Report Why do you pirate games?

Poll started by INtense! with 7,085 votes and 335 comments. Browse the poll archive.

 28%

(2007 votes)I don't, I buy them!

 36%

(2553 votes)To try them, but I usually buy if they are good

 4%

(289 votes)It is easier to pirate than to buy

 20%

(1394 votes)They cost too much

 6%

(438 votes)Because I can

 6%

(404 votes)To avoid DRM

Post comment Comments  (0 - 50 of 335)
INtense! Creator
INtense!

Hearing a few stories from newly released indies that are seeing plenty of players but few sales, so clearly their game's piracy rate is high.

Really sad to pirate indie games, let alone anything - but I understand that everyone has their reasons, so I wanted to find out what is yours. I hope you were honest as to why you pirate games, so that we can help indie developers better optimize their conversion rate, as it is a hard to make a living and future game with high piracy.

Reply Good karma+44 votes
INtense! Creator
INtense!

I've also kicked off a news post with a few more of my thoughts on the subject: Moddb.com

Reply Good karma+3 votes
Lucífer
Lucífer

Pirating an Indie game is no different from pirating a... a... Hmm...

See what I mean?

Answer: Supply a decent demo.

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Self_Esteem_Fund
Self_Esteem_Fund

Agreed. I don't support pirating, but I won't claim to have never done so. I pirate only when a demo is not provided and when I get a feel for it I either buy the game or delete the pirated copy. Pirating Indie games however is not acceptable for several reasons: 1)Indie games are not supported by production companies and make all their money directly from sales that are already minimal to large scale games. 2)Pirating an Indie game may make profit so low or discourage the developer to such an extent that future games might not be a possibility. Every time you buy a product is a vote, and every time you steal a product you are making it less available in the future even if it deserves your vote.

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they.call.me.ruffi
they.call.me.ruffi

Exactly, most demos our over before you even play.

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robinerd
robinerd

I totally agree. To me, pirating is an alternative when there is no decent demo. I always buy a good game to support the devs.

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sgtteris
sgtteris

Definitely agree here. People shouldn't pirate indie games. Thats just wrong.

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Fxor
Fxor

I'd just like to note how many people have checked this out. It's quite amazing that it attract everyone because of the word "pirate", don't you think?

A sensitive topic though as I can see! :P

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robinerd
robinerd

Yeah, piracy sure is a hot topic, indie developers really depend on their first game. If the game sells, they can afford to make a new game.
I I like a game, I always buy it to support the developers. Else is greedy and selfish.

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MrMattWebb
MrMattWebb

(buried)

Pirating ANY game is "wrong," not just indie's.

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wolfprophet
wolfprophet

You do realize some games simply aren't worth money? And It's definitely true that some games, like Spore as the given example, will totally **** up your machine. Spore, I admit I pirated. Glad I did too, not only would a legit copy have screwed my machine, but it wasn't really that great of a game anyways. It became long, boring and tedious when you get to the age of interstellar travel and it was over simplified and really not all that entertaining after the first...oh...'bout 50 hours of messing around with it sounds about right.

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GreyNightmare
GreyNightmare

50 Hours? I'm sure that's your money's worth.

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sbseed
sbseed

spore never shipped with drm btw, it was added with the first expansion i believe... glad i was done playing it at that point.

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Slayer_2
Slayer_2

ONLY 50 hours?! God, most modern FPS games have campaigns 10 times shorter than that, and people fork out 70 bucks for them. You need to reconsider what is a "small" amount of time spent on a game, in my opinion.

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Luka_Grunt
Luka_Grunt

Well people most buy FPS games in this century mostly for multi-player component of the game...

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vocaloid9299
vocaloid9299

True, but if you didn't enjoy those hours it still wasn't worth the money.The reason you'd actually keep playing, however, is just to see if it really was worth it in the end. I occasionally borrow books from the town library, which are usually bad, but I keep reading until the end just to see if the ending's any better. It usually isn't though.

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juicytoot
juicytoot

(buried)

i dont pirate cause im rich

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marksman52
marksman52

lol

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Scr00ge
Scr00ge

maybe u buy the gaming company and give all games 4 free then!

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Spiffy664
Spiffy664

I pirate games for their single player, and buy them for their multiplayer. I made the mistake of spending money on fallout new vegas, just not my cup of tea. I'm a total ego shooter player, UT3, CSS, CoD, etc. I have no qualms with piracy and wish people donated food and shelter tokens (moneysss) to their favorite game developers, movie makers, actors, and musicians in return for giving them honest entertainment. We simply don't live in a world like that.

I would never pirate an indy game, all the major indies either have a pretty good demo, a previous mod version to try, or something. Especially when you cant get a square meal for the price of some of the great indies out there, there is no real loss.

cost of entertainment is high. a Movie runs you $10-$15 for 2 hours of entertainment (and too many movies suck), I know games cost more because of high development costs at AAA studios, but the ratio is spot on: $60-70 for 10 hours of single player entertainment. (granted I've had 1000s of hours of entertainment from cheaper games like CS, which never get old thanks to a strong community and mappers!

If you're poor, just try some of the best mods, they're free and just as fun. Soon the indy sector is gonna be pushing on the "pro" sector to make better games and lower their prices because they'll be losing players and hurt their bottom line.

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Gamingroach
Gamingroach

Personally, I download to try them before I buy them, If the game is bad, I uninstall/delete the game to move on with other things. But for every good game I've tried. I buy a hard copy for legitimate collection (because of this, I have a good collection of games in my media shelf next to my compy).

I never downloaded Indie games before. But I mainly use this method to commercial-grade games. To ensure I never get ripped off over a bad product. Because the first ever bad RTS game I've ever wasted money on was Empire Earth II.

And because of this method, I've saved more money than wasting cash over a terrible game title.

~ Roaches

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Sgt
Sgt

I do it to try, with in the next few days if i like it I buy. the makes deserve money if i like it :)

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Delta_6
Delta_6

They Cost Way Too Much In Indonesia(My Country)
and I never Pirated a Indie Game...Never !!!

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illicitSoul
illicitSoul

Sometimes is good then you can try game even pirated. If you like you buy it, if not then you just uninstall it. That's all.

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macacos2
macacos2

Is this supposed to be a trick poll so you can call the authorities on whoever vote on anything but the first option? :B

I pirate games to avoid abominations like HOMEFRONT, I usually buy them later, taken that there is no demo.

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INtense! Creator
INtense!

of course not

Reply Good karma+12 votes
BigPapaSmurf
BigPapaSmurf

(buried)

Hey now, Homefront was that bad... :/

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Slayer_2
Slayer_2

I'm jealous of you, I pay for every game, and Homefront caused me to waste 60 bucks on the biggest POS I've ever played.

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alexpaladinstorm
alexpaladinstorm

I was at a GameStop somewhat recently... they tried to push that game onto me. I don't tend to play shooters on console, so I expressed my disinterest.

Rather annoying how some retailers try to make the hard sell like that.

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ASBusinessMagnet
ASBusinessMagnet

Then again, who can tell my precise location?

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Vladiskov
Vladiskov

nsa cia fbi, some europe's inteligences, an lunatic from the deep web, fidel castro, chinense spies, your landlord, your bank, the police in vatican city, S.H.I.E.L.D ETC...

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SimplySerenity
SimplySerenity

homefront had a demo though?

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theM3nace
theM3nace

Pirating indie games is a sin. But neglecting to give money to the likes of Boby Kotick is not if you ask me.
If I really see potential in a game and its devs I will DEFINITELY buy it! So yeah, I too want to avoid abominations like Homefront and I'm glad I didn't spend any money on that!

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SIGILL
SIGILL

(buried)

So a game not having indie status justifies stealing? And pirating indie games is a sin only because they are indie? :P And Activision/Blizzard is indie as well by the way ;)

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petemyster
petemyster

What he means is, big companies can take a pirate hit, and some almost half ask for it with the way they put some nasty DRM in it.

But indie companies have small budgets and are trying to make their big break, they have a lot to lose if everyone pirates it. Its not on the same multi-million level as the likes of Activision or EA.

As for the poll question, I don't pirate good games, always buy them. Games that don't realease demos I don't usualy buy, why risk my hard earned money?

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SIGILL
SIGILL

Oh hey I got a negative karma while it wasn't offensive what I said. Here we go again.

Anyway, of course I understand what he means, and I kind of agree that big companies like Activision can take a hit and all that, but piracy = stealing = wrong, period :P In my opinion that is (so no need to downvote this comment as well -_-).

EDIT: Oh and I can 'respect' the choice to pirate, I mean, I won't be a bitch about it if I see someone pirating, but to me it just feels wrong.

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Garyn Dakari
Garyn Dakari

I've +1d all your comments:)

I've never pirated a game either, but I almost never pay full price for them. I usually wait a year or two for the price to go down ;)
(Btw, Portal 2 is on sale at amazon, I just got it!)

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Fahim96
Fahim96

Lol, thats right, I just bought Halo 1 for a couple of bucks at ebay

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Agent_X
Agent_X

the difference is that if I like what I pirated I'll buy it. On the other hand if I buy it and don't like it I can't get my money back. In the end some one is always getting robbed it's either you because you bought it and hate it or them b/c you wanted to try it first.

Personally I think come of these companies ask for it when they pull stuff like crysis 2, silent hunter 5, farcry 2 etc. Hell if they just release a respectable demo they wouldn't have so much piracy.

and for all those saying it's so wrong, do you mind sending some of that money my way. I'm afraid I don't have an infinite supply of cash do waste on crap games that I can't try any other way.

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hagamablabla
hagamablabla

Actually, piracy isn't stealing. It's copying. The only thing you're stealing is $50 from some rich guy's pile of 500 million

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Crispy
Crispy

(buried)

"What he means is, big companies can take a pirate hit, and some almost half ask for it with the way they put some nasty DRM in it."

Big companies take a hit like that by closing studios. Wake up.

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CommanderDG
CommanderDG

no it because they don't listen. Stardock did. And they had sucess on a game having a buget lower than a million dollars. EA is ignoring it customers again and now they are paying for it. And they have terrible customer service when it come to fix the problem their "hacker proof" sofware cause. And I lost all repect for activision cause they ignored PC when it came to release a collector edition for us too. They can go both to hell.

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BunnyJen
BunnyJen

Many UK companies have closed down recently. :(

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wolfprophet
wolfprophet

That's likely because only one good game ever came from the UK. Metal Fatigue. The market is dominated by American, Canadian and Japanese companies.

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Crispy
Crispy

You're obviously not old enough to remember the golden age of games in the UK. Many, many popular games today would be a shadow of themselves or wouldn't even exist without the contributions of UK developers from the 90s.

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Also_known_as_Peter
Also_known_as_Peter

*cough*Fable*cough*

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xilefian
xilefian

Little Big Planet, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider

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lukegoodman
lukegoodman

thats nonsense most good games come from uk or uk devs that moved to US

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SIGILL
SIGILL

Ah would be nice to see how many people actually pirate, because I feel like I'm about the only person on Earth who still BUYS games (or music or movies for that matter).

*Brag mode* I haven't pirated a single game in my whole life.

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BigPapaSmurf
BigPapaSmurf

I buy all my games too, but I can understand people being upset with €/$50-60 games being released.

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CovertChaos
CovertChaos

Being upset at the price is understandable, but that doesn't justify stealing the game, even for a demo. Once you download it, you have stolen it. Since I last checked, stealing is wrong. Piracy is stealing. Thus Piracy is wrong. Q.E.D.

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hagamablabla
hagamablabla

Piracy isn't stealing. It's copying. It's not like only one person can take a torrent from a site.

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Perturabo
Perturabo

"Piracy" isn't stealing as nothing is removed from the inventory. Piracy is copyright infringement.
For some weird reason, some people are so insecure about their anti-piracy that they have to use name of taking away something from someone instead of the name of copying published materials without permission. Maybe it's because they can't prove "wrongness" of unauthorised copying without resorting to lies.
I don't pirate games, but I find such cheap attempts at manipulation cowardly and pathetic.

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ogggrez
ogggrez

Yeah, i buy all of my games/movies/music too, the only thing that ive pirated is Macromedia Flash 8. :P

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mangomango999
mangomango999

Best way to get Macromedia products: Student Edition. If your not still in school ask everyone you know if they still have a kid/adult going back to school in their family. That way you get the legit full edition access to upgrades in the first year. Dreamweaver was way out of my reach until I stumbled onto this.

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