Pc Gamers, Do You pirate Your games?

Overheal

Oh the motorists, they anger me. But good call MooseJam. good call.

samhail

I replied no... more because of the fact the games that i want to play are big so want them on DVD or needed the steam connection (counter strike source)

L31mr0d

samhail wrote: »

I replied no... more because of the fact the games that i want to play are big so want them on DVD or needed the steam connection (counter strike source)

Ha... I think I know you Samhail... ITB yeah? You where one of the first people to introduce me to pirated software

samhail

no spreachen english.

SeantheMan

I do sometimes.
90% of my games ill buy, but like in the past week when 3 came out at once...Far Cry2, Fallout 3, and Dead Space, i can't afford all 3 straight away, but i want to play them.

So i'll try them...and if they are good games...worthy of my money then i will pay for them afterwards, as i believe if the developers put the time and effort into somethin i enjoy so much, then we should be continuing to support them ..which is why ill buy fallout 3 next week...although i already have it.
As I give credit to bethseda for the amazing game they made and i hope they make more of the same

mewso

I've bought every game I've played (post ZX Spectrum and floppy disk days that is) but recently I had a hankering to play Anachronox (all time fav) but couldn't find my disk so I downloaded it. Somebody going to shop me?

I think a picture of all my game cases would probably be huge. Hmmm maybe I'll try with the ZX Spectrum cassettes sitting on top of them.

Benzino

Nowadays I do just to check if the game will run on my laptop. With the likes of fallout, Dead Space and Far Cry 2, I want to play these games for the pc.

But if I can't run them, i then go and buy the console version. If I can run it, I go buy a legal version. So i think of it more as a test drive.

Kiith

musician wrote: »

...but recently I had a hankering to play Anachronox (all time fav)...

What a game.

TerrorFirmer

I pirate 70-80% of the games I play. But it doesn't hurt the developers or publishers in any way. Why? Because I only download games because the option is there - Would I buy those games if I couldn't download them? Nope, not a chance - I'm talking about games like Mortyr 3, Code Of Honor, all those, cheap budget FPS titles that offer maybe 30 minutes entertainment tops and have the balls to charge full retail price. That's a point the people who rave about games piracy miss, always equating every downloaded game to a lost sale - but that's just not true. If I downloaded $500 worth of games, I can honestly tell you that out of the lot, none of it would translate to a single penny if I were to suddenly be without a net connection.

I do buy games I really like or want - Dawn of War, Call of Duty 4, and on my future list, Far Cry 2, COD:WAW, Hells Highway - I've paid or will pay for those, and without ever having downloaded them, I do believe in supporting the games I've genuine interest in. I've even bought 3 copies of my favourite game ever over the years, Soldier of Fortune 2.

TerrorFirmer

And I have to mention Securom as well. I went out an bought two retail copies of Battlefront 2, I game I also own two copies of on the Xbox, because I'm such a huge fan - and this wasn't even to play online, it was to play offline via lan with a friend. But with securom installed/enabled, Fear Combat would not work - kept telling me to insert the disc, this despite the fact that Fear Combat is a freeware game.

Another instance where I just sold on the copy and downloaded it instead, because I play FEAR a lot.

shabouwcaw

i dont DL games since it takes too long, and the opportunity cost of my net connection is too high.


i mostly play online FPS so i always buy copies, so i dont get kicked off ladders and whatnot.

however, when i go to lans i generally pick up whatever is floating around. Which brings me to the point of this post. I DL'd nearly 30GB of games at the last LAN i was at. Bioshock, rainbow 6 vegas 2, company of heroes, rome total war and loads others. Rome total war was the only game i played. I got bored of bioshock after literally 10 minutes. im not saying its a bad game, i just dont have the right temperment to play through a whole singleplayer game.

If i had spent 50 euro on it i would have been well cheesed off. It was the most hyped game of the year, everyone raving about its metacritic reviews, and i didnt think it offered anything i hadnt done before.

so while i dont advocate piracy, and i will probably never do it again (sticking to online FPS ) there is an arguement to be had that demoing games is a good idea.

SeantheMan

what about games ye cant find in shops anymore ?

Little or no chance of ever finding Final Fantasy 7 in a store

Think of the millions who will never get to play it

dav nagle

Pro evo 3 on the pc a great game, never would have known about it if it wasn't for the internet pirates.

Zeouterlimits

MOH wrote: »

Bought loads of games over the years, never even thought about pirating a game until last year, and the whole Bioshock limited activation thing.

Disk checks are fine, having to go online as part of the install process is something that bugs the hell out of me - was on dial-up when I got HL2 and took ages. But limited installs is a whole other story. I'll never buy another game that implements any kind of online check with limited installs. And I'll be unlikely to buy games using any form of Securom, even if it's disk check only, since at the end of the day you're then supporting Securom and their DRM crap.

Aside from Securom installing itself silently on your machine, being difficult to get rid of, and dictating to you what you can and can't have running, limited install games are more expensive, because there's no way you'll be able to sell them on second hand for anything near as much as you'd normally get.

I'd never bought the whole "I'm pirating it as a demo" excuse. If you go to see a film in the cinema and it's rubbish, tough. If you buy a game and don't like it, you can generally sell it on in the first week or two and recover a fair bit of what you spent on it. But not any more, since publishers are using DRM to kill the second hand gaming market, whjich is what this is really about.

Games that I would have bought in the last year if they hadn't Securom:
Bioshock, Mass Effect, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Farcry 2.

I bought Spore without realising it had Securom. I could have handled the fact that it was rubbish, could probably have sold it for €20 in the first week, but no chance with all the Securom controversy.

And I'm fairly peeved at Bethesda at the moment. I was dithering but deciding against Fallout 3, but when I heard the whole non-invasive DRM spiel, I thought fair dues to at least one company for not including this rubbish, I'll support that. By the time I heard it had Securom, my pre-order had shipped. At least it's not limited installs, and I don't know how many people have had issues with genuine copies of the games, but it's still Securom.

So it looks like I won't be paying for any more EA games. Or anything else in the Farcry/Crysis series.

On the other hand, I'm more likely to buy games I wouldn't have before if they're confirmed after release not to have any kind of invasive DRM, so they'll be getting my money, and I'll be broadening my horizons a bit. The only losers are publishers who treat their customers like criminals.

But in that case shouldn't you just not play those DRM games at all?
Does the fact that you disagree with the DRM give you permission to pirate it?

MooseJam

how can you tell what drm a game uses, it's not written on the box is it, is there a site you can go to that lists them all ?

DirkVoodoo

I use it for the purposes of demoing titles. Heck, if they can't be bothered to put up a quick peek like the excellent Half Life: Uplink, I ain't gonna waste cash, and I've wasted plenty on overhyped, bias reviewed titles over the years.

I "acquired" Far Cry 2, didn't like it so it gets binned. I'm currently locked in my retail copy of Fallout 3.

I don't think people (the majority, there will always be some who pirate regardless) would download games if there weren't so many titles out there (im looking at you movie licensed games!) that were just released to make a quick buck.

GothPunk

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I don't think people (the majority, there will always be some who pirate regardless) would download games if there weren't so many titles out there (im looking at you movie licensed games!) that were just released to make a quick buck.

I think that's very indicative of the industry a whole, they don't treat their consumers very well. Like a lot of games don't have a demo, have recommended spec that don't match reality, or are hyped up to be something that doesn't deliver. I think a lot of PC piracy is a direct result of this - people get burned and want to get their own back or protect themselves from future hassle. Like with PC games you can't even bring the bloody things back!

There'll always be people who pirate games, but I think that a lot of publishers aren't doing themselves any favours with how they do business - and that's without getting into issues of DRM.

Pyr0

Thats something I've noticed over the years, the severe lack of Demos being released for some games. I played the Cod4 demo, bought 2 copies, played the BF2 demo, bought 2 copies, Half life demo, bought it, AoK2 demo, bought that and the expansion. I've bought other games over the years that i've tired on demo first, its hard to get wind of new demos being released for games if you don't happen to 'in' with the gaming sites. I've downloaded games that were just utter muck, as stated before pushed out very quickly to make a few dollars with only about 30 minutes of entertainment, that would leave a very bitter taste in my mouth if I had paid a good 40 euro for an awful game, and not being able to bring it back !

Going into town this weekend to get a copy of Fallout, even though I already 'aquired' it just because its a damn good game and worth the money to have. Same with Crysis Wars, had a quick go of that and I'm looking forward to getting it over the weekend.

thelordofcheese

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmyoV1bkXNI

This should be the standard anti-piracy measure.

You steal a game? The game should then go out of it's way to ruin your fun.

Frisbee

I pirate a fair few games tbh.
Like I downloaded last years Football Manager. But I will be buying this years, already have it pre-ordered.
The games I play most often like CS I bought to avoid and hassle with online play.

311

I use to get games all the time back in 19 o splash ,come to think of it pirating was bigger back then ,than it is now. Comparing the amount of gameplayers around.

I couldn't be bothered sharing stuff now, it's something you get fed up of. That bull about checking games out to see if they run ,is bull.

Some games like fallout 3 ,will last 20 times longer than a DVD and only cost forthy quid.

PogMoThoin

311 wrote: »

Some games like fallout 3 ,will last 20 times longer than a DVD and only cost forthy quid.

Not always, I uninstalled it shortly after getting to Megatron cos I hated it and thought it was shíte. Would've been a waste of money if I bought.

311

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Not always, I uninstalled it shortly after getting to Megatron cos I hated it and thought it was shíte. Would've been a waste of money if I bought.

That company though ,you cannot fault them. It's like putting money in the basket when your at mass

DirkVoodoo

Frisbee wrote: »

I pirate a fair few games tbh.
Like I downloaded last years Football Manager. But I will be buying this years, already have it pre-ordered.
The games I play most often like CS I bought to avoid and hassle with online play.

FM is a good case in point. Why pay 40 or 50 euro (ok, you aren't forced to) every year for what basically amounts to a small expansion or a downloadable data patch?

Its pretty scandalous if you ask me. I have bought FM (formerly CM) pretty much every year since 99/00 and every year it becomes harder to notice the changes. I downloaded last years game. I will probably buy FM09 because at least they are adding a match engine. Same goes for most of these madden, NHL, FIFA and pro evo games. FIFA have had 3 releases in just over a year, more or less the same game with minor improvements.

I too bought COD4 on the strength of the demo. Had one not been released I more than likely would have downloaded.

Matt Simis

Anyone else find themselves less than motivated to buy a game on multiple platforms if you bought it once already? For instance, in an ideal world, if my GF buys a game on 360 I should be "allowed" play the same game on PC.. right?

On the same line, buying Gears 2 tomorrow twice to play COOP in the same house seems a bit silly. I can legally play COOP on 1 console (split screen), but want a screen to myself? That will be EUR70 please.

DirkVoodoo

I don't get you. Do you want to play xbox360 and PC together in Co-op?

I think Microsoft tried that recently, can't remember the name of the game, but it wasn't exactly a popular move.

Matt Simis

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I don't get you. Do you want to play xbox360 and PC together in Co-op?

I think Microsoft tried that recently, can't remember the name of the game, but it wasn't exactly a popular move.

Nope, nothing so exotic, just separately on our platforms of choice. Buying a game should be like buying a software license that you can play on PC, Xbox, PS3 etc.

The game you are thinking about was Shadowrun btw, they handicapped the PC controls to emulate game controller aiming (as mouse was of course too OP).

DirkVoodoo

Thats the one!

I know what you mean now, never gonna happen unfortunately. I felt like that about COD4, I prefer my shooters on the PC but my brother got it for the PS3, didn't want to waste money buying it "again" as it were. I just can't get used to the Playstation controller for shooters, the 360 one feels more natural.

Azza

I for one feel that if I own a game on one format, I should be able to play it on all formats. The whole concept of platform exclusive games is silly if you ask me. Imagine if you needed multipal DVD players to watch movies from different companies.

I also have no problem pirating games for backup purposes in case I loose or damage a disc.

Ditto cracking games to get around activation limits for games I legally own.

Also where the hell did Microsoft get the nerve to print "do not lend this game" on Gears of War for PC. Kindly F-off I lend this game to who ever I want to lend it to. Again imagine if that was printed on a DVD or book.

311

Azza wrote: »

Also where the hell did Microsoft get the nerve to print "do not lend this game" on Gears of War for PC. Kindly F-off I lend this game to who ever I want to lend it to. Again imagine if that was printed on a DVD or book.

Your not suppose to lend dvd's either ,it's in the warnings at the start.

Microsoft are ridiculous though ,they have high spec machines on their knees with all the protection crap.