Piracy Discussed at ELSPA International Games Summit

[TomO]

Today at the ELSPA International Games Summit in London, a preview of academic research (http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/nid/968/) from the University of Central Lancashire suggested that people who buy cracked games, chip their consoles or download software illegally don’t think there’s anything wrong with it at all.

“In fact it’s seen as relatively normal”, said Dr Jo Bryce, who had interviewed a sample of gamers both over the web and by post.

[Varsity]

I've always thought it's more that they don't think about it at all. When everything is corporate names like Activision or ID, you don't really consider the actual people trying to make a living out of it.

[AspectVoid]

Back when I did it (PC games only), I only downloaded games I never planned to buy anyway. At most they'd stay on my PC for a month or so and then get canned when Win95 screwed up so bad I had to reformat...again. The few that really did blow me away, I went out and bought.

I own around 200 PC games right now (bought over a decade+), so its kind of hard to say I haven't put my money into the industry. If I like a game, I buy it. Plain and simple. I don't really understand why people wouldn't buy games they love.

[Kefkataran]

Back when I did it (PC games only), I only downloaded games I never planned to buy anyway. At most they'd stay on my PC for a month or so and then get canned when Win95 screwed up so bad I had to reformat...again. The few that really did blow me away, I went out and bought.

I own around 200 PC games right now (bought over a decade+), so its kind of hard to say I haven't put my money into the industry. If I like a game, I buy it. Plain and simple. I don't really understand why people wouldn't buy games they love.


Same here. I'll admit to having done some pirating in the past, but only for games I was either unsure of or definitely not going to buy. Either way, they always ended up disappearing within a month or two, and I always bought games I liked playing. My collection is probably right around 200ish as well, plus over 100 console titles.

[Mrbunchypants]

"Teenagers are tactical spenders. You're not just competing with other pirated entertainment; you're competing with a range of leisure services"

That is so me.

Another way to look at it is that we are talking about a product that once created is very easy to copie.
Try going to MickyD and copying there buger, or to walmart for there bleach.
Data is well...... data one can creat millions or billions of copys that are all the same. and they can do all of that at home.

[eatme]

“In fact it’s seen as relatively normal”, said Dr Jo Bryce, who had interviewed a sample of gamers both over the web and by post.

Shit, good to see that doctorate's paying off.

[Chill]

I work in a help desk, and every gamer I know in our dept pirates games/movies/music constantly. And even though I buy games (i'm really the only one), my dept is brimming with young, poor, technically adept males...the essential equation for a pirate.

[DevDict]

I only buy games I know I will play by the companies I want to support.
For example I got Dawn of War over IRC but then bought it because it's a terrific game despite the fact I don't play it online.

[Royal Fool]

A very touchy subject here.

With music albums, when pirated you might only end up with mp3 files that are half of the actual CD bitrate quality. Most people don't care (I don't care about bitrates above 192, I usually don't notice huge differences).

With movies, pirates can't get the full "experience" when the movies are premiering in theaters, usually just settling with a shakycam bootleg or possibly a workprint or a preview screening DVD rip. But even so, most pirates accept those defects, because they're still seeing the movies as soon as they're released.

With games, there isn't really any discernable decrease in quality. You download a copied CD image and are ready to go, doesn't matter if it's PC games or console games (Or even handheld games). The only thing you're missing out on is the actual game box and a manual, plus the chance of missing out on online play modes.

Why the hardware manufacturers haven't tried investing more in anti-piracy methods I do not know, but I sure know that the current ones are absolutely craptastic. Except for the GameCube perhaps, which only finally succumbed to piracy earlier this year.

I can understand why people pirate things - it saves them money. It's simple and a feeling mostly everyone can relate to. They save their cash for stuff that cannot be pirated, like booze, hehehe. But at the same time I know loads of enthusiasts and hardcore music/game/movie fans that religiously collect the real stuff, usually just importing rare albums and movies because stores here in Iceland simply don't sell those things.

[mister_slim]

I've reduced my game purchases quite a bit, and I'm instead spending $50 a month on renting games.

[Heretic Machine]

Pirating is ok in my opinion as long as you do put as much money as you are able to into the industry you're pirating from... I can't expect someone who is living on stale bread to be able to buy a bunch of new games, should I expect them then to give up their favorite hobby? Naa.

But I don't pirate anyhow... I can easily afford to buy 90% of the games I want to get my hands on, and I still end up not giving them enough attention. Movies are affordable on DVD, really not much reason to pirate there. Music... well, there aren't many bands roaming the world today that I want to listen to, so again, not a huge drain on my pocket.

But if I were in the poor house with nothing but my computer and an internet connection, you better believe I'd be pirating the shit out of everything.