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Hey, I was thinking of something that I could post for the gameaday competition and i thought the most controvercial and interesting subject would be Piracy. This is very interesting, so dont be deterred by the length of this post. Here goes:
Just Plain Piracy
Some people just burn/download games to avoid buying them, but these people, I think, are a small part of the whole piracy pack. Most game ripping sites give the reccomendation that if you like the game, you should buy it. this seems to be an attitude quite a lot of people hold, and leads on to the next heading...
Try-Before-You-Buy
Definitely the best aspect of piracy (if there is one?), as it lets the user determine the quality of the game and whether or not it deserves the price it asks for.
All the people I know who have access to essentially everything will still buy a game if they deem it to be of a high enough standard, even though they may have completed it with a burnt copy. Baldurs gate 1&2, Tony hawk 2 and Hidden and Dangerous are all examples of this. Why pay for a game if you don't like it, or play it for an hour or two, and then stick it in a drawer, probably never to be used again. That would just be a waste of money, and a cause of frustration, especially if an over-hyped game turns out to be not what you expected (Black & White anyone).
Lending/borrowing games
Who here hasn't ever lent a game to a friend, or similarly, borrowed one? Probably not many people. We're all happy to borrow a game, and play it to see if we like it, or if the lendee is generous enough, keep it until we finish it. Do people call this piracy? Not really. Even though it states in most manuals that you shouldn't lend it out, nobody takes heed.
Is this piracy?
If you borrow a game and complete it, or get sick of it, and don't end up buying it, it "costs" the developer/manufacturer/retail-outlet the price of the game. But nobody complains that this is ruining the industry. Borrowing is a common practice, and is legal, and commercially available with...
Renting Games
Anyone can go down to the video store and rent a game. Usually, when you rent a game, you try to get the most out of it, and end up finishing it, or, once again, getting sick of it, and subsequently not purchasing it. It may cost you $15 at the most (depending on the outlet), which goes straight into the stores pocket, and not into the developers.
Sure, the video store may buy a few copies of the game (at wholesale price, no doubt), so a litle bit of money goes back, but perhaps over 100 people may play these three games, and not buy them.
Is this piracy?]
If 100 people don't end up buying a game because they derived enough enjoyment of it through rental, won't this cost the developer one hundred times the sales price?
Does this ruin the industry?
Is this affecting the quality of games?
Hell no!
Every video store, and a lot of dedicated games stores provide games for rent, and many even go to the extent of pay-and-play systems in the store.
And Everybody Rents.
And Everybody Plays.
But Nobody buys.
And nobody calls this piracy.
Mp3's and file sharing programs
While not really related to videogames, downloading an mp3 and not paying for it is still piracy, but EVERYONE does it.
Admit it, you have mp3's. People even have dedicated computers simply to play said mp3's.
And there are a plethora of legal programs that allow for the finding and downloading of music, not to mention other files. Even our beloved magazine has featured articles on which programs are the best to use (with a headline on the cover "Music for free" if I remember correctly).
Isn't this piracy?
But wouldn't this, in the same vein as videogame piracy, destroy the industry?
According to an article in atomic, no.
So why apply the degradation of computer games on piracy, when you're perfectly happy to download music, hence skipping fees for the label, the distributor, and the artist themselves?
The major demographic
Game, like (ugh) pop music, are designed for a target audience. This audience, the consumers, do just that. Consume. The majority of the time, the target audience will buy the game (or album) simply because they want it, and piracy does'nt really enter their thoughts. Or, alternately, the anti-piracy propghanda has taken affect, and people are too scared of the possible repercussions to do anythinng even remotely piracy related.
But there will always be this demographic who will always but their software (else why would thee games keep getting produced if no-one was buying them?). There are people who pay $1000+ for programs like office, or photoshop, and there are people who will buy games at the asking price, even though the price, to us, may seem unreasonable. This has nothing to do with piracy, but profits.
The Price of Software
The reason games cost so much is simply, if they didn't, the companies would lose profits. People have said that if games were droped to around $50, sales would improve. I think not.
Just because a game is cheaper, doesn't mean it will be worth buying. If I don't like a game, I wouldn't buy it whether it be $90 or $50. And the people who pirate would still pirate, regardless of the lower price.
Sales may improve, but not enough to justify the $40 price drop. Maybe a few more people would buy the game due to it's lower price, but in general, if a person really likes a game, they will purchase it, regardless of cost.
With programs like office, and other really expensive applications, as i have posted in an earlier thread, it was determined that software companies charge this much "Just because they can". Take Office. It has an increased price with every new version, but only a few minor revisions on the previous years copy. It seems entirely silly to pay this much for software, especially when a blank cd costs under $1, and other "no-frills" programs are available that do essentially the same thing, but a a greatly reduced cost.
A final word on Piracy
Piracy, as I mentioned before, has been around for as long as computer games have. I didn't own one single game for my commodore64, but I had a library of over 100. Everyone had a huge pirated collection of C64 games, simply because they were so easy to copy, and the materials were dirt cheap. All you needed was a blank disk, or a blank tape and access to a double-deck tape player.
But this was over 10 years ago.
And the gaming industry is still here, stronger than ever. Companies are still making games and software. And people are still buying games and software. I have always pirated games, and bought games, and borrowed games, and rented games, and the industry is still kicking on strong.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
Add anything you think I have missed, or you feel that I am grossly incorrect about.
Overall, my attitude towards piracy is:
If I have no intention of purchasing the product in the first place, the companies lose absolutely no money by me pirating it.
Thank You.
Just Plain Piracy
Some people just burn/download games to avoid buying them, but these people, I think, are a small part of the whole piracy pack. Most game ripping sites give the reccomendation that if you like the game, you should buy it. this seems to be an attitude quite a lot of people hold, and leads on to the next heading...
Try-Before-You-Buy
Definitely the best aspect of piracy (if there is one?), as it lets the user determine the quality of the game and whether or not it deserves the price it asks for.
All the people I know who have access to essentially everything will still buy a game if they deem it to be of a high enough standard, even though they may have completed it with a burnt copy. Baldurs gate 1&2, Tony hawk 2 and Hidden and Dangerous are all examples of this. Why pay for a game if you don't like it, or play it for an hour or two, and then stick it in a drawer, probably never to be used again. That would just be a waste of money, and a cause of frustration, especially if an over-hyped game turns out to be not what you expected (Black & White anyone).
Lending/borrowing games
Who here hasn't ever lent a game to a friend, or similarly, borrowed one? Probably not many people. We're all happy to borrow a game, and play it to see if we like it, or if the lendee is generous enough, keep it until we finish it. Do people call this piracy? Not really. Even though it states in most manuals that you shouldn't lend it out, nobody takes heed.
Is this piracy?
If you borrow a game and complete it, or get sick of it, and don't end up buying it, it "costs" the developer/manufacturer/retail-outlet the price of the game. But nobody complains that this is ruining the industry. Borrowing is a common practice, and is legal, and commercially available with...
Renting Games
Anyone can go down to the video store and rent a game. Usually, when you rent a game, you try to get the most out of it, and end up finishing it, or, once again, getting sick of it, and subsequently not purchasing it. It may cost you $15 at the most (depending on the outlet), which goes straight into the stores pocket, and not into the developers.
Sure, the video store may buy a few copies of the game (at wholesale price, no doubt), so a litle bit of money goes back, but perhaps over 100 people may play these three games, and not buy them.
Is this piracy?]
If 100 people don't end up buying a game because they derived enough enjoyment of it through rental, won't this cost the developer one hundred times the sales price?
Does this ruin the industry?
Is this affecting the quality of games?
Hell no!
Every video store, and a lot of dedicated games stores provide games for rent, and many even go to the extent of pay-and-play systems in the store.
And Everybody Rents.
And Everybody Plays.
But Nobody buys.
And nobody calls this piracy.
Mp3's and file sharing programs
While not really related to videogames, downloading an mp3 and not paying for it is still piracy, but EVERYONE does it.
Admit it, you have mp3's. People even have dedicated computers simply to play said mp3's.
And there are a plethora of legal programs that allow for the finding and downloading of music, not to mention other files. Even our beloved magazine has featured articles on which programs are the best to use (with a headline on the cover "Music for free" if I remember correctly).
Isn't this piracy?
But wouldn't this, in the same vein as videogame piracy, destroy the industry?
According to an article in atomic, no.
So why apply the degradation of computer games on piracy, when you're perfectly happy to download music, hence skipping fees for the label, the distributor, and the artist themselves?
The major demographic
Game, like (ugh) pop music, are designed for a target audience. This audience, the consumers, do just that. Consume. The majority of the time, the target audience will buy the game (or album) simply because they want it, and piracy does'nt really enter their thoughts. Or, alternately, the anti-piracy propghanda has taken affect, and people are too scared of the possible repercussions to do anythinng even remotely piracy related.
But there will always be this demographic who will always but their software (else why would thee games keep getting produced if no-one was buying them?). There are people who pay $1000+ for programs like office, or photoshop, and there are people who will buy games at the asking price, even though the price, to us, may seem unreasonable. This has nothing to do with piracy, but profits.
The Price of Software
The reason games cost so much is simply, if they didn't, the companies would lose profits. People have said that if games were droped to around $50, sales would improve. I think not.
Just because a game is cheaper, doesn't mean it will be worth buying. If I don't like a game, I wouldn't buy it whether it be $90 or $50. And the people who pirate would still pirate, regardless of the lower price.
Sales may improve, but not enough to justify the $40 price drop. Maybe a few more people would buy the game due to it's lower price, but in general, if a person really likes a game, they will purchase it, regardless of cost.
With programs like office, and other really expensive applications, as i have posted in an earlier thread, it was determined that software companies charge this much "Just because they can". Take Office. It has an increased price with every new version, but only a few minor revisions on the previous years copy. It seems entirely silly to pay this much for software, especially when a blank cd costs under $1, and other "no-frills" programs are available that do essentially the same thing, but a a greatly reduced cost.
A final word on Piracy
Piracy, as I mentioned before, has been around for as long as computer games have. I didn't own one single game for my commodore64, but I had a library of over 100. Everyone had a huge pirated collection of C64 games, simply because they were so easy to copy, and the materials were dirt cheap. All you needed was a blank disk, or a blank tape and access to a double-deck tape player.
But this was over 10 years ago.
And the gaming industry is still here, stronger than ever. Companies are still making games and software. And people are still buying games and software. I have always pirated games, and bought games, and borrowed games, and rented games, and the industry is still kicking on strong.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
Add anything you think I have missed, or you feel that I am grossly incorrect about.
Overall, my attitude towards piracy is:
If I have no intention of purchasing the product in the first place, the companies lose absolutely no money by me pirating it.
Thank You.
Nice post, but why did you write everything in $$?
Slaveunit wrote:
> I wouldnt be surprised to see game registering when everything goes on-line...
Although it's a tedious process!!!
> I wouldnt be surprised to see game registering when everything goes on-line...
Although it's a tedious process!!!
I'm hoping when the PS2 goes online, We'll be able to download old PSX games sraight to the HDD, hope so :-)
I think some time in the future all games will have to be downloaded straight to the console from the developers or some retail sites (like SR) this means that you would have to pay before you dowload it. Big problem here could be more "underground" sites which allow people to download them for free, so I guess each copy would need to be unique and have a way of only allowing it to be downloaded once and used only on one console .
I wouldnt be surprised to see game registering when everything goes on-line...
Another Piracy topic, well suppose I should post a reply.
Piracy, why do people do it.
Well it is an easy way to make a lot of money, the PSX and amiga are probably the most pirated consoles around. Games are dirt cheap to make (amiga = 30p, PSX= anything from 70p - £1.50) and can be sold for up to £15-£20. There are people who do this to earn extra cash and those who do it to earn a living. Remember most of those who do it aren't into gaming for the joy and fun of it that most of us are here for, they are here to make a pretty penny (are a lot of them). It doesn't bother them if a game isn't released or a developer goes bust, as long as there are other games that people will buy from them.
Which brings me to my next point. The people who buy them, now before I go on I must confess when I owned an amiga I used to buy copied games, I was young and didn't know anything at all about piracy. Everyone I knew did it and I just thought that's what you did, oh how I was wrong. The people who buy the games probably don't realise the damage that buying pirate copies of games can do, either that or they just chose to ignore what they are doing. But se if from the point of view of those that buy them. Why pay £35 for a game or even £300 for PC software when you can buy the EXACT same thing from a dodgy geezer for around £20. Who cares if a game gets canned due to this, with the money you save you can buy more games.
Does Piracy really harm the developers and console makers as much as we are lead to believe? I mean they already make huge profits (if they didn't then they wouldn't continue making games and consoles) so the money lost must be a small percentage of their profit, but then again they work hard to get it don't they?
Are we being ripped off with the cost of games? I think we are, they could be made cheaper if certain people who get a small percentage of the game(which probably aren't needed) didn't get any of it. But I guess at the end of the day it is unlikely that the price will change. But a lot of people who buy pirate games will probably buy games that they wouldn't buy at full price so are the developers really losing out?
A lot of things are done to the hardware side of consoles to attempt to prevent piracy, but in most cases people find a way round it. Console makers try very hard to prevent this problem but as we seen with the PSX it doesn't always work. Using games on cartridges helped for Nintendo, just isn't cost effective to copy them, but they can be copied. The newest games are on DVD's and Optical disks, both can be copied but whether it is cost effective for those who pirate software I'm not sure as I don't know much about the cost and equipment needed to do so.
We all go on about how piracy is wrong and something should be done, yet many of us will copy a CD onto tape or another CD, Download and MP3 from the net. All very similar to piracy as you are simply "stealing" from the original artist in the same way you are stealing from a developer.
So how can we stop it in the future, well if you are caught the first time selling them then all your equipment and games are taken by the police and you are issued a warning. Second time its likely you go to prison for a while. Problem is most of the time they have very little equipment (if any at the place they sell them) also no games (they will send a runner boy to get them from a different location) or they work from home and take them to the buyers house, making it very hard for the police to trace and catch.
I think the punishments for crimes like this should be increased, a bigger fine and longer jail sentence for a start.
More should and probably could be done with the hardware and software, which makes me think does it bother developers as much as we are lead to believe, I mean these people are very clever, surely they must be able to come up with a solution and a way of preventing the problem.
I have a few ideas, they aren't thought out fully but maybe with a lot of thought they could someday be more than an idea.
First have a card reader built in to the console, each game is then programmed to only boot up with card that is sold alongside the game in the box, each card would be unique and programmed only for that game. You also have to enter the PIN number for that card when you are loading the game. It wouldn't be cost effective to try copy the card and I'm not sure if you can actually copy the cards (much like a bank card) No doubt some people would find a way round this but its an idea.
More ways to make it less cost effective for those who do it. Maybe new storage devices should be used on the future consoles, something which is very hard to copy and also quite expensive to buy the equipment that copies them. Maybe at the start of each game have a better warning about piracy, telling about the danger and how people who do it are punished and how it affects developers. One of the big problems is that a lot of people aren't educated enough to fully understand the problems that piracy causes.
My views are simple, Piracy is wrong but I think that the developers make it sound worse than it is. More information should be available to gamers from the developers telling us exact figures on the amount lost and how they themselves are trying to prevent it. They should all work together to try prevent it more. Looks like a problem that will always be around.
Piracy, why do people do it.
Well it is an easy way to make a lot of money, the PSX and amiga are probably the most pirated consoles around. Games are dirt cheap to make (amiga = 30p, PSX= anything from 70p - £1.50) and can be sold for up to £15-£20. There are people who do this to earn extra cash and those who do it to earn a living. Remember most of those who do it aren't into gaming for the joy and fun of it that most of us are here for, they are here to make a pretty penny (are a lot of them). It doesn't bother them if a game isn't released or a developer goes bust, as long as there are other games that people will buy from them.
Which brings me to my next point. The people who buy them, now before I go on I must confess when I owned an amiga I used to buy copied games, I was young and didn't know anything at all about piracy. Everyone I knew did it and I just thought that's what you did, oh how I was wrong. The people who buy the games probably don't realise the damage that buying pirate copies of games can do, either that or they just chose to ignore what they are doing. But se if from the point of view of those that buy them. Why pay £35 for a game or even £300 for PC software when you can buy the EXACT same thing from a dodgy geezer for around £20. Who cares if a game gets canned due to this, with the money you save you can buy more games.
Does Piracy really harm the developers and console makers as much as we are lead to believe? I mean they already make huge profits (if they didn't then they wouldn't continue making games and consoles) so the money lost must be a small percentage of their profit, but then again they work hard to get it don't they?
Are we being ripped off with the cost of games? I think we are, they could be made cheaper if certain people who get a small percentage of the game(which probably aren't needed) didn't get any of it. But I guess at the end of the day it is unlikely that the price will change. But a lot of people who buy pirate games will probably buy games that they wouldn't buy at full price so are the developers really losing out?
A lot of things are done to the hardware side of consoles to attempt to prevent piracy, but in most cases people find a way round it. Console makers try very hard to prevent this problem but as we seen with the PSX it doesn't always work. Using games on cartridges helped for Nintendo, just isn't cost effective to copy them, but they can be copied. The newest games are on DVD's and Optical disks, both can be copied but whether it is cost effective for those who pirate software I'm not sure as I don't know much about the cost and equipment needed to do so.
We all go on about how piracy is wrong and something should be done, yet many of us will copy a CD onto tape or another CD, Download and MP3 from the net. All very similar to piracy as you are simply "stealing" from the original artist in the same way you are stealing from a developer.
So how can we stop it in the future, well if you are caught the first time selling them then all your equipment and games are taken by the police and you are issued a warning. Second time its likely you go to prison for a while. Problem is most of the time they have very little equipment (if any at the place they sell them) also no games (they will send a runner boy to get them from a different location) or they work from home and take them to the buyers house, making it very hard for the police to trace and catch.
I think the punishments for crimes like this should be increased, a bigger fine and longer jail sentence for a start.
More should and probably could be done with the hardware and software, which makes me think does it bother developers as much as we are lead to believe, I mean these people are very clever, surely they must be able to come up with a solution and a way of preventing the problem.
I have a few ideas, they aren't thought out fully but maybe with a lot of thought they could someday be more than an idea.
First have a card reader built in to the console, each game is then programmed to only boot up with card that is sold alongside the game in the box, each card would be unique and programmed only for that game. You also have to enter the PIN number for that card when you are loading the game. It wouldn't be cost effective to try copy the card and I'm not sure if you can actually copy the cards (much like a bank card) No doubt some people would find a way round this but its an idea.
More ways to make it less cost effective for those who do it. Maybe new storage devices should be used on the future consoles, something which is very hard to copy and also quite expensive to buy the equipment that copies them. Maybe at the start of each game have a better warning about piracy, telling about the danger and how people who do it are punished and how it affects developers. One of the big problems is that a lot of people aren't educated enough to fully understand the problems that piracy causes.
My views are simple, Piracy is wrong but I think that the developers make it sound worse than it is. More information should be available to gamers from the developers telling us exact figures on the amount lost and how they themselves are trying to prevent it. They should all work together to try prevent it more. Looks like a problem that will always be around.
good post, but we hear it every week :-)
Hey, I was thinking of something that I could post for the gameaday competition and i thought the most controvercial and interesting subject would be Piracy. This is very interesting, so dont be deterred by the length of this post. Here goes:
Just Plain Piracy
Some people just burn/download games to avoid buying them, but these people, I think, are a small part of the whole piracy pack. Most game ripping sites give the reccomendation that if you like the game, you should buy it. this seems to be an attitude quite a lot of people hold, and leads on to the next heading...
Try-Before-You-Buy
Definitely the best aspect of piracy (if there is one?), as it lets the user determine the quality of the game and whether or not it deserves the price it asks for.
All the people I know who have access to essentially everything will still buy a game if they deem it to be of a high enough standard, even though they may have completed it with a burnt copy. Baldurs gate 1&2, Tony hawk 2 and Hidden and Dangerous are all examples of this. Why pay for a game if you don't like it, or play it for an hour or two, and then stick it in a drawer, probably never to be used again. That would just be a waste of money, and a cause of frustration, especially if an over-hyped game turns out to be not what you expected (Black & White anyone).
Lending/borrowing games
Who here hasn't ever lent a game to a friend, or similarly, borrowed one? Probably not many people. We're all happy to borrow a game, and play it to see if we like it, or if the lendee is generous enough, keep it until we finish it. Do people call this piracy? Not really. Even though it states in most manuals that you shouldn't lend it out, nobody takes heed.
Is this piracy?
If you borrow a game and complete it, or get sick of it, and don't end up buying it, it "costs" the developer/manufacturer/retail-outlet the price of the game. But nobody complains that this is ruining the industry. Borrowing is a common practice, and is legal, and commercially available with...
Renting Games
Anyone can go down to the video store and rent a game. Usually, when you rent a game, you try to get the most out of it, and end up finishing it, or, once again, getting sick of it, and subsequently not purchasing it. It may cost you $15 at the most (depending on the outlet), which goes straight into the stores pocket, and not into the developers.
Sure, the video store may buy a few copies of the game (at wholesale price, no doubt), so a litle bit of money goes back, but perhaps over 100 people may play these three games, and not buy them.
Is this piracy?]
If 100 people don't end up buying a game because they derived enough enjoyment of it through rental, won't this cost the developer one hundred times the sales price?
Does this ruin the industry?
Is this affecting the quality of games?
Hell no!
Every video store, and a lot of dedicated games stores provide games for rent, and many even go to the extent of pay-and-play systems in the store.
And Everybody Rents.
And Everybody Plays.
But Nobody buys.
And nobody calls this piracy.
Mp3's and file sharing programs
While not really related to videogames, downloading an mp3 and not paying for it is still piracy, but EVERYONE does it.
Admit it, you have mp3's. People even have dedicated computers simply to play said mp3's.
And there are a plethora of legal programs that allow for the finding and downloading of music, not to mention other files. Even our beloved magazine has featured articles on which programs are the best to use (with a headline on the cover "Music for free" if I remember correctly).
Isn't this piracy?
But wouldn't this, in the same vein as videogame piracy, destroy the industry?
According to an article in atomic, no.
So why apply the degradation of computer games on piracy, when you're perfectly happy to download music, hence skipping fees for the label, the distributor, and the artist themselves?
The major demographic
Game, like (ugh) pop music, are designed for a target audience. This audience, the consumers, do just that. Consume. The majority of the time, the target audience will buy the game (or album) simply because they want it, and piracy does'nt really enter their thoughts. Or, alternately, the anti-piracy propghanda has taken affect, and people are too scared of the possible repercussions to do anythinng even remotely piracy related.
But there will always be this demographic who will always but their software (else why would thee games keep getting produced if no-one was buying them?). There are people who pay $1000+ for programs like office, or photoshop, and there are people who will buy games at the asking price, even though the price, to us, may seem unreasonable. This has nothing to do with piracy, but profits.
The Price of Software
The reason games cost so much is simply, if they didn't, the companies would lose profits. People have said that if games were droped to around $50, sales would improve. I think not.
Just because a game is cheaper, doesn't mean it will be worth buying. If I don't like a game, I wouldn't buy it whether it be $90 or $50. And the people who pirate would still pirate, regardless of the lower price.
Sales may improve, but not enough to justify the $40 price drop. Maybe a few more people would buy the game due to it's lower price, but in general, if a person really likes a game, they will purchase it, regardless of cost.
With programs like office, and other really expensive applications, as i have posted in an earlier thread, it was determined that software companies charge this much "Just because they can". Take Office. It has an increased price with every new version, but only a few minor revisions on the previous years copy. It seems entirely silly to pay this much for software, especially when a blank cd costs under $1, and other "no-frills" programs are available that do essentially the same thing, but a a greatly reduced cost.
A final word on Piracy
Piracy, as I mentioned before, has been around for as long as computer games have. I didn't own one single game for my commodore64, but I had a library of over 100. Everyone had a huge pirated collection of C64 games, simply because they were so easy to copy, and the materials were dirt cheap. All you needed was a blank disk, or a blank tape and access to a double-deck tape player.
But this was over 10 years ago.
And the gaming industry is still here, stronger than ever. Companies are still making games and software. And people are still buying games and software. I have always pirated games, and bought games, and borrowed games, and rented games, and the industry is still kicking on strong.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
Add anything you think I have missed, or you feel that I am grossly incorrect about.
Overall, my attitude towards piracy is:
If I have no intention of purchasing the product in the first place, the companies lose absolutely no money by me pirating it.
Thank You.
Just Plain Piracy
Some people just burn/download games to avoid buying them, but these people, I think, are a small part of the whole piracy pack. Most game ripping sites give the reccomendation that if you like the game, you should buy it. this seems to be an attitude quite a lot of people hold, and leads on to the next heading...
Try-Before-You-Buy
Definitely the best aspect of piracy (if there is one?), as it lets the user determine the quality of the game and whether or not it deserves the price it asks for.
All the people I know who have access to essentially everything will still buy a game if they deem it to be of a high enough standard, even though they may have completed it with a burnt copy. Baldurs gate 1&2, Tony hawk 2 and Hidden and Dangerous are all examples of this. Why pay for a game if you don't like it, or play it for an hour or two, and then stick it in a drawer, probably never to be used again. That would just be a waste of money, and a cause of frustration, especially if an over-hyped game turns out to be not what you expected (Black & White anyone).
Lending/borrowing games
Who here hasn't ever lent a game to a friend, or similarly, borrowed one? Probably not many people. We're all happy to borrow a game, and play it to see if we like it, or if the lendee is generous enough, keep it until we finish it. Do people call this piracy? Not really. Even though it states in most manuals that you shouldn't lend it out, nobody takes heed.
Is this piracy?
If you borrow a game and complete it, or get sick of it, and don't end up buying it, it "costs" the developer/manufacturer/retail-outlet the price of the game. But nobody complains that this is ruining the industry. Borrowing is a common practice, and is legal, and commercially available with...
Renting Games
Anyone can go down to the video store and rent a game. Usually, when you rent a game, you try to get the most out of it, and end up finishing it, or, once again, getting sick of it, and subsequently not purchasing it. It may cost you $15 at the most (depending on the outlet), which goes straight into the stores pocket, and not into the developers.
Sure, the video store may buy a few copies of the game (at wholesale price, no doubt), so a litle bit of money goes back, but perhaps over 100 people may play these three games, and not buy them.
Is this piracy?]
If 100 people don't end up buying a game because they derived enough enjoyment of it through rental, won't this cost the developer one hundred times the sales price?
Does this ruin the industry?
Is this affecting the quality of games?
Hell no!
Every video store, and a lot of dedicated games stores provide games for rent, and many even go to the extent of pay-and-play systems in the store.
And Everybody Rents.
And Everybody Plays.
But Nobody buys.
And nobody calls this piracy.
Mp3's and file sharing programs
While not really related to videogames, downloading an mp3 and not paying for it is still piracy, but EVERYONE does it.
Admit it, you have mp3's. People even have dedicated computers simply to play said mp3's.
And there are a plethora of legal programs that allow for the finding and downloading of music, not to mention other files. Even our beloved magazine has featured articles on which programs are the best to use (with a headline on the cover "Music for free" if I remember correctly).
Isn't this piracy?
But wouldn't this, in the same vein as videogame piracy, destroy the industry?
According to an article in atomic, no.
So why apply the degradation of computer games on piracy, when you're perfectly happy to download music, hence skipping fees for the label, the distributor, and the artist themselves?
The major demographic
Game, like (ugh) pop music, are designed for a target audience. This audience, the consumers, do just that. Consume. The majority of the time, the target audience will buy the game (or album) simply because they want it, and piracy does'nt really enter their thoughts. Or, alternately, the anti-piracy propghanda has taken affect, and people are too scared of the possible repercussions to do anythinng even remotely piracy related.
But there will always be this demographic who will always but their software (else why would thee games keep getting produced if no-one was buying them?). There are people who pay $1000+ for programs like office, or photoshop, and there are people who will buy games at the asking price, even though the price, to us, may seem unreasonable. This has nothing to do with piracy, but profits.
The Price of Software
The reason games cost so much is simply, if they didn't, the companies would lose profits. People have said that if games were droped to around $50, sales would improve. I think not.
Just because a game is cheaper, doesn't mean it will be worth buying. If I don't like a game, I wouldn't buy it whether it be $90 or $50. And the people who pirate would still pirate, regardless of the lower price.
Sales may improve, but not enough to justify the $40 price drop. Maybe a few more people would buy the game due to it's lower price, but in general, if a person really likes a game, they will purchase it, regardless of cost.
With programs like office, and other really expensive applications, as i have posted in an earlier thread, it was determined that software companies charge this much "Just because they can". Take Office. It has an increased price with every new version, but only a few minor revisions on the previous years copy. It seems entirely silly to pay this much for software, especially when a blank cd costs under $1, and other "no-frills" programs are available that do essentially the same thing, but a a greatly reduced cost.
A final word on Piracy
Piracy, as I mentioned before, has been around for as long as computer games have. I didn't own one single game for my commodore64, but I had a library of over 100. Everyone had a huge pirated collection of C64 games, simply because they were so easy to copy, and the materials were dirt cheap. All you needed was a blank disk, or a blank tape and access to a double-deck tape player.
But this was over 10 years ago.
And the gaming industry is still here, stronger than ever. Companies are still making games and software. And people are still buying games and software. I have always pirated games, and bought games, and borrowed games, and rented games, and the industry is still kicking on strong.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
Add anything you think I have missed, or you feel that I am grossly incorrect about.
Overall, my attitude towards piracy is:
If I have no intention of purchasing the product in the first place, the companies lose absolutely no money by me pirating it.
Thank You.