The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
I know this has been done loads of times and you are probably all fed up reading post after post but I had a thought earlier and I thought I would share it. Its all about Piracy.
Ok most if not all people on here are against piracy. Those who aren't are probably not bothered in the slightest about the effects on the industry or the money lost. Which brings me to my thought, Piracy is a large problem for the industry and there are people who sell hundreds if not thousands of copied games each day. These are a big problem for the industry but tackling the problem is very difficult.
Think of it from the people who sell them. They don't care if a game gets released or not or if it could cause a developer to have to shut down. They don't care how much money the industry looses as they make so much money from each game they sell that its a way of life for them. This is how they get by, support their family, in the same way that your parents work. I know their job is wrong but to some its the only way. There are alot of people who use crime to earn a living whether it be games pirating, drugs, stealing or many others. The problem can also lead to drug abuse as some use the profit they make to buy drugs which is going on to cause more trouble.
I know alot of people who copy a game here or there for their friend and this is equally as wrong but how can we catch these people and with the punishments we have will it stop them doing it again, I don't think so. I used to watch people doing it in school with amiga games and then PSX games, mostly children as the punishments for kids aren't as bad as for adults.
So how many of you out there actualy totally against it, and would like to try to do more to help stop it and are willing to help stop it? Someone who has never copied a CD onto tape or onto CD, who has never downloaded an MP3 for free, or copied a game for their own use or a friends. There won't be many.
The world is full of people like this and its unlikely that its going to change. Maybe we just have to accept that its a problem that will always be there as society isn't going to change.
So whats next? Can we stop this problem? Developers and console creators do their best to modify hardware and write programs to prevent this kind of thing happening but most of the time people find a way round this and if their method is cost effective ie they can make them for less and sell them for a profit, then they will use this idea. Maybe one day we will see technology that is fully pirate proof in which each copy in unique and can't be copied. Or maybe technology were if someone does try to copy it the disk destroys its data making the copy and the master useless.
Also a little more education is needed, but pointing out the true facts, why people do it? What its effects are in the long run. Also punishment for criminals should be made more serious, these people are like thiefs and should be punished for what they do.
Making piracy less cost effective for those who do it is the way to stop, people who do it aren't going to dip into their own pocket to allow others to buy cheap games from them.
Microsoft said they were going to use a special program that require a unique code to be entered when installing the software making it only useable on that one machine. I don't like that idea for games though as what happens if the console gets damaged and you need a new one or you want to take games round to your friends house?
For the buyers it also the same, there are some who think about how bad the problem is and would like to see it stopped. Then there are others who would rather buy games at £5 rather than pay £35 for a proper game. Maybe more needs to be done to make the proper copies more appealing to buyers? Nowadays more games are DVD based but soon DVD writers will be popular in home PC's so piracy may start to become a bigger problem for the newer consoles
I had a small idea on how to reduce piracy so I may as well tell you about it. What the console would need is a small keycard slot and with everygame you buy inside is a keycard (like a bank card) and a unique number, the number only works with that copy of the game. When you put the game and card in and enter the number you can then start playing, this would allow you to take it to friends houses and would help prevent piracy and keycards can be hard to copy. The only probelm could be cost as I don't know how much it would cost to make the cards but surely if this was to work the money saved would be able to pay for it.
Well Im sure I have bored you enough, those who read it to the end, thanks.
Ok most if not all people on here are against piracy. Those who aren't are probably not bothered in the slightest about the effects on the industry or the money lost. Which brings me to my thought, Piracy is a large problem for the industry and there are people who sell hundreds if not thousands of copied games each day. These are a big problem for the industry but tackling the problem is very difficult.
Think of it from the people who sell them. They don't care if a game gets released or not or if it could cause a developer to have to shut down. They don't care how much money the industry looses as they make so much money from each game they sell that its a way of life for them. This is how they get by, support their family, in the same way that your parents work. I know their job is wrong but to some its the only way. There are alot of people who use crime to earn a living whether it be games pirating, drugs, stealing or many others. The problem can also lead to drug abuse as some use the profit they make to buy drugs which is going on to cause more trouble.
I know alot of people who copy a game here or there for their friend and this is equally as wrong but how can we catch these people and with the punishments we have will it stop them doing it again, I don't think so. I used to watch people doing it in school with amiga games and then PSX games, mostly children as the punishments for kids aren't as bad as for adults.
So how many of you out there actualy totally against it, and would like to try to do more to help stop it and are willing to help stop it? Someone who has never copied a CD onto tape or onto CD, who has never downloaded an MP3 for free, or copied a game for their own use or a friends. There won't be many.
The world is full of people like this and its unlikely that its going to change. Maybe we just have to accept that its a problem that will always be there as society isn't going to change.
So whats next? Can we stop this problem? Developers and console creators do their best to modify hardware and write programs to prevent this kind of thing happening but most of the time people find a way round this and if their method is cost effective ie they can make them for less and sell them for a profit, then they will use this idea. Maybe one day we will see technology that is fully pirate proof in which each copy in unique and can't be copied. Or maybe technology were if someone does try to copy it the disk destroys its data making the copy and the master useless.
Also a little more education is needed, but pointing out the true facts, why people do it? What its effects are in the long run. Also punishment for criminals should be made more serious, these people are like thiefs and should be punished for what they do.
Making piracy less cost effective for those who do it is the way to stop, people who do it aren't going to dip into their own pocket to allow others to buy cheap games from them.
Microsoft said they were going to use a special program that require a unique code to be entered when installing the software making it only useable on that one machine. I don't like that idea for games though as what happens if the console gets damaged and you need a new one or you want to take games round to your friends house?
For the buyers it also the same, there are some who think about how bad the problem is and would like to see it stopped. Then there are others who would rather buy games at £5 rather than pay £35 for a proper game. Maybe more needs to be done to make the proper copies more appealing to buyers? Nowadays more games are DVD based but soon DVD writers will be popular in home PC's so piracy may start to become a bigger problem for the newer consoles
I had a small idea on how to reduce piracy so I may as well tell you about it. What the console would need is a small keycard slot and with everygame you buy inside is a keycard (like a bank card) and a unique number, the number only works with that copy of the game. When you put the game and card in and enter the number you can then start playing, this would allow you to take it to friends houses and would help prevent piracy and keycards can be hard to copy. The only probelm could be cost as I don't know how much it would cost to make the cards but surely if this was to work the money saved would be able to pay for it.
Well Im sure I have bored you enough, those who read it to the end, thanks.
Page:
I know this has been done loads of times and you are probably all fed up reading post after post but I had a thought earlier and I thought I would share it. Its all about Piracy.
Ok most if not all people on here are against piracy. Those who aren't are probably not bothered in the slightest about the effects on the industry or the money lost. Which brings me to my thought, Piracy is a large problem for the industry and there are people who sell hundreds if not thousands of copied games each day. These are a big problem for the industry but tackling the problem is very difficult.
Think of it from the people who sell them. They don't care if a game gets released or not or if it could cause a developer to have to shut down. They don't care how much money the industry looses as they make so much money from each game they sell that its a way of life for them. This is how they get by, support their family, in the same way that your parents work. I know their job is wrong but to some its the only way. There are alot of people who use crime to earn a living whether it be games pirating, drugs, stealing or many others. The problem can also lead to drug abuse as some use the profit they make to buy drugs which is going on to cause more trouble.
I know alot of people who copy a game here or there for their friend and this is equally as wrong but how can we catch these people and with the punishments we have will it stop them doing it again, I don't think so. I used to watch people doing it in school with amiga games and then PSX games, mostly children as the punishments for kids aren't as bad as for adults.
So how many of you out there actualy totally against it, and would like to try to do more to help stop it and are willing to help stop it? Someone who has never copied a CD onto tape or onto CD, who has never downloaded an MP3 for free, or copied a game for their own use or a friends. There won't be many.
The world is full of people like this and its unlikely that its going to change. Maybe we just have to accept that its a problem that will always be there as society isn't going to change.
So whats next? Can we stop this problem? Developers and console creators do their best to modify hardware and write programs to prevent this kind of thing happening but most of the time people find a way round this and if their method is cost effective ie they can make them for less and sell them for a profit, then they will use this idea. Maybe one day we will see technology that is fully pirate proof in which each copy in unique and can't be copied. Or maybe technology were if someone does try to copy it the disk destroys its data making the copy and the master useless.
Also a little more education is needed, but pointing out the true facts, why people do it? What its effects are in the long run. Also punishment for criminals should be made more serious, these people are like thiefs and should be punished for what they do.
Making piracy less cost effective for those who do it is the way to stop, people who do it aren't going to dip into their own pocket to allow others to buy cheap games from them.
Microsoft said they were going to use a special program that require a unique code to be entered when installing the software making it only useable on that one machine. I don't like that idea for games though as what happens if the console gets damaged and you need a new one or you want to take games round to your friends house?
For the buyers it also the same, there are some who think about how bad the problem is and would like to see it stopped. Then there are others who would rather buy games at £5 rather than pay £35 for a proper game. Maybe more needs to be done to make the proper copies more appealing to buyers? Nowadays more games are DVD based but soon DVD writers will be popular in home PC's so piracy may start to become a bigger problem for the newer consoles
I had a small idea on how to reduce piracy so I may as well tell you about it. What the console would need is a small keycard slot and with everygame you buy inside is a keycard (like a bank card) and a unique number, the number only works with that copy of the game. When you put the game and card in and enter the number you can then start playing, this would allow you to take it to friends houses and would help prevent piracy and keycards can be hard to copy. The only probelm could be cost as I don't know how much it would cost to make the cards but surely if this was to work the money saved would be able to pay for it.
Well Im sure I have bored you enough, those who read it to the end, thanks.
Ok most if not all people on here are against piracy. Those who aren't are probably not bothered in the slightest about the effects on the industry or the money lost. Which brings me to my thought, Piracy is a large problem for the industry and there are people who sell hundreds if not thousands of copied games each day. These are a big problem for the industry but tackling the problem is very difficult.
Think of it from the people who sell them. They don't care if a game gets released or not or if it could cause a developer to have to shut down. They don't care how much money the industry looses as they make so much money from each game they sell that its a way of life for them. This is how they get by, support their family, in the same way that your parents work. I know their job is wrong but to some its the only way. There are alot of people who use crime to earn a living whether it be games pirating, drugs, stealing or many others. The problem can also lead to drug abuse as some use the profit they make to buy drugs which is going on to cause more trouble.
I know alot of people who copy a game here or there for their friend and this is equally as wrong but how can we catch these people and with the punishments we have will it stop them doing it again, I don't think so. I used to watch people doing it in school with amiga games and then PSX games, mostly children as the punishments for kids aren't as bad as for adults.
So how many of you out there actualy totally against it, and would like to try to do more to help stop it and are willing to help stop it? Someone who has never copied a CD onto tape or onto CD, who has never downloaded an MP3 for free, or copied a game for their own use or a friends. There won't be many.
The world is full of people like this and its unlikely that its going to change. Maybe we just have to accept that its a problem that will always be there as society isn't going to change.
So whats next? Can we stop this problem? Developers and console creators do their best to modify hardware and write programs to prevent this kind of thing happening but most of the time people find a way round this and if their method is cost effective ie they can make them for less and sell them for a profit, then they will use this idea. Maybe one day we will see technology that is fully pirate proof in which each copy in unique and can't be copied. Or maybe technology were if someone does try to copy it the disk destroys its data making the copy and the master useless.
Also a little more education is needed, but pointing out the true facts, why people do it? What its effects are in the long run. Also punishment for criminals should be made more serious, these people are like thiefs and should be punished for what they do.
Making piracy less cost effective for those who do it is the way to stop, people who do it aren't going to dip into their own pocket to allow others to buy cheap games from them.
Microsoft said they were going to use a special program that require a unique code to be entered when installing the software making it only useable on that one machine. I don't like that idea for games though as what happens if the console gets damaged and you need a new one or you want to take games round to your friends house?
For the buyers it also the same, there are some who think about how bad the problem is and would like to see it stopped. Then there are others who would rather buy games at £5 rather than pay £35 for a proper game. Maybe more needs to be done to make the proper copies more appealing to buyers? Nowadays more games are DVD based but soon DVD writers will be popular in home PC's so piracy may start to become a bigger problem for the newer consoles
I had a small idea on how to reduce piracy so I may as well tell you about it. What the console would need is a small keycard slot and with everygame you buy inside is a keycard (like a bank card) and a unique number, the number only works with that copy of the game. When you put the game and card in and enter the number you can then start playing, this would allow you to take it to friends houses and would help prevent piracy and keycards can be hard to copy. The only probelm could be cost as I don't know how much it would cost to make the cards but surely if this was to work the money saved would be able to pay for it.
Well Im sure I have bored you enough, those who read it to the end, thanks.
Thats a good post, I enjoyed reading it, a small problem with your big idea, by the way it's a good, if not practical idea.
There are lots of very clever people in this world and a keycard will not stop pirating, if games are pirated and consoles are chipped the keycards could easily be chipped or new keycards made. The bad point is that the games would cost a lot more because every game would need a new keycard, I would have though every console would have a keycard with your own I.D. number, to save a little money.
But games could be almost re-written to overcome this pirating stopper.
But it's a great idea, why not tell someone else about it before some thieving scumbag beats you to it. (I wouldn't think about doing it, of course, he he)
There are lots of very clever people in this world and a keycard will not stop pirating, if games are pirated and consoles are chipped the keycards could easily be chipped or new keycards made. The bad point is that the games would cost a lot more because every game would need a new keycard, I would have though every console would have a keycard with your own I.D. number, to save a little money.
But games could be almost re-written to overcome this pirating stopper.
But it's a great idea, why not tell someone else about it before some thieving scumbag beats you to it. (I wouldn't think about doing it, of course, he he)
Thats a good post, I enjoyed reading it, a small problem with your big idea, by the way it's a good, if not practical idea.
There are lots of very clever people in this world and a keycard will not stop pirating, if games are pirated and consoles are chipped the keycards could easily be chipped or new keycards made. The bad point is that the games would cost a lot more because every game would need a new keycard, I would have though every console would have a keycard with your own I.D. number, to save a little money.
But games could be almost re-written to overcome this pirating stopper.
But it's a great idea, why not tell someone else about it before some thieving scumbag beats you to it. (I wouldn't think about doing it, of course, he he)
There are lots of very clever people in this world and a keycard will not stop pirating, if games are pirated and consoles are chipped the keycards could easily be chipped or new keycards made. The bad point is that the games would cost a lot more because every game would need a new keycard, I would have though every console would have a keycard with your own I.D. number, to save a little money.
But games could be almost re-written to overcome this pirating stopper.
But it's a great idea, why not tell someone else about it before some thieving scumbag beats you to it. (I wouldn't think about doing it, of course, he he)
Arr, well mehearties... No that's been done too much now.
The biggest problem I see is the people who go out and cheat the companies out of legitimate sales by buying pirate copies of games in order to save money. If people really cared about the games industry they would know how damaging piracy could be and they would realise that the end result could be no games for anyone (though only if everyone used pirated copies). If people would only buy their cheap games from legitimate companies like SR rather than going to criminals and becoming criminals themselves.
I don't believe that crime can ever be the only way to live, if there was no crime then life would be much easier for everyone because the basic principal of crime is hurting others to benefit yourself. Part of the problem may be how shoddy the law institutions are today. Many judges seem to have no idea how the real world works, so how can they possibly make laws to govern something they don't understand? Lawyers are all highly paid and it is their job to try and make the law so difficult to understand that it takes years of training to be able to translate it. Really, the law does not have to be this complicated and the only reason it is complicated is so that it can try to put the lower classes in their place compared to the establishment. This is a very out of date idea but there are many people born into money who feel that they should be treated as better than those who were not and worryingly, some people born into a average wage household actually believe that certain people are worth more than them.
The first thing that has to be done to stop this horrific discrimination is the elimination of the royal family. No, I don't mean killing them I just mean taking their titles away and no longer funding them with public money until they are nothing but a normal (if still quite rich) family. The next thing would be the removal of the house of lords. Since the HOL does nothing for the country that couldn't be done by a normal elected body in the normal government there's no reason for it to exist. Then maybe we should get a communist government to try and balance things out, not one of those dictatorship ones but more of a mix between Democracy and Communism. We really do need a fairer world.
The next thing to look at would be the government agencies, the ones that are independent of the actual government and not elected by anyone. Things like social work and other agencies run by "civil servants" as it were. These agencies often seem to have a lot of incompetent workers who only get into these posts because they are part of the establishment and have the right connections. The only reason they escape blame is because they are related to the government and so people automatically blame the main government of the time rather than dealing with the actual problem area. This is made worse when political parties blame each other for the failings of civil servants, who don't even change from government to government. Local councils should be similarly looked at, because they suffer many of the same problems and avoid blame in the same way, though they are made up of elected councillors. If we could look at these things and remove any incompetent workers just as you would in any other form of employment then perhaps the country could be run better and more efficiently. The way funds are allocated is often ridiculous and the decisions are usually made by people who have no idea what the problems of an area are really like because they do not face them every day as the residents do. Reports are made by people who think they know best and since this is the only information the government has to work on they will often base their decisions on these reports that were done by so called experts.
Just recently, during the Tory leadership battle, Ken Clark said that he may be in favor of the Euro some time in the future, but he would "never agree with Labour". This shows one big problem which is the lack of cooperation. You would think that if a policy was the same for both parties they would just agree to do that, but from what the possible future Tory leader said it is clear that they would gladly make a radical change in policy just so that they could have a different opinion from the Labour Party. It's as if they are kids who are in a bad mood with each other so they refuse to agree on anything.
It just goes to show that with all these flaws in our country it's a miracle it runs at all. If we could eliminate these flaws it could run so much better for everyone.
Anyway, the main topic, piracy. As I said, piracy is a terrible crime and it hurts innocent consumers like us by taking funds away from developers who could put it to good use in the future of gaming. So I suggest that we all crackdown on piracy by reporting any people trying to sell pirated games. Perhaps then the world will be a slightly better place.
The biggest problem I see is the people who go out and cheat the companies out of legitimate sales by buying pirate copies of games in order to save money. If people really cared about the games industry they would know how damaging piracy could be and they would realise that the end result could be no games for anyone (though only if everyone used pirated copies). If people would only buy their cheap games from legitimate companies like SR rather than going to criminals and becoming criminals themselves.
I don't believe that crime can ever be the only way to live, if there was no crime then life would be much easier for everyone because the basic principal of crime is hurting others to benefit yourself. Part of the problem may be how shoddy the law institutions are today. Many judges seem to have no idea how the real world works, so how can they possibly make laws to govern something they don't understand? Lawyers are all highly paid and it is their job to try and make the law so difficult to understand that it takes years of training to be able to translate it. Really, the law does not have to be this complicated and the only reason it is complicated is so that it can try to put the lower classes in their place compared to the establishment. This is a very out of date idea but there are many people born into money who feel that they should be treated as better than those who were not and worryingly, some people born into a average wage household actually believe that certain people are worth more than them.
The first thing that has to be done to stop this horrific discrimination is the elimination of the royal family. No, I don't mean killing them I just mean taking their titles away and no longer funding them with public money until they are nothing but a normal (if still quite rich) family. The next thing would be the removal of the house of lords. Since the HOL does nothing for the country that couldn't be done by a normal elected body in the normal government there's no reason for it to exist. Then maybe we should get a communist government to try and balance things out, not one of those dictatorship ones but more of a mix between Democracy and Communism. We really do need a fairer world.
The next thing to look at would be the government agencies, the ones that are independent of the actual government and not elected by anyone. Things like social work and other agencies run by "civil servants" as it were. These agencies often seem to have a lot of incompetent workers who only get into these posts because they are part of the establishment and have the right connections. The only reason they escape blame is because they are related to the government and so people automatically blame the main government of the time rather than dealing with the actual problem area. This is made worse when political parties blame each other for the failings of civil servants, who don't even change from government to government. Local councils should be similarly looked at, because they suffer many of the same problems and avoid blame in the same way, though they are made up of elected councillors. If we could look at these things and remove any incompetent workers just as you would in any other form of employment then perhaps the country could be run better and more efficiently. The way funds are allocated is often ridiculous and the decisions are usually made by people who have no idea what the problems of an area are really like because they do not face them every day as the residents do. Reports are made by people who think they know best and since this is the only information the government has to work on they will often base their decisions on these reports that were done by so called experts.
Just recently, during the Tory leadership battle, Ken Clark said that he may be in favor of the Euro some time in the future, but he would "never agree with Labour". This shows one big problem which is the lack of cooperation. You would think that if a policy was the same for both parties they would just agree to do that, but from what the possible future Tory leader said it is clear that they would gladly make a radical change in policy just so that they could have a different opinion from the Labour Party. It's as if they are kids who are in a bad mood with each other so they refuse to agree on anything.
It just goes to show that with all these flaws in our country it's a miracle it runs at all. If we could eliminate these flaws it could run so much better for everyone.
Anyway, the main topic, piracy. As I said, piracy is a terrible crime and it hurts innocent consumers like us by taking funds away from developers who could put it to good use in the future of gaming. So I suggest that we all crackdown on piracy by reporting any people trying to sell pirated games. Perhaps then the world will be a slightly better place.
There's no reason why each copy of a game released by a publisher can't contain an individual serial number, as you get with applications at present for Windows software. Then, when you buy your game, you pop it in your console and register it with your choice of password so that no one else can use that number, kind of like a car licence plate.
Then your console checks the game serial number and makes sure that noone else is using it. If they are, you've got a pirated copy on your hands and you have to kick yourself for buying from a disreputable market trader or a car boot sale.
That way, if anyone else has a pirate copy, they can't use it, because the original has already been registered, because they don't have the password, and because the database would be able to keep track of multiple uses of the same serial number.
When it comes to selling your game, you just deregister it, and let the next user register it again with their password, but the trick is, you HAVE to deregister it first.
I'm sure the pirates could find a way around this one eventually, but it's an idea...
Then your console checks the game serial number and makes sure that noone else is using it. If they are, you've got a pirated copy on your hands and you have to kick yourself for buying from a disreputable market trader or a car boot sale.
That way, if anyone else has a pirate copy, they can't use it, because the original has already been registered, because they don't have the password, and because the database would be able to keep track of multiple uses of the same serial number.
When it comes to selling your game, you just deregister it, and let the next user register it again with their password, but the trick is, you HAVE to deregister it first.
I'm sure the pirates could find a way around this one eventually, but it's an idea...
Piracy is a big problem I agree but what exactly is piracy?
Would it be wrong for example if Mr X bought his music CDs from HMV for £15 each. He then copies them and sells the originals on E-bay to Mr Y for £10 each.
With the profit from his sales Mr X buys more CDs. Mr Y decides he likes the music he bought and goes to HMV to buy another album by the same artist.
Ok so this is a vicious circle but ultimately it is helping and supporting the music industry. This is not to far fetched so could happen and is easily applied to the gaming industry as well.
I am sure that the big companies could combat piracy but it would cost them a bit of money to do this and it would never be permenent. Once one Sony Executive works out a way of copy-proofing games, someone will get to work on a way to over-ride this.
I tend to think that piracy is not as big a problem as it is made out to be. The gaming industry is an industry, it operates to make profit. If piracy was cutting a sizeable peice out of that profit then the companies would no doubt start to combat it.
As it is, no major moves are made to stop piracy so I conclude that it is not really that damaging to the games industry.
Also where does piracy stop, if a major move were made against piracy where would it all end. That "unauthorised showing of this game/music/DVD/video is prohibited...etc" notice could come into effect and it could be made illegal to let your mate watch you playing a game unless he owned a copy.
Piracy is here and it always will be but it is not a great problem in my eyes.
Just like to say that I own no copied games in case my rather blase view on the subject of piracy has persuaded you otherwise. Cheers.
Would it be wrong for example if Mr X bought his music CDs from HMV for £15 each. He then copies them and sells the originals on E-bay to Mr Y for £10 each.
With the profit from his sales Mr X buys more CDs. Mr Y decides he likes the music he bought and goes to HMV to buy another album by the same artist.
Ok so this is a vicious circle but ultimately it is helping and supporting the music industry. This is not to far fetched so could happen and is easily applied to the gaming industry as well.
I am sure that the big companies could combat piracy but it would cost them a bit of money to do this and it would never be permenent. Once one Sony Executive works out a way of copy-proofing games, someone will get to work on a way to over-ride this.
I tend to think that piracy is not as big a problem as it is made out to be. The gaming industry is an industry, it operates to make profit. If piracy was cutting a sizeable peice out of that profit then the companies would no doubt start to combat it.
As it is, no major moves are made to stop piracy so I conclude that it is not really that damaging to the games industry.
Also where does piracy stop, if a major move were made against piracy where would it all end. That "unauthorised showing of this game/music/DVD/video is prohibited...etc" notice could come into effect and it could be made illegal to let your mate watch you playing a game unless he owned a copy.
Piracy is here and it always will be but it is not a great problem in my eyes.
Just like to say that I own no copied games in case my rather blase view on the subject of piracy has persuaded you otherwise. Cheers.
It's still a crime and it still takes the hard work of others and steals their profits that they earned. Some games take years to make (most even) so why should the developers spend all this time just to have some of their hard earned money taken from them by criminals who have done nothing to get their money. The problem is that piracy is a crime just like theft and it basically boils down to the same thing. Crime shouldn't pay, so why pay criminals?
jd99 wrote:
As it is, no major moves are made to
> stop piracy so I conclude that it is not really that damaging to the
> games industry.
==================================
From ELSPA.com:
"The industry in the UK in total turned over just under £1 billion pounds last year. You may think that's a lot of money... not compared to the amount that was lost. It is estimated that the industry lost in excess of £3 billion pounds to the pirates last year. If you use illegal software, then you contributed towards that three billion… large sums of that money could have quite easily (and probably has) been invested in the IRA, the Maffia, Triad gangs, money laundering rackets, prostitution rings… how do you feel about that?
The simple fact about piracy is that it is illegal and punishable by fines and jail sentences. No matter which way you look at counterfeiting it is nothing more than theft. Counterfeiters are only out for one thing, money - and because of this consumers who buy counterfeit games have no recourse under law for faulty goods.
By knowingly purchasing a counterfeit computer game you are:
Supporting an illegal industry
Giving criminals money to invest in other criminal activities
Putting at risk the livelihoods of everyone involved in the legitimate leisure software industry
Running the risk of children having access to unsuitable material
Depriving the Government of revenue gained from legal sales, that could be reinvested into other areas such as healthcare and education.
Are you still sure that piracy doesn't hurt anyone?"
==============================
Monthly Raid Reports from ELSPA.com: (First 3 days of August Only)
Game Raiders Computer Games Shop, Park Street, Weymouth. The investigations culminated with a search warrant being executed at the premises on December the 8th 2000, which uncovered 1000 counterfeit PlayStation discs and 200 Dreamcast titles, as well as a complete computer system, which had been used to make the illegal copies. All the software and hardware, with an equivalent retail value of £36,000.00p was seized and forfeited as a result of the court ruling.
Private Distributer, Stephen Baldwin.
The search uncovered three complete computer systems and a total of 600 counterfeit games CDs with an estimated retail value of £70,000.00p. All the goods were seized.
Baldwin, aged 41, appeared before Cardiff Crown Court on the 16th July 2001 charged with ten Trademark and Copyright offences, in regard to his possession of the copied software.
He was ordered to pay £2,500.00p in costs and was sentenced to a total of 15 months imprisonment, suspended for 2 years. All the goods were forfeited.
Internet Site run from a house in Launceston, Cornwall.
As a result of the joint investigations the operator of the Internet site has been tracked down, and a search warrant was executed on the morning of Thursday 19th June 2001, by Cornwall Trading Standards, accompanied by investgators from ELSPA and MCPS and an officer from Devon and Cornwall Constabulary.
The search of the house near Launceston, Cornwall, uncovered over 1000 compact discs, which are believed to contain, games, music, film and business software. Three complete computer systems, scanners and printers suspected to have been used to make the illegal copies were also found.
All the items were seized, and are now undergoing forensic examinations by industry experts, to verify their legality. Even at this initial stage of the investigation there are suggestions that the premises was being used as a base from which the illegal counterfeits were advertised on the internet and distributed, as well as made.
Should suspicions be confirmed, a male occupant of the house may face criminal prosecution for trademark offences, and the seized items may be forfeited.
Counterfeiting Ring in Solihull.
Four males have been detained on suspicion of selling illegal games software following an inspection of a car boot sale been held at Highgate Football Club, Highgate, Birmingham on the 22nd July 2001.
The inspection, executed by Solihull Trading Standards officers, accompanied by officers from West Midlands Police, uncovered the four male stall holders aged 15 years, 37 years, 30 years and 36 years, attempting to sell what appeared to be counterfeit games software on the site.
The 3 men from the Halesowen, Redditch and Solihull areas of the West Midlands, were arrested and their home addresses were searched. The juvenile schoolboy was cautioned and released, in view of his age.
The inspection of the site and the search of the 3 houses revealed a total of 400 counterfeit discs, which are believed to contain PlayStation, Dreamcast and Nintendo games Software, with a retail value of £13,400.00p. Also a computer system, which is believed to have been used to manufacture the copied material, was also uncovered. All the software and hardware was seized.
The men were granted police bail, and the seized goods will now undergo examinations by Trading Standards officers and ELSPA (European Leisure Software Publishers Association) Officials.
Should the suspicions as to the legality of the items be verified, then all three adult offenders, will be the subject of a report for Trademark and Copyright offences, which will be submitted by officers from Solihull Trading Standards service.
===========================
And that lot is just ELSPA raids, there's also F.A.C.T., I.D.S.A. and other copyright protection groups actively working with the police and trading standards authorities to crack down on piracy.
As it is, no major moves are made to
> stop piracy so I conclude that it is not really that damaging to the
> games industry.
==================================
From ELSPA.com:
"The industry in the UK in total turned over just under £1 billion pounds last year. You may think that's a lot of money... not compared to the amount that was lost. It is estimated that the industry lost in excess of £3 billion pounds to the pirates last year. If you use illegal software, then you contributed towards that three billion… large sums of that money could have quite easily (and probably has) been invested in the IRA, the Maffia, Triad gangs, money laundering rackets, prostitution rings… how do you feel about that?
The simple fact about piracy is that it is illegal and punishable by fines and jail sentences. No matter which way you look at counterfeiting it is nothing more than theft. Counterfeiters are only out for one thing, money - and because of this consumers who buy counterfeit games have no recourse under law for faulty goods.
By knowingly purchasing a counterfeit computer game you are:
Supporting an illegal industry
Giving criminals money to invest in other criminal activities
Putting at risk the livelihoods of everyone involved in the legitimate leisure software industry
Running the risk of children having access to unsuitable material
Depriving the Government of revenue gained from legal sales, that could be reinvested into other areas such as healthcare and education.
Are you still sure that piracy doesn't hurt anyone?"
==============================
Monthly Raid Reports from ELSPA.com: (First 3 days of August Only)
Game Raiders Computer Games Shop, Park Street, Weymouth. The investigations culminated with a search warrant being executed at the premises on December the 8th 2000, which uncovered 1000 counterfeit PlayStation discs and 200 Dreamcast titles, as well as a complete computer system, which had been used to make the illegal copies. All the software and hardware, with an equivalent retail value of £36,000.00p was seized and forfeited as a result of the court ruling.
Private Distributer, Stephen Baldwin.
The search uncovered three complete computer systems and a total of 600 counterfeit games CDs with an estimated retail value of £70,000.00p. All the goods were seized.
Baldwin, aged 41, appeared before Cardiff Crown Court on the 16th July 2001 charged with ten Trademark and Copyright offences, in regard to his possession of the copied software.
He was ordered to pay £2,500.00p in costs and was sentenced to a total of 15 months imprisonment, suspended for 2 years. All the goods were forfeited.
Internet Site run from a house in Launceston, Cornwall.
As a result of the joint investigations the operator of the Internet site has been tracked down, and a search warrant was executed on the morning of Thursday 19th June 2001, by Cornwall Trading Standards, accompanied by investgators from ELSPA and MCPS and an officer from Devon and Cornwall Constabulary.
The search of the house near Launceston, Cornwall, uncovered over 1000 compact discs, which are believed to contain, games, music, film and business software. Three complete computer systems, scanners and printers suspected to have been used to make the illegal copies were also found.
All the items were seized, and are now undergoing forensic examinations by industry experts, to verify their legality. Even at this initial stage of the investigation there are suggestions that the premises was being used as a base from which the illegal counterfeits were advertised on the internet and distributed, as well as made.
Should suspicions be confirmed, a male occupant of the house may face criminal prosecution for trademark offences, and the seized items may be forfeited.
Counterfeiting Ring in Solihull.
Four males have been detained on suspicion of selling illegal games software following an inspection of a car boot sale been held at Highgate Football Club, Highgate, Birmingham on the 22nd July 2001.
The inspection, executed by Solihull Trading Standards officers, accompanied by officers from West Midlands Police, uncovered the four male stall holders aged 15 years, 37 years, 30 years and 36 years, attempting to sell what appeared to be counterfeit games software on the site.
The 3 men from the Halesowen, Redditch and Solihull areas of the West Midlands, were arrested and their home addresses were searched. The juvenile schoolboy was cautioned and released, in view of his age.
The inspection of the site and the search of the 3 houses revealed a total of 400 counterfeit discs, which are believed to contain PlayStation, Dreamcast and Nintendo games Software, with a retail value of £13,400.00p. Also a computer system, which is believed to have been used to manufacture the copied material, was also uncovered. All the software and hardware was seized.
The men were granted police bail, and the seized goods will now undergo examinations by Trading Standards officers and ELSPA (European Leisure Software Publishers Association) Officials.
Should the suspicions as to the legality of the items be verified, then all three adult offenders, will be the subject of a report for Trademark and Copyright offences, which will be submitted by officers from Solihull Trading Standards service.
===========================
And that lot is just ELSPA raids, there's also F.A.C.T., I.D.S.A. and other copyright protection groups actively working with the police and trading standards authorities to crack down on piracy.
Page: