Buying Used and Pirating...

Originally Posted by Mom Bomb

What's more annoying is when gamers take a sanctimonious stance on draconian DRM because "IT'S REALLY HARD TO USE AND IT BREAKS THE GAME AND MIGHT BREAK MY COMPUTER!!!" Reddit is full of links where the guy just goes "I was all ready to play <insert popular game here> and then I saw the SecuROM logo, so I turned the game off." What he forgets to mention is that SecuROM turned the game off for him, because he'd pirated it.

Do not go around the Internet, you dumbasses, prancing around and flouting law in open view of EVERYONE and then complain when they start locking down the games really tight to keep you from stealing them. You idiots ruined it for the rest of us, don't try to act like you're not responsible. And especially don't try to flip the issue on them by claiming "DRM causes people to pirate games" because that's a load of bullshit.

Granted, SecuROM is kind of a bad example to bring up as it has had issues in the past, but still. People complaining about install limits are also kind of annoying. They give you 5 installs, you whiny bastards. If you're having to reinstall your OS more than 4 times in the short time you're playing the game du jour, you're either a hobbyist who should fucking know better and install on a partition that doesn't go anywhere or you're really pissed that you can't just install it on every friends' computer as if this were 1992. And if you actually own 5 computers that you'd like to play it on, and really need to install it on all of them, then can I borrow a few hundred thousand dollars, please?

I wouldn't mind copying my DVDs onto my hard drive for convenience, but I can't, because "I'm not allowed". Is it alright lending a game to a buddy to play? How about borrowing books from a library rather than buying them? Is it alright if I record a song off the radio to listen to? How about copying something off T.V. to watch later? How about buying a game at a garage sale? Or a book? Or a CD? Buying a car used privately?

There are so many arguements against DRM and the anti-consumer piracy/copyright laws that are currently in place that it's not even funny. It'd be nice if our laws weren't decided by the same people who stand to make the most money from them. DRM only hurts legitimate users, and is a drain on resources that could be otherwise spent upon making more or better games or actually enriching the hobby in some way.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Mom Bomb

It's called copyright. You're allowed to copy DVDs all you want but the second you use a program to destroy copyright protection, you're on the wrong side of the law. This has been on the books for years. Whether or not the DMCA trumps fair use is still up in the air, but until a court rules in the other direction, then you're stuck, and unless you're a lawyer no amount of bitching's going to change anything.

If you wish to know why this is wrong instead of just sucking it up and taking it, look up someone named Michael Geist and do a little research on how copyright has changed from its original intent to what it is now (and what the RIAA and other entertainment moguls wish for it to be). Just because the law says one thing right now, doesn't mean it's right, especially considering how the world, technology and information sharing has changed with the advent of the internet. If it's true and laws can't be changed based on being outdatedness or wrongness, maybe we should go back to having slavery.

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Yes, yes (and how is this an applicable example to what we're talking about in any way), yes (as long as it's for your own use, under the Fair Use Doctrine), yes (again, private use only), and the last four are yes because you're buying something owned by someone else. What's your point?

Can I lend a game by bit-torrenting it to him while I'm in Africa and he's in Brazil? How is this different from mailing him the disk, or a copy of the disk if I want to protect the original copy?

Borrowing a book from the library means that I'm preventing a copy of that book being sold over the counter and the author making hard earned coin. I'd say that's pretty applicable.

What's fair use? Would sharing calling a buddy over to listen to a song you heard be fair use? How about giving him a "mixed tape" of cool songs? Maybe playing it over the ghetto blaster while you work out in the gym? Or playing it on the street corner while you play hockey?

Would private use be calling all of the buddies over and watching the big game a day later? Or how about taping a season of Friends for the girls? And how is that any different than downloading those same shows off the web?

All of these points "prevent the legitimate maker from getting money from future sales". And all of them have the same arguments going against them as downloading do, except for the "physicalness" of the item in question. Considering companies are making it their business to sell "fake" objects (see Steam, eBooks), I'd say it's a pretty important thing to think about.

How is having a picture of the Mona Lisa any different than owning the real thing? Maybe anyone with a copy of the Mona Lisa on their computer should pay royalties to the Louvre...

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I'd love to hear them.

Beyond reiterating everything that has been said in this thread (and elsewhere on the internet) DRM does not stop pirates in any, way, shape or form. Pirates get to play the same games as you, but without the hassle. Considering DRM and Copyright keeps me from doing to electronic information the same things that I can do to anything I own physically, it is anti-consumer.

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Because congresspeople are also recording artists/game developers/movie directors.

Because no one has received money for doing what the rich people would like...

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Which would you rather see, a company spending time making sure people actually have to buy their game, or a company spend all of their time making the game amazing only to see 90% of the people who play it pirate it because reddit users people online would rather download it for free? It's hard to make money to pay people to make great games if no one buys the game.

Piracy does not equal a lost sale. Everyone who pirates a game, song, T.V. show, movie, picture, et al. would not necessarily have purchased it in the first place. People get stuff because it's free, no other reason. I have lots of stuff in my house right now that I have taken because it was just going to be thrown out. Lots I haven't got around to using. And it doesn't mean that I would have gone out of my way to buy any of those items.

If you make a quality product, and continue to not only support your product, but also your fans, your product will sell. Considering this industry is geared towards day one sales however, no one is looking to the future with their games. Maybe one day World of Goo will make a bazillion dollars. Who knows, because only the money they make right now matters. Right?

Removing the trust from your audience drives more people away, towards piracy does however ruin business. Give people back their convenience and stop milking them for everything they can will instill more trust (albeit slowly) back into the industry.

There's nowhere I can't reach.