5 ms·

No they don't. I am tired of this feel good nonsense. I pirated games because it was free and I did not want to pay $60. Just make your games a donation model

No they don't. I am tired of this feel good nonsense. I pirated games because it was free and I did not want to pay $60. Just make your games a donation model if you really believe this. Or lets put up a version of Steam where all the games are free cracked copies of the game and see how it affects sales. People pay precisely because they dont want to deal with the hassle pf pirating

stavros 9mo ago
I can pirate games easily, but I buy them on Steam because it's more convenient. If it's too expensive for me, I just never play it (or wait for a deal). I can't be bothered dealing with the installers and the potential viruses and the hassle.
- andoando 9mo ago
  >because it's more convenient Yes, now imagine if we just removed the barrier to piracy completely. An easy to use client just like Steam, except all the games are free cracked copies. There is no way thats not going to drop sales.
  - afiori 9mo ago
    What has been proven many times is that people overwhelmingly choose the least effort/risk option. A free Steam full of certified pirates games with official games updates would obviously drop sales but this is moot as it will never exist.
    - Tarball10 9mo ago
      Isn't that exactly what companies use as justification for DMCA and DRM protection? Without those, you'd have sites full of pirated game downloads easily found through search engines. DMCA takedowns force those sites into shady corners of the internet, making them harder to find and riskier for the average user. And (effective) DRM makes users have to wait for a crack which may take weeks or months. The result is that it's easier for the average person to just log into Steam/Epic/PSN/eShop and spend $60 to play immediately.
      - fc417fc802 9mo ago
        The point is that legal threats keep any centralized platforms that might do vetting small. That probably accounts for the vast majority of the effect. Beyond that the old fashioned "DRM" of a CD key is generally going to be more than sufficient to prevent "acts of convenience". I'm sure there are exceptions but the usual claims take the observation about a minor speed bump and add a bunch of made up BS to justify consumer hostile practices. Notice that there's nothing stopping a centralized darknet platform that vettes torrents from popping up. But as far as I know no one feels like bothering. That should give you some idea just how low the bar is here.
      - t-3 9mo ago
        > you'd have sites full of pirated game downloads easily found through search engines. That's literally the situation today. It is that easy. People still mostly don't pirate games though.
      - afiori 9mo ago
        The reason why publishers like DRM is because it allows them to turn anything into a subscription-lite service plus tracking and advertising.
      - nottorp 9mo ago
        > just log into Steam/Epic/PSN/eShop and spend $60 to play immediately You spend $60 on games? I just add them to my wish list at launch and buy them when they're 30, 20... I have more unplayed games than time anyway.
    - andoando 9mo ago
      It will never happen precisely because of anti piracy measures
- walletdrainer 9mo ago
  I’m fabulously wealthy and still mostly pirate things just because I can’t be bothered dealing with online credit card payments. Half the time I try to sign up for any of these services I get blocked for fraud because I’m in one country, my billing address in another and my bank in a third. Oh, and when something does work, it only works for a while until they lock the whole account with a bunch of paid content on it.
  - IG_Semmelweiss 9mo ago
    That is my experience with Adidas.com. I've not had issues with Steam, though my Steam journey was early into online purchasing adventures
  - weezing 9mo ago
    Which services exactly do that? Because Steam or GOG for sure don't.
    - walletdrainer 9mo ago
      Steam has done that to me many times.
- pfisch 9mo ago
  You really can't though, not if the games have an online component or you want the game to be patched/updated as frequently as it would be on steam. Almost all games these days are basically like a work in progress, so if you pirate them then the game doesn't stay up to date. Pirating games is just really inconvenient compared to tv/movies/music.
  - embedding-shape 9mo ago
    > Almost all games these days are basically like a work in progress, so if you pirate them then the game doesn't stay up to date. Which, as a mod author and consumer, isn't always a bad thing. More than once, I had to drop just enjoying a game, to patch my published mods because some update that is automatically pushed out, and people have to accept in order to even boot a single-player game. Why? I don't know, but it's really annoying sometimes. Besides, nowadays cracking groups release smaller patches too, so while you might not get the update the same hour it was published on Steam, usually within a week or two the same group that uploaded the original release, has released another patch.
nh23423fefe 9mo ago
thieves lie to protect their self-image. i pirated because free games let me spend my money on stuff i couldn't steal like food at the mall. i don't pirate anymore because i have a job now.
- danielbln 9mo ago
  Copyright infringement is not stealing, and it's not a given that a sale would have happened at all - even if the llicit copy was unavailable.
afiori 9mo ago
If someone pirates 100 60$ games it does not mean that had piracy been impossible they would have spent 6000$ on those games
- Tarball10 9mo ago
  They might spend $600 on 10 of those games, though. It's not all-or-nothing.
  - nightski 9mo ago
    They might still spend $600 on 10 more games though. Or spend it on a subset of the games they pirated because they want to support the developer. Who knows.
    - scotty79 9mo ago
      If somebody spends $60 on a game but doesn't play it should they get automatic refund? If the deal is providing entertainment for a price then why the publisher feels entitled to keeping the money if the entertainment didn't happen? That's the basis of most of the Steam's business.

stavros 9mo ago

I can pirate games easily, but I buy them on Steam because it's more convenient. If it's too expensive for me, I just never play it (or wait for a deal). I can't be bothered dealing with the installers and the potential viruses and the hassle.

andoando 9mo ago
>because it's more convenient Yes, now imagine if we just removed the barrier to piracy completely. An easy to use client just like Steam, except all the games are free cracked copies. There is no way thats not going to drop sales.
- afiori 9mo ago
  What has been proven many times is that people overwhelmingly choose the least effort/risk option. A free Steam full of certified pirates games with official games updates would obviously drop sales but this is moot as it will never exist.
  - Tarball10 9mo ago
    Isn't that exactly what companies use as justification for DMCA and DRM protection? Without those, you'd have sites full of pirated game downloads easily found through search engines. DMCA takedowns force those sites into shady corners of the internet, making them harder to find and riskier for the average user. And (effective) DRM makes users have to wait for a crack which may take weeks or months. The result is that it's easier for the average person to just log into Steam/Epic/PSN/eShop and spend $60 to play immediately.
    - fc417fc802 9mo ago
      The point is that legal threats keep any centralized platforms that might do vetting small. That probably accounts for the vast majority of the effect. Beyond that the old fashioned "DRM" of a CD key is generally going to be more than sufficient to prevent "acts of convenience". I'm sure there are exceptions but the usual claims take the observation about a minor speed bump and add a bunch of made up BS to justify consumer hostile practices. Notice that there's nothing stopping a centralized darknet platform that vettes torrents from popping up. But as far as I know no one feels like bothering. That should give you some idea just how low the bar is here.
    - t-3 9mo ago
      > you'd have sites full of pirated game downloads easily found through search engines. That's literally the situation today. It is that easy. People still mostly don't pirate games though.
    - afiori 9mo ago
      The reason why publishers like DRM is because it allows them to turn anything into a subscription-lite service plus tracking and advertising.
    - nottorp 9mo ago
      > just log into Steam/Epic/PSN/eShop and spend $60 to play immediately You spend $60 on games? I just add them to my wish list at launch and buy them when they're 30, 20... I have more unplayed games than time anyway.
  - andoando 9mo ago
    It will never happen precisely because of anti piracy measures
walletdrainer 9mo ago
I’m fabulously wealthy and still mostly pirate things just because I can’t be bothered dealing with online credit card payments. Half the time I try to sign up for any of these services I get blocked for fraud because I’m in one country, my billing address in another and my bank in a third. Oh, and when something does work, it only works for a while until they lock the whole account with a bunch of paid content on it.
- IG_Semmelweiss 9mo ago
  That is my experience with Adidas.com. I've not had issues with Steam, though my Steam journey was early into online purchasing adventures
- weezing 9mo ago
  Which services exactly do that? Because Steam or GOG for sure don't.
  - walletdrainer 9mo ago
    Steam has done that to me many times.
pfisch 9mo ago
You really can't though, not if the games have an online component or you want the game to be patched/updated as frequently as it would be on steam. Almost all games these days are basically like a work in progress, so if you pirate them then the game doesn't stay up to date. Pirating games is just really inconvenient compared to tv/movies/music.
- embedding-shape 9mo ago
  > Almost all games these days are basically like a work in progress, so if you pirate them then the game doesn't stay up to date. Which, as a mod author and consumer, isn't always a bad thing. More than once, I had to drop just enjoying a game, to patch my published mods because some update that is automatically pushed out, and people have to accept in order to even boot a single-player game. Why? I don't know, but it's really annoying sometimes. Besides, nowadays cracking groups release smaller patches too, so while you might not get the update the same hour it was published on Steam, usually within a week or two the same group that uploaded the original release, has released another patch.

nh23423fefe 9mo ago

thieves lie to protect their self-image. i pirated because free games let me spend my money on stuff i couldn't steal like food at the mall. i don't pirate anymore because i have a job now.

danielbln 9mo ago
Copyright infringement is not stealing, and it's not a given that a sale would have happened at all - even if the llicit copy was unavailable.

afiori 9mo ago

If someone pirates 100 60$ games it does not mean that had piracy been impossible they would have spent 6000$ on those games

Tarball10 9mo ago
They might spend $600 on 10 of those games, though. It's not all-or-nothing.
- nightski 9mo ago
  They might still spend $600 on 10 more games though. Or spend it on a subset of the games they pirated because they want to support the developer. Who knows.
  - scotty79 9mo ago
    If somebody spends $60 on a game but doesn't play it should they get automatic refund? If the deal is providing entertainment for a price then why the publisher feels entitled to keeping the money if the entertainment didn't happen? That's the basis of most of the Steam's business.