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Do you know people who only play pirated games?

Repressed Homosexual
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Now that digital distribution is more developed I know more and more people who use the likes of Steam and GOG. But I must admit that torrent stats are as high as ever, and when you look at the peers it's not only people from 2nd or third world country, but plenty of people from the US, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, or UK as well.

While convenience has won many people over, cost trumps everything for a lot of people. Many also think it's dumb to spend money on games when there are more important things to buy with money. I also know plenty of people who stopped subscribing to cable and started streaming to their TV an external HDD's worth of dozens of mini-series and hundreds of movies. It seems in general people have a more personal/emotional connection to games, and don't shed a tear when leeching off tv superproductions and the like. I do know many people who prefer have boxed sets and discs, so that aspect will always remain.
 

sser

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I think digital services have knocked piracy down a bit pretty much as you stated, as have new market approaches like F2P or microtransactions. There's still a lot of people who just pirate because it's free. It's really hard to beat free.

I think piracy was possibly worse before torrents, though. It's kinda weird, but I just remember a huge proliferation of CDs, floppies etc. and that was in the U.S.
 

Mother Russia

Andhaira
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One things that has made more people go legal is internet connection speeds. Face it, downloading anything over dial up was really an exercise in frustration. True games were much smaller in size then, but as soon as the CD ROM was introduced games started exploding in MB and then GB size. It took much longer for fast internet to be affordable to most people.

Furthermore, the face that movies can now be rented on Netflix and Amazon.com has also helped, though brand new and popular movies are expensive to even rent. For now.
 

Metro

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In before the 'I haven't paid for a game since the 90's when video games were good hurrr durrrr' hipsters.
 
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I have never paid for a game because I don't like games. What am I doing here?

It will be amusing to see the suits having a scanners.gif moment when they finally manage to take down piratebay and people go back to trading discs anyway. B-b-b-b-but our lost sales! Y-y-y-you mean people who only pirate games...only pirate games?

tumblr_lowah6W3MV1qbvx0xo1_500.gif
 

taxalot

I'm a spicy fellow.
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Codex 2013 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
I used to pirate most of my games. Not sure exactly when the shift happened. I started having an income and then noticed Steam sales.

I daresay I still pirate. If buying the game used is the only option to get it, then I often get it for free. Especially in the case of abandonwares that are sold at ludicrous prices on eBay.

There's also the time when it's faster to get a torrent than to find the game case/box hidden somewhere, "I know I have it", collection.
 

DalekFlay

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When I lived in Eastern Europe pretty much everyone I knew there pirated everything. Shit, the stores sell burned pirated copies.

Personally I only "pirate" games that aren't for sale digitally. I don't buy boxes anymore, ever.
 

Destroid

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I used to pirate nearly everything when I was younger and had no money for games. These days I've gone full legit, although it was never an intentional decision to do so.
 

Machocruz

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Hyperborea
Only recently have I started pirating games, because of my current financial situation. But only for demo purposes. I used to be able to buy every game I wanted, but now I have to make a decision on one every few months, and pirating allows me to make the best choice.
 

Rake

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Oct 11, 2012
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I pirate games i can't find DRM free or i'm not sure i will like them.
If i like them i buy them. If not, i won't finish the game. I just uninstall at 5-6 hours max.
 

sea

inXile Entertainment
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I still (occasionally) pirate games for demo purposes, but I buy anything that I end up enjoying and playing more than, say, 10-15% of. A lot of the time it's games I would never have bought to begin with.
 

Multi-headed Cow

Guest
I don't know anyone. I just sit in front of my PC in the nude all day looking at Steam and RPG Codex. In the time before then, the dark times, when I actually interacted with people I did know one guy who only pirated shit. Spent all his money building the hottest computer he could and pirated absolutely everything. He was an oddity though, most only pirated some stuff and bought the majority.
 

BLOBERT

FUCKING SLAYINGN IT BROS
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BROS WHEN I WAS YOUNER I GOT LIE FOUR OR FIVE OXES FULL OF FLOOPPYS FOR C64 GAMES I BOUGHT A FEW BUT HAD MORE THAN ENOUGH TO PLAY

IVE TORRENTED A FEW GAMES BUT WITH STEAM AND ESPECIALLY INDIES BUNFLE STUFF I HAVE SO MANY GAMES FOR LESS THAN ONE DOLLAR EACH AND NOT ENOUGH TIME TO PLAY TEHEM
 
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piracy is my right.
demos are a fraud: who wouldn't have bought fahrenheit after trying its demo? they're not "demonstrations" anymore, they're just advertising. the darkness 2 was pathetic with its "the scenes you're seeing in this demo may not be contained in the full game". fuck you then, why the hell are you even putting them here?
magazines are totally unrealiable, they're so dependant on exclusives and advertising that they turned into more advertising themselves, every other month we see a new "best gaem evah" which is actually just a shittier version of the shit shat the previous month.
i can trust only my own eyes.

edit:
i forgot to add: obviously i *love* to buy games which deserve to be bought. just staring at the very box recalls fond memories.
damn, i own stalker soc both on steam and deluxe edition with that adorable tin box, because that was money well spent.
 
Last edited:

Zboj Lamignat

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Messages
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In before the 'I haven't paid for a game since the 90's when video games were good hurrr durrrr' hipsters.
I haven't paid for a retail game since the 90's when video games were good, didn't know that makes me a hipster though. Well, technically it's the 2002, the year when NWN was released. D1P of that turd made me go all "fuck that shit". I do have boxed copies of vast majority of games I deem great before that year and I'm quite proud of that. And I do have (or had, because I threw/sold/gave away the majority) quite a lot of original copies of games released after that, but that's because I've a way of obtaining them for free, didn't even unpack most of them.
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Yes, I know a guy who never bought a game in his life. He owns two legal copies of games though, but both were birthday presents.
I also pirate 90% of my games but occasionally buy them if I like them. He never buys anything, though. Neither games, nor movies, nor music, he just pirates everything.
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Also, the new era of digital distribution has made me pirate more rather than less because I've always been a guy who preferred his physical copies, and if there's no physical copy I will most likely pirate the game because I don't see a reason why I should pay for a download. I don't even get a DVD with the game on it and a tiny 4-page manual, it's weird to pay for just the data... it's the same as using a torrent only you have to pay for it.
 

Declinator

Arbiter
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Apr 1, 2013
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Also, the new era of digital distribution has made me pirate more rather than less because I've always been a guy who preferred his physical copies, and if there's no physical copy I will most likely pirate the game because I don't see a reason why I should pay for a download. I don't even get a DVD with the game on it and a tiny 4-page manual, it's weird to pay for just the data... it's the same as using a torrent only you have to pay for it.

And a physical copy is just the same as a torrent except that now I have a box/DVD case to store somewhere...

Digital copies were/are a relief and a convenience. I basically never updated my games before Steam unless there were major bugs.

Also, it's nice to have a games library that I do not have to physically move not to even mention the (physical) space that is now free.

Good riddance to physical copies. Only good thing about them is that I do not have to wait for the game to download.

I buy only games that are either promising, a sequel to a good game, or something that I have played and judged worthy.

I do not buy them to "support the developers" or anything like that. I do not care if the money is not going to the developers. I cannot muster hope for future products from the same developer.
I just buy them to have them at hand when I want to play them again and to not have to even consider the possibility of viruses or the possibility of not having the latest/best version of the game.

I do not harbour any delusions about piracy being "my right" or it being justifiable in any way. I do not feel ill will because of false advertising.

I just don't care that I'm in the wrong.
 

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