Video Game (PC) Piracy...

[SilentRipper]

I'm not going to sit here and type preachery about video game piracy. I am not going to lie and say I haven't played a pirated video game for the PC. But I think it goes a little too far when I have this conversation with my friend:

Loomster 4: we stole 2 CZ cd keys tonight
Loomster 4: going tommorrow to get another one
Loomster 4: and maybe some unreal 2k4 cd keys
SilentBlade820: for what?
Loomster 4: condition zero
SilentBlade820: just suck it up and buy the freakin game when it comes out
Loomster 4: it is out
SilentBlade820: too much piracy is wrong
SilentBlade820: well then buy it
Loomster 4: its not piracy when you steal it from the stores
SilentBlade820: yes it is
Loomster 4: and i don't have to buy it because devin will steal me one tomorrow
SilentBlade820: you're cheating someone out of online play who has legitimatly bought the game
Loomster 4: i don't care
SilentBlade820: and you, who hasn't paid for the game to begin with, is playing online for free
Loomster 4: the way it should be
Loomster 4: ok im going to go play some pandora tomorrow
(which he illegally downloaded)

Is this piracy gone too far? This is the reason for Starforce 3. STARFORCE 3!

[Mug Funky]

that guy is a twit.

but telling him he's a twit probably wont sway him... although fear of getting caught by the infamous "software police" might scare him into line :)

if conscience doesn't get people into shape, fear will :D

i think that's why we have police, as they certainly aren't much use for actually catching criminals, but they do a superb job of keeping people from drifting ~5km/h over the limit.

(omg, this thread is so OT)

[jimmy basushi]

so your friend stealing from the shop? tell the boss about it.

[dani82]

that's not really piracy, just stealing (some what), if you're going to start something, might as well go all the way

if you're dump enough to buy a game that has been tamper with, you deserve to screwed; but will the store sell a game that has been tamper with?

it's only too far, when 1 of you starts to care

this is piracy: http://www.gamepro.com/gamepro/domestic/games/news/34228.shtml

[wmansir]

Loomster 4: its not piracy when you steal it from the stores

Well, he has a point. :D

But if he is using his stolen CDKEY on a downloaded/copied game then it is both.

[Doom9]

this is piracy: http://www.gamepro.com/gamepro/dome...ews/34228.shtmlHehe.. so Mac users are dirty pirates, too.
Although I wished that they'd find a better way for copy protection. I actually found myself downloading a game that was cracked, then buying the actual game in a store, but using the cracked one to play in order to not have the CD in the drive all the time. Considering how easy it is to get no CD patches from gamescopyworld, I find that all those copy protection mechanisms are just screwing the legit customer. Okay, it might prevent the clueless from making a copy for their friends, but it really takes no wizardry to find a way to get your legit copy working with requiring the CD, and many times there are also instructions on how to make a copy and get it working that you can find somewhere on the net.

[Pyscrow]

Deleted by Pyscrow, as have coped a strike and been informed in another thread such talk is a breach of rule 6.

[SilentRipper]

While yes, stealing a cd-key from a store isn't piracy, it's stealing, it's a for a game he illegally downloaded. Plus, they probably opened the box from the bottom, and the average computer gamer doesn't check the entire box (I do). I suppose it would help to mention that he has almost every game by a major company (Activision, EA Games, etc.) that has come out for the last year and a half. Didn't pay a cent for any of them besides the $5/month for the Newsgroups subscription. He gets any released game before almost anyone else because he has dump-site access. This is a kid who downloaded Worms 3D a year before it came out.

In the end, I'm not complaining about what he is doing, becuase I'm usually end up using these games, most of which I wouldn't want to buy because they aren't that great. The point I was trying to get across is that he was stealing a CD-Key for a game that he illegally downloaded in the first place when he could just buy it, seeing as how he gets $20/biweekly (I think) allowance.

[Joe Fenton]

If he's downloading that many games, he's paying a LOT more than $5 / month for his newsgroup. $5 / month gets you maybe 7 to 8 GBytes max at current newsgroup sub rates (I just got through checking for myself as my ISP dropped binary groups).

Getting games or apps off the net is very risky. Quite a few have viruses or trojan horses. I don't bother to risk it... it's better to just try the official demo, then buy the thing if you like it.

[SoonUDie]

While your friend is definately doing something wrong, I have to place a bit of the blame on the game companies. Their distribution model hasn't changed at all, and if they're not willing to deal with piracy seriously then things like this are going to happen.

[r6d2]

I'm under the understanding that Steam, Valve's online distribution platform, is attempting to solve the game piracy issue. Retail boxes don't need to be available anymore.

You will not be able to steal a key, unless you get into someone else's computer after he bought the software and before he activates the key.

That could mean a reduction on game price, but let's see what Valve's decision is on the subject.

[Soulhunter]

Originally posted by r6d2
I'm under the understanding that Steem, Valve's online distribution platform, is attempting to solve the game piracy issue. Retail boxes don't need to be available anymore. Wait... Does this mean I had to download the full game then ???

Pah !!! How long would it take to download todays 4GB games with my old 56k modem... :sly:

Even with a "modern" DSL connection, it wouldn't be a joy... :o

Maybe faster connections will come, but bigger games also !!!

So, I dont like this idear... :rolleyes:


Bye

[r6d2]

Originally posted by Soulhunter
Wait... Does this mean I had to download the full game then ???Well, not according to this page (http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=features), but I don't know how they manage to do it.

But these guys are clever. If they say they can, it is likely they actually do it.

[Soulhunter]

EASY AND FAST ACCESS TO GAMES
After installing Steam, you'll have instant access to Valve's full library of games. And when you choose one to play, you don't have to wait for the whole thing to download -- you can start playing in a matter of minutes.Ok, maybe transmitting the data while playing would work for a simple chess game... :rolleyes:

But for modern "photo-realistic" fps games of these days ???

Think about the transmission volume... :eek:

IMHO no connection (on this world) could "realtime-download" all the required data fast enough !!!

We would need closely a GB/s connection for this... :o

Maybe thus steam is just what the name says... :D

Or is my understanding of this stuff simply wrong ???

Maybe... ;)


Bye

[Neo Neko]

Originally posted by Soulhunter
Wait... Does this mean I had to download the full game then ???

Yes and no. I hav a version of Halflife GOTY eddition I bought back in 1999/2000. I had not played Halflife or counterstrike in a year or two. But I recently got the urge for a bit more counterstrike saturday. So I installed halflife and proceded to try to update HL and install CS. The old utilities no longer work needless to say. In order to get the latest versions you have to dl and install steam. Unfortunatly it can only be downloaded from that god forsaken fileplanet. Someone should shut that place down. But enough about that. After I finally got steam downloaded It installed rather smooth. The next hurdle was activation and registering an email address. Upon entering login and email information it said I would be recieving a confirmation email in just a few minutes to activate it. Exactly 1440 minutes later the email came. [Needless to say by that time I was fairly steamed and ready to remove the steaming POS from my system.] Once the email addy was confirmed things really took off though. It detected my halflife install with CS 1.5. And moved all the files to a new location. Once everything was set up starting a game from steam either updated the game quickly or downloaded and instaled the mod. And I must say I am kinda liking it. Also my old HL cdkey was imported and associated with the account. So I am all set. and all for free. Steam is much quicker to update the system than the old sierra auto update utility. [It was a POS even back in the day.] And once you download/install Steam it saves you from having to go to file planet so much as well. Which is great.

[i]Originally posted by Soulhunter
Pah !!! How long would it take to download todays 4GB games with my old 56k modem... :sly:

It would take quite a while. But that is not exactly what steam is for IIRC. It uses the HL engine as a base. So all it has to do is download additional content. Drastically reducing the amount to downalod. Day of defeat for instance was about 40Mb to download. Which it did and installed in less than 6 minutes. All by itself. Not bad at all.

[r6d2]

Sort of similar experience here. I'm a fan of HL and have all the retail games and mods. Steam detected them all and only downloaded patches and stuff, really transparent. I don't know how much of what I have now will be useful when HL2 is available for download, but the promise keeps.

I have never had problems with FilePlanet. I downloaded the smallest Steam build and that was enough.

[Soulhunter]

Originally posted by Neo Neko
It uses the HL engine as a base. So all it has to do is download additional content. Drastically reducing the amount to downalod. Day of defeat for instance was about 40Mb to download. Which it did and installed in less than 6 minutes. All by itself. Not bad at all. Ok, for mod's of existing (installed) games it seems to work nicely... ;)

But we talked about full games here... So, no more retail ones !!!


Btw, good to hear Im not the only guy who hates fileplanet... :D

Also big Half Life fan... Cant await Half Life ² !!!


Bye

[Neo Neko]

Originally posted by r6d2
I have never had problems with FilePlanet. I downloaded the smallest Steam build and that was enough.

:OT:
1. If you don't subscribe you have to often wait 20 minutes or more for even a small file to download. [inexcusable with the option of free systems like bittorrent]

2. If the browser crashes or the OS crashes for any reason you have to go back to the end of the line for another 20+ minutes.

3. The system is very un-intutitive.

4. It is poorly coded and has usability issues with browsers that are not IE.

5. Files are not distributed uniformly. [Ie some of the public servers listed may not contain the files advertised]

6. Unless games are your life a subscription is worthless.

7. etc.

Seriously. Someone should set up a system where all the popular files are handled by bittorrent with the few odd rarely accessed files stashed on an ftp or two. Assuming someone could break the near monopoly fileplanet has on hosting game mods and extra content [IE more stuff can only unfortunatly be found there than anywhere else] they could blow fileplanet out of the water. And all without charging a subscrition fee. So you could have.....

1. A free system with no wait to start downloading.

2. Easy to resume downloads.

3. More intuitive interface.

4. Simpler system compatable with even lynx.

5. Less broken links with an easier to manage system.

[r6d2]

Originally posted by Neo Neko
6. Unless games are your life a subscription is worthless.I think your above stament pretty much condenses all the well specified quirks the system has. And I completely buy your Bittorrent suggestion.

However, FilePlanet has still made my life easier. When I'm in a gaming mood I get into 10 queues or so, and using GetRight and a little patience I end up beginning all downloads. You have to uncheck "Clickboard and Click monitoring" in GR, and select "Download with GetRight" from the right button menu. It only works this way with IE, though.

You can even enter several queues for the same file and have GetRight do a segmented downloading, all setup by default.

Since I generally leave my PC encoding overnight, I have everything on my disk the day after. For big files, two or three. I've found that I can download much more demos and games than spare time I have to play, so I just burn them to a CD and play them in the following weeks. :)

As you say, I'd not susbcribe just to have the waiting time reduced either.

The point about your BT model is... There is no money on it, so I doubt anyone would get critical mass of users to provide a good service. The model of course works, in theory, but as you say, a bunch of life-gamers is required to support it. If is was that easy, it would be a reality by now. I doubt nobody has thought of that yet. And it's a pity.

Anyway, if you'd like to start the crusade I volunteer immediately.

[Neo Neko]

Originally posted by r6d2
It only works this way with IE, though.

So in other words it does not really work. :p I would have no use for getright outside fileplanet. Therefore getting getright is no better than subscribing to fileplanet for me. Sure I know where free coppies are. But I just have no real need. Especially when I get decent speeds off fileplanet on the off chance the download starts.

Originally posted by r6d2
The point about your BT model is... There is no money on it, so I doubt anyone would get critical mass of users to provide a good service.

Only to the untrained eye. There are still things like banner ads etc. And there are plenty of other possible services they have never explorerd I am sure. There would still be money to be made. Since you would use mostly the users bandwidth the site would cost you drastically less to run. Enough so that getting by on banner ad clickthroughs alone is easily possible.

[avih]

Originally posted by Neo Neko
..Only to the untrained eye...

lol, good one :)

[r6d2]

Originally posted by Neo Neko
Only to the untrained eye. There are still things like banner ads etc. And there are plenty of other possible services they have never explorerd I am sure.Well, I guess I need some training then. :D:D:D

But you did not pickup the glove, did you? :)

[Neo Neko]

Well with how often I play games on my PC [very little] and how often I have to deal with fileplanet [even less] it just is not one of those gauntlets I am likely to pick up any time soon. I have other concernes going which I am much more capable to handle and offer better returns. But that is all I can say atm. ;)