Ubisoft claims 95% of their PC games played are pirated copies

[Iormlund]

You think West European kiddie punks pirate more than North American kiddie punks?

Yes I do.  I believe they're smarter.

My friends think I'm nuts when I tell them I actually pay for the games I play. And we're not kids anymore.

[Razgovory]

Well, you aren't.  If they take stuff without paying they really aren't adults.

[JonasSalk]

Is small-scale pirating even prosecuted in America?

[Martinus]

I suspect a lot of this is caused by the fact that most game developers still use a retarded sale model, the way music producers do. There is simply so much crap out there and while you can very well say that a good game will give you your $50 worth of entertainment, a shitty one won't give you even $5 of it - and since most reviewers are sucking at the industry's teat, previews and reviews are not really a good way to decide if a game is going to be crappy or not.

I don't pirate games because these days I usually play only one-two new titles every few months and I am not short on cash, but main game consuming demographics is the opposite on both counts.

If the industry moved to trial purchase model for example, where you can enjoy a full game for a limited time and then decide if you want to buy it, I suspect the instances of pirating would go down a lot - but then the industry would lose on shitty games too, as noone would be suckered into buying them, so they don't want to do it.

[Martinus]

And before someone says "well, you can pirate the games to try them, and then buy the ones you like", well it's not that simple as pirating creates a vicious pattern for the user.

If I go and buy ten games at full price and 9 of them turn out shitty, I will feel cheated even if the 10th one is awesome. Sure, caveat emptor and all that, but from a moral standpoint, I see this as a swindle that is as morally reprehensible on the producer's part as pirating 10 games is on the user's part.

So after an experience like this, the user will start to pirate games. Which will create a pathological pattern of games being available for "free", so then he won't go back and purchase the one game he actually liked - because that's how human mind operates.

If, on the other hand, he could legally trial-test all 10 games for free (and play 9 of them for the same, short amount of time, it would normally take him to play the pirated copies before he realizes they are shitty and deletes them from his hard drive), this would in my opinion create a virtuous pattern where he would be willing to pay for the one game he liked - because there would be no impression of being swindled on the user's part so he would be willing not to swindle the provider.

[Josquius]

Define played.
I'd imagine a hell of a lot of people who would never have bought the game anyway pirated it, played it a little, found it crap, and deleted it.
It always makes me cringe a little when people make the connection that something pirated means a lost sale.

[Warspite]

If I go and buy ten games at full price and 9 of them turn out shitty, I will feel cheated even if the 10th one is awesome. Sure, caveat emptor and all that, but from a moral standpoint, I see this as a swindle that is as morally reprehensible on the producer's part as pirating 10 games is on the user's part.

So basically, what you are saying is that developers need to develop Martinus utility functions in order to determine which games you will not feel morally obligated to steal?

[Razgovory]

Define played.
I'd imagine a hell of a lot of people who would never have bought the game anyway pirated it, played it a little, found it crap, and deleted it.
It always makes me cringe a little when people make the connection that something pirated means a lost sale.

It always makes me cringe when people try to hand wave their criminal acts as benign.

[Barrister]

Define played.
I'd imagine a hell of a lot of people who would never have bought the game anyway pirated it, played it a little, found it crap, and deleted it.
It always makes me cringe a little when people make the connection that something pirated means a lost sale.

You know what - when someone steals a package of meat off the shelf of the supermarket, the store doesn't consider it a "lost sale".

But they do fucking consider it theft.

[CountDeMoney]

Cant reason with them, BB.  Thievery is in their nature.

[Grey Fox]

Information wants to be free. IP is such a bullshit concept.

[CountDeMoney]

Information wants to be free. IP is such a bullshit concept.

Don't be such a Chinese bitch boy.

[Razgovory]

Information wants to be free. IP is such a bullshit concept.

Seems like a valid concept to me.  It's a way people get paid for their work.

[Iormlund]

You know what - when someone steals a package of meat off the shelf of the supermarket, the store doesn't consider it a "lost sale".

But they do fucking consider it theft.

That's because they can't sell the meat package to anyone else.

While I agree IP must be protected -- hell my livelihood depends on it -- reaching the conclusion that a download means a lost sale is completely absurd.

[The Brain]

Information wants to be free. IP is such a bullshit concept.

What is your main problem with patents?