Aquamarine
Member
It's stealing when it's a lost sale.
Would you bought it if you couldn't have pirated it...like the OP's friend did with indie games?
Then it's stealing.
What is the best way to approach a friend who pirates games?
- Thread starter Skiesofwonder
- Start date
It's stealing when it's a lost sale.
Would you bought it if you couldn't have pirated it...like the OP's friend did with indie games?
Then it's stealing.
Technically it isn't. Stealing is a tangible loss of property by one individual, and the tangible gain of another. When someone pirates a game, they're not causing someone else to lose property. It's a one sided gain. I'm not defending pirating, simply saying it's not the same as stealing, and it's hard to say that the person would otherwise pay for the same game they pirated when it is likely they would sooner go without it.
Why are you okay with arguing with me when you should be referring this thread to the FBI so they can investigate the OP's friend? Do your civic duty.
d00d3n
Member
Ok, you win. I guess the friend to the OP has to return all the stuff that he stole from the game companies. Because pirating video games is just like stealing.
Chairmanchuck
Member
Not that its my business, but besides videogames, look at people in the OT/Community threads.
Watching the newest anime not available on crunchyroll, somehow reading the newest chapters of a manga, non-americans watching the newest GoT/Breaking Bad episodes etc.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Depends on how you look at it. For example, stealing is always wrong, but most people would understandably find it "less" wrong to shoplift an item from a big corporation store where their revenue won't be much impacted, than to, say, burglarize a TV and other personal belongings from a random person's house.
Of course, I picked two extreme examples. I don't mean to say that pirating an AAA game is equivalent to the former and pirating an indie game is equivalent to the latter (or even to say that piracy is necessarily stealing, I can see why people would say that but it's not completely equivalent for the reasons Steel explained earlier), but you can see there's a bit of a spectrum going on, and that's probably what the OP meant.
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
So you would trade something morally abhorrent (lying) for something at best occupys a moral gray area (piracy)
Personally, id have a bigger problem with a homeboy lying to me than with him pirating games.
I noticed that as well. If the argument is "stealing is stealing" then it shouldn't matter if he is stealing from a billion dollar company, or 4 dudes in a garage somewhere.
Look if you require all of your friends be 100% on the straight and narrow then that's your business. I personally don't feel like I need to judge and/or brow beat the people in my life into fitting a certain mold. If my friend was actually hurting people with his actions then I'd step in. Other then that? It's none of my fucking business.
To the OP: You're not his parent so stop acting like it.
Chezzymann
Member
Its sort of different. Like, if someone somehow scanned an action figure and then 3D printed a new one instead of buying the official copy, it wouldn't really be the same thing as straight up taking it off the shelf.
It's technically copyright infrigement.
Yep. The guy you're replying to seems laughably naive about how much implied piracy is posted about across many, many corners of the internet.
Dragon1893
Member
Portugal, actually.
Well this is awkward...
WAR recon zero
Banned
You sound like fun can we be friends?
Riposte
Member
I don't know if development teams have that much of a safety net. So-called "AAA" games in particular need a lot more sells than an "indie" game and have much more to lose.
But that's besides the point, it's funny that he only "realized" that he had to say something at that point.
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
Ask him if he'd ever steal a gourmet dinner from a chef. In all honesty you wouldn't steal a fine cut of meat from a butcher either unless you want that feeling of shame when you consume the food faster than normal.
I look at it like that. You are taking a product from people who've worked hard for you to enjoy their experience.
I look at it like that. You are taking a product from people who've worked hard for you to enjoy their experience.
protomouse
Member
I wouldn't approach it directly. Instead, why not just introduce him to all the benefits of Steam?
Room for a knife in that back?
Nakasan
Member
Id recommend the laughing about it route. That's how I deal with it. Working in I.T. It seems everyone pirates, and then absolutely brags about it and about just how fast the download was! So I tell them all they're knob heads killing my hobby, then threaten to slit their throats while they sleep waiting for the download to complete.
Obviously over the top and we laugh about it, but they know where I stand and what I think without me preaching or feeling any guilt for passive complicity.
Good luck though, it can be a very awkward situation if you're not particularly tight with the other person.
Obviously over the top and we laugh about it, but they know where I stand and what I think without me preaching or feeling any guilt for passive complicity.
Good luck though, it can be a very awkward situation if you're not particularly tight with the other person.
Aquamarine
Member
Look at all the people talking about playing games on emulators here on GAF.
I have a hard time believing that every single person who plays games on emulators here dumped their personally-owned copies 100% of the time.
Emulators are a bit gray. Generally, it's very hard to find games for very very old systems and even if you do, the money doesn't go to the people who made the game, and it often costs more than the price at release. So for games like this, torrenting becomes the only means of keeping them alive.
Chairmanchuck
Member
I wouldnt be too sure in the Dolphin-thread though. Didnt you need a special DVD drive to read the Wii-discs?
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Well sure, it depends on the case really. Some AAA publishers are swimming in so much money that they wouldn't notice the loss, while others are risking their existence if their latest new AAA game doesn't sell. And I wouldn't be moralizing at a friend who is playing old and long out of print 16-bit games, possibly made by defunct companies, on emulators, even though it's also technically piracy. So that's why I understand why the OP said he "realized he had to say something at that point". I don't think it's really that bizarre unless your sense of morality is extremely rigid.
I mean, again, if your friend told you he shoplifted an item from a store, you'd probably not call the cops, right? But if he told you he robbed a house, you (hopefully) would. Even though both are stealing and stealing is always wrong.
First, there's more then one definition of stealing. Many don't require tangible goods. You can steal an idea, you can steal someone's work, you can steal a kiss. Most simply, stealing is taking something without permission. It's always a one sided gain, the thief gains and the other party gets stolen from.
Secondly, who cares if people who steal stuff wouldn't have bought it anyway? That's why they steal stuff, because they don't want to buy it. They wouldn't sooner go without it because they stole it. It's not a valid justification.
He/she is probably on a downloading binge and will probably stop once the HD is full.
Rather than DLing new indies maybe try to get him some other the older more obscure stuff like building a MAME library, older doujin and retro / fansubbed games that weren't sold outside Japan atleast no dev teams are being hit in the wallet that way. It the much lesser of 2 evils imo.
Rather than DLing new indies maybe try to get him some other the older more obscure stuff like building a MAME library, older doujin and retro / fansubbed games that weren't sold outside Japan atleast no dev teams are being hit in the wallet that way. It the much lesser of 2 evils imo.
Honestly never used Dolphin, so I have no idea. And I was kinda saying that I seriously doubt most people rip games directly from the medium they come from. Personally I generally try to emulate games I've purchased in the past, though.
First: Legal definition, nobody gets fined for stealing a kiss(Which is simply a metaphor, not literal), and if they do, it falls under sexual harassment. Pirating falls under copy-right infringement, like boot-legging did.
Second: In the case of stealing a party is always harmed. In the case of pirating, if the person who pirates didn't intend to purchase the game, no one is harmed. It's not a justification, but it's a difference.
Chairmanchuck
Member
Like I already wrote. What about people who watch anime? Or read scanlations? Or non-americans who watch the newest shows by downloading them?
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
What about them? They're committing piracy, yes. I'm not saying it's right or that it's justified. I'm saying there is a spectrum. Do you disagree?
What about people who watch the newest shows by downloading and later buy the DVDs or blu-rays when they come out? Are they equally morally wrong to someone who torrents and never buys them? I'd say it's not that black and white.
It's not, they're very different things. One is the loss of property from one party, the other is the exact copying of said property with no loss being incurred on either party. Is it a lost sale if the person was going to buy the product anyway but chose not to because of piracy? Yeah. Is it a shitty thing to do? Yup. Is it worth hounding your "friend" over it and reporting him to the authorities who literally could not give a shit? Not really. The best answer imo is to educate him on the great alternatives out there and maybe on the consequences of his actions, not act like a dick.
I would just skip the car and download a house and money.
I already have one. Can I download a big ass party yacht instead?
Spoken like someone without any friends.
Chairmanchuck
Member
Of course its not black and white. But the same thing isnt black and white with gaming-piracy too.
At least about anime I would say 90% of the people wont buy a DVD/Bluray at the end. I worked for a publisher and as soon as the second season of our anime was being uploaded on torrent, the sales were gone.
___________________________________________
What I am wondering though is, why people tell the OP something like "contact the authorities", "he must be a bad person", while on the other hand a lot of people on GAF on the otherhand "pirate" a lot of other things and somehow "thats okay".
SirPainsalot
Banned
Just tell him to support the games/game devs here likes by buying their stuff. Telling him to quit pirating cold turkey won't stop him.
MidgarBlowedUp
Member
Tell him video games are for geeks, needs, and losers.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I don't really disagree with that, read my previous posts, I talked about gaming piracy too.
Yeah, I can imagine the disc buyers being in the minority, sadly. That sucks.
I'm guessing these are not the same people saying one thing and doing the other thing. Hopefully. I'm sure there are a few hypocrites out there, though.
It is when you say it's hurting the game developer.
Crimsonclaw111
Member
I remember the people in that thread who were sharing pictures/GIFs, stoking hype flames etc. despite being basically admitted pirates, lol.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
he may be the thief but you're the one who still comes off like the asshole in those quotes lol
Just don't hang out with em if it bugs you. Be like, I cannot be your friend. YOU CAN'T DOWNLOAD FRIENDS.
Don't really see why that scenario would. If the person was not interested enough in a game to buy it in the first place then it's not really a lost sale. If anything it's a potential increase in sales if the person gets hooked on the series they may buy the sequels or gift the original.
I want to go on record saying that I don't approve of piracy, and I don't download anything. I also want to say that I DO understand why some people do though.
Dropping $50-60 on a game that turns out to be total dogshit can be hard to swallow. Dropping $50-60 on a game that can be beaten in 4 hours is also hard to swallow. Piracy isn't the correct response to this, but I get why some people say "screw it" and just start downloading. Certain companies like to put shit-in-a-box and slap a $60 tag on it.
I have a friend who buys most games legit. He has a blacklist though of companies who he feels have wronged him by selling garage to him. Example? Gearbox. He was one of the poor suckers who bought Aliens:CM, and because of that put them on the list. They come off the list after he feels like he got his monies worth off their other products. Borderlands next installment is getting downloaded instead of bought. Do I approve? Not really. I get it though. If more people downloaded like that companies might actually try to release good products at all times and never release unfinished trash to make a quick buck.
Dropping $50-60 on a game that turns out to be total dogshit can be hard to swallow. Dropping $50-60 on a game that can be beaten in 4 hours is also hard to swallow. Piracy isn't the correct response to this, but I get why some people say "screw it" and just start downloading. Certain companies like to put shit-in-a-box and slap a $60 tag on it.
I have a friend who buys most games legit. He has a blacklist though of companies who he feels have wronged him by selling garage to him. Example? Gearbox. He was one of the poor suckers who bought Aliens:CM, and because of that put them on the list. They come off the list after he feels like he got his monies worth off their other products. Borderlands next installment is getting downloaded instead of bought. Do I approve? Not really. I get it though. If more people downloaded like that companies might actually try to release good products at all times and never release unfinished trash to make a quick buck.
The "I have a friend who" story. Always a classic yarn that isn't about someone or something else.
