Poll on Piracy

[lordrand11]

Hi Ho
I am currently working on my Bachelor thesis "Content piracy - reasons & consequences".
This is supposed to be less of a classic poll, but rather everyone telling their "pirate stories". You may want to use the quote function or copy-paste to put your answers below the respective questions. You could also PM me your answers if you dont want them published.
Suggested subjects are:

• How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?

• What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?

• What is your justification for pirating?

• What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?

• Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?

• To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)

• What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?

• What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?

• What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?

• Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."

• Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)

• Are you an active member of the cracker scene?

• Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?

• Your age?

• Your gender?

• Which country do you reside in?

• To which social group do you account yourself?

Thank you all for participating.

I got started back in the day on emulation. Even worked on building my own emulator (didn't turn out well at all and I scrapped it way back when) I don't really consider myself a pirate.

I only use downloading games that have been released as a means of demoing them (the only exception to this is the emulated copies of games that are no longer available which I have owned and have proof of having owned them before)

See above statement

I use bittorrent, emulation sites, iso sites and the like

Never, I have been contacted before but have gotten myself out of due to a deep understanding of US Copyright Law

I use the legitimate shops constantly to download non-pirated games, my most recent purchase was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD on XBLA, Papo &Yo on PSN, and Nano Assault Neo on the Wii U EShop (for full retail titles I normally buy the discs, I use Steam as well for my PC purchases)

The highest issue I have ever ran into is availability, "piracy" got it's start in the early to mid '90s from games not being fully available to all consumers and as such resulted in what we have today. High distribution is a must as well!

Disinterest and financial availability. If people had the money I believe most of them would buy, and if people had the ability to demo games (lots of games don't have demos nowadays still )

Best working copy protection would be continual release and support for these games that go on market. Nintendo does have some of the highest piracy on any of their given consoles but they also give the most support for theirs usually assisting in people's willingness to buy those games.

Piracy harms no one. You can't equate every copy being pirated with individual sales. If you want to see a shining example of how piracy helped a game look at Minecraft. Had a good bit of the people who wound up buying it not been able to "try it out" (and let's be honest the free-creative demo just didn't give you all it should have) I don't think it would have sold as well as it did. I'm one of those examples, I bootlegged a copy of it tried it and loved it so much that I wound up not only buying the PC version but the Xbox 360 version as well

Yes I am an avid fan and active member of the homebrew scene, it gives me the chance to try other people's works on these consoles that otherwise would be unavailable (also see my Minecraft point.)

Not the cracking scene, No.

I seed and leech on torrents constantly (I am also signed up to one of those websites where you have a ratio you have to keep for your seeding/leeching)

I am 27

I am male

USA

social group! who needs those! Mostly a good bit of close friends!

[gamerdude21]

How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?

I started pirating games in general just to try them out before buying. I quickly figured out that most games were not worth buying.


What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?

Anything I can get for free, I do.


What is your justification for pirating?

Lack of quality, increasingly intrusive DRMs, always online, etc. Or could be as simple as I can't afford it, but that usually using the case.

What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?

I've been using bittorrent more recently due to the crackdown on filehosting servers, which lead to better seeded torrents for things like PS2 ISOs. 75% torrents, 25% file hosters.


Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?

Its next to impossible to get caught if you are smart about it, and use all the tools at your disposal to remain anonymous. And that is only assuming if your ISP cares.


To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)

The way I look at it is if I gotta download it, then I pay as well pirate it.


What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?

Nothing, pirates will always be there.


What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?

Most people can't afford to buy them.


What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?

Always online DRM. Etc, Diablo III.


Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."

It sounds like Industry justifying their increasingly intrusive DRMs on the users because of piracy. When in fact their retaliatory attempts only effect the people who buy and play these games legally.


Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)

Not really


Are you an active member of the cracker scene?

I definitely make use of them.


Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?

If I had better upload speed, I'd upload, but unfortunately uploads are 1/10th of my download speed.


Your age?

Older than 21


Your gender?

Male


Which country do you reside in?

USA, although I'm using a Canadian VPN.

The ultimate argument is why should I care about their digital rights, when they don't care about my consumer rights?

[Tosnic]

For anyone how has not participated: Here is the more comfortable version of my poll, which replaces the old one:
http://www.haw-aw.de/umfragen/inhalte_piraterie/en/

[badog1000]

How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?

I was orphaned at age 9 in the year of our lord 1662. I met a handsome young man who offered me work scrubbing decks. After a couple of years I began to think that maybe something was amiss. I began training early on with a cutlass but had no idea what was intended. It was new and exciting at the time and didn't give it much though. At age 13 I ran a man through for the first time, a young dapper British officer. We stole their supplies and made a pretty penny from that. Ever since I've been a full fledged pirate.

What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
Nothing. Rum. Slaves. Weapons. It's all for the taking.


What is your justification for pirating?
Because I can.

What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?
We use a small clipper ship - the S.S. Bonafide.

Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?
Never. We're so good we've never been tracked much less caught.

To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)
What does legal mean?

What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?
Affordability. Stop ripping off people with crazy rum prices.

What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
It's easy, fun and free. Nothing like running a man through with a sword on a brisk autumn morning.

What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
6-pound cannons. They tear up your ship like nothing else.

Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
Absolutely not! We stimulate business at port with our offloaded merchandise at affordable prices. Especially the smarmy wenches. They're worth their weight in gold. Arrrrr.

Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)
No, one-legged Sam runs our rum making endeavours.

Are you an active member of the cracker scene?
No but our Captains Parrot enjoys crackers. Her name is Shaniqua by the way.

Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
I sometimes handle the winch and both load and unload from time to time.

Your age?
I died at 47 years of age from suspected kidney failure. Probably all that rum. I've haunted a small port for the last few hundred years.

Your gender?
Hermaphrodite. Kept the crew entertained for hours and hours...

Which country do you reside in?
Paraguay.

To which social group do you account yourself?
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

YES. Just yes.

How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?

Things are expensive. That is a problem when you don't have money. But what if, say, you could watch a movie or play a game for FREE?!? Then, you can have things AND no money. Wow! If only there was some magical place I could go to make this dream a reality...
SUDDENLY: THE INTERNET.
I found out about emulators and bittorrents through a friend in junior college, and I pirate things maybe once every few months since.

What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?

I'm scared to pirate software by Adobe, such as photoshop. They can find you, man; track you down. They'll take your first-born as payment for their program.

What is your justification for pirating?

At the back of my mind I know that if I love the media enough and want to support the creator(s) I'll go and buy it. Plus if I already own it I just want a digital copy of it- I'm pretty sure it's not even pirating...

Ever been caught?

---I’ve never been caught- but I did get a hilarious letter from my internet service provider stating that I violated the copyright of the guy who owns the rights to the Avatar the Last Airbender series and I would get my internet service cut off if I downloaded illegally two more times.

What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?

Something like a 50% arrest/fine rate for all pirates. But that would never happen...

[Einherjar]

Firstoff, english isnt my native language, so please excuse some grammatical errors

How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?
Back in the day, when the Internet was still quite a new thing over here i did a bit of research about games i like and found out, that quite a lot of series entries (Legend of Mana at that time) were not released around here. Online auction houses / shops werent that established si getting my hands on these titles was extremely hard and expensive if not downright impossible. It was then that i found out about console modding and emulators. Another factor besides availability was the price. At young age, getting games was pretty hard, so being able to get new games for naught was pretty attractive.

What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
There are no "technical limits" to speak of. At this day and age and with the help of the internet its: "if i want it, i get it". Now that im older, have a job and earning my own money i limit myself to games / software that is out of my reach both financialy and in terms of availability. If i cant get it by no means, say, importing or used, then i consider pirating.

What is your justification for pirating?
Mainly availability and price. Lates example would be "Panzer Dragoon Saga" on the Sega Saturn. If i want to get a legal copy, id have to pay up to 500€ for a used copy if i get lucky enough, and i cant afford it by no means. When it comes to newer stuff, i generally dont pirate anything. But if a developer tries shady stuff like overpriced On-Disc DLC oder Pre-Order stuff that i cant get because im not willing to pay full price "out of the blue" at / before release, i try to get my hands on that stuff in another way.

What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?
For older stuff maynly this site. I occasionally use bittorrent, but mostly to get stuff like subbed anime series or the like.

Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?
Ive never been caught, but dependig on the penalty, i dont think that it would change much.

To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)
If i can afford it and its reasonable priced, legal download shops are my first stop. I also use them quite often (e.g. Nintendos eShops, XBL Marketplace, PSN Store)

What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?
Like i said many times before: Pricing and avaiability. Longer shelf life for current games, more complete online librarys for older games and stuff like DLC rip-offs must stop, so people can get their hands on the FULL game even years after release. I i cant afford it at release, i might not care about the game at all later, since i cant get it with full content.

What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
Mostly the prices. Games tend to get more pricey every time and trying to keep up with some series can get quite expensive.

What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
That i cant really say. From a technical standpoint, there is always a way around it. But giving your customers the respect they deserve, a reasonable price and a well made box can go a long way if you ask me. Most publishers only care about how to prevent piracy instead of giiving it no reason at all. If a game is well priced, maybe has a nice booklet (with concept art etc) and stop using pre order shenanigans to pressure your customers (buy it NOW for full price, or youll never get that content) quite a lot more people would buy instead of pirate the game

Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
This statement is true. Its an endless circle. Games cost money, they get pirated because few people can afford them, the developer gets less money, games increase in price, they get pirated...
But someone has to break that circle. Since its clear, that the customers cant afford the price, its stupid to ask them to pay even more. Cut the prices, get more people t o buy them for less and still make more money than before. 1 person might buy a game for 60, but three would buy it for 30 to simplify it.

Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)
No, im not.

Are you an active member of the cracker scene?
No, also not.

Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
Everything ive got is already on here, so at the moment, im just leaching

Your age?
24

Your gender?
Male

Which country do you reside in?
Germany

To which social group do you account yourself?
I guess the "gamer crowd"