Pirates...

[Sync182]

In theory...yes, pirates should probably be reported.

 

In practice, however...too hard.

 

Far too many ways of bluffing your way through it if you were reported to the authorities for piracy for such a charge to actually stick...unless you had concrete proof before you reported them.

 

Far better for those performing, claiming and/or advocating piracy to be kicked from whatever forum they're a part of, so that they have one less place to roost in.

[bben46]

@pwnedbyscope:

it is victimless.

Tell that to the programmer who was just laid off because the game maker didn't make enough profit to keep him around. :rolleyes:

[Kendo 2]

I feel that piracy is the equivalent of virtual shoplifting. The same calibre of scumbag does the deed and that is stealing.

[marharth]

@pwnedbyscope:

it is victimless.

Tell that to the programmer who was just laid off because the game maker didn't make enough profit to keep him around. :rolleyes:

Notch pretty much sums the piracy issue up.

 

http://notch.tumblr.com/post/1121596044/how-piracy-works

 

In short, if you don't want people to pirate you shouldn't punish them and be mean towards the people who do it, you should develop new things in the game that can not be accessed by pirates so they would be encouraged to buy the game.

 

I do not support people reporting pirates, and I do not support piracy.

[DeTomaso]

@pwnedbyscope:

it is victimless.

Tell that to the programmer who was just laid off because the game maker didn't make enough profit to keep him around. :rolleyes:

That's just a populist argument from silence, a horror scenario from afar for any family man involved in the business, or are you perhaps able to mention a concrete and verified case? Guess not!

Moreover, the professional, often company-internal programmer who cracks the source code is the pirate, the private beneficiaries of an illegal free download offer are not, they are illegal users and as such juridically to be handled - no support at all, financial penalty if applicable. To lodge an appeal for the latter is exlusively up to the company as the aggrieved party and not up to forum members who are usually not on the payroll of the game company.

 

Addendum

Actually, systems like DRM fully accomplish what they really should do: reduce piracy to a calculated claim level, cause a delay during the first decisive weeks of the game, when most of the sales are made and professional cracks are not yet uploaded (probably by this very reason). So if one is actually willing to support the company’s interests in the fight against piracy one should ultimately leave any own game installation support parallel to the official undone for at least two or three months after release not to feed illegal users exactly in the phase of sales. This would secure the company’s profits and reduce the success of piracy as such on the long run, for users, the legal as well as the illegal, have one decisive thing in common – they are fired up for the new game, they cannot wait that long. Though for the legal ones the official support is wide open for individual help, for the illegal ones the public forums are the only alternative.

Edited April 12, 2011 by DeTomaso

[evilneko]

You sure about that? Cracks come out pretty fast. Remember Ubisoft's recent super-draconian DRM for Assassin's Creed 2? Yeah, cracked before it was released.

 

Software piracy in general terms includes the copyright infringement engaged in by the average torrent/other p2p user. They too are pirates.

 

Anyway, I've said why I don't believe pirates on the Nexus should be reported to law enforcement, and that's what this thread is about. So I'll take my leave now.

[krekiller]

Well, nowadays it is difficult to crack new games, such as Call Of Duty Black Ops, or Battlefield Bad Company 2, and even cracking them, it is impossible to play the full game, since Multiplayer and other functions are protected by a unique serial key. But if someone writes that he cracked a game, means he have never cracked one, that's why maybe he wanted to be "cool" saying he is an hacker because he can crack games. So answering to the debate question, I wouldn't arrest a person that says he is a pirate.

[JimboUK]

I don't know about other countries but here the authorities couldn't care less. I voted no because there are far more important things for them to be dealing with.

[Harbringe]

Strangely enough here's a program in which the second half of it speaks directly to what the core issue of this thread is about.The first half is good too and these guys are always a lot of fun to watch.

 

http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/scrap-metal-economic-chaos/

[DeTomaso]

You sure about that? Cracks come out pretty fast. Remember Ubisoft's recent super-draconian DRM for Assassin's Creed 2? Yeah, cracked before it was released.

 

Software piracy in general terms includes the copyright infringement engaged in by the average torrent/other p2p user. They too are pirates.

 

Anyway, I've said why I don't believe pirates on the Nexus should be reported to law enforcement, and that's what this thread is about. So I'll take my leave now.

 

Yes, I'm sure. You probably mean two weeks after the official game release by the known crack release group in the case of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed 2. Allegedly it was a warning directed to Ubisoft to be more focused on the quality of the game instead of the game protection (cnet News). I wonder how a cracked game that levers out Ubisoft's controversial always on' PC DRM ever could be released already before the official game.

As it is already said here on the Nexus one merely randomly identifies an illegal user and this primarily on the basis of typical questions in connection with game installation and customising or when compiled mods and community tools explicitly call for the actual crc etc. of security related game files. At this the dark figure of illegals in forums is a function of time and national game restrictions, the longer the game is on the market and the higher the restrictions are (blood etc.), the lower is the share of the legals.

On the contrary, the share of "a pirate I was meant to be" martyrs, the professing mayflies, is always very low, on forums with predominantly educated users it is unquantifiable. If you think that there are many mayflies on the way though, well, then you got a first impression of the actual share of piracy.

Edited April 14, 2011 by DeTomaso