Attitudes to game piracy.

Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
I keep a small group of "students" in captivity at a secret location within Stafford - it's all part of a long-term "Lord of the Flies"-type anthropology experiment. However, one of the current inmates has come up with a survey to ascertain electronic game-players' attitudes to the practice of piracy.

If you're one of these unfortunate "game-player" people, then please tick a few boxes for him at some point - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1kv0HHYV_3Bo9OKV7K0Lmudsp3FyEdpSgOuC3eKtRo3k/viewform .
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Done, not too sure how qualitative the data will be though. Games piracy on consoles is a different beast to the PC, so questions would be different.
 
Noah

Noah

Well-Known Forumite
Given him some answers because I know what it is like for students trying to get survey answers for projects. Don't think I'm a very useful subject though, largely gave up game playing when they introduced interactive pictures instead of text. (You are in a large room, to the west is a door, there is a well in the middle of the room ...)
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Was there a character limit on the comments box? Its tiny but allowed me to write a fair bit in.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
No idea - I'll ask him..

..response - "Nah there wasn't any limit, it just looked small thats all."
 
MoD1982

MoD1982

Active Member
I wouldn't call myself an unfortunate gamer-type, I proudly suffer with my hobby :) It might even become a career for me at some point, but I have taken the time to answer this questionnaire for your buddy.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
I should add that I used to be a rather avid games pirate, back in the Amiga days and early PC. In fact I cracked several games myself, but things were a lot easier pre-internet! I'd say until the age of maybe 22 I was still pirating things, although a lot less than the old days as I now had a proper job etc.

What changed it for me was, effectively, laziness. Why mess around with cracks and patches etc. when steam could do it all for you? Don't get me wrong, I hated steam in its infancy, but now I simply wont buy a game unless it is on steam. Knowing I can wipe my PC and simply log into steam and get all my games back is far more beneficial than saving a few quid. Most games have demos now, and as I play more indie titles than anything else anyway the prices are very reasonable. I buy nearly every humble bundle, even if I'm not sure I'll play them, simply because its worth $5 to encourage these developers to make more games that I might play. This is actually reverse piracy, I am paying for games I wont play!

My main piracy nowadays is TV episodes, again through laziness. I can't be bothered to set the tivo to record something when I can download it easier and then watch it on any device I choose. The idea of schedules is a joke, just give me what I want when I say so. When a system comes about that is easier than piracy yet still delivers the goods then TV piracy will also fall, but rights are a complicated issue and nobody wants to give up on the archaic system they currently use because they are scared their revenues will fall.
 
Goldilox

Goldilox

How do I edit this?
Done.

Whilst I do occasionally stick a borrowed CD onto my mp3 player (something I'd equate with making a cassette of one back in the day), being a musician who wishes to make money from my art, and someone with friends in the games industry as a rule I don't make illegal downloads of anything. No one is forcing you to play the game, or watch the TV show, so if you want to enjoy it you should be willing to pay for the blood, sweat and tears that went into making it.

Either you wish to enjoy something and pay for it, or you don't pay and live without it. That's the choice.
 
Darren

Darren

Well-Known Forumite
I have pirated a few games in the past but not for a long time, in fact i stopped because i had a mate who pirated a £5 pinball game and he got caught and fined over £1000, I do like tek-monkey pirate tv shows usually ones that would be on Sky Atlantic because you dont get that chanel on Virgin, i have also filled in the survey.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
I'm pretty sure I pay for access to most programmes I download, god knows my internet and TV bill is around £50! I just don't actually use the main TV very often, when I want to watch stuff its usually in bed so piracy is much more convenient than being chained to the one device.
 
Jonah

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
I've filled it in but hit the "enter" button before completing what I wanted to say in the comment box.

I've never pirated a game. I can't see myself ever pirating a game because I'm too lazy to arse around with torrents and I prefer to have the disk and packaging.

Games are expensive but good ones, like Grand a Theft Auto 5, give me hours and hours and hours of game time. I spent 200+ hours on GTA San Andreas and I've already spent over 50 hours on GTA5 so the £40 cost of the game is money well spent. Actually GTA5 cost me nothing as I got it in a PS3 bundle but it would have been £40 well spent if I had actually bought it.
 
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