Piracy. How would you deal with it? The feel in your country.
This is probably going to be a touchy subject matter, but you guys know how I feel about touchy subjects, I'm all over them.
So! The topic for the night, while I sleep, is piracy.
It's rampant. It has been for a long time. How would you deal with it? Are you for draconian copyright and censorship laws? Masses of DRM? Or hippy peace and free love?
Personally I consider it an evil that is REALLY difficult to pin down and even harder to defeat. No matter how many millions companies pour into copy protection, it's usually always cracked, usually within hours. I do not believe in harsh censorship or DRM. I consider it a ludicrous idea to punish everyone for the actions of what is still a minority. I remember when Assassin's Creed came out, the army bought it in droves and sent it to Afghanistan to amuse the troops, only to discover it need internet access and a stable connection. Something that is naturally hard to come by. This led to lots of rather angry and worse bored soldiers.
I would rather see the money spent on making the DRM programming go into improving the title itself. It will always be pirated, it's a thing and will be for a long time. Avatar was the most pirated movie of all time, it was also the highest grossing. I know a lot of people who will download first, buy later.
Now, so as to avoid issues, I would suggest not giving to much detail on personal activities if you have any.
Cheers ladies and gents!
I refer you to a scene from one of my favorite TV series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9_hWoGrxWg&feature=kp
So! The topic for the night, while I sleep, is piracy.
It's rampant. It has been for a long time. How would you deal with it? Are you for draconian copyright and censorship laws? Masses of DRM? Or hippy peace and free love?
Personally I consider it an evil that is REALLY difficult to pin down and even harder to defeat. No matter how many millions companies pour into copy protection, it's usually always cracked, usually within hours. I do not believe in harsh censorship or DRM. I consider it a ludicrous idea to punish everyone for the actions of what is still a minority. I remember when Assassin's Creed came out, the army bought it in droves and sent it to Afghanistan to amuse the troops, only to discover it need internet access and a stable connection. Something that is naturally hard to come by. This led to lots of rather angry and worse bored soldiers.
I would rather see the money spent on making the DRM programming go into improving the title itself. It will always be pirated, it's a thing and will be for a long time. Avatar was the most pirated movie of all time, it was also the highest grossing. I know a lot of people who will download first, buy later.
Now, so as to avoid issues, I would suggest not giving to much detail on personal activities if you have any.
Cheers ladies and gents!
I refer you to a scene from one of my favorite TV series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9_hWoGrxWg&feature=kp5
Comments
1) The entertainment industry is way too bloated with too many high *and* low salary employees and simply too much stuff; modern technology is so effective you don't need massive distribution companies anymore
2) Copyright laws are very, very outdated, from an era where printing press was dominant and people could not publish/distribute/etc. stuff even if they wanted to without help. Nowadays it's obviously different
3) The people in charge are often biased, because they make their money from old fashioned entertainment businesses based on dated laws and ideas
4) Fighting piracy is pointless and you cannot win, laws or no
I guess that's all for now.
P.S.
Here's a pirated pirate song from YouTube
It doesn't matter what the product is or how much it costs to buy it, people are always going to steal it. Seriously--some people steal used tires, for pity's sake! All you can do is begin a project knowing that a small percentage of people will steal your product and then you prosecute the ones you can catch. Beyond that, lump it in with the other small stuff about which you should never worry.
Now....if the topic is "piracy on the open seas" then the situation is completely different. If the pirates are boarding your ship then you arm your crew and you shoot them. You shoot them all, even the ones who surrender--if they wanted to live like a pirate then they can die like a pirate. If you identify them before they get that close then you give them a chance to back off; if they don't, then sink their ship (if your ship has torpedoes, which it should).
Why the difference? Simple--digital pirates want your software for free for the bragging rights. Actual pirates are likely to take your *life*.
Wait.... what are we talking about?
In particular are the ones who represent themselves as activists. According to them, pirating games is legitimate way to protest DRM policies. They'll probably say they're "fighting the greed", or something equally asinine. But no. Don't tell me how you're heroically sticking to the man by doing something that requires no effort and does nothing but save you money. In fact, the only change you're effecting then is to increase piracy statistics, which publishers will then point to as justification for even harsher DRM. If you really want to make a statement about draconian DRM (or whatever), boycott properly. Send the publisher a letter letting them know that you are not purchasing their game, and let them know why. Hell, start a petition even.
And then there's the "I was never going to buy the game anways, so it's ok for me to torrent it because the publisher isn't really losing a sale". Gee, isn't that convenient?
Edited to add the much needed word "not" to the 2nd last sentence of the 2nd paragraph.
Anyway, despite having not so much money (I am still student, after all) I am willing to pay for original copies etc, even if I used an illegal copy of something before. I mean, I read manga scans online, but I bought all 1-64 tomes of Naruto avaliable in Poland (the translation feels so good and natural I acutally enjoy it more. Took me more than a yers, by the way). I was first introduced to Baldur's Gate and Diablo franchise with a pirate copies, yet I have bought originals and I am glad because of it. Even if I have Dark Knight Rises movie on my PC from torrents, I still bought a DVD copy (the pirate version is just less troublesome to use. I'm lazy, lol), just to support the authors. And to have, at least partialy, clear concience. That's how it works with me, thought.
But, there is also music. I'm not going to lie, I never once bought an album. That's because I'm not interested in album or artists as a whole, but in particular songs. The closest thing to buy would be Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park, but then again I only like about 50% songs in that album, meaning 50% of my money is going to be wasted. Remember, currently I cannot earn very much and in adult life I still won't be spewing with money, that's for sure. If I had opportunity to buy particular songs, instead of entire albums, then we have a different story. Yes, I've heard of iTunes, but I never possesed any Apple's software and/or hardware. So, iTunes means nothing to me.
What can be done about piracy, I think?
1. The less absurd protection mechanics, then better. It's just that it makes harder for normal people to install the program/game.
2. Lower prices/Rise wages/Decrease taxes. The more spare money poeple have, the more likely they are to buy something, don't you think?
3. Aside selling entire albums or soundtracks, sell songs via digital release.
In general, piracy is wrong, but on the other hands it has introduced me to things I probably wouldn't experienced otherwise. That's what I think.
By the way, pretty soon (I hope) I will start my first real job that will last about 2,5 months. I wnat to earn and save some money, so I could upgrade my PC so that it could work very well with the Witcher III. One of the plans I have for my PC is, for the first time, to have a legal Windows in it. Yay!
If you are involved in piracy, they send Sir Francis Drake to kill you!
Henry Morgan is the backup, but he's often too deep in his rum.
That's an interesting one.
Game of Thrones is the most pirated TV programme in the world. In the UK it's actually close to morally justifiable as the only network showing it is SKY (a part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire). Every episode that someone pays to watch in the UK adds another skull to Murdoch's charnel throne. I flat out refuse to watch anything on Sky, so I'm stuck waiting for boxed sets.
"You can be a pirate, and a good man"! Hell, there is nothing wrong with being sociable and do-gooder, once in a while, sharing your stuff or others' stuff, with others! It is a wonderful thing for people to be in need, and someone else cater to their needs, without tradeoffs, exploitation, or even something to gain in return; be it for online matters, or not...
"Sometimes, the system is wrong; the answers lies in rebellion"! The title is self-explanatory. All of us who are gamers, and have been around these years, know about the crisis pc gaming went through, how close to being endangered it became, and how empty and stagnant new games had been some years ago, and remember the great turn to next gen consoles (of the past), plus new titles exclusive or in priority for them. Emulation was boosted in pretty high standards and quality (emulated bios, plugins, rom ripoffs etc.), console ports that were crammed full of DRM and protection measures were panned and hated with passion, and the logic answer the system came up with all of this, was to release in pc higher quality games, better ports for pc, and even refined versions of console games full of extra content and DLCs, all under the same price (like those steam releases; although i am a steam hater generally, i have to aknowledge their useful purpose in preserving, revitalizing, and finally saving literally the ash of pc gaming in general).
"Stupid people do not understand the messages, and do not read the atmosphere around them. Not only you have to spell out things loudly and clearly at them, but you also need to repeat them endlessly and keep spamming, until they get the message". Right. People hate DRM. The online activations. The limited times you can install and play a game into a pc. The windows live system. The always on, especially when the game in question is single-player (call me diablo 3). The steam paradox. Etc. So you have to take drastic measures. Like stop buying. Or start sharing for free. Or download it, play it, finish it and uninstall it. The most stupid people, will still not get the message, and blame the rise of piracy into anything else, but their own incompetence in making something of good quality, or annoying malpractices of DRM spamming measures, that everyone hates (call me EA). The more clever people, will actually stop to read comments, think for themselves, and ultimately do something, over x time, after y events. Like Ubisoft, some time ago, which got the message and changed policy.
"Pirates are law abiding, god fearing, people". Many o' us, when we play a game and we like it, the very next morning rush to buy it. We cannot resist not owning, box on self, or digital box on digital shelf, a goodly made game, that is refined, polished, and of high quality (artistically, aesthetically, gameplay and story wise). In this list, in my collection, roughly 10-20 titles lie in order. I first got them pirated, liked them pretty very much, and i couldn't resist their legit, physical or digital presence, in my collection. The most recent examples, for me, are: The witcher 1, shadow warrior remake, arx fatalis, blade of darkness, stranger's wrath, and many others. In some cases, though, i simply missed their original release, couldn't find them anywhere for purchase, and simply snatched them the back-door way; but this is another category, which i will look into right after.
"IT is nowhere available for purchase; I will obsolutely locate it and claim it for my treasury, yarr"! You missed a good game you had been interested into, when it was generally out. There is no means of online purchase, ordering, getting it the "right" way, whatever. You loose it for good? Hell, no! You just borrow it from someone else, willing to share it, you give thanks to him/her for doing all this time-consuming work (rip it in disc image, make it a torrent and uploading it), and then, to show gratitude, you keep sharing with others. Especially in old, or rare/hard to find titles, this is trully a blessing, a godsend! Also, certain, entire categories of goods, such as mangas or animations, which are NOT available/localized for purchase, or even simply licensed, for every country, are a real pity and waste to be missed, just because someone hates "piracy" and "pirates". There is NOTHING wrong with getting the backdoor way, something which is NOT AVAILABLE for legal purchase. You can even donate some money to the scantlators, and even volunteer to help them with translations, etc. Of course, as said above, you can always buy the damn thing, IF and WHEN it is officially released in your locale. No one stops you from doing so. I know i did, in many cases, like this (say, much like naruto, dance in the vampire bund, etc.).
"Me hates censorship! I want my stuff complete"! Grrr, many releases are plagued by censor. I hate this. Lots of people hate this. No one wants to be manipulated, especially if he/she is adult, responsible etc. I want to play that wolfenstein with swastikas, to headshot nazis, and spill the guts of adolf boy the good, old-fashioned way! Not shoot some generic robots that spill green blood, if none at all! I want pink and slip, without censor! I liked the "hot coffee" in San Andreas, for example, and i was really disgusted as how this found its way to the court, and game itself was accused for turning americans into homicidal freaks, instead of their individual circumstances, social, in family, or else. Or the australian releases. GoG does a good job on this one, licensing uncensored versions, and finding ways into delivering even in areas that prohibited them...
"If the stuff is good, i will buy it, even if i end to pay up extras"! Hell, i already preordered the Witcher 3! No way i am loosing on this legendary title! Everyone knows how heavy this title is going to be, especially with the previous 2 in the picture! No one can afford not owning high quality stuff! Masterpieces own you, you don't own them!
"Attracting customers the honest way"! Clever people, companies, entrepreneurs, watch the market, and play by their own, innovative rules. They try to offer what others do not! DRM-Free titles, lots of extras, entire digital collections, complete soundtracks, even in FLAK, they make each game a unique experience, like none other! As if we are still in good old times, with those heavy, physical boxes, containing huge manuals and an entire pile of extras! A company caring for you, catering to its customers, is something rare today, both praiseworthy and trustworthy. You know that some people use well the money you give them. And there, your money, as well as your wants and opinions, have a chance to be heard, and are taken into consideration, even respected. I want to be lured in and attracted! Especially by those who deserve claiming me for their devoted customer!
"Making piracy meaningless"... Yes, you read right. Some deals, certain companies present people with, are so good, actually, too good, for you to prefer stealing a half-finished version of their game, instead... For example, to me, myself, GoG as a service, has put an end to my pirating of games, entirely! Even if steam sells cheap, and origin is cheaper (regular donation of free games), when i see an entire package, with free dlcs all included for free, a huge list of extras, that effectively turn each and every game into a digital, collector edition, i will pay full price, gladly! Especially for new games! There is no reason for me to pirate it. It is a high quality game, sold from a good and successful company which respects its customers, polishes its titles and features endlessly, and offers a ton of stuff, alongside with support to each customers. Systems like fair pricing, DRM-Free, etc. are so good, that you entirely forget that urge to "steal" it. You prefer to buy it, instead. You get to NEED to BUY it, instead.
I am mostly a gamer. But i also watch movies, hear some music, the usual stuff. When me and my friends feel like going out, we get to see a movie or two, once in a while. But most of the time, we have obligations as individuals, and rarely go out, much less for watching movies. Then, i get to watch movies alone, and i never payed for them. For music, i also never paid anything. Most, if not all, of my music media (cds), are gifts from other people. I use the: "I cannot find it for purchase anywhere" solution, here. And even if i do, in my country, most things are overpriced (23% tax to everything). Also, many goods, are considered "luxurious" goods, and are charged much more expensively. And as of late, the list has grown a great deal, this side of europe, beyond alcohol, tobacco and sweets. For anime and manga, we do not even need to discuss anything. You read/watch them, over. Piracy or no piracy, you cannot afford paying 15 euros for one small booklet, each and every time it gets a new release! Unless it is something rare which you covet. 1 or 2, but no more. Even someone filthy rich couldn't or wouldn't possibly afford to own everything his hobbies and tastes expand into, the lawfool's way!
And that is all, by my two cents. Piracy is wrong. But at least, it doesn't hurt anyone; or at least, the vast majority of people. Actually, it benefits them, if someone bothers to think outside the box, and see without blindfolds. As everything else, it can be a means and a tool, used or abused, for good or not, goals. I am a chaotic neutral, i reveled in that, and i still do, selectively, occasionally, and truly.
P.S. My country was one of the major ones in contributing, to closing down "Limewire". And it even announced this "feat" in the news, for 3 days in a row, way back then. I feel ashamed. I really do. How to change country?
For a number of years I had a habit of buying a physical copy of a game and then downloading a DRM-free version. I've run into difficulty a number of times with prohibitive in-house DRM software that flat-out refused to run games on my PC. Having a robust firewall and security measures often did not agree with DRM software, so I ended up owning a barely-used game disc and a DRM-free pirate version. Things have gotten better, and as you say, GoG offers DRM-free games at a price that makes piracy seem nothing but a stupid virus-risk.
Anyway ... piracy.
In my country (Central Europe), piracy is rampant. Not even a day comes forth that bands of locals aren't trying to commandeer a ship, hoist the colors and go on a rampage over the seven seas, drinking rum and singing Alestorm songs. There IS a yearning for a violent injustice and plunder in my people.
However, this whole attitude is diminished by the fact, that we are a landlocked country with quite little amount of actual boats or ships, the Seven Seas are far away,leave a lot to desire and there is a critical insufficiency of three-corner hats.
So, most of the common folk tries to live by by upholding just the drinking part, the booty part (almost exclusively women) and the digital piracy part.
It's simple - the wares are expensive and the salaries are one of the lowest in Western/Central Europe, most people just can't buy anything expensive, so they have to pirate it.
It gets better, but only slowly though, as just "downloading a movie" is not widely considered as a crime here.
No one really cares, the police are off fighting what they consider 'real' crime. I do consider piracy immoral, you are essentially stealing someone else's hard work. Many of the games and movies that are pirated represent thousands of man hours of work from dozen or hundreds of people. But that being said, it's something that will never be defeated. Any protection the developer invents, any web laws the government passes will be bypassed. No matter how clever people get, there is always someone smarter with a computer and spare time.
Jeff Vogel's blog was very insightf-(I mustn't use that word)-enlightening. The DRM and restrictive crap you put in place to protect your product the more annoyed people will get with it and the less will buy it. I mean, everyone has pirated something, I get Game of Throne's one episode at a time because they don't air here except on Foxtel for 120 bucks a month. That being said, I also get the box sets when they're released. I don't like stealing them, it's just the only way I can do it here.
I buy almost all of my games and in many cases end up playing a pirated copy anyway because the DRM is so god damn annoying. Mostly EA titles are like this. How I hate EA. I think it really is better to pour the cash from DRM into making the game better. It will still be pirated, but if you make it legitimate customers will come and buy it. Because they can, because you made and effort to make something worth their money, because you didn't treat them like common thieves. People like that.
I bought BG:EE then BG2:EE to play myself, my fiancee said she might like it, so, because Beamdog made the right choice, onto a flash drive it went. We played a couple hours together she decided it was great and now we own 2 copies of each. We didn't need to buy them. But because Beamdog treated us with some god damn human dignity, they made another sale. :P
Price is another good topic. Regional pricing may need to be a lot more of a thing. Taking into account the local economy. What sells for 60 dollars in a fairly well off country like Australia will probably not sell as well at 60 dollar equivalency in a country with much lower wages.
@Southpaw Yes! We like scenes here! Aren't you moving here my good man?
Now consider, that that average monthly salary is listed as 800, but it's usually less.
This is quite expensive and people would think twice, before buying something that can be gotten "for free".
What a strange world.
Oh yea, Malaysia was AMAZING if you were after pirated stuff. They had little alleys covered from floor to ceiling in burned games, software, music and movies. All for around 50 cents to 2 dollars Australian. It's insane. :O
Paying to get to sit through half an hour of unskippable warnings and trailers is not my idea of entertainment. And no place really seems to SELL movies, just rentals, so you just get to enjoy it once then you go drag it back there... All for a price that would probably get you both Baldur's Gate Enhanced Editions for and which would entertain you for much longer.
It makes the argument for premium on-demand streaming all the stronger. From what I remember Netflix don't insist on you watching crappy adverts before you get to watch the Film you paid for.
*Edit* - I am now accepting offers for both the rights and script to "Michael Bay's Abomination". It's a unique opportunity for Mr Bay to ruin a wholly original IP rather than the remakes, adaptations, spin-offs and sequels that have occupied him for more than a decade.
...Yes, Swashbucklers/Mages are overpowered and should be nerfed.
I do admittedly find it frustrating, as I used to collect original games when I still lived in the US in order to support my favorite companies. The reality, as others have pointed out for countries in similar economic straits, is that the bulk of Thais can't afford to buy original DVDs or games.
Piracy in the form of leather goods, denim and knock off clothes is okay. Most named brand items are made in sweatshops. The pirated conditions are usually better as the money goes mostly back to the producer. Creativity is less of an issue, as cutting edge fashion is expensive and not produced enmasse in a third world country.
Although on top of this opinion is an over arching thought.
Pirates that do it for survival, to put food on the table, shoes on their feet and a roof over their head, without harming others apart from multinational companies that avoid paying tax are okay.
Pirates that do it to destroy a company, commit fraud, steal identities, empty another persons bank account, commit crimes against humanity or to buy weapons are bad, and should be locked up.
Now these days, I usually download games, try them and then buy them. For example original sin, got it, played it for half an hour, seemed okay so I got it through steam.
Copy protection might seem like it's not working, but games are usually only cracked once so patches are usually not since it's a lot of work to re-crack for every little patch. Which I sometimes believe is a reason for dev's to actually release buggy games. Not the only reason, but definitely a valid incentive to chose for an early release if there are other things at play as well.
What I always wonder, is why so few game developers release demo's of their games. I remember that like, 12/13 years ago a lot of new games would have demos that would let you taste the game before you decided to buy it Where as now, while internet is a perfect distribution system for demos (cheaper than sending CD's around back in the day) it is not used any more.
With things like steam you could even implement a 1 or 2 hour trial period for a game.
Even though there's a lot of hate on EA from gamers, their 'Origins' really has this covered. You can buy a game and get a refund in the first few days if the game doesn't live up to your expectations. From my experience this is a very smooth process. I think it's service like this that will make people defer from piracy the most.