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You may see this topic as slightly cynical, but I assure you it's not. Let's think about it...
Why does piracy happen?
The answer is that all you get for your $40 when you buy a game is a load of 0's and 1's printed on a CD. That's all you get. You don't get satisfactory customer service after sales, or even free internet updates... oh no, you have to buy an update!
But, even more annoyingly is that these 1's and 0's are too often rubbish. Even felt you have been cheated when you buy a game? Well that's the feeling that leads to piracy.
The industry can only stop this by making sure that a bigger proportion off games released are of top quality. Then I'd be willing to spend £40 on them every time. As it stands, for every Gran Turismo there is a Sega GT, and for every Final Fantasy there is an Evolution.
In addition to this, maybe games should be cut in price. This can be acheived by abolishing all territorial lock outs, and developing games with multi-language features from the start. That way games are released more cheaply at one universal price across the world. Only problem is that this may allow Sony to control the market a little less. But if the choice is between control and profits, even Sony would choose profits! It's ecconomics... Stoopid!
SonicRav
Why does piracy happen?
The answer is that all you get for your $40 when you buy a game is a load of 0's and 1's printed on a CD. That's all you get. You don't get satisfactory customer service after sales, or even free internet updates... oh no, you have to buy an update!
But, even more annoyingly is that these 1's and 0's are too often rubbish. Even felt you have been cheated when you buy a game? Well that's the feeling that leads to piracy.
The industry can only stop this by making sure that a bigger proportion off games released are of top quality. Then I'd be willing to spend £40 on them every time. As it stands, for every Gran Turismo there is a Sega GT, and for every Final Fantasy there is an Evolution.
In addition to this, maybe games should be cut in price. This can be acheived by abolishing all territorial lock outs, and developing games with multi-language features from the start. That way games are released more cheaply at one universal price across the world. Only problem is that this may allow Sony to control the market a little less. But if the choice is between control and profits, even Sony would choose profits! It's ecconomics... Stoopid!
SonicRav
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Baz.....calm down
Sorry about that! No intention to alienate myself. I just felt I had to show the rough side of the coin, although I agree with the points you made but took exception to -
'Piracy is bad. It should always be discouraged by any means at your disposal.'
I don't think is is good or bad, rather much of a nothingness.
I got into a serious rant there though :)
'Piracy is bad. It should always be discouraged by any means at your disposal.'
I don't think is is good or bad, rather much of a nothingness.
I got into a serious rant there though :)
*gives up and walks away into the sunset*
One more thing.... It's illegal to prevent people from making backups of their software. The industry is breaking the law by putting in copy protection. They just claim there are 'bugs' which prevent the copying software from working.
A scratched or broken cd is useless, and I for one would like to be able to backup my games if a slight accident could render it useless.
A scratched or broken cd is useless, and I for one would like to be able to backup my games if a slight accident could render it useless.
Also..!!! You may say that it's piracy that drives up the price of games, but most piracy happens in areas like Thailand, where the games happen to cost a pittence (compared to here)! In which case we are being victimised for other peoples actions! Another reason to be slightly miffed at the industry!
My view on piracy, for what it's worth, is this (Must stress that I have no copies myself) !Rant Alert!:
I would never aquire a copied version of Final Fantasy or Grand Tourismo, but would happily play cheap copies of cack or substandard games if i could be bothered. It's not likely that I would ever BUY a game of lower quality, so by owning a copy of it I would not be harming the games industry. Can anyone argue against this??
Similarly, kids who don't earn any money arn't going to be buying the originals - so how are they harming the industry?
What I'm trying to say is that there are some games I would not be satisfied with playing if they were just copies. I would need to own the original.
What differentiates the games I would buy, and the games I may have as copies, is several quality aspects.
I like the artwork on the sleeves and in the manual - especially on FF games. Something to read whilst on the bog etc.
I OWN the ORIGINAL game - something that may seem trivial, but actually feels good IF THE GAME IS GOOD. You get to enjoy the process of ordering it, waiting for it to arrive and opening it.. or going to the shops and selecting the game you want.
Does anyone else feel the same way about games??? It's my belief that everyone feels this way, (unless I'm unique). In which case what's the big deal about piracy?
You may see your mate with a copy of the latest version of some imported beat'em up, but that's a seperate issue to do with availability. If it's not available to buy in this country then who's fault is it that the games company is loosing R&D funds? It's the publishers for treating Europeans like second rate consumers!!
I would never grass up a school kid who gets 5 quid pocket money a week and spends that on a copied game. It would take a couple of months to afford the retail price, and the fact that Americans and Japanese gamers pay just a few quid more for the originals is also another issue!
A good quality game would warrant a purchase because you'd be proud to own the whole package. Some of the crap out there would make me embaressed to own a copied version of it.
I've just bought Final Fantasy Anthology on import for £60. I love FFVI and can't wait to play it with extra FMV, and I was forced to get my PS chipped to play these brilliant games - Another issue, but all related to piracy.
I would never aquire a copied version of Final Fantasy or Grand Tourismo, but would happily play cheap copies of cack or substandard games if i could be bothered. It's not likely that I would ever BUY a game of lower quality, so by owning a copy of it I would not be harming the games industry. Can anyone argue against this??
Similarly, kids who don't earn any money arn't going to be buying the originals - so how are they harming the industry?
What I'm trying to say is that there are some games I would not be satisfied with playing if they were just copies. I would need to own the original.
What differentiates the games I would buy, and the games I may have as copies, is several quality aspects.
I like the artwork on the sleeves and in the manual - especially on FF games. Something to read whilst on the bog etc.
I OWN the ORIGINAL game - something that may seem trivial, but actually feels good IF THE GAME IS GOOD. You get to enjoy the process of ordering it, waiting for it to arrive and opening it.. or going to the shops and selecting the game you want.
Does anyone else feel the same way about games??? It's my belief that everyone feels this way, (unless I'm unique). In which case what's the big deal about piracy?
You may see your mate with a copy of the latest version of some imported beat'em up, but that's a seperate issue to do with availability. If it's not available to buy in this country then who's fault is it that the games company is loosing R&D funds? It's the publishers for treating Europeans like second rate consumers!!
I would never grass up a school kid who gets 5 quid pocket money a week and spends that on a copied game. It would take a couple of months to afford the retail price, and the fact that Americans and Japanese gamers pay just a few quid more for the originals is also another issue!
A good quality game would warrant a purchase because you'd be proud to own the whole package. Some of the crap out there would make me embaressed to own a copied version of it.
I've just bought Final Fantasy Anthology on import for £60. I love FFVI and can't wait to play it with extra FMV, and I was forced to get my PS chipped to play these brilliant games - Another issue, but all related to piracy.
In reply to some of sonic rav's comments I aggree a universal release date would help alot. As would removing the territorial lockout.
The reasons imo being that if the territorial lockout is done away with then there is very little justification for the removal of region/copy protection via chipping.
The usual excuse for chipping is 'I can play import games'.
Even with universal release dates we would still hear a lot of 'I can play import games that run at full speed without borders' as the justification for chipping.
Now if this were possible without chipping then the only escuse would be 'i want to do back ups to keep my original safe.' Now i'm sure some people have accidentaly damaged originals to the point that they won't play. But there can't be that many, can there? And if the game producers offered a low cost 'damaged for new' disk exchange policy then even the validity of this excuse might disappear.
Anyone agree or disagree?
The reasons imo being that if the territorial lockout is done away with then there is very little justification for the removal of region/copy protection via chipping.
The usual excuse for chipping is 'I can play import games'.
Even with universal release dates we would still hear a lot of 'I can play import games that run at full speed without borders' as the justification for chipping.
Now if this were possible without chipping then the only escuse would be 'i want to do back ups to keep my original safe.' Now i'm sure some people have accidentaly damaged originals to the point that they won't play. But there can't be that many, can there? And if the game producers offered a low cost 'damaged for new' disk exchange policy then even the validity of this excuse might disappear.
Anyone agree or disagree?
Games are released at the prices they are released at to make a profit. This profit then goes into various areas, the most important of which are games development, research, new technology and new equipment.
The 'cost' of the game is divided up into royalites (musicians have to be paid), wages, production, design, programming and all the other departments and skills that are needed to product the games in the first place.
Piracy exists not because some of the games are bad, but because a minority of people decide to make a living off other peoples backs. These criminal parasites don't care that they are acting detrimentally to the future of gaming, they only want to line their own pockets. As piracy cuts deeper and deeper into the revenues generated by games sales, the cost to the majority of end users who by at RRP has to go up to counteract this, thereby resulting at higher priced lower quality games.
This is bad for everyone. Developers go bust, existing margins are cut to distributors and retail outlets, profits are lessened, and everybody starts to feel the pinch.
If you are offered a £40 game for a tenner, then yes it is very tempting. But remember, a huge amount, sometimes years of work by hundreds of people, has gone into putting all those 0's and 1's onto that disc or cartridge, and you are denying those people and manhours their fair and just reward.
Piracy is bad. It should always be discouraged by any means at your disposal.
The 'cost' of the game is divided up into royalites (musicians have to be paid), wages, production, design, programming and all the other departments and skills that are needed to product the games in the first place.
Piracy exists not because some of the games are bad, but because a minority of people decide to make a living off other peoples backs. These criminal parasites don't care that they are acting detrimentally to the future of gaming, they only want to line their own pockets. As piracy cuts deeper and deeper into the revenues generated by games sales, the cost to the majority of end users who by at RRP has to go up to counteract this, thereby resulting at higher priced lower quality games.
This is bad for everyone. Developers go bust, existing margins are cut to distributors and retail outlets, profits are lessened, and everybody starts to feel the pinch.
If you are offered a £40 game for a tenner, then yes it is very tempting. But remember, a huge amount, sometimes years of work by hundreds of people, has gone into putting all those 0's and 1's onto that disc or cartridge, and you are denying those people and manhours their fair and just reward.
Piracy is bad. It should always be discouraged by any means at your disposal.
Your on a recon mission?
I recon most low level pirates (who just do it for themslef and not profit), do it to avoid buying over-priced, poor quality games.
SonicRav
SonicRav
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