I'd have done that too, except you seem to already know most of the problem.

So, basically, your position is: "You either agree with me, or you're just being mean"?

Or are you just allegic to any kind of discussion of your arguments in general?

Let this be my final comment for you specifically;

Copyright isn't a law to break... it's an expanded  (both in scope and in value) principle of Intellectual property enforced by many different courts of Justice worldwide and interpreted in such a way that owners of patented *PRODUCTS* can either profit from their unique innovations or prevent anyone from plagiarizing it. Copyrights aren't free - they are bought.

These inventors sell it to manufacturers who THEN make supplemental profits or recuperate what it cost to produce the invention(s) in order to distribute it for consumers to buy.

Now Piracy of games; Software is engineered and fabricated from parts & MANY copyrights; example -- C++ is a code (invented) that allows people to create innovation & as a result, products to sell. Since they purchased a license to use the programming language.

Not only are you stealing from the corporation (or living breathing people, btw) who coded the softwares but also from the industrial infrastructure of hardwares without which such Copyrights wouldn't even exist.

I give up on anybody else who can't understand such rational thoughts.

Damn guys... This thread has turned into an epic train wreck. 

It's always an epic train wreck when reality and viewpoints conflict.

But no you are all just armchair idealists talking about how the perfect world would be...
While you're trying to destroy it, cowardly enough to hide behind a proxy to download illegal copies of products. Imperfect as the world may seem, honesty is more about how you behave than think.

You forgot to add and live happily after.  If we all are idealists, we're not gonna change anything.  Companies should adapt to the times. The game industry is just a click behind the music industry is stubborness to change a business model that was great when it was conceived in the 1960s but it's not anymore. Adapt, or dissapear.

So, advocating criminal acts gets you an overwhelmingly negative response? Well fancy that.

Also, have you considered that just maybe people call pirates selfish little twats with an entitlement complex because that's true? Just a thought.

I've seen many of these piracy threads over the years and they all go exactly the same way.

The reality is you cannot have any kind of rational discussion with people who have either no conscience, or are unable to accept responsibility for their actions. So I choose not to take part.

For me, I would be happy to see server side authentication. It would have no impact on me, but would put an end to these debates. I can't see a downside at all.

To the right 100,000 copies of Demigod trying to log on a site to play a game they didn't pay for.

To the left 14,000 legally registered and PURCHASED valid copies.

That's from two weeks ago, only. It's tilting, as we speak. Guess to which side.

In three months... in theory... 500,000 to the right & 20,000 left.

Who's losing money? Com'on, dare say it. (Smartass response such as "Nobody's" excluded)

What should be done to balance the next financially feasible (Mecher3k's;Easy, don't make a sucky game) title for predictable sales?

1) Invalidate (as in self-destruct the pirated programs installed) each and every 100,000 illegal copies above (and anything afterwards). Trace the PCs (It's VERY easy, btw) where these are located, send the police, storm the place, arrest & put them in jails for theft. It's armed robbery and the weapon is a MODEM connected to the web.

2) Or, stop making games.

They have a decision to take. But, if i'd be one of the 14,000... i'd still need a server to play what i paid for. (Refer to Fuzzy Logic's solution above, in fact)

a--) and accessibility to servers, and jobs.

b--) Myopic enough to keep this train on tracks? Or sufficient to defend common sense and personal honesty?

You want to help stop piracy?  Here's what each ONE of you can do seperately.  I did this about 7 years ago:  Had a good friend who's son, age 13 then, pirated games.  I refused to play ANY of the games his son pirated (even with his dad, my friend), and I ended up termenating my friendship with him because he kept excuseing his son's stealing (he's just a kid; it's just a game; it does not hurt anyone, ect).  I finally just called his son a theif, and I never heard from him again (although his wife did call me, trying to get us to "make up", but even she said "he's just a kid")  Most everyone may know a pirate; maybe even a good friend or family member.  You've got to make a stand; you've got to call them on their stealing; you can't just ignore it.  If someone you know pirated this game, DON'T play it with them no matter what, anymore than you would watch a show on a stolen TV, or be a passenger in a stolen car.

Oh, and I saw my ex-friends wife at a grocery store last year; seems the "kid" got in trouble for shop lifting when he was 17. Also got in trouble at school for cheating a lot.  She told me she wished she had not taken her son's "just pirating games" so lightly back then.  Boy, did I want to yell "I TOLD YOU SO", but I just nodded. . .

Piracy does none of that. Fallout 3 anyone? SoSE, and on and on. And I will say no one loses money, why? Because once again a pirated copy is NOT A lost sale. How many times must it be said?

Yep, that's the end result of piracy that these fucktards can't see coming. Games where part of the program is kept server side so the game literally cannot function without a validated connection live at all times, even for single player games.

Mecher3k

A pirated copy is not *necessarily* a lost sale, but enough of them are to be a major problem. You continuing to parrot idiocy does not make it true. One wonders how true this would be for the admitted pirates in the topic: how many of the pirated-but-not-bought games would they actually have purchased had piracy not been an option? They say none, but we can't test that in any meaningful manner, and the word of a thief (sorry, "copyright violator") is oh-so-trustworthy.

tommyth3cat

Sorry for the oversight, allow me to add that to the list of things I've called you.

It's not your disagreement with me or anyone else here making you a criminal (or civil law violator, depending on where you are and exactly how you got your pirated copies), it's your admission of pirating games that is doing that. Assuming your current country of residence is a signatory to the Berne Convention, your laws contain funtionally similar versions of US copyright laws. Those laws, however they are listed in your country, do indeed make piracy of software illegal. Opinions don't really come into play.

What do I need to prove?

It's fairly obvious: Stealing is getting something without paying for it. That's like asking a store to prove that computer somebody smuggled out of a store woithout paying for is really stolen. You're defying the basic definition of theft. How can I answer such an absurdity??

Have you heard of OnLive? It is the future of gaming if we can't bring piracy down to minimal levels.

To be blunt: In OnLive, the game is 100% server side so there is nothing on your computer to copy. Your computer sends the server the actions, and the server sends back video. That's it.

That could be the future of gaming if idiots like you continue to support piracy. Whether you think it's theft or not is irrelevant.