The lights are on
This morning’s story on the developers over at Greenheart Games and their unusual approach to punishing pirates got us thinking about the practice of pirating games and its prevalence, as well as the changing attitudes towards the practice. We're curious about the experiences of the Game Informer community, and their attitudes towards the practice.
Growing up in the 1980s, I can recall that many friends at the time considered it common and acceptable practice to pass around floppy disks that contained the latest Apple and PC games without a second thought. As a result, many higher-end computer games of the time had aggressive and unusual methods to maintain copy protection, such as looking up lines of text in the instruction manual, or using strange code wheels to answer a question as the game booted up. Looking back, it seems awful that such rampant piracy was so accepted among rank and file gamers. Today, the game piracy questions has remained a major issue – though floppy disks have been replaced by torrent sites and other online sharing tools.
Have you ever engaged in game piracy to get a game without paying for it? Presuming you no longer do it, what made you stop? If you still pirate games, why do you still do it? Do you feel like it’s wrong, or is it not a big deal? While we’re at it, do you include game emulation of older games in the same category as pirating modern-day games, and do you ever use emulators?
Share your thoughts in the comments below, and remember that we’re all here for a discussion, not recriminations about how different people feel or act on this issue.
Email the author Matt Miller, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.
Never have pirated, never will. Being a musician myself, I know how much it hurts to get work stolen. And the fact that peoples' jobs and families rely on the sales of their games makes me always want to by a game. In fact,although I do think piracy is wrong, I really just love supporting artists. Because that is what game developers are, and they deserve every penny they make.
I used to pirate games 8 yrs ago, couldn't really afford any games at the time, as time went on life changes for the better able to afford things, I pretty much own all legit copies of all the games I ever pirated in the past mostly PC games I pirated old DOS games mainly, and console titles with GOG.com and picking up old titles at an reasonable price and DOSbox there is only a few games left that I can't find anywhere or for reasonable prices I don't call 200$ for used old game reasonable.
I have pirated one game and cracked a few softwares. The game I pirated was Skyrim, I had already invested in the console version and had bought the dawnguard DLC at the time and was interested in playing with mods, I regret pirating it.
When I was young it was pretty common with people around me. It got worse in college when LANs were open and classmates just left shared drives of games and software on the network. On one hand I always felt guilty but would have never ended up in Computer Science or making video games if it wasn't for that experience. I learned to code on pirated compilers and learned about Photoshop on a college students budget... Im not defending piracy though, and I stopped pirating the moment I could afford games and software without it. My first job out of college marked the end my days as a pirate. I eventually went back and purchased many of the staple games that kept me sane through my years in college and am still an avid fan of the developers that are still around today; perhaps out of atonement or perhaps because of something else. Either way I have to remind myself of what I was like then so that I don't get too upset when I see less than 1% of people paid for my games... :( Some things will never change but I don't know how it can stay the same and still survive. As an adult who gladly pays for his games and software I don't like DRM at all, but I don't blame them for trying either.
im a cop and ur all going to Jail
I have never pirated a game and I don't ever plan to. No game company, developers or publishers, deserves to have their work stolen. On another note, I can't say I know much about emulators or the situation for people in other countries, but for me, the answer is obvious. If I don't pay, I don't play.
Hell NO! time to come clean. If i didn't have the money to buys games. I'll shoplifted. Yea, i got caught and did time/fine for it. That how hardcore i was. But no, not once have i pirated games. Not once, so bite me.
never
your all a bunch of bullshitters haha
Of course, but only on companies that deserve it, like Bethesda. You gimme a broken product, i download a working one for pc, simple as that.
For a few reasons, but I haven't in a long time.
1. I bought it once for full price and for something happened and I couldn't reinstall or play. This is after buying the Diablo BC 3 times and saying screw it.
2. As a demo if one is not available. I still do this on occasion, but only play a level or two. If I don't like I uninstall.
3. Emulation for things similar to 1. Emulation is in some ways legal, to my knowledge if you have a physical version. I have physical copies of Kingdom Hearts but prefer to play it on a PS2 emu because it looks better and save states.
I haven't but I know alotta PSP owners that did...
ENTRAPMENT! Yeah I did portal 2 to build my own maps and BF2 after I lost my key. I usually stick to Goldeneye Source. Why don't you guys do reviews or videos on that?!
Never video games, but music and movies back in the Kazaa & Napster days.
I will admit, I have a couple of times, but it isnt for this generation. I only pirated on the PS2,PS1 and old Nintendo consoles. Honestly, I will never do it, but I will only pirate when they are dated games or games that people will probably see a physical copy (Or even hear of).
Yes, I have. Only PC games though and mostly older titles. Sometimes, I pirate a PC copy of a game I already own just to be able to play with mods like DA:O. Or I can always buy used copies at Game Stop and play it for 7 days and go get my refund back.
Nope. Although torrents do trot a fine line, and I've used them occasionally.
I downloaded a single one just to see it, because it's not available here (that I know of), and it was of a reprehensible nature that I don't condone supporting. But I deleted it without ever trying it.
I do not pirate games. I'm a gamer, and indie dev, and I love this industry and hobby too much to do anything to harm it--and piracy is very harmful, and extremely disrespectful to people whose lives depend on the income from that. As far as I'm concerned, if you pirate games, it's not because you're a gamer, it's because you're a loser desperate to find meaning in your life by amassing a huge collection of things you care nothing for.
When you pirate, you put no effort, time, or money into the game, so your investment is extremely minimal--and chances are, it's emulated or modded enough that it isn't even going to be an authentic experience, and one that won't be properly experienced or appreciated if pirated. The best way to experience Dungeons & Dragons on the Intellivision, is on the Intellivision.
The best way to experience Super Metroid, is on the SNES.
Yeah, I pirate occasionally... I pirated the Witcher 2 but I will definitely buy the Witcher 3 to make up for it (since I loved it). Also, Far Cry 3.. I'm not into FPS games very much, and I heard lots of good things about it, but it was incredibly average.
The last game I purchased, Arkham City (in anticipation for Arkham Origins), was incredibly annoying to run (compared to pirated games). I had to return it to the shop after the activation code failed -_-