Why do High-End PC owners get pirated games?

[USAFRet]

Terminology and semantics is important.
So is concept.

I've seen several comments in here - "I have to, because...."
Nonsense. It's a game. There is no 'have to'. Go play something else.

 

[Slatteew]

I mean, I can understand a guy who owns an old dual core with an old graphics card due to financial reasons downloading pirated games. But I see a lot of last gen i7 owners with high end graphics cards complaining on pirate sites about how the game is not working properly or something. If you are able to buy a 2000+ dollar rig, why would you not spend like 80 bucks on a legitimate game which would not only work perfectly but also allow you to play online? I kinda feel sorry for the developers who spend sometimes years working on a great game that then will get pirated versions downloaded onto such High-End PC owners. Why?

Because they are impatient, don't want to wait for proper reviews to come out about the games, and then the games usually end up sucking hardcore because they are more or less movies and not actual games........

Sometimes it is to "demo" a game or in protest of the DRM a company puts on their product. I get the DRM, it is anti-consumer. There used to be so many demos back in the day (80s and 90s) for both Computer games and Console (which are still technically computers) games. Go to a website and download a Doom Demo, Diablo 1 or Diablo 2 Demo, get to play some of the game for free, and then make your judgement. Now we still only have Console demos at Best Buy or Game Stop, more or less. Your only other options are to watch gameplay or read reviews. This is both the fault of the consumer and the game developers. Game developers need to have demos for fair and objective assessment by consumers, and consumers need to be smarter with their money.

I would also say that many people have a strong dissociation between digital content and physical objects. Because the digital content is so easy to just download, they feel they can take the easy way out and not hurt anyone. If it were a physical object, they would have to go purchase it, say on a game disc. Or if it required a physical game to play, someone would rip it, put it online, and then someone can either flash it to a cartridge or CD/DVD with the correct burner, which gets a lot harder and can take a lot of hardware and software engineering to pull off.

I am ok with pirating games that are no longer sold in stores or online, because the creators are not benefiting in anyway. I have felt that the Digital Age is moving far too quickly and without the proper regulation.

Edit: Piracy is better described as "Illegal copying", especially if used through torrents.

 

[bystander]

As far demos go; go on Steam and type Demo in the search field. I got 34 pages of 15 demos per page showing up. That is over 500 demos. They still exist. You just have to look for them.

 

[helpstar]

As far demos go; go on Steam and type Demo in the search field. I got 34 pages of 15 demos per page showing up. That is over 500 demos. They still exist. You just have to look for them.

at a closer look, 99% of them are budget/ indie games; blockbusters and hardware demanding games are rare.

 

[bystander]

As far demos go; go on Steam and type Demo in the search field. I got 34 pages of 15 demos per page showing up. That is over 500 demos. They still exist. You just have to look for them.

at a closer look, 99% of them are budget/ indie games; blockbusters and hardware demanding games are rare.

That's always been the case, even 30 years ago. Blockbusters don't need demos to sell. It is the low budget unknowns that have offered demos to get their name out. Just because some of those companies made it big as a result, doesn't change the fact that they were indie/startups when they first started using demos. Like Doom, for example.

The big name games get reviews, and you kind of know what to expect. A demo isn't necessary.

 

[Marc999]

Some of you here are condoning their actions.
I'm of the black/white view; it's either right or wrong. In this case - it's flat out wrong, as well as illegal.
There is no grey area when it comes to pirating software. They have stolen the product and very likely will not ever pay for it.

I frankly don't care what their justification is. If you're unsure or don't like how the developers/publishers are marketing the game, then don't buy it.

You may counter with - what right do the publishers' have pushing 1/2 finished products to market. They have every right actually. Just don't buy it, it's as simple as that.


If your child were to sell lemonade this summer and people started coming up and helping themselves, how would you feel?
Sure, I'll just bring my own thermos - fill it up and walk away. I don't know if I'll like the lemonade, so I'll just take it for free.
Oh wait - you likely wouldn't because you'd get caught and humiliated. Imagine that.

Anyway, this falls of deaf ears for many - they steal because they can.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Wow, this is some thread!

Just want to throw this nugget out there, the OP asked "why do owners of high end PC's pirate games", we can assume someone who can drop $2-3k building a computer would have more than enough to pay for games right?

The answer is always, because they can. Because why should I pay for something I can get for free?

Many people don't understand the microcosm this place displays (or other groups/blogs/etc) of people who say they download pirated copies, if they like the game they buy it. In the end you are a fraction of a percentage of people who pirate games. Everyone else, not only couldn't give a hoot to post on a message board about it, downloads them because they are free.

I know this because at almost 35 years of age I've gone through many years of gaming. When I was a kid I pirated games, mostly because my buddy was like "hey you want this copy of Strike Commander"? Sure dude why not! Then I went to college for Computer Science, grew a conscience, and since I do not pirate anything at all. But to the rest of the world, if it fell off the back of the truck, I guess its mine, and pirate sites that have this stuff ready to download, well thats the truck with the open door. It happens with everything, its amazing how many people will take something for free because its there, even though its technically not theirs. But they aren't like holding up a store at gunpoint, so therefore its ok.

My sister's fiancee makes more money than I do, owns multiple cell phones, tablets, laptops, video game consoles, etc, and pirates EVERYTHING, music, movies, games, it doesn't matter. Not only that he took my moms phone, rooted it and installs this pirate crap and tells her "why pay when you get for free, its ok!". I deleted that off of it. And all his friends are the same, and tons of other people I know. I do a system build or a network setup and they balk at having to pay for Microsoft Office licenses. "What you can't just give it to me?" because their buddy installed a pirated copy of Office 97 on their old Pentium, its normal to them.

People don't see the value in paying $50 (or whatever for software) because it is out there for free, or there was so many years of getting it for free its expected. Any other excuse is BS, yeah you may proselytize about broken games, or trying before you buy, but the truth is there are so very few of you in existence. You aren't as much of the problem as the base culture of "why pay when I can get it for free"?

 

[FALC0N]

If your child were to sell lemonade this summer and people started coming up and helping themselves, how would you feel?

This is a completely invalid comparison. Especially considering that many of these companies that play victim have themselves repeatedly violated laws. How many sanctions has Microsoft been hit with over the years? People forget they were almost split up in '98 due to antitrust violations. And it should have been a whole lot worse. They have gotten off easy over the years.

It might apply to some smaller software houses, but there is no way in comparing microsofts dirty millionaires to my kids lemonade stand.

 

[bystander]

If your child were to sell lemonade this summer and people started coming up and helping themselves, how would you feel?

This is a completely invalid comparison. Especially considering that many of these companies that play victim have themselves repeatedly violated laws. How many sanctions has Microsoft been hit with over the years? People forget they were almost split up in '98 due to antitrust violations. And it should have been a whole lot worse. They have gotten off easy over the years.

It might apply to some smaller software houses, but there is no way in comparing microsofts dirty millionaires to my kids lemonade stand.

Anti-trust laws are not black and white. Pirating is very black and white. And just because a company breaks laws, intentionally or not, does not make it ok for you to do so.

 

[Saif Uv]

I pirate games because games that are available in my country are already cracked/pirated.

 

[FALC0N]

If your child were to sell lemonade this summer and people started coming up and helping themselves, how would you feel?

This is a completely invalid comparison. Especially considering that many of these companies that play victim have themselves repeatedly violated laws. How many sanctions has Microsoft been hit with over the years? People forget they were almost split up in '98 due to antitrust violations. And it should have been a whole lot worse. They have gotten off easy over the years.

It might apply to some smaller software houses, but there is no way in comparing microsofts dirty millionaires to my kids lemonade stand.

Anti-trust laws are not black and white. Pirating is very black and white. And just because a company breaks laws, intentionally or not, does not make it ok for you to do so.

Not every law is moral or justified in all instances. Segregation base on race was once legal here, but it wasn't moral. There are scenarios that I don't have any trouble siding with. Just stealing to steal is not one of them. But I don't see it as black and white either.

 

[bystander]

Not every law is moral or justified in all instances. Segregation base on race was once legal here, but it wasn't moral. There are scenarios that I don't have any trouble siding with. Just stealing to steal is not one of them. But I don't see it as black and white either.

Pirating has no justification. That is pretty black and white wrong. It is entertainment, so there is no reason to pirate other than your greed.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

If your child were to sell lemonade this summer and people started coming up and helping themselves, how would you feel?

This is a completely invalid comparison. Especially considering that many of these companies that play victim have themselves repeatedly violated laws. How many sanctions has Microsoft been hit with over the years? People forget they were almost split up in '98 due to antitrust violations. And it should have been a whole lot worse. They have gotten off easy over the years.

It might apply to some smaller software houses, but there is no way in comparing microsofts dirty millionaires to my kids lemonade stand.

Anti-trust laws are not black and white. Pirating is very black and white. And just because a company breaks laws, intentionally or not, does not make it ok for you to do so.

OK.

Sony pirated music to put into films: https://torrentfreak.com/sony-about-to-get-sued-for-pirating-music-in-the-interview-141227/

Sony BMG's copyright protection infringed the GPL, and distributed copyrighted code illegally: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Copy_Protection#Copyright_violations

I'm sure there are plenty of other examples.

 

[bystander]

OK.

Sony pirated music to put into films: https://torrentfreak.com/sony-about-to-get-sued-for-pirating-music-in-the-interview-141227/

Sony BMG's copyright protection infringed the GPL, and distributed copyrighted code illegally: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Copy_Protection#Copyright_violations

I'm sure there are plenty of other examples.

So they broke the law. They got sued. They will lose. How does that show it is ok for you to pirate?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

It doesn't. I'm saying that if they want to claim the moral high ground, they shouldn't keep on digging.

 

[bystander]

It doesn't. I'm saying that if they want to claim the moral high ground, they shouldn't keep on digging.

You realize that a company consists of thousands of individual people. Some of those people make mistakes. Perhaps all of them, as people aren't perfect. That doesn't make it right to do the same. The person who used a pirated copy, or failed to get permission to use the song, is likely fired.

 

[FALC0N]

Pirating has no justification. That is pretty black and white wrong. It is entertainment, so there is no reason to pirate other than your greed.

We are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I can think of several good reasons that would pass most peoples moral compass. That black and white garbage is just naive.

That said, MOST piracy probably would fit your description. Just people being greedy.

 

[bystander]

Pirating has no justification. That is pretty black and white wrong. It is entertainment, so there is no reason to pirate other than your greed.

We are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I can think of several good reasons that would pass most peoples moral compass. That black and white garbage is just naive.

That said, MOST piracy probably would fit your description. Just people being greedy.

Perhaps you can share a morally acceptable reason?

 

[thomascwhitfield]

Piracy is a state of mind, not bank account

This is true to a point. I know people who have computers that they have saved their money to build and they get exactly what parts they want and expect to perform. But as stated, a lot of games come out NOT ready, and you cannot return video games. At best you can hope bugs will get fixed, but that isn't always the case. Also some people save their money for a while to buy a good computer but they really can't afford to be dropping $60 every few weeks when an A-List title releases. From my *personal* experience video games are way overpriced, so sometimes *people* pirate games when they first release and often buy them legitimately some time later when the price drops to something more reasonable.

 

[FALC0N]

Pirating has no justification. That is pretty black and white wrong. It is entertainment, so there is no reason to pirate other than your greed.

We are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I can think of several good reasons that would pass most peoples moral compass. That black and white garbage is just naive.

That said, MOST piracy probably would fit your description. Just people being greedy.

Perhaps you can share a morally acceptable reason?

Sure. True story too.

A few years back, an acquaintance of mine purchased a copy of Window XP retail. He installed it on his machine and ran it for a few years. Then his hard drive blew up. He tossed it and purchased a new one, then realized he had lost all of his Windows XP materials. Microsoft wouldn't help him, so he obtained a XLK version and used that.

I didn't have any issue with that. I don't think most people would. Granted, its a fringe example, but it does happen. And MS would certainly group that into the piracy category.

 

[bystander]

Pirating has no justification. That is pretty black and white wrong. It is entertainment, so there is no reason to pirate other than your greed.

We are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I can think of several good reasons that would pass most peoples moral compass. That black and white garbage is just naive.

That said, MOST piracy probably would fit your description. Just people being greedy.

Perhaps you can share a morally acceptable reason?

Sure. True story too.

A few years back, an acquaintance of mine purchased a copy of Window XP retail. He installed it on his machine and ran it for a few years. Then his hard drive blew up. He tossed it and purchased a new one, then realized he had lost all of his Windows XP materials. Microsoft wouldn't help him, so he obtained a XLK version and used that.

I didn't have any issue with that. I don't think most people would. Granted, its a fringe example, but it does happen. And MS would certainly group that into the piracy category.

What happened to the XP copy he purchased? Sure, his HDD blew up, but that doesn't destroy the CD.

I get why he did it, but it still isn't exactly "Morally acceptable". People have to replace things they lose all the time. Apparently he lost his CD/DVD of XP. That is his fault. Though I probably wouldn't bother him about it. It still is pirating.

 

[FALC0N]

What happened to the XP copy he purchased? Sure, his HDD blew up, but that doesn't destroy the CD.

I get why he did it, but it still isn't exactly "Morally acceptable". People have to replace things they lose all the time. Apparently he lost his CD/DVD of XP. That is his fault. Though I probably wouldn't bother him about it. It still is pirating.

If you get your moral compass from bean counters at microsoft, then it might be an issues. But few would have issue with recovery of something you already posses. A $200 software package is a significant financial expenditure for most people and a negligible one for a company like microsoft. Your moral concern for Microsofts quarterly statement over a financially struggling end user is not admirable in my book.

In your example involving a lost physical item is not a valid one, as software could be recovered without loss to the manufacturer. Also, you wouldn't lose a physical item actually in use on your computer. This is where digital items differ significantly from physical items.

What happened to it? He found it a few years later.

 

[bystander]

If you get your moral compass from bean counters at microsoft, then it might be an issues. But few would have issue with recovery of something you already posses. A $200 software package is a significant financial expenditure for most people and a negligible one for a company like microsoft. Your moral concern for Microsofts quarterly statement over a financially struggling end user is not admirable in my book.

In your example involving a lost physical item is not a valid one, as software could be recovered without loss to the manufacturer. Also, you wouldn't lose a physical item actually in use on your computer. This is where digital items differ significantly from physical items.

What happened to it? He found it a few years later.

For starters, you just have to by an OEM version, as he is buying a new HDD, those are less than half cost. And if MS were to accept a persons word for needing the software, then that would be abused, as you know it. And let's be honest, MS was abused hardcore during the XP days. All you needed was anyone's copy of XP, install it and use the code 11111111-1234 and it worked.

Am I going to give him grief over that use? No, but it doesn't make it right either.

 

[FALC0N]

For starters, you just have to by an OEM version, as he is buying a new HDD, those are less than half cost. And if MS were to accept a persons word for needing the software, then that would be abused, as you know it. And let's be honest, MS was abused hardcore during the XP days. All you needed was anyone's copy of XP, install it and use the code 11111111-1234 and it worked.

Am I going to give him grief over that use? No, but it doesn't make it right either.

I am merely pointing out that its not completely black and white.

I do suspect that the vast majority "piracy" is just the greedy kind, but I think there are legitimate shades of grey. Good faith effort goes a long way on the moral side of things.

 

[11sphere92]

Piracy is wrong
Piracy is not okay.

FYI : I bought the games on steam and origin if i like those games. But i'll try to answer these question, why.

Okay im from asia, and in my country our minimum wages = 200bucks / month

Lets see how much new games cost 40 - 80$ depends on the games. So if you want to play a games you need minimum 20% from your wages to play a game.

Second problem, Internet connection is not that awesome. Yet those "new games" most of em, won't have SEA servers. So "online feature" that we had on those games are basically not used. Which i think why we need to bought a legit games is for playing online. So can we play while lag? Yes, Is it great if you play with lag? (Because mostly servers are on America) Definitely no.

Well, yes i agree, if you cannot afford em you shouldn't buy em. Is that mean most of poor country (asian) cannot play the new games? They need to wait until 2 years to play.

Why they can buy the high end computer but not the game? Lets count. Buy 1500$ computer which can be used for 8 Years example.

For those 8 years did you think we gonna play only 10 games? Don't think so. Let's say it cost 60 bucks (Each games) we only can play 25 Games for 8 years for that 1500$.

In this point im just saying, the games cost a lot. Which every year they gonna put another series. Example : FIFA, NBA, Final Fantasy.

If its 60 bucks for like 5 years update, definitely we gonna buy if we like those games. But 60 bucks for a year? Seriously.

(I just answer the question, doesn't mean i agree with piracy)