Why I Think It Is GOOD To Pirate Commercial Games

[mouser]

Well, Ubisoft has pretty much made my 'never buy from again' list, but I have to ask:

If the games are so shitty and broken, why would you want to pirate them at all?  

Simple solution: don't buy broken games, wait for them to come out with that patch, then go and get the game - but if it's fixed at that point, why not buy it?

Well, how can you know if a game is shitty and broken if you don't try it out, first?

Amazingly enough, once a game has been out a day or two, the intertubes are full of peoples reviews and actual 'people playing' footage (as opposed to corporate staged gameplay footage). You may even know someone who has a copy.

And btw Tess, contrary to what the MAFIAA says, piracy doesn't actually take money out of their hands, unless you were going to buy the game anyway - but I think that's the minority of cases. Not buying the game has the same effect. Not buying the game and letting everyone (or the right people in the company - hard to find though from the outside) WHY you're not buying the game can have an even greater effect.

But I haven't bought a 'major' PC game title since the Witcher 2... so maybe I'm not in the best position to judge. I love Big Fish Games though - hope to have one of my own up there by this time next year.

[Tessera]

And btw Tess, contrary to what the MAFIAA says, piracy doesn't actually take money out of their hands

Then why is the industry trying so desperately to stop it..? They have been trying VERY desperately, in fact.

Your opinion makes no sense at all. Not when you examine the actual facts. Online piracy costs the software and entertainment industries between $200 and $250 billion per year, in the form of lost profits. That's serious money and frankly, it makes me smile. Power to the people, baby.

Anyway, I have already told you what I believe and I will continue to encourage others to fight back against corporate greed. And if we can wage that fight in a non-violent manner, then so much the better.

[mouser]

And btw Tess, contrary to what the MAFIAA says, piracy doesn't actually take money out of their hands

Then why is the industry trying so desperately to stop it..? They have been trying VERY desperately, in fact.

Your opinion makes no sense at all. Not when you examine the actual facts. Online piracy costs the software and entertainment industries between $200 and $250 billion per year, in the form of lost profits. That's serious money and frankly, it makes me smile. Power to the people, baby.

For the same reason the music industry has fought every technological innovation since the player piano, it shakes up their business model.

The huge numbers the industry throws around are typically done with the assumption that every illegal download equals a lost sale. They then trumpet those numbers around congress - who see the tax $$$'s that kind of revenue would bring in, and push for whatever bill of the month their pushing for. I find it strange you'll accept a number like that when you're usually so critical of anything coming from corporate mouthpieces. If you look at the companies balance sheets, you'd see a different story - profits have been steady or even climbing in recent years.

To play devil's advocate - online piracy is giving them the excuse to play police and get the DoJ involved in what should be civil cases. It's how they pushed through laws like the DMCA, and how the US shuts off websites hosted in foreign countries, hosting material ruled by that nation's courts to be legal.

Anyway, I certainly agree that it's better than taking a gun to their offices

[Tessera]

For the same reason the music industry has fought every technological innovation since the player piano, it shakes up their business model.

LOL... yeah, I think we can safely assume that a net loss of 200 billion dollars each year shakes up their business model.  :laugh:

[perez007usa]

I don't understand you mouser, It seams that what we say here in the forums, you lash out. As with me, I have not bought a single game that was listed a waste to buy, after my ordeal with a few of them.  Yea! right! buy it, eventually maybe never, we will have "something" for you. I have a  whole bunch of games, "that I'm still waiting". Meanwhile, you have a game that is full of crap. Yet, you come here and take the TPG for yourself, how ironic is that. If you are here long enough, you get the "Mega-Mod", and after that you don't hear from these people again.

   The Bay is there for a reason! You get tired of being ripped off? Come to the Bay and find what is the fuss is about. Even the Bay in the info block will say if you like the game buy it. That's good enough for me. We are living in the "worst of times, the best of times" to quote Dickens ( a very good read). Again, if you are tried of being ripped off, by all means go there. As for you, mouser, I have, nothing to say too you, but, God Bless, you already made up your mind.

[Tessera]

I don't think Mouser is a TPG user, Perez. He has already hinted, in other topics on this board,
that he uses one or two mods for VTMB which I know for certain are not TPG-compatible.

And that's fine. The TPG is not for everyone. Our patch was designed and created for those
players who prefer to play the game that they paid for, instead of Wesp's butchered version.

[monkeymax]

Well, Ubisoft has pretty much made my 'never buy from again' list, but I have to ask:

If the games are so shitty and broken, why would you want to pirate them at all?  

Simple solution: don't buy broken games, wait for them to come out with that patch, then go and get the game - but if it's fixed at that point, why not buy it?

Well, how can you know if a game is shitty and broken if you don't try it out, first?

Amazingly enough, once a game has been out a day or two, the intertubes are full of peoples reviews and actual 'people playing' footage (as opposed to corporate staged gameplay footage). You may even know someone who has a copy.

You can't trust reviews and not all of us has friends who are gamers.  A let's pay video also can't show you if the game is poorly optimized. 

[mouser]

I don't understand you mouser, It seams that what we say here in the forums, you lash out.

Lash out? You and I must have different meanings for that. If you expect me to agree with everything said here because I use TPG or Megamod, then it's your expectations that are at fault. Most of the threads I've posted in have nothing to do with the mods anyway, so I don't know why you'd wouldn't expect a lot of different opinions, the internet being what it is and all.

To answer's Tess' question from earlier - I'm one of those who likes both cheeseburgers and Filet Mignon.  I'm playing the megamod now, I've played Tess' patch before (before the 'gold' version) and liked it, and I also like some mods built from Wesp's patch (I don't think I've ever played Wesp's patch alone... could be wrong though).

I don't see things like that as either/or choices: most things in life aren't that simple. I will say I'm very curious to see this new 'library level' that's coming or just came out.

When I agree with something I say so (and have said so to numerous things here), when I disagree I also say so. Otherwise, I just give my opinion and reasons, if any (some opinions don't need reasons - they simply are what they are). 

[Tessera]

Let's all be friendly to one another, folks. This is tessmage.com, not some kiddie board where people bicker all the time.   :police:

[Farrell McKinsie]

I know this is a late topic, but in reading it, it reminded me of a game I bought in the mid 80's called DarkLands. Something like that. I waited for a month to get it, and once it came out, I couldn't wait to begin play. What a Royal piece of shit that turned out to be.  The Deliberately sold it broken, because they ran out of money, and needed the revenue to fix the damn thing. This was the first Really broken game I ever bought.  I, and most of the people I knew who bought it, were disgusted with how it went. The Patch took almost 3 months to get out, (this was pre internet, so you had to get it off compuserve. Told all day to dload the patch, and it still didn't fix the game. Never could complete it, cause they only fixed the bugs in the early part of the game, not those in the later part.
So, this is not a new trend, and I can't say that Darklands started the idea, but I never forgave the game for being broken, never getting fixed, and fucking me out of my 50 bucks, (back then!)

[Tessera]

Correction: it isn't a new phenomenon, but it -is- a new trend.

[Ratcatcher]

Darklands was broken?
I never had any issues with it. I must've gotten the only working copy then
If i remember correctly, it had an insane character generator for the time.
Maybe I'll dig it out of its box or find the GoG version, less hassle.

[Farrell McKinsie]

Darklands was broken?
I never had any issues with it. I must've gotten the only working copy then
If i remember correctly, it had an insane character generator for the time.
Maybe I'll dig it out of its box or find the GoG version, less hassle.

mine was broken all to hell, and so was everyone else's who bought it.

[GhettiGuru]

Lol the only games I've ever paid for since I was like 10 was WoW and all expansions up until WotLK when I quit right after the patch where you could actually fight the Liche king, which my guild failed at and when I quit playing noone on my server had. Thinking about going back but hate buying expansions and leveling so..prolly not. Viva la free pirated games lol

[Ykalon]

Just because I pirate a game doesn't mean I won't buy it. Got Fallout New Vegas from tpb at realease, bought it last week on Steam. Pirated Oblivion but bought Skyrim. Pirated Mass Effect 1 and 2, bought both and 3 too.

Just seems you are having double standards here when it comes to your own work. You are fine with pirating stuff from others but god forbid someone downloads something you made from somewhere else.

[beetle]

Pirated Oblivion and Minecraft. Ended up buying them both later because I enjoyed them. Tho I still have to pirate most of the DLC for Oblivion because it didn't come with the copy I bought.

[Cylnar]

Just seems you are having double standards here when it comes to your own work. You are fine with pirating stuff from others but god forbid someone downloads something you made from somewhere else.

You're comparing apples and apricots. Tessera is far from the only modder to ask users for some basic consideration from users. Since modders generally cannot legally accept payment for their work, because it is based on someone else's IP, they will often ask people to respect their work in other ways. From giving credit for any other derivative use (like a screenshot or fanart depicting a modded character) to asking that people download the mod only from a certain location (a site the modder controls or trusts) to having the basic consideration not to relentlessly badmouth and trashtalk someone and then turn around and use that person's mod as if you're doing them a favor by using it, all any modder wants is a little respect and maybe some props for all their hard work. And there are few if any modders who work harder than Tess. Free work that adds value and replayability to a game can not be pirated...but it (and the modder) can certainly be disrespected.

Game publishers, on the other hand, profit obscenely through exploiting the lowest common denominator - putting out shitty rush job games that all the teenagerz just GOTS to buy with mommy and daddy's money. So if for some reason you want the game (maybe this particular game may not suck so much as all that) you just find it on Pirate Bay or something. If you happen to like the game, maybe you later buy it when the price drops...thus paying the price YOU think the game is worth, maybe $40 or $30 or $20 or even $15 or $10, rather than the arbitrary $50 or $60 the developer charged all the "gimme-it-NOW" morons. If more people followed this model, some of these greedy execu-scum might get the message, and start putting out games that were actually WORTH $50 or $60.

[Tessera]

You are fine with pirating stuff from others but god forbid someone downloads something you made from somewhere else.

Modders are subject to a different code of conduct. We aren't ripping people off, the way gaming publishers are. We don't charge money, ever. So stealing from modders is simply inviting us to stop producing any more mods. Which is precisely what I have done. I am not hurting anybody... I am simply not giving you anything nice for free anymore. If you want to get angry at someone, then take that anger over to the people who are directly responsible for my decision to stop offering my mods. They are the bad people here -- not me. I am just reacting to them.

Now answer a question for me, if you dare...

Do I owe you something..? No..? Then take your attitude of entitlement and cram it. For the past seven years, I have given great globs of wonderful things to my fellow gamers... and I've done it all at my own expense.

But let's get back on-topic. Greedy gaming publishers -do- charge money... and they charge money for what is, more often than not these days, totally inferior merchandise. And that is why I have been saying that online piracy is a good thing... because it punishes greedy publishers right where it hurts them the most: in their wallets.

If you can't understand that fundamental difference, and if you have decided that you resent and/or dislike me for some reason, then feel free to leave. There's the door. Please use it.  


PS -- many thanks for the kind words, Cylnar.