Copying is not theft - General

When you pirate something, do you claim that you made it? I don't think so.

Why don't people realize that DATA AND MATERIAL ARE DIFFERENT THINGS [editline]02:11AM[/editline] [QUOTE=Wolfie13;21385905]This video is golden. I'll use it whenever I get called a pirate.[/QUOTE] so you're saying you aren't a pirate then what are you? I could've understood "whenever I get called a thief" but a pirate is exactly what you are

[QUOTE=BmB;21381605]Rape isn't theft either. That makes rape okay.[/QUOTE] Copying is of a dead / unliving thing. Rape is of a living thing that objects to it. HUGE FUCKING DIFFERENCE.

[QUOTE=BrickInHead;21387672]This argument is absolutely stupid, everyone pirates, but those who think there's nothing wrong with it and that the op video is actually a legitimate argument are just deluding themselves.[/QUOTE] This bro knows what he's taking about.

[QUOTE=M_B;21382485]it's actually doing both at the same time. who gets hurt: the parties involved who put out the data being pirated. see, they're missing out on a sale, that's where the idea of theft comes into play, when you get something for free, and no one gets anything in exchange for it (in this case payment), it's what's considered either given, loaned, or stolen. unless the parties that originally created/published/distributed the downloaded content said "here have it for free" or said "here have it for free for a little while", it's being stolen. who gets helped: the person downloading it, obviously, there's not really anything else to explain here. i'm not against piracy, i just more or less hate the people that actually try and find a way to say there's absolutely nothing wrong with piracy. i know the repercussions of piracy, i know who isn't getting what amount of money, and yet i pirate anyway. but i don't go around saying it's okay for me to do it. [editline]03:13AM[/editline] most of the time, this doesn't happen. it can very well be used as an excuse, but realistically, seldom do people actually buy something after they've pirated it.[/QUOTE] Ok, let's say I don't have the money to buy a game, or don't want to buy the game, so I pirate it. How exactly did the company who put the game out lose a sell? I would classify Pirating as Word of Mouth Advertising instead of Theft, If they'd stop worrying about it, spending time and money developing DRM that pisses off a lot of the playerbase, they'd have larger profits

If it's legitimate it's not piracy. Again, it's a bit like sneaking into a theather because you can't afford it, the theater doesn't loose any money per say, but legally they did loose the price of admission you owe them for the viewing.

[QUOTE=TheTalon;21415257]Ok, let's say I don't have the money to buy a game, or don't want to buy the game, so I pirate it. How exactly did the company who put the game out lose a sell? I would classify Pirating as Word of Mouth Advertising instead of Theft, If they'd stop worrying about it, spending time and money developing DRM that pisses off a lot of the playerbase, they'd have larger profits[/QUOTE] But then after awhile everyone will pirate it instead because they "don't want to buy it" since they "don't have the cash" and then the developers don't get a profit... And guess what happens then. If you don't know, they probably will close down due to the fact they can't support themselves anymore. If you don't want the game don't get it and don't pirate it. If you pirated it, it means it must have been interesting enough that you would go out and look for a pirated version.

This thread is filled with horrible people that don't want that blob thing to have ears and legs. You make me sick.

The bottom line on all this is: Copying is [highlight]illegal[/highlight] when you're copying something you don't own because it [b]kills business[/b] by taking the price tag off of products. Fighting, arguing, discussing, and rationalizing the philosophy of pirating are perfect examples of how you can waste your energy if you have an abundance of it and don't feel like doing anything productive with it. The only way people are going to stop pirating software is if it becomes [b]really hard or really risky[/b] to do and that's why companies are investing a lot of time, effort, and bank towards mechanisms which will make that a reality. The reason [b]copying is stealing[/b] is because you are taking something that you legally must pay for without paying, regardless of whether or not what you are taking is a copy or not. I'm not really a whitehat either, pirating is great, but I'm also aware of the implications that come along with it and realize that, while it benefits me directly, it doesn't benefit the whole which is providing for me.

You know i miss the old days where piracy and hacking was for fighting the big corporations and fat cats and yes i know alot of that is still around today but pushing piracy into a more mainstream lime light gives bad results like Ubisoft for example.

Making games costs money, more money than most of you could make in a year. Kind of thick to suggest they should keep doing that and that you deserve to play it for free. Want quality? Pay. Want more low quality re-used concept games filled with failing DRM? Pirate. This is pretty much where we are now. Right now you don't see a whole lot of quality games being released, they are quite rare. It's because developers don't dare taking chances any more, they re-use concepts and ideas that had proven to work before. And of course a lot of time is spent trying to stop piracy. So piracy does hurt the gaming industry, a lot. Only ignorant people can't see that yet. At the very least buy the game if you liked it. [b]Massive Entertainment for example barely made a profit[/b] out of World in Conflict because of piracy. (Source: a friends teacher at The Game Assembly in Sweden, Lund whom is a developer at Massive Entertainment)

[QUOTE=Minorkos;21413714]Why don't people realize that DATA AND MATERIAL ARE DIFFERENT THINGS[/QUOTE] Data IS material. People put work into it. It can be used, enjoyed, shared, what have you. When you buy a book, you aren't paying for the paper itself, you are paying for the story in itself. The Paper is just a way of storing that "Data". Same as with music CDs, or movies, anything like that.

Everybody pirates at some point. I buy pretty much all my games from steam now, and even if I don't buy it, it's usually my friends copy, but I have pirated things before as I am sure every single one of you have too.

I find it hypocritical that pirates ban leechers from their P2P networks.

Spend 3 years making a game, then see it get pirated, go happy about free advertising?

[QUOTE=TheTalon;21415257]Ok, let's say I don't have the money to buy a game, or don't want to buy the game, so I pirate it. How exactly did the company who put the game out lose a sell?[/QUOTE] Well, if you didn''t have money AND couldn't pirate it, you'd probably either save up or forget about it (and buy it when it's cheaper).