Piracy is still a very controversial topic, regarding both legality and ethics - Pirating videogames, in particular, seems to light up very violent and hateful reactions since videogames, unlike films (that make profit trough cinema sales) and music (artists make profit with concerts and live performances), need to hit a certain number to survive, when it comes to sales.
Personally, I like to buy my videogames, and it has to be a physical copy - I don't buy digital versions (call me old fashioned) - If there is a game without a physical copy available (this happens a lot with older PC games) I will pirate. I will also pirate any game to test it before buying. If a game is immensely expensive when it is released, I will pirate it if I really want to play it.
My question is - Why so much hate towards videogame pirates? I certainly don't feel superior, I don't even feel like I'm having the most appropriate ethical behaviour when I download a torrent - But I didn't expect to see comments in forums saying "Pirates should be hanged because they are the reason PC ports suck nowadays!". - Many people have different reasons to pirate videogames, it's true that some will openly admit they only pirate because they can do it and get away with it, but those are simply a minority. Many people pirate because they can't afford the game, because the game is banned on their country or because they can't find a copy anywhere, some people don't understand the necessity of being forced to create a steam account just to buy a game. I've been noticing this because I've been discussing PC gaming in some forums and most people seem to hate pirates, in some websites being a pirate or simply a suspicion that you are a pirate is enough to ban you - Luckily not all are like that.
Other than some older games, I usually buy most of my games and I've done that most of my life, because I can but I acknowledge not everyone has the same financial stability as me.
What are everyone's thoughts on this?
What legal status do you think piracy should have regarding videogames specifically? Should it get you jailtime? A fine? Should downloading a torrent be legal but not uploading (like in my country - Downloading a torrent is not illegal per se)?
By the way, this is specifically directed towards PC gaming since it seems to suffer the most when it comes to piracy and it is far easier than pirating a console game - But of course consoles suffer too specially considering PS4/Xbox One games are more expensive than PC ones and tend to get progressively more expensive every generation of videogames. I remember PS2 games costed on average 60/70€, PS3 games costed 70€/80€ and I guess PS4 games probably cost more.
Personally, I like to buy my videogames, and it has to be a physical copy - I don't buy digital versions (call me old fashioned) - If there is a game without a physical copy available (this happens a lot with older PC games) I will pirate. I will also pirate any game to test it before buying. If a game is immensely expensive when it is released, I will pirate it if I really want to play it.
My question is - Why so much hate towards videogame pirates? I certainly don't feel superior, I don't even feel like I'm having the most appropriate ethical behaviour when I download a torrent - But I didn't expect to see comments in forums saying "Pirates should be hanged because they are the reason PC ports suck nowadays!". - Many people have different reasons to pirate videogames, it's true that some will openly admit they only pirate because they can do it and get away with it, but those are simply a minority. Many people pirate because they can't afford the game, because the game is banned on their country or because they can't find a copy anywhere, some people don't understand the necessity of being forced to create a steam account just to buy a game. I've been noticing this because I've been discussing PC gaming in some forums and most people seem to hate pirates, in some websites being a pirate or simply a suspicion that you are a pirate is enough to ban you - Luckily not all are like that.
Other than some older games, I usually buy most of my games and I've done that most of my life, because I can but I acknowledge not everyone has the same financial stability as me.
What are everyone's thoughts on this?
What legal status do you think piracy should have regarding videogames specifically? Should it get you jailtime? A fine? Should downloading a torrent be legal but not uploading (like in my country - Downloading a torrent is not illegal per se)?
By the way, this is specifically directed towards PC gaming since it seems to suffer the most when it comes to piracy and it is far easier than pirating a console game - But of course consoles suffer too specially considering PS4/Xbox One games are more expensive than PC ones and tend to get progressively more expensive every generation of videogames. I remember PS2 games costed on average 60/70€, PS3 games costed 70€/80€ and I guess PS4 games probably cost more.
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you
