the game dies down or just isn't worth it why should I be forced to pay $45-$60..I f the game is good you have earned my buisness.Thats that!!!

Alot of game manufactures create these great publicity comercials on tv to get us to buy them,..or a demo that they speacialy picked out wich sometimes isn't a true representation of the game you just shelled out 50 dollars for.this further explains the comment above...Anyone feel the same?

really people?? poor companyes need to pay off develop costs??? are you retared? companyes pay them off very easiliy if its a good game, they want to make millions of dollars in profits to put them in their owners pockets witch is their right but isnt the same as paying develop costs so lets fell sorry for them!!!

and now to adress piracy... in the past when u bought something like a coat you could do anything with it because it was your, right??? well what is the diference today? i buy a game or music or a move and then its mine right? well no!!! there are a whole lot of things i cant do with it... how is this logical? i payed for it, its mine no company should be able to tell me what to do with something thats mine!!! thats why piracy is ok!!! they pirate for us first(telling us what should we do with our property), why shouldent we be able to do the same thing? now some smartypants r gonna say well a coat isnt the same thing as a game, guess what? it is!!! its a product, end of disscution.

read my comment, want to know if any1 feels the same... if u do. visit thepiratebay.com, the largest torrent site where u can frely download torrents, support P2P networks!!!

P.S. doesnt it feel like the RIAA and the rest of them are acing like fashists???

right on...dino77cro !!!

You know I MIGHT feel bad for corporations if they weren't ripping off consumers, creators and the like. Corporations take money from our taxes and then cut benefits which we then have to pay for when people don't make a living wage. When this becomes a fair world cry t me about piracy. My personal rules about piracy are this, if I have the money...I had money at one point, I buy it. Usually I will try to find a legal copy first, then a demo...after that I dl it if I really really want it but can't afford to buy it, so would never be putting money towards it. I do not and will not ever steal from someone who does not put DRM on their software, they are putting trust in us and making the gaming experience better and are rewarded, Stardock I am looking at you, I do not steal from companies that actually need to money(A corporation that can afford to pay million dollar salaries to failing CEO's by cutting workers does not garner my sympathy.) Movies I don't pirate because I don't have enough time and watch them on dvd anyways and music is easy to find legally and cheap enough to buy legally now. I personally did not purchase Mass effect or spore based on DRM and will probably steal a cracked version on principle when if they hadn't been such assclowns breaking legal software they would've had my money, instead I went for the less draconian Assassin's Creed, which though a nice game is hardly worth the money I paid for it. 20 hours of gameplay for 40 bucks? cmon....I remember Baldur's Gate. and AC isn't even moddable. It's one thing to charge 40 bucks for a game with replay value and totally another to charge that for a romp with almost nothing new. So bullet point format
1.I don't/won't steal if there is a legal alternative i.e. Hulu, pepsipoints, Amazon.com, Stardock etc.
2. If it has insane DRM I won't buy based on principle, why should I buy if I am treated like a criminal, kinda like XP when I upgraded my mobo and it said my copy of xp was no longer legal because I changed my hardware...ummm duh I upgraded....
3. If people are stealing from you and it is legal why should I care if they are getting the same treatment...seriously when RIAA screws the artists and then cry about how people are ripping them off am I supposed to shed a tear...don't be dicks and most people will pay... or end up like mettalicock a band that tanked because they didn't know which side of the battle they should be on. Point of fact, sales were higher during the Napster era because people were buying more music than afterwords.
Maybe if corporations would practice what tehy preach people wouldn't have to steal...douchebags

slapme7times raises a good point. Gamestop makes HUGE profits off of used games and not one penny goes to the devs or publisher. It's really close to piracy. I also agree with Bigpapa360. Art SHOULD be free. Chicago's big bean sculpture is free to the public, even though it cost it's creator thousands of dollars. Also, why isn't there a bigger outcry over music piracy? I mean, my new computer CAME with CD burning software. CD copying is just as "illegal" as video game piracy, right? It derails company profits too!sry for ranting 'bout the music industry had to get that off my chest. But still though for every game copier there are 1,000 honest buyers, espeically for big games like Halo 3. MOST PEOPLE HAVE ENOUGH MORALITY NOT TO BUY FROM GAME COPIERS. It is the COPIERS that go out of business, not the devs and\or the publisher. What about 3rd party controllers, huh? THOSE are perfectly legal and there is no public outcry against them. But they derive company profits just as much as copied games. Just somethings to think about

Yarr.

pirating games from a employee who worked on the game is like getting ripped out of money they work for. how would u like to work your ass off for like 3 years and not get the money u deserve.

I used to downloaded movies, but never games. never knew you could...

i'll be back in a mo...

I found a related tshirt on ebay

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&dfsp=32&catref=C6&from=R40&satitle=piracy+theft&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=ZIP%2FPostal&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=32&fsoo=2

In the end it's the same this although technically the terms "piracy" and "theft" are legally different.

I actually created this name just to answer this thread...

Let me tell you the tale of a young man, who once, in his college days, didnt think twice about pirating music or games... As this young man grew older and more wise, and got into the working world, he realized that perhaps it really wasnt right to be pirating and decided to "go legit". He stopped pirating music and software for many years, and enjoyed paying for both his music and games, since he felt like he was supporting the developer... Then one day, those who made the games developed DRM that was such an inconvenience to all paying customers, and limited his ability to play a game he had LEGITIMATELY PURCHASED, yet did nothing to actually stop pirating, and this young man asked himself... "Why would I PAY for something that is such a pain in the a@# when I could get it for FREE without the HEADACHE."

That story being told, I havent made up my mind to start pirating again yet, but I do know that I find it incredibly frustrating that I feel punished for legitimately purchasing a product when I could pirate it for free with none of the headaches and ridiculousness.