Why I Think It Is GOOD To Pirate Commercial Games

[Tessera]

Why I Think It Is GOOD To Pirate Commercial Games
by
- Tessera -


DISCLAIMER: this post should not be misconstrued as in incitement to commit crimes. This post is merely a statement of my own personal philosophy with regards to the pirating (theft) of commercially available gaming software. It is important to remember that regardless of what my personal philosophy might be, this is not any sort of directive that I am issuing, nor do I really care about what other people do or do not do with their own time and money.

Now that the obligatory legal disclaimer is out of the way, let me take a moment to discuss my thoughts and feelings regarding the pirating of commercial games...


For the longest time, I was vehemently opposed to the pirating of commercial games. In fact, during the early history of tessmage.com, it was a bannable offense around here to encourage that sort of activity. At the time, I felt that it was not only illegal to pirate games, but that it would also spur the industry towards creating increasingly invasive anti-piracy schemes which would screw things up for ALL users (which has indeed turned out to be the case).

However, during the past year or so, I have had quite a turn-around in my ways of thinking about this issue. I am no longer opposed to the pirating of commercial gaming software. Let me tell you why:

Because the gaming industry... or to be more specfific, the major gaming publishers... have been stealing from and exploiting their consumer base so severely during the past few years that I no longer feel any sense of fair play, decency or integrity coming from "their side." Thus, I no longer feel obligated to hold up my end as a consumer, either.

Just think about how absolutely abysmal the state of PC gaming software has become during the past few years. I realize that there are some exceptions here and there, but generally speaking it seems that the old rule of "release it now -- patch it later" has spun wildly out of control. There is almost no originality to be found anywhere these days, either. Everything has become formulaic, everything has been dumbed down, everything is aimed straight at undiscerning adolescent males and everything has been executed in a half-assed manner from the get go. And why not..? Because if those are the only choices that you are giving to the consumers, then most of them will probably end up buying it... regardless of how mundane and mediocre your game might be. An unsophisticated consumer base is the gaming industry's best friend.

Let's pick something notorious as a working example... Hellgate: London, for instance. That game was released waaaaaaay prematurely, by people who KNEW... absolutely KNEW AHEAD OF TIME... that their product was being released in a largely broken, unfinished and downright dysfunctional state. And yet, the law allowed them to release it anyway... and charge everyone a premium price for it.

Hellgate is not the only such example, either. We could say exactly the same things... to varying degrees... about Oblivion, or Fallout 3, or Age Of Conan, or Vanguard, or Spore, or F.E.A.R., or Stalker, or any one of literally hundreds of other "blockbuster" titles. All of those games were knowingly released prematurely by their publishers in a dysfunctional state... and in some cases the game was barely playable in its original "plain vanilla" condition.

And yet, those publishers have consistently been allowed to charge full price for a broken product... and still get away with it.

What do you call someone who sells you something that doesn't do what they promise it will do..? For example, what if I charged you full price for a new car -- knowing that the brakes were faulty, or that the engine was only producing two-thirds of its rated horsepower..? I dunno about you, but I'd call that person a scammer. Or a con artist. Or a manipulative, greedy and amoral thief.

The law considers software piracy to be a form of theft. Yet isn't it also a case of theft when somebody knowingly charges you full price for a broken product, and then gets to keep your money regardless of how loudly you complain..? We have even seen quite a few cases of those complaints being stifled on the "official forums" of various software publishers (such as Bethsoft, ActiVision, Blizzard, EA, etc. to name but a few) Many people (myself included) have even been banned... pushed under the rug for telling the truth, basically.

So then, who committed the first theft here..? Who was the first to be dishonest..?

When the buying public is repeatedly made to feel as if they are being ripped-off and exploited, then the inevitable result is a breakdown in consumer confidence. That is precisely what led in large part to the near-total collapse of the global economy in late 2008. So is it any wonder that an increasing number of consumers are beginning to feel a desire to fight back against their feeling of being exploited... by refusing to pay full price for inferior merchandise..? The law offers them little recourse, so is it any wonder than an increasing number of gamers have decided to take the law into their own hands... by engaging in piracy..?

This is the essence of what I am trying to say here: that in my opinion, the pirating of crappy (or even not so crappy) commercial gaming software is, to at least some extent, a way for pissed-off consumers to lash back at an exploitative industry, who have been greedily giving us all the shaft for far too long. In many (if not most) cases these days, those publishers simply do not deserve our money anymore. Or at least, they don't deserve full price for a broken or otherwise inferior product. And until there is some sort of federal regulation of the software industry, this problem will continue to frustrate us all... for lord knows how many more years.

Please just think about it some more, for a moment. When you go to the store and buy a new game, the industry expects you to pay the full retail price for that game... regardless of how broken it might be out of the box. Keep in mind that they *knew* that it was broken when they sold it to you, yet there are no such warnings anywhere to be found... not on the box, not in their advertsing, not anywhere. And if you contact them for technical support after you discover that your new game is broken, they often simply tell you to wait patiently for an upcoming software patch. That is, if they even bother to reply to you at all (many don't... or else they reply in a deliberately vague and anemic fashion a la Electronic Arts).

I wonder what would happen if we told the publishers "I'll give you *some* of the retail price now... and the rest of it after you patch the game and give me a fully functional product that works as advertised." Would they make that kind of a deal with us..? Of course they wouldn't... because these people have next to zero integrity and not only that, but the laws issued by the corporate whores in Congress fully protect the industry and its greed. Meanwhile, there are absolutely NO LAWS TO SPEAK OF which protect the consumers of gaming software. Almost none whatsoever. These pricks have been given free reign to sell whatever they want, for as much as they can get away with, whilst deliberately engaging in false or misleading advertising... and let the buyer beware.

What can We The People do to empower ourselves in the face of this kind of theft and exploitation by the software industry..? We do not have any real legal recourse, other than to attempt to reclaim our purchase price in a small claims court. And let's face it... most people simply do not have the time, nor the will to commit themselves to filing a court case to reclaim their 50 bucks. NOR SHOULD THEY HAVE TO. These games were not released in a broken state because the devs didn't know any better. Games are released in a broken state because the industry has beeen allowed to get away with that kind of dishonest marketing. It is as simple as that... and it's just plain WRONG.

Which brings us back around to the issue of pirating commercial games. Well, in my carefully considered opinion... and based upon the absolutely abysmal conduct as of late by the commercial gaming industry... I have concluded that the only truly meaningful way in which consumers can fight back at the grassroots level is to simply start exchanging pirated copies of various games. That's the very best way to hit the gaming publishers in their wallets... far more so than simply not buying those games to begin with. Not buying a given title simply means that it won't be very popular... and the publisher will then write it off as a loss on their income taxes. But a *pirated* game may very well become popular... except that the greedy, amoral and exploitative publishers will not make a single penny from it. I like that idea *much* better, because it truly punishes the industry for being a bunch of irresponsible thieves.

I guess what I am saying is that I do not feel so bad about stealing from another thief. And in my opinion, the gaming software industry has become overrun by polyester-clad thieves. Min-maxxing, outsourcing and downright lying about their products seems to be a perfectly acceptable way to conduct their businesses... so much so that frankly, I don't feel that the industry is entitled to our money anymore. If they feel that it is perfectly okay to steal billions of dollars from *us* every single year, then I don't see why it isn't okay for us to steal our money right back from them... in the form of pirated, hacked and freely exchanged copies of commercial games.

A bad movie costs about 8 bucks at the theater. So why does a bad game cost 50 bucks at Amazon..? In the face of that type of exploitation, it makes more sense to me if ten people all get together and chip in 5 bucks apiece for a new game. And then, take that total of 50 bucks from all ten of them, and buy ONE copy of a particular game.

And then...

...hack it, remove its DRM, copy it and pass out those copies to all ten of the people who chipped in their 5 bucks. That way, nobody is getting ripped off and the industry can just fuck off if they don't like it. You can't file charges against everybody... especially if everybody is doing the same thing. In the end, the industry will be forced to cave in and start producing products with INTEGRITY again. Either that, or just eat it.

I could continue... and perhaps I will at a later date... but I think that I have already given you a decent outline which explains why I have changed my mind about pirated games. If the industry was conducting their business in an honest and sincere fashion, then I would still be opposed to piracy. But when I look around at the dysmal state of PC gaming today, I am so disgusted that at this point, I have completely reversed my philosophy about this issue.

We will never allow any sort of piracy on tessmage.com and that is for legal reasons. But just between you and me... I could honestly give a rat's ass what anybody does amongst their own private circles at this point. The industry needs to be hurt... and they need to be hurt BAD. Piracy seems to be the very best way to hurt them at this point, so hey... knock yerselves out, fellow gamers.



- Tessera -


NOTE: this editorial article is mainly directed at the gaming PUBLISHERS... not at the gaming studios. I realize that most studios these days are essentially whoring out their work to some huge publisher or other and for the most part, any problems with the software are not the direct fault of those studios. They haven't been given much of a choice by their lords and masters, in most cases. Just look at what happened to Troika Games and many other fine studios that were pushed right off the face of the planet by their greedy publishers... and you'll see what I mean.

[Kandid]

For the longest time, I was against the idea of piracy, but recent... "changes" in the industry made me reconsider my ideas.

Why should I be frustrated with preposterous copy protection methods even when I purchase a legal copy?

Why should I enter a fake address from USA when I'm logging into Games for Windows LIVE? If you don't know, LIVE is only supported in 27 countries excluding mine, even though legal copies of LIVE games are sold throughout the world.

Why should I be connected to the internet to play a single player game?

Why should I wait for a patch for months to have a satisfying game experience, after I buy a so-called full version of a game for its full price?

And last but not least, and what this post is all about, why should I pay for the game publishers' advertisements when all I want to buy is their game? Check out this money grubbing bastard:

http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/08/26/eas-chief-creative-officer-describes-game-industrys-re-engineering/

EA now typically spends two or three times as much on marketing and advertising as it does on developing a game. That's because advertising is critical to getting a game in the top ten rankings. If you have a $10 million game, don't be surprised if the the TV advertising costs drive the ad budget to $30 million.

I'm fed up with this shit. Every game needs to be published with advertisements whose budget triples the game's budget to be able to deceive casual idiots who'd buy craptastic games. Sure, there are other factors to determine games' prices other than advertisement costs, but when the ad budget triples the game's budget, I feel like I'm paying for these ads more than the game itself. Even though I don't care about these ads.

I know it's unlikely, but I still hope to see the demise of the top selling game publishers. Maybe then we would have a chance to see a new game which doesn't suck donkey balls.

[Cat]

There isn't that games worth buying in these coming months.

[perez007usa]

There are a few games out there that's worth buying, but they are old games that don't have the dreaded DRM or activation codes, no CD's key codes, if you lose that,,,, well,,,. Hell!! I don't register none of my games, BECAUSE, it's none of their bee's wax to know.
 

[Steeal]

There isn't that games worth buying in these coming months.

Nothing that I am interested in until Dragon Age in November.

[AjuntaPall316]

There isn't that games worth buying in these coming months.

Nothing that I am interested in until Dragon Age in November.

I would agree, if I wasn't so excited about Batman Arkham Asylum.  I bought and finished the PS3 version, but I'm going to sell it next week so I can get the PC version instead on the 15th.  Best voice acting since Vampire Bloodlines (aside from just being a good fun game).  Almost all of the Animated series cast including Mark Hamill as the Joker.  There has never been any other Joker compared to Mark Hamill.  That was reason enough for me to buy it right there.

[Tessera]

There has never been any other Joker compared to Mark Hamill. 

What about Jack Nicholson..?

[AjuntaPall316]

There has never been any other Joker compared to Mark Hamill. 

What about Jack Nicholson..?

Both Nicholson and Ledger did good jobs on their "interpretation" of the Joker.  But Mark Hamill IS the JOKER. 

[anariel]

There has never been any other Joker compared to Mark Hamill. 

What about Jack Nicholson..?

Jack Nicholson is a "clown" type of Joker. Mark Hamill's Joker is more in the psychopath wave. Guive him fangs, and enjoy your "friendly" sabbat malkavian... 

[Caspa_tfng]

Why couldn't they have just dug up Heath Ledger, strapped a load of cables to his throat and force-emulated his voice?

[Valdini]

There isn't that games worth buying in these coming months.

Nothing that I am interested in until Dragon Age in November.

Divinity 2.
*Has German version.*
One of the best games i have ever played.

[Kandid]

I'll make sure to take a look at that one. I loved Divine Divinity.

[GameOn]

I know there was a PS3 game in which they (Sony?) injected advertising AFTER the product was sold.  What kind of bullshit is that?  They sell it one way, then you play it for a few weeks, then they slap advertising all over it?

I don't think piracy itself is going to teach the publishers a lesson, because I think they are too stupid to connect the dots. 

Rather than use it as a form of punishment, I would support it in a similar, but different way.  I can support someone downloading a pirated copy of a game to see if it is worth a shit first.  If it is broken and unfinished, bye-bye.  If it is a complete product, then you go buy it.

Even bringing a claim in small-claims court is gonna set you back 20-30 bones, so the incentive to win back $50 is weak...

[perez007usa]

I agree also. that Mark Hamill, is the best Joker hands down! He must be a trip in the recording studio when he does his voice over.

[Tessera]

Stay on-topic, guys.     :police:

[AjuntaPall316]

What!? You should know by now that my return means threads get derailed rather easily.   :angel:

[Tessera]

Nice to see you back here, BTW.  


PS -- she still has herpes.

[Prometheus]

I wonder if theres still the pirates Codex: If the game is good, i buy the legal copy. Thats how im doing it with every stuff. Good work needs its fruits, and EA needs a shovel in its face...twice.
They really spend 30m on ads for a 10m game? mmmh correct me if im wrong but thats not what they thought me in Buissness studies, old rule was 4% of project cost into ad, now they raised it to 10% due to high media presence... so which idiots idea is it to spend 300% of costs?