What is the best way to approach a friend who pirates games?

Tell that to anyone who watches shows that aren't in their country, read manga that has just come out in Japan, or watches anime that hasn't been licensed for an official translation yet. You are mostly clueless.

You talked around my point that pirated music was prevalent and mainstream for a long time because of how easy it was to access. You do the same thing about Destiny and you're doing it here and it's pretty funny. You talk around people's points to shore up your own flimsy ones.

The top quote is what you originally replied to me. No where in there is a music reference. You brought up a niche argument about unavailable content for overseas audiences. A niche of a niche and acted like thats a big argument.

My original posts still stands most people in the US buy their content. Thats the way it is. The only thing flimsy here is pretty obvious lol.
 
Honestly it really isn't up for discussion unless he's stealing directly from you. If he's a friend though you can usually air how you feel about things. i wouldn't stop being friends with someone over something like this.

Thing is here is what needs to be said.

Most people don't care about obtaining illegal copies of digital media because

1) it's hard to sympathize and pair a face with a record label or massive movie studio that has tremendous amounts of wealth

2) it's cheap and easy

your friend is obviously doing it for these two reasons and really unless it's going to get you in trouble there is no point to bring it up to him unless he makes you a part of it somehow
 
I hope none of you crusaders of justice have ever broken a single law in your lives. They're all eqally terrible and we should shame everyone equally for them, right?
 
I hope none of you crusaders of justice have ever broken a single law in your lives. They're all eqally terrible and we should shame everyone equally for them, right?

I just reported my friend to the feds. He had the nerve to tell me he just LIT A JOINT. I hope he finds Jesus in prison.
 
So this guy hasn't even complained about DRM or anything like that? Disapproving of DRM is in my opinion at least a believable excuse for piracy. Is he having legit money trouble and flat-out can't afford the games?
 
So this guy hasn't even complained about DRM or anything like that? Disapproving of DRM is in my opinion at least a believable excuse for piracy. Is he having legit money trouble and flat-out can't afford the games?

"what's this, you want me to pay even more money for a small portion of the game that is optional in the first place? That entitles me to not pay for any of it at all."

Lovely "logic."
 
The top quote is what you originally replied to me. No where in there is a music reference. You brought up a niche argument about unavailable content for overseas audiences. A niche of a niche and acted like thats a big argument.

My original posts still stands most people in the US buy their content. Thats the way it is. The only thing flimsy here is pretty obvious lol.

You should probably delete your whole contact list because I guarantee you they've pirated some form of media at one point or another. Most likely music.

Selective reading sure is fun. I'm sorry you don't understand how comprehension works but the reference is there and was always there. It's almost as bad as you doing free damage control for Bungie.
 
If you listen to music on YouTube, you're a thief. Enjoy prison you criminal.

No you're not. That's like saying you're a thief if you use Spotify. Most music on Youtube is officially uploaded by copyright holders who get a % of the ad revenue for streams. If the uploader isn't an official source, Youtube is generally lightning fast to take it down, sometimes relying on its own content ID software.
 
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.

I'm sorry but you're friend is full of shit. First of all you can rent games. I have Gamefly I do it all the time. If you don't want to spend 60 dollars on a four hour game you don't have to. Second on stealing Borderlands that isn't justified by their past.
 
No you're not. That's like saying you're a thief if you use Spotify. Most music on Youtube is officially uploaded by copyright holders who get a % of the ad revenue for streams. If the uploader isn't an official source, Youtube is generally lightning fast to take it down, sometimes relying on its own content ID software.

M0CRNfR.png
That lightning fast take down. It's also listed second when you just look up the song by itself.
 
I am not gonna read all 5 pages so I don't know if it's been said but I want to suggest hiring J Walter Weatherman to scare your friend
 
I have a friend who pirates games a lot and I just told him I don't pirate games or music because I'm an adult who works for my money just like the devs. He's slowly stopped pirating.
 
I can understand people pirating stuff. What I don't understand is this new breed of people who pirate and brag about it.

I hear people at work all the time bragging about how many movies they pirate and burn or how they pirate tons of game.

Isn't pirating supposed to be a don't ask don't tell kind of thing?
 
My brother does this. He thinks his money is best spent on other things, but he doesn't brag about it. The only games he buys are games that you can't pirate, like Diablo 3, or 3DS games. I don't think he cares enough to pirate 3DS games to get a flash cart since they aren't 60 bucks.
 
A good friend of mine just started illegally downloading torrented games on his PC. It's really not any of my business so I just changed the subject when it came up, but lately he has started to brag about it. And to make things even worse, he has moved past AAA titles and into indie game territory. Today he mentioned how awesome a high profile indie title was and that he torrented it. At that point I realized that I had to say something because it would be morally wrong not to.

Ugh. There's a huge difference between morals and following the law. They aren't the same thing. Not everyone agrees that every law is right either, but the rules must be followed anyway.

Start stealing stuff from his house, and when he catches you, tell him you're just pirating it. If he gets upset you can say "I LEARNED IT FROM YOU. I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU!"

You butchered the quote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Elr5K2Vuo

That video is also pure horse shit too, because I went in the complete, opposite direction of my parent that used drugs. I also found this ad to be pretty stupid too though simply because alcohol and cigarettes are actually much worse for you. They are just easier to control and tax.
 
Start stealing stuff from his house, and when he catches you, tell him you're just pirating it. If he gets upset you can say "I LEARNED IT FROM YOU. I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU!"

This is nothing like piracy, the equivalent would be going around to his house and using a clone gun on all his stuff and going home with copies of all his stuff...........guess what the outcome would be...........nothing cos who would care? People saying the devs miss out of money are also wrong because I doubt he would have paid for the game in the first place, so they didnt lose a sale at all.
 
I'm sorry but you're friend is full of shit. First of all you can rent games. I have Gamefly I do it all the time. If you don't want to spend 60 dollars on a four hour game you don't have to. Second on stealing Borderlands that isn't justified by their past.

you cant rent games where I live actually. Im not justifying pirating by saying that, just stating a fact
 
I'm sorry but you're friend is full of shit. First of all you can rent games. I have Gamefly I do it all the time. If you don't want to spend 60 dollars on a four hour game you don't have to. Second on stealing Borderlands that isn't justified by their past.

Renting a game is pretty much just as bad all the rental shop does is pay for a rent copy, the devs dont see extra money per rental. So basically all it is is legal pirating.
 
Renting a game is pretty much just as bad all the rental shop does is pay for a rent copy, the devs dont see extra money per rental. So basically all it is is legal pirating.

Except that it's not the same as "illegal pirating" even if you're getting to play the game at a greatly reduced cost over full price. While I'm not sure if it's exactly the same in regards to games, I do know that the reason movie rental stores were allowed to exist is because they either a) paid a huge amount more per movie from the publisher up front or b) handed over a small percentage of each rental. If games worked the same, then it's nowhere close to your analogy.

Stop swallowing the bullshit propoganda created last gen to justify DRM and DLC.

You may as well say that borrowing or lending a game to a friend should be considered illegal pirating too. I mean what the fuck is up with this age of gaming anymore?
 
You can slowly show him that buying games isn't always that bad.

Invite him to play some Left 4 Dead 2 when the game is on sale on Steam for less than 5 bucks. Then show him how easier is to setup and play the original game forever without issues than the cracked one via VPN.

Show him some good game deals on Steam sales, Origin, like those you can buy great and big games for little money that won`t get you a burguer.

This is the way I approach my pirate friends. Although I can`t stop them from pirating every single game in the world, I persuade them to buy some of the games if they like it, even if it's when said game is on sale. With time, they will start buying games on their own when they feel they can. You just need to show the path.


*I hope someday Netflix becomes the Steam equivalent for movies and series, with a huge catalogue, simultaneous with retail launch and a incredible backlog.
 
Except that it's not the same as "illegal pirating" even if you're getting to play the game at a greatly reduced cost over full price. While I'm not sure if it's exactly the same in regards to games, I do know that the reason movie rental stores were allowed to exist is because they either a) paid a huge amount more per movie from the publisher up front or b) handed over a small percentage of each rental. If games worked the same, then it's nowhere close to your analogy.

Stop swallowing the bullshit propoganda created last gen to justify DRM and DLC.

You may as well say that borrowing or lending a game to a friend should be considered illegal pirating too. I mean what the fuck is up with this age of gaming anymore?

They dont hand over any money from rentals, they pay a licence fee and takes them about 15 rentals to make a profit, not one cent goes to the devs after the initial fee. Why do you think devs and publishers want them to go away?
 
i don't think people who pirate stuff do it because of financial reasons, imo people do it just because it's really easy to do so
99% of the times pirated stuff is released a lot faster as well, tv/anime stuff usually are posted like minutes after it finished airing
 
I don't see piracy as a black and white issue, even though it can be damaging to a developer's income (or spur positive word of mouth and lead to more sales than it would have gotten otherwise).

In some cases, it's a matter of accessibility and pricing being unreasonable. Other people simply do not care and would rather get it for "free" if they are able to. The onus ultimately falls upon those that try to sell content to give people less of a reason to pirate something, as piracy is something that is impossible to prevent. Those that never intended to buy it anyway wouldn't have an effect on sales necessarily.

One reason I wouldn't bring myself to care is one, it is not my responsibility to care, and two, it would require some degree of cognitive dissonance given the amount of casual piracy that is normalized in society today (and to a significant degree in some countries). People still pirate movies, (e.g. cable) TV shows, pornography, manga/anime, music, and other types of content daily, many times without being cognizant of what they're doing. (Heck, several threads here would be rarely posted in were this not the case). Content and digital rights misappropriation on a minor level is almost akin to plagiarism in that we seldom worry about it outside of specific contexts.

Granted, the climate is and has been changing as content delivery models, too, are changing, allowing people to legally access that content through similar channels due to support through ad revenue and such. I'd see the distribution of pirated content as more problematic than the act of acquiring it.
 
Top Bottom