Positive attitude

[Esett]

About piracy.

Life is to short to waste it on fighting a battle impossible to win.
Don't you think a fully positive attitude would change the world?
There was a guy on this forum who had the game but had problems with the DVD check.
Now there is now way for 2k to help that man despite the fact he bought the game. So why not use the pirate's work for a change. They use your work...
"You got a problem with DVD-checks?"
"NO problem go download this 3rd party program." and voila, problem solved
There are far to many of my friends who will never buy an original game. Because it's easier to download a pirated game. Those gamers will always be unreachable. No matter what you do. So forget about them.
So what you need to do is to sell the game to people who want to buy it. To that extent copy protections are utterly useless.
Waisted money, nothing more. But hey it's 2k's money so....
So could 2k be the first company to actually give us ,the people who buy their games, the respect we deserve and ignore the rest. Piracy is not a problem that will go away, but it won't be solved by copy protections either. If copy protections could have solved the issue, piracy would have been long gone.

It will be solved by only one thing. Making the games so good, that they will motivate all the gamers who are willing and eager to buy games to go buy a copy. There are enough of us otherwise 2k would not exist.

So how about some modern day positivism?

Or better yet

How about some common sense?

[Maria Sunderland]

About piracy.

There are far to many of my friends who will never buy an original game. Because it's easier to download a pirated game.

It's because of people like those that companies and game makers have started to take extreme measures when it comes to piracy. Yes, there will always be a way to pirate them no matter what, but if those people realized that someone won't get paid as much because of them, they may think otherwise?

Let's say you work in a store as a packer by a cash register. Very simple job here. You work your butt off to have every costumer happy, take it when people complain despite your best efforts and good nature. At the end of the week, you get your pay check, but... well you're a few days short. What happened? Oh, well you see, says your boss, people have been stealing too much, so we're loosing money. Pay checks had to be revised.

Stupid you say? Not quite. I worked in a gas station and there was a time when if you got gas stolen during your shift, it came off your pay check. What started to get people to stop was by telling them to cashier was the one being punished because YOU thought gas prices were too high. Sounds illegal? Well it became illegal shortly after I joined, and when someone actually asked to get more cash on his paycheck when his shift wasn't short but over. Anyways, that's not the point.

The point is, making games cost money. They need to pay for the programmers, designers, producers, etc... They have bills to pay, programs to buy: need to stay with your time because it's always moving forward. I agree that those people are probably well paid already. But then, because of piracy, profit sales aren't what they're supposed to be. In fact, they're way below what was expected. What happens then? Well, people loose their jobs, and sometimes companies go bankrupt. You think I'm exaggerating? Not at all. You'd be surprised how many video game companies exist (existed) that you barely heard of because they went bankrupt long before they could be known. Why? Leaks, perhaps, some bad marketing, could be too, but more often then not, it's because of piracy.

That guy who needed the code? Yeah I read what he said, and I have no doubt he's saying the truth. And I'm sure the mods and admins on this forum don't doubt it either. But for him being sincere, there's ten who won't be. If they give a code to HIM, then they should give it to the other 10 who didn't buy the game. Why? Well because there's no concrete proof on either end.

"But some people can't afford the games!", says someone.

Well sorry to be harsh, but tough luck, that's no excuse. Keep your money if you want a game, and if you can't afford it because you need to eat, well maybe you need to think about eating first... and about those who made those games and need to eat too.

There's always ways around protection. Agreed. It didn't stop piracy as a whole. Agreed. But on the other hand, it'll slow it down. There will always be people stupid enough to do it the selfish way. And what happens then?

Well, it's always the same... The good guys end up paying for the bad guys. :/

[Ric]

It's not about piracy. It's about controlling the distribution of a multi-billion dollar industry. They* care as much for the lowly developers and graphic designers as they do for the great un-washed masses who buy the games they publish i.e. they don't really care. Everyone knows DRM doesn't work and is in fact a barrier to gamers; as I have said, it's not about gamers it's about money. As we all know DRM does not work; the logical question is why do publishers persist in using it? Follow the money and it goes straight back to the usual suspects. The games industry is just one section of a wider market that encompasses hardware/software/publishing and retail -- all of it controlled by a handful of companies.



* refers to the market and the corporate types.

[Paladin]

I think Oblivion is a good example which demonstrates that draconic DRM is by no means a necessity. This game has no copy protection (you can even play the game without having the DVD in your drive) and was a commercial success.

I understand that piracy is certainly a problem for game developers and publishers but that doesn't justify to resort to insane DRM mechanisms that restrict legitimate customers in using their game (-> 5 installs per copy).

While many people are fine with this, the commercial success of Bioshock encourages 2k to use even more effective, i.e. more restrictive, technology in order to protect their intellectual property.
What they will probably tell the customers next time is that the copy protection mechanism used in Bioshock isn't up-to date anymore because piracy became an even bigger issue that needs to be tackled with better protection technology.

In my opinion, just as Ric stated, it's not (only) about piracy. What publishers really want is total control over their intellectual rights and thereby, their customers.

[Newbiezilla]

2K published Oblivion.
2K published BioShock.

Oblivion had no DRM.
BioShock has DRM.

Obviously, there is something there. Like perhaps Oblivion was pirated a lot.

[Booze_Hound]

Obviously, there is something there. Like perhaps Oblivion was pirated a lot.

Yes, but Bioshock's also been pirated alot - it has been hacked multiple times.

[Criscokilika]

Is it true that piracy laws don't prtotect old games?

[Newbiezilla]

Yes, but Bioshock's also been pirated alot - it has been hacked multiple times.

Less than it would if DRM wasn't present.

Is it true that piracy laws don't prtotect old games?

There seems to be that common notion, but I think the game would have to be very old indeed for that to be the case. Or the company defunct. Though, don't take my word on it.

[Musedmark]

there once was an avid gamer
who did not agree with the disclaimer
he downloaded the game and with a crack he played
he felt he owned the world

there once was a publisher called 2Q
who figured his game was pewpew
they made it hard to play

Along came a splicer, who sat down besider her
and took the DRM away
3 Years from now the sequal is consol only and fine
But thats cool because i can still whine

[Musedmark]

2q is a fictional company made up in my dreams and in no way refers to any real life organisation by deleting or leaving this thread alone you agree to...

[killersushi]

Let's say you work in a store as a packer by a cash register. Very simple job here. You work your butt off to have every costumer happy, take it when people complain despite your best efforts and good nature. At the end of the week, you get your pay check, but... well you're a few days short. What happened? Oh, well you see, says your boss, people have been stealing too much, so we're loosing money. Pay checks had to be revised.

Stupid you say? Not quite.

Quite. Your boss at the gas station actually paid for the goods that were stolen so he had direct financial damage. Not so the software companies. According to the OP, his pirating friends never buy games (for whatever selfish reason) so 2K didn't actually lose anything, as idiotic as that sounds but such is the digital world.