BF2S Forums PC Game Piracy Examined

ceslayer23 wrote:

fuck, what do you people not understand? 
people pirate games that they would not spend any money on to buy (mainly because of the lack of multiplayer)
they buy the games that are actually worthwhile and have a good multiplayer

so if you werent gonna buy it in the first place, can someone please give me a reasonable explanation as to how this makes developers lose money?

No, but by some twisted logic that most people cannot comprehend, piracy, no matter wat is bad.

ceslayer23 wrote:

fuck, what do you people not understand? 
people pirate games that they would not spend any money on to buy (mainly because of the lack of multiplayer)
they buy the games that are actually worthwhile and have a good multiplayer

so if you werent gonna buy it in the first place, can someone please give me a reasonable explanation as to how this makes developers lose money?

I'm saying the argument of "not buying them anyways" is a load of bullshit. You would buy a game for $.01 right? Hell the bandwidth/electricity used to pirate these games is worth more than that. Everyone has a price, and when you pirate a game the developer is losing that price. Granted that price may not be $50 for most people, but that doesn't mean they don't lose when you pirate it.

DoctaStrangelove wrote:

ceslayer23 wrote:

fuck, what do you people not understand? 
people pirate games that they would not spend any money on to buy (mainly because of the lack of multiplayer)
they buy the games that are actually worthwhile and have a good multiplayer

so if you werent gonna buy it in the first place, can someone please give me a reasonable explanation as to how this makes developers lose money?

No, but by some twisted logic that most people cannot comprehend, piracy, no matter wat is bad.

Very twisted and difficult to understand indeed. I mean geez I can't put my hand on it, how do you expect me to put a value on it!

Seriously at least read page fucking three of the article if you're going to post about the "The Economics of Piracy" on a thread about the stupid article. It provides this and two other damn good reasons that no one has refuted.

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

I'm saying the argument of "not buying them anyways" is a load of bullshit. You would buy a game for $.01 right? Hell the bandwidth/electricity used to pirate these games is worth more than that. Everyone has a price, and when you pirate a game the developer is losing that price. Granted that price may not be $50 for most people, but that doesn't mean they don't lose when you pirate it.

Then the developer has no right to complain if they can't work out what the consumers price is.

nukchebi0 wrote:

So if an employer wanted to demo your work skills, would you gladly work for a couple of days under them for free, at full output, with the knowledge they might just send you packing at the end?

TheAussieReaper wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

I'm saying the argument of "not buying them anyways" is a load of bullshit. You would buy a game for $.01 right? Hell the bandwidth/electricity used to pirate these games is worth more than that. Everyone has a price, and when you pirate a game the developer is losing that price. Granted that price may not be $50 for most people, but that doesn't mean they don't lose when you pirate it.

Then the developer has no right to complain if they can't work out what the consumers price is.

Oh noes, we have to please the customer so they won't steal our work...nice logic.

GP wrote:

Take GTA4 for example. In it's current state, Rockstar simple do not deserve a penny of my money. It's appauling. When they get it working at the level that it should be for a released game I will buy it. Until then they can go fuck themselves. It's like paying to be part of a Beta.

If you read the article, you might understand that would be because they knew it was already going to get pirated. Why should they invest effort if they aren't going to get rewarded for it? Oh, right...

So by that logic, no one should produce a good game because it'll get pirated... So where are game dev's going to get any money from when people stop buying their POS? And no, you are correct, I did not read a 3 hour article.

EDIT: If you read what I posted, I was perfectly happy to buy GTA4. I love the series and have bought all of the ones that I've played. However after reading the posts on forums about how buggy it was, I decided it simply wasn't worth my money. I'll give it another consideration when they release a patch for it.

Last edited by ghettoperson (2008-12-16 20:37:31)

nukchebi0 wrote:

TheAussieReaper wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

I'm saying the argument of "not buying them anyways" is a load of bullshit. You would buy a game for $.01 right? Hell the bandwidth/electricity used to pirate these games is worth more than that. Everyone has a price, and when you pirate a game the developer is losing that price. Granted that price may not be $50 for most people, but that doesn't mean they don't lose when you pirate it.

Then the developer has no right to complain if they can't work out what the consumers price is.

Oh noes, we have to please the customer so they won't steal our work...nice logic.

GP wrote:

Take GTA4 for example. In it's current state, Rockstar simple do not deserve a penny of my money. It's appauling. When they get it working at the level that it should be for a released game I will buy it. Until then they can go fuck themselves. It's like paying to be part of a Beta.

If you read the article, you might understand that would be because they knew it was already going to get pirated. Why should they invest effort if they aren't going to get rewarded for it? Oh, right...

Why should Car manufactures make their cars to an acceptable standard if they know some will get stolen?
Why should TV manufactures make their TVs to an acceptable standard if they know some will get stolen?
Why should DVD player manufactures make their DVD players to an acceptable standard if they know some will get stolen?

Why don't all just slack off and make shitty products? BECAUSE NO ONE WILL BUY THEM IF THEY ARE INFERIOR QUALITY. BY MAKING AN INFERIOR QUALITY ITEM, YOU ARE HURTING YOUR OWN SALES. The producers should be working their hardest to make sure we get the best quality products for the best possible price. It IS up to them to make us want to pay for their products.

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

hahahaha

Those bitches better give me that shit cheap or I'll just take it.

Least we agree it is mostly shit. But I didn't say cheap did I? I said affordable and reasonable.

My point is that if the prices were in line with what you would expect they wouldn't have priced themselves out of the range of the "pirates" to begin with.

Who buys games? What is the target market? Under 30 year olds? Mostly under 25 year olds? It's between 15 and 25 year olds.

They for the most part don't have the option of spending $50us each for three game titles that they are interested in which were released this week. So they'll buy the multi player game and torrent the other two single player games. Or they'll buy the one title they like and torrent the others to see if there is any worth to them. Might buy a game if they really like it and then continue to buy games of that calibre.

The company's (EA) adjusted revenue forecast — which exclude deferred revenue for some online games — had been for $5 to $5.3 billion. Analysts are predicting sales of $5.06 billion.

$5 Billion in sales.

While some of EA's holiday titles, such as "Dead Space" and "Left 4 Dead," have performed well, others, like "Need for Speed Undercover" "Mirror's Edge" and even the latest installment of the popular "Rock Band" franchise have not, according to analysts.

The company said many older titles have been selling below expectations.

Source: Game maker Electronic Arts warns on profit, sales

Older games take a hit. Yet another fucking installment of Rock Band they have churned out has failed. But what has sold well? Dead Space and Left 4 Dead. Two games with unique gameplay that gamers hadn't seen in a while, both marketed well. Both have drawn lots of hype and each have a dedicated thread on these forums.

What had failed because gamers had seen before? Mirror's edge. Rock Band and another Need for Speed game. It doesn't take a genius to work out that spewing out titles that just rehash old ideas aren't going to sell games unless they offer gamers something in return. But they still do it and still expect us to pay handsomely.

When a good game is released, Dead Space \ Left 4 Dead, the pirate element doesn't hit on the profitability of the game. It's a good game, your willing to buy it.

Game developers can cry foul all they want, but the sales results are clear enough to show you where piracy is really affecting the market. It's where the gamers can't find the value of the $50 in another shitty title when they could buy a well made game and torrent the potential shit.

Last edited by TheAussieReaper (2008-12-16 21:06:38)

The only good argument on the anti-piracy side is that some people download cracked versions of games, burn it to silver discs, print the label and packaging then sell them cheap to unsuspecting mothers at the local market/car boot sale.

And even the degree to which that happens is debatable.

Last edited by Scorpion0x17 (2008-12-16 21:20:09)

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

Scorpion0x17 wrote:

The only good argument on the anti-piracy side is that some people download cracked versions of games, burn it to silver discs, print the label and packaging then sell them cheap to unsuspecting mothers at the local market/car boot sale.

And even the degree to which that happens is debatable.

not debatable in China

Well they just don't accept western copyright law.

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

Scorpion0x17 wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

not debatable in China

Well they just don't accept western copyright law.

Apparently neither does anyone else.

Some do.

There really would be no music/film/games industry if no one did.

Scorpion0x17 wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

Scorpion0x17 wrote:

Well they just don't accept western copyright law.

Apparently neither does anyone else.

Some do.

There really would be no music/film/games industry if no one did.

Of course. How would it get on P2P in the first place

Parker wrote:

does this only apply to computer software, or do you people steal everything you want?

We've been over this, from a legal viewpoint it isn't stealing. Ever photocopied something? Then in all likelihood you've done the exact same thing you're trying to take the moral high ground over.

ghettoperson wrote:

We've been over this, from a legal viewpoint it isn't stealing.

really?
you might want to let the FBI know, cause they warn me about illegally copying movies every single time i watch one.

ghettoperson wrote:

Ever photocopied something?

yes.

ghettoperson wrote:

Then in all likelihood you've done the exact same thing you're trying to take the moral high ground over.

no.
i photocopy business/legal documents....not the artwork i have hanging in my house.
thats the difference.



moral high ground?

god damn right...
i may be a lot of things, but im not a thief.