Is pirating really that bad ?!?

[Zweihander]

Also note: (yet again) Import games-- and portable games, for that matter-- can not be rented. anywhere.

and for the 3rd time this page, there's always the option to buy it, then sell it if you don't want it. Seems to have worked fine for the last forever. And if it's an import like Under Defeat, you'll probably even make a profit.

Unless a profit is guaranteed if I re-sold an unwanted game, I wouldn't want to spend the money on potential rubbish. (not directed at Under Defeat; perhaps directed at Chaos Field, which was a fun CD-R to microwave.)

If you haven't noticed, the only reason I post in this thread anymore is, well.... You anti-piracy shmucks are rather amusing. ^_^

[FatCobra]

Is emulation of old games really hurting anyone? Some say it's stealing, some say it's copyright infringement. I'd say, it's just a f***** file on a damn computer. You can't rent SNES games anymore, and sure as hell can't rent PCB's. Plus, unless you go online and get price gouged by Ebay, there's really no way to score most of those old games.

Hell, you can't even rent GBA games, and I don't feel like wasting $30 if I am remotely interested in the game, so it be worth sifting through the porn and popups to insure that I don't buy a stinker.

Emulation is good because you can try before you buy. Don't give me that "It's just like try before you buy a car by stealing it!" There's a huge difference in downloading a ROM file and stealing a car from the dealership. Sure, there's that "delete after 24 hours" thing, but who really pays attention to that?

Plus, emulation isn't as good as owning the actual thing. Piracy may get you free games and music, but trust me, it's really nice to own the actual discs.

Metallica, on the other hand, deserves to have their music stolen because they are whiney pussies and are not as good as they used to be.

I am in favor of using piracy so that I don't end up wasting money on a piece crap that I could tired beforehand. Renting is nice, but you still waste money, and demos don't show enough. My main gripe with piarcy is that then publishers have to go out of their way and create instrusive copy-protection methods *cough*starforce*cough* that actually harms the honest paying customer.

So ummm......arr matey! Yo ho ho and a CD-R of ROMZ!!

[KBZ]

Also note: (yet again) Import games-- and portable games, for that matter-- can not be rented. anywhere.

and for the 3rd time this page, there's always the option to buy it, then sell it if you don't want it. Seems to have worked fine for the last forever. And if it's an import like Under Defeat, you'll probably even make a profit.

Unless a profit is guaranteed if I re-sold an unwanted game, I wouldn't want to spend the money on potential rubbish. (not directed at Under Defeat; perhaps directed at Chaos Field, which was a fun CD-R to microwave.)

If you haven't noticed, the only reason I post in this thread anymore is, well.... You anti-piracy shmucks are rather amusing. ^_^

so for the sake of convenience, piracy is justified? Well, I for one don't value convenience that high on the principles chart. Is it so terrible to spend SOMETHING for a product that people probably worked their asses off for?

and what's with the ''I'm obviously right and I find it funny that anyone could think anything different than I do'' attitude? Has it ever occurred to you that there are many different ways to look at things? There is no ONE WAY for all of us or else we'd all be doing the same thing. And it sure as hell isn't YOUR way no matter how much you might seemingly want it to be.

I've showed how I view piracy to be unjustified, but the reasons you're giving us don't seem to hold much ground, and even your arguments with more potential are overshadowed by your cockyness on the matter.

[Marc]

and for the 3rd time this page, there's always the option to buy it, then sell it if you don't want it. Seems to have worked fine for the last forever. And if it's an import like Under Defeat, you'll probably even make a profit.

Unless a profit is guaranteed if I re-sold an unwanted game, I wouldn't want to spend the money on potential rubbish. (not directed at Under Defeat; perhaps directed at Chaos Field, which was a fun CD-R to microwave.)

If you haven't noticed, the only reason I post in this thread anymore is, well.... You anti-piracy shmucks are rather amusing. ^_^

so for the sake of convenience, piracy is justified? Well, I for one don't value convenience that high on the principles chart. Is it so terrible to spend SOMETHING for a product that people probably worked their asses off for?

and what's with the ''I'm obviously right and I find it funny that anyone could think anything different than I do'' attitude? Has it ever occurred to you that there are many different ways to look at things? There is no ONE WAY for all of us or else we'd all be doing the same thing. And it sure as hell isn't YOUR way no matter how much you might seemingly want it to be.

I've showed how I view piracy to be unjustified, but the reasons you're giving us don't seem to hold much ground, and even your arguments with more potential are overshadowed by your cockyness on the matter.

It's terrible when people fork out for a title that even the devco know is an utter stinker from day one, yes. The ROM thing is like being able to listen to a few tracks on-line for me. Bands usually have enough confidence in their work that there are legal, and moral ways of checking out their latest work before you have to buy it in its entirety. Strange that the video game world (generally) doesn't seem to work like that isn't it?

[Shapermc]

Piracy = Illegal

Illegal: a. not according to or authorized by law, b. not sanctioned by official rules (as of a game)

Defend your illegal activities how ever you want: they will still remain illegal. I have a ton of Roms, most are games that are not comercially distributed any longer. I still purchase games when ever I am in used game shops. I also bought Taito Legends even though I don't play any of the games for it, because most of the games I downloaded and tried at one point in time.

Zweihander, if you want to use your "voice" to say something then DON'T BUY THE GAME AT ALL. You should just get the fuck out though, seriously. You seem like an idiot.

Also, stealing movies is really fucking stupid. The only way that certain companies make any money off their film is on sales. Also, stop buying used videos/games at Block Buster/Rental Stores. That hurts the pockets of game/movie companies too.

And for the love of god, don't buy pirated movies/games. If you are going to be illegal about it at least don't support someone making money off it too.

[tiktak]

Short comment;]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 6530293045

[llabnip]

Short comment;]
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 6530293045

That was enjoyable! A nice break from the thread and it was on-topic to boot!

As someone who makes a living designing, developing and writing software, I'm in the anti-piracy camp though I don't really argue the point strongly - rather I try to lead by example and recommend that people pay for any software they use. Piracy of programs I helped design directly impacts my livelihood. No amount of "well, I wouldn't have paid for it anyway" will make me think otherwise.

For older programs that aren't sold anymore, I don't really care (though I prefer to own those too - mostly for the original artwork, instructions and the tangible aspect of owning a well-made game and displaying it on the shelf).

As we discuss this, thousands of people will download Under Defeat. Based on a sampling of people I've known here, there and elsewhere - most of those will play the game until they are satisfied (be it an hour, day, week or year) and never spend a dime to help the developers for making this happen. Since I can't prevent this, I don't worry too much about it. The best I can do is buy my copy to support the effort and hope the sales are strong enough to make them continue to design more games like it. If I don't like the game (unlikely!), I'll simply sell it. If I take a loss on selling it, that's a small price to pay to support the effort of generes I enjoy.

The concept of someone holding a (hypothetical) gun to the heads of developers like a common robber is a little disturbing.

[Zweihander]

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e323/ ... _going.jpg

[Michaelm]

Piracy of programs I helped design directly impacts my livelihood. No amount of "well, I wouldn't have paid for it anyway" will make me think otherwise.

Though I completely understand your point here I do think that there must be several people that have bought a programm only after they found out about it's existence through piracy. Ofcourse statisticaly this will only be a small percent of the 'pirates' but it's sales you would have missed otherwise.
Just to show that it can and does also work the other way, only in much smaller numbers.

[Zweihander]

Piracy of programs I helped design directly impacts my livelihood. No amount of "well, I wouldn't have paid for it anyway" will make me think otherwise.

Though I completely understand your point here I do think that there must be several people that have bought a programm only after they found out about it's existence through piracy. Ofcourse statisticaly this will only be a small percent of the 'pirates' but it's sales you would have missed otherwise.
Just to show that it can and does also work the other way, only in much smaller numbers.

See, that's exactly my point. I'm one of that small percentage, and because of all the asshats pirating everything and anything, never purchasing no matter how entertaining they find the software to be, I-- and others like me-- have to suffer all the anti-piracy bullshit.

P.S. The "don't copy that floppy" video is THE funniest propaganda video I've seen since the anti-nazi Disney toons from WW2 times.

[Specineff]

Emulation is not piracy.

Downloading Sega CD or PCE Isos, bundling them together with the actual hardware to make a profit, is piracy.

Now if you excuse me, I have to go check how my DC Ebay items are doing while I download an evaluation version of Rajirugi off BitTorrent.

[Zweihander]

Emulation is not piracy.

Downloading Sega CD or PCE Isos, bundling them together with the actual hardware to make a profit, is piracy.

Now if you excuse me, I have to go check how my DC Ebay items are doing while I download an evaluation version of Rajirugi off BitTorrent.

Heh. I don't sell pirated items, that's the thing. The closest thing I'll do to "selling" them is exchange a CD-R or DVD+R for a blank of either media, to replace the one I used to burn it. So, no real "profit" is made. More like, I'm generous enough with my time to make evaluation copies for people I know personally.

[GaijinPunch]

The poor dead horse in this thread.

[Zweihander]

Piracy = Illegal

Illegal: a. not according to or authorized by law, b. not sanctioned by official rules (as of a game)

Defend your illegal activities how ever you want: they will still remain illegal. I have a ton of Roms, most are games that are not comercially distributed any longer. I still purchase games when ever I am in used game shops. I also bought Taito Legends even though I don't play any of the games for it, because most of the games I downloaded and tried at one point in time.

Zweihander, if you want to use your "voice" to say something then DON'T BUY THE GAME AT ALL. You should just get the fuck out though, seriously. You seem like an idiot.

Also, stealing movies is really fucking stupid. The only way that certain companies make any money off their film is on sales. Also, stop buying used videos/games at Block Buster/Rental Stores. That hurts the pockets of game/movie companies too.

And for the love of god, don't buy pirated movies/games. If you are going to be illegal about it at least don't support someone making money off it too.

Sup, Sharpermc. Nice post count, man. 31 posts since January 2005... WOW. You're well on your way to being a veteran! Sarcasm aside, I can understand why you haven't made many posts, and your pissy attitude, considering what happened to your city.

Oh yes. I went there.

[Herr Schatten]

Sup, Sharpermc. Nice post count, man. 31 posts since January 2005... WOW. You're well on your way to being a veteran!

You may not know it, Zweihander, but Shaper indeed is a shmupsforum veteran. He's been around for ages.

A lot of the people who visit this board since its early days tend to post less and less, mostly because everything they had to say to the recurring topics of "best DC shmups", "definition of a shmup" and "TFV - PSX vs. Saturn" they said the first time around. A low post count doesn't necessarily mean that someone's a newbie, it's more likely that it means that someone knows when it's better to remain silent instead of saying something foolish.

[Ramus]

Sup, Sharpermc. Nice post count, man. 31 posts since January 2005... WOW. You're well on your way to being a veteran!

You may not know it, Zweihander, but Shaper indeed is a shmupsforum veteran. He's been around for ages.

A lot of the people who visit this board since its early days tend to post less and less, mostly because everything they had to say to the recurring topics of "best DC shmups", "definition of a shmup" and "TFV - PSX vs. Saturn" they said the first time around. A low post count doesn't necessarily mean that someone's a newbie, it's more likely that it means that someone knows when it's better to remain silent instead of saying something foolish.

Just because someone has a low post count doesn't mean what they are saying isn't viable or good advice. Bringing up something like that just makes it look like your trying to tear them down to make your argument look better, but it really just makes you look like an ass.

[Zweihander]

Sup, Sharpermc. Nice post count, man. 31 posts since January 2005... WOW. You're well on your way to being a veteran!

You may not know it, Zweihander, but Shaper indeed is a shmupsforum veteran. He's been around for ages.

A lot of the people who visit this board since its early days tend to post less and less, mostly because everything they had to say to the recurring topics of "best DC shmups", "definition of a shmup" and "TFV - PSX vs. Saturn" they said the first time around. A low post count doesn't necessarily mean that someone's a newbie, it's more likely that it means that someone knows when it's better to remain silent instead of saying something foolish.

Just because someone has a low post count doesn't mean what they are saying isn't viable or good advice. Bringing up something like that just makes it look like your trying to tear them down to make your argument look better, but it really just makes you look like an ass.

...so "You should just get the fuck out though, seriously. You seem like an idiot." isn't a pathetic attempt at a knock-down, and doesn't make him look like an ass? I know, an eye for an eye makes the world go blind. But, a blind world wouldn't be able to hurt what it cannot see.

Don't make me go all philosophical on your ass.

DAMN, I love this thread.

[99pence]

What's better. Ikaruga or Radiant Silvergun?

[PaCrappa]

Bangaioh. The N64 is a cartridge based system.

Pa

[Thunder Force]

The poor dead horse in this thread.