What's your opinion about piracy?

i wouldnt pirate any games if i dont live in a 3rd world country. that means i need to work 3 times harder to get a game compared to the europeans/americans. fuk da economy. but i only pirate games i like which is not many lolz

I know it's a cop out, but I don't know my stance on pirating. It's a grey area to me. Yes it's wrong, but I understand why people do it. Some do it for wrong reasons (Just flat out didn't want to pay and pirate newly released games day 1). I don't agree with that and in my eyes is wrong. I understand pirating an old game that steam charges $10-$20 for that might not even be supported on your OS anymore. I then ask myself what's the difference? Truth is not much. It's all how you look at and try to justify it.

This exert was taken from my post a while back about the exact same question. if you'd like more insight from the community you can visit my old topic here.

It's a good way to test some games. If you like you buy it if u don't, just don't buy it. That's how I do.

Some years ago I was pirating games. But soon stopped it. First, because I realized that some people live on that money. Making games is their daily job.Games base on their skills and ideas. Therefore I also think there a no bad games that "deserve" to be pirated. For the same reasons I also don't piracy movies, music or books. People who work with effort for that things deserve generally to get money for it.
And especially for games. Most games can entertain me a lots of hours. If I play a game 50hours and paid 50$, I just pay 1$ per hour. I don't know much things of which an hour of fun is that cheap. Cinema? Opera? Theater?...all more expensive.

Second. If you have a little patience, lots of games get quite cheap in short time. There is no need to spend 60$ if you can't afford so much money. You just have to wait a half year or a few months and you can get the games 50% off. Or more.

I pirate only those games I wouldn't buy anyway. Mostly because of many annoying DRMs (Assassin's Creed, GTA 4). Pirated games are "DRM-free" so it's more convenient to use them. The other reason I pirate is I know nothing about the game and I don't know if I'll like it (You can say: "Watch the gameplay then." or "Play the demo.". What's the different? They don't get any money for me watching the gameplay or playing the demo either. But I can "feel" the game by playing it.). If I like it I mostly buy it (I bought that way games like: Civilization 5, Super Meat Boy and many others). Sometimes games are just overpriced. Like Call of Duty games. I play them only for a campaign (I know. I'm weird. Lol.). 60€ is way too much for a 4h long gameplay. If I already completed the campaign I have no real reason to buy it later (maybe for my collection but only if the price is low enough and I think it's worth to buy. But Call of Duty games almost never go on sale). You can say: "If you cannot afford it it's not for you. You don't just go and steal a car because you want it.". If you steal a car someone loses money because he had to pay for parts and the labor and he loses it. You can only compare it to stealing a box version of the game from the shop. Someone had to make it. But if you download a pirated copy someone else made it (for free. Not using any creators resources.). They lose nothing so I don't feel like I really commit a crime. Piracy =/= stealing. And it will never be. It's just another type of crime (but similar. Like theft and robbery.).

TL;DR: In my case piracy is a "good" thing. They don't lose any money because I wouldn't give it to them anyway. But I may buy the game if I like it.

i'm a (great) kid and piracy is very helpful when you have no money

sometimes when i feel rich (= 10€) i buy game(s), especially during steam sales

i use piracy to test a game without any limitation and sometimes i buy it (i did it for Borderlands 1)

I believe those who pirate are no better than those who steal anything else, piracy to me is just as bad as stealing someones phone, or shoplifting.

UNLESS the game is unavailable for purchase except from pre-owned sources, or if you already owned it but lost the Key/disc/account it was linked to.
again, this is just my opinion.

Piracy not is lost sale.

I pirate most of my music and films plus I buy a shitton of games too for my steam account.
I refuse to give money for scum companies like Artisjus who are taking the highest cut from sales, leaving almost nothing to the original creators.

So thats that really about the fairy tale story of evil pirates and such while copyright mafia can roam around freely RIAA, and co

If the creators of the original content have no respect for the consumer (using invasive drm, treating customers like thieves) then I wont have respect for them either. Its just as simple as it goes

Amazing how people justify piracy with the lack of money.

Uhm, how do you pirate such games? I did once, got a letter and had to pay 850€, else - prison...

i love piracy. i wish i can marry, sex and have children with piracy.

I just pirate any game I want and buy it only if it's on a sale for $5-$6 or less. I would never buy a game at full price so they don't lose anything.

i pirate a series i had on VHS before it was destroyed, because the VHS was of bad quality.

I used to pirate jpn only games. I stopped after a while because I didn't think It was right after a while. thats not to say I dont get the urge though. I have to try my hardest not to pirate any of the SD Gundam G geneation games. Especially Wars.

I did pirate when I was younger, cause I had little to no money and my parents never bought me any games ;)
Stopped it and won't do it again, only if there's no other way or a daaamn pricy one (Deadpool for example).

It's true than it's hard to get games in some countries , for example where i am from (argentina) , the president kinda banned the use of dollars, unless you got friends in the gov you can't go buy the official dollar at banks which sits at around 1:9 ratio , you have to use the dollar blue buying from people on the streets which goes for 1:12 or even higher depending of the person.
If you go outside the country pays with your credit card will have a high amount of taxes (almost 50%) , if you buy stuff to be delivered from other countries you will be charged 35% of the cost + you also got to have a paper signed by a judge validating the real cost of the item + pay another tax based on that cost , and by the time you receive it most likely it will be stolen by customs to be sold on black market.
So if i buy a game of 5$ i have to pay around 80$ of my own currency , hence why i only buy high discounted games , or bundles , unless it's a game i love.

welp in my country no one can buy games from any where not even steam so piracy is LEGAL here

Doesn't happen often, but i think i'd pirate games that don't offer a GOTY edition or something like with all expansion packs/DLC. After a year or two.
Didn't play them, but things like Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 2 and 3 have an excessive cost if you want to play the whole story.
If i buy something, i want the whole package. I can wait, i usually play games that are at least 2/3 years old.

I torrent... ALOT.... but only games I find with outrageous prices or games I want to try before I buy.

Which sucks because I just got my 2nd warning. My internal and external IP is being watched now. If I torrent again my internet will be shut off for 30 days, if I torrent again after that I lose my internet for good :/

i pirated all games and everything i wanted to play untill i got a job.
Right now,i've been 'clear' for 10 months straight,it even goes that far that even apps i'm using are freeware or trials,no cracked stuff.

Before,i had no alternative.Pirating was the only way to have anything.
Now,when i earn money,it feels wrong to me to pirate.

I guess maturing helps too,before i coudlnt wait to see what does bioshock or something new looks and plays like,and now i feel soo uninterested in most stuff that i could wait for 2,3 years to buy a title.Not to play it,but just to own it,for a price that i felt comfortable with

Last game i pirated was sim tower like 10 years ago because absolutely nowhere sold it.

But more on topic, i am against game piracy, the only exception are for games like the one i mentioned above that cannot be purchased legally anywhere. With steam sales and sites like this there is pretty much no reason to pirate at all, even if you are broke. Back before things like steam existed it was really the only way for most people to get some games.

Piracy is probably the most pathetic thing to do so all pirates should burn in hell. You can't afford video games, music or movies? Bummer.

Piracy is great only if you have the best nakamas!!