Hi Ho
I am currently working on my Bachelor thesis "Content piracy - reasons & consequences". Therefore, I hope that many ppl will help me by filling out the poll:
The Poll is finally closed. Kudos to all who participated!
Stranger in the Night
Poll on Piracy
Hi Ho
I am currently working on my Bachelor thesis "Content piracy - reasons & consequences". Therefore, I hope that many ppl will help me by filling out the poll:
The Poll is finally closed. Kudos to all who participated!
Last edited by Tosnic; 13th-April-2013 at 08:29.
Above the Rest
- How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?
My NES stopped working, it was the pink screen problem. And I posted about it on a forum, some people said to just start emulating, I hadnt heard of that before, but one guy I didnt like was trolling about it being like drawing the Mona Lisa on a brickwall, so I figured I might as well give it a shot. Im very glad I did because having access to all these old games that cost more than new games for free was so cool. I started getting more into the history of games and finding out more about games I never got to play or heard about when I was young.
- What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
Dreamcast and newer, my computer cant run them.
- What is your justification for pirating?
I cant afford to buy them at stores and I dont have a new console so I cant access stuff on the virtual console or other similar services.
- What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?
This site, coolroms, sometimes piratebay if my internet is bad and I keep getting disconnected.
- Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?
Never been caught.
- To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)
none, i even use torrents or download from streaming sites to get movies and music. I used to buy from used stores anyway mostly so its all the same, I just keep my money.
- What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?
Have everything be free in the first place.
- What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
They cant afford or dont want to buy the game itself, or they can get a patched version of a game that wasnt released in their country with an official translation.
- What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
IDK
- Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
Most publishers just use it as an excuse to not sell a certain type of game. They dont want to release things a little cheaper or realize that certain games have to be marketed a different way than theyre used to.
- Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)
No, wish I could be and make bullet hell shooters and RPGs.
- Are you an active member of the cracker scene?
No, but Iwish someone could crack the Vita or Spyro 3's antipiracy software.
- Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
I leech a lot, I should upload some games though, maybe Zeiram Zone.
- Your age?
23
- Your gender?
M
- Which country do you reside in?
USA
- To which social group do you account yourself?
None, I really dont fit into any group and I have a ton of interests from gaming to anime to some music to underground horror films.
STOP THE MADDENESS, STOP BUYING SPORTS GAMES!
Pufftop Prince,Starfy!
I started last year. I can't afford to buy all the games I want to play, and the price of games(60+) is sometimes ridiculous. I feel the same way about music, I think the cost of cd's should come down, especially when you can download a song for 99 cents.Originally Posted by Tosnic
The Gamecube, PS2 that generation of consoles, no I won't emulate.
I feel it's ok if the system is outdated. Who is it hurting really? The game companies make enough money off of us already.
Filehosts usually, I don't know to torrent yet.
No, i haven't. But my family worries that I will get caught.
No. I don't like apple.
Bring down the cost of games and music. Maybe the game companies could quit being dicks about piracy too.
Cost of games, I don't know. Some probably do because they can.
I don't know.
I don't think piracy harms industry. They make billions a year, so what's a few games?
No.
No.
I haven't contributed anything yet.
Early thirties, enough said.
Female
USA
I don't know, I guess gamer. I don't know.
Super Moderator
- How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?
My little brother came home one day and told me a friend showed him. Funy thing is, I had no interest in playing games i did not own for quite a while afterward.
- What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
Newer software, except for Wii. I grab those titles as soon as they hit the shelves.
- What is your justification for pirating?
I do buy games; quite often actually, but only games that I very highly support or games that I would feel proud to have resting on my shelf.
- What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?
File hosts almost exclusively. If I can't find the game, which is incredibly uncommon, I look to my P2P tpions.
- Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?
Never. During my Dorm-days, I broke bandwidth quota EVERY week. I was never inspected.
- To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)
Again, I purchase software, music and videos that I feel deserve my money. Lately I have been listening to only free music made by hobbyists. If we're talking about Steam, I only buy a game if there is a chance that I can co-op with someone on EP.
- What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?
Nothing can be done. There will always be a way as long as electronics and technology is readily available. Crackers use their educations to break AP, and education is the highest regarded possession of all. How do you take that from us?
- What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
Carelessness. As broke as someone may be, including myself, you can afford to reimburse the people that make you happy.
- What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
Proprietary controllers.
- Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
Once a company goes under, you'll never see another title from them. ou can imagine that only the most popular games are pirated to the point that it could cripple the company, which in turn kills the future release of the titles you love so much.
- Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)
Huge fan. I run custom software on every console I own, mostly music composition.
- Are you an active member of the cracker scene?
Nope, my coding skills are too poor.
- Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
I upload more than I download, but never anything that you couldn't download anywhere else.
- Your age?
23 in a few weeks.
- Your gender?
M
- Which country do you reside in?
USA
- To which social group do you account yourself?
The anti-social group?
I most often converse with electronic engineers and software developers of the Undergraduate level.
Bounce Bounce Bounce
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.
However that being said, if you read between the lines you'll get my anwers. Except the last few which you have no damned right to ask. In my own opinion this thread should be fucking closed. You've done this before. How long have you and how long are you going to be writing this thing?
Commodore 64 user
How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?
Can't get old games for the Sega Master System & Commodore 64 anymore so I started using emulators. The Sega games look better on PC than the Sega Analogue signal out & you can only get digital signal receiving TVs where I live which I needed a new TV not that long ago so yeah it won't work on it anymore (I could try it on my VCR/DVD recorder combo which is plugged through the AV might work)
What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
Anything where I have don't to go looking for BIOS and other plug-ins, just because I can't be bothered looking for them & getting them to work
What is your justification for pirating?
Games are expensive where I live, every new & a lot of old games are over $100 (normally $109 or $118) & our currency is worth about the same if not more than the US so there's no reason for the games to be that expensive. Also the physical copies of the games are also made here so it's not a shipping problem.
What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?
This site & others that I can't remember the names of.
Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?
Nope, I also use IP hiders so that helps me from not getting caught.
To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)
I use iTunes rarely now cause they put up the prices of the songs, now they're more like $2.39 (no justification for this price if most songs in the US is $0.99) per song compared to the $1.29 they were a couple years ago. But I will buy a song if it's $1.29 cause some still are, but if it's more then I'll just download it for free. I use buy stuff from PSN but now they're more expensive than buying at a store & you have to pay for data in my county (e.g $128 game at 10GB for me would cost $137.90 with the data price at $0.99 per GB which is what I've got) & Internet obviously ain't cheap here because of rip off ISP's. I can't wait for Kim Dotcom to do that ultra fast free broadband (hopefully it's works). I do buy from Steam that stores all good.
What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?
Making things a quarter of the price they are now, getting rid of dlc, DRM & all other forms copy protection cause you don't it need if people can afford it plus trying it for free isn't so bad if you like it & going to end up buying it.
Also remove all forms of region protection will definitely help because I want to get a 3DS but I also want to buy games from Japan, US etc because quite a number of games don't come here.
What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
Region Protection, Price, can't get the game/software anymore & there's probably more but I just can't think of it at the moment.
What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
I don't think there is any, everything can be hacked pretty much & you can just Google how to do it if you don't know how to remove the copy protection of certain things.
Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
It's just an excuse like what williamjones said & also they make Billions anyway so no damage done really not too many people do it.
Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)
No
Are you an active member of the cracker scene?
No
Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
I do have things to contribute, I just can't put the Commodore 64 & the Sega Master System games that this site doesn't have on here because I don't have any of the things to do that. So I just download from here.
Your age?
21
Your gender?
Male
Which country do you reside in?
New Zealand
To which social group do you account yourself?
none really I don't talk to people online much I use too but then they changed & trolls started coming in to the conversations. In real life I talk to guy's & girls from work & just talk about games, cars & other random stuff.
Last edited by dman100percent; 28th-January-2013 at 03:24.
Member
• How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?
Well, a few years ago, I visited my friend's house. I saw him playing some game on his computer. At first I dismissed it as another game for PC. However when I saw that it was Mario Golf (GBC), complete with early graphics and all, I was astonished. He then explained that it was an emulator, a program that you can use to play games from any consoles. Suffice to say, I was hooked.
• What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
I only pirate games that come from my childhood. Of course, I also try games that never made it into my childhood. As far as my computer and my internet connection can handle it, nothing's too hot.
• What is your justification for pirating?
There are no longer physical copies of the games I want. I also no longer have the required console to play it.
• What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?
Mainly this site. I used to use Romulation, until they disabled the DS downloads.
• Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?
Never, and I hope it stays for the rest of eternity.
• To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)
I never use any legal download shops, mainly because back then, I was too young to even have a bank account. Also, I don't really like wasting money.
• What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?
Make old games more available, lower the price of games, no region lock.
• What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
They can't/won't afford games that are too expensive or no longer available.
• What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
I know a few games that have an anti-piracy setting, such as Gyakuten Kenji 2 and Professor Layton and the Last Specter.
• Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
Piracy lowers the sales of games, and in return, producers would have less faith on releasing new games. No new games means more consumer dissatisfaction, and more piracy. Eventually, there would be no more new games, and a second crash would happen.
• Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)
Nope.
• Are you an active member of the cracker scene?
Nope.
• Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
Call me a parasite, but what can I do?
• Your age?
I'm gonna be 19 on June 2013.
• Your gender?
Male
• Which country do you reside in?
I was born in Indonesia, but I moved to Taiwan in 2012 to continue my study.
• To which social group do you account yourself?
Dunno. Maybe gamers.
Seek and Destroy
•How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?
- My house got robbed just weeks before Xmas "07" and all my PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube games/systems got stollen. I decided then that I was going to fill that void one way or another.
•What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
- Anything that might harm my comp
•What is your justification for pirating?
- I'm broke, the companies are rich, this world is corrupt, and it's about time the little guy gets his. Also, see 1st answer
•What would have to change to make most people stop pirating
- More reasonable rates.
•What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
- Because they can
•What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
- Downloadabe content available only with a valid copy. If no ones already said that...I know, I'm brilliant
•Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
- False
•Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
- I upload some great comments...
•Your age?
- 35
•Your gender?
- M
•Which country do you reside in?
- US
•To which social group do you account yourself?
- Marxism-Leninism
Try to appreciate those who live during your own life time, because we'll all be dead soon enough.
Member
- How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?
Well I grew up lower class and I never had much money growing up, I saved all my money from birthday/Xmas and bought a computer in my teens and thought, I'm going to get as much out of this bit as I can, enjoyed all the same things emulating that I could with a regular old system. ( That's the gist of it.)
- What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
I really only emulate Sony/Nintendo, anything else I won't.
- What is your justification for pirating?
Hmm, I believe in " Try before you buy " So many times I've spent $60 on a sucky title just to get ripped off on the trade in, getting 25-30 bucks. If you like the game so much... Support it and buy it. I buy lots of stuff, I do buy more than I dont, I probably buy around 65% of the games/movies I download.
- What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?
I use the hell out of torrents for stuff like PC games/movies, and filehosters also for games like nds/ps2/ps1
Torrents: 60%
Filehosting: 40%
- Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?
I've never been caught, I usually stay to older content, stuff that's been out for a few months.
- To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)
I use Eshop on the 3DS quite often, Xbox360 marketplace probably a little too often. When it comes to music, I use Spotify Premium, so it's a monthly charge, I feel I pay a fair price for the music I have.
- What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?
My personal beliefs are this.. Piracy will probably never stop as long as we have freedom, the world is changing fast whether anyone likes it or not, and as more people get money hungry more and more people want to join the cause to punish greedy companies by uploading software.
- What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
Money. Rebellion maybe.
- What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
I don't really have a honest answer, every developer has their pros and cons. It's just a matter of time, in most cases.. Depending on how serious the devs take piracy. It's all about the same to me. Now to elaborate even further, regular users who don't know what is going on behind the scene, the boys on the hacking scene would have more of an answer than regular users would because they are the ones having to deal with those complications.
- Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
It's more of a battle for money. Sure piracy may reduce the profits by a tad, but look at it this way, who do you think makes those titles as popular as they are, the people like us who run the internet. We are the ones who review games.. Our reviews go out to those who have never even heard of it and boom that company has another buyer or pirate. In most cases people believe in the same as I, mainly uploaders, try before you buy, if you like it support it.
- Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)
Yes, I love homebrew, if it was taken away.. I wouldn't know what to do without it. ( Not really but I like it alot.)
- Are you an active member of the cracker scene?
No, I like to say I tried to learn some but truth is, it's alot more complicated than most people think, they take for granted the hard work that goes into piracy.
- Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
There is more to contributing than just uploading and leeching, if your apart of a community then you always give back, whether it's seeding or just troubleshooting. As I said, there is alot more to uploading than people think, and it's hard for many people to get into that having a life on the other side aswell.
- Your age?
I'm 21 years old.
- Your gender?
Male.
- Which country do you reside in?
USA
- To which social group do you account yourself?
I account myself to no ONE social group, I have many hobbies and have many different types of interests, hang out/ talk to different types of people.
Don't forget the THANKS button on your way out!
Baawwwkk!! Bawk bawk!!
- How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?
When I first resideded in Alaska with my Mom, I was bored and saw VBA, a Game Boy Emulator so I tried one and got hooked up playing.
- What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
The latest games/emulators that demand high spec requirements, or anything that the hardware can't handle is one.
- What is your justification for pirating?
I rarely buy games but if the game I want is available on the internet, I go ahead.
- What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?
Before, I use torrent to pirate PS2 games. Today, I am more on Filehostings. (Torrent = 40%, Filehost = 60%)
- Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?
Never had, never will. They just don't care.
- To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)
Unless the game is only available on that certain download shop.
- What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?
Either lower the prices or make it free and avoid the use of region locking, this is what make people stop buying games and import.
- What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
Money. All of the money we earned is sometimes go through our everyday needs.
- What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
Everyone has their own ways of making their games copy-protected, like DVD movies for one.
- Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
Once a game has been pirated/leaked all over the net and the company sales will be a downfall, so to prevent that from happening they will release a game that is only available to users but not on the pirates. If that certain game was pirated, there will be various consequences to the user who downloaded it (for example: serial number required before installing, etc). It's more like "they win some, they lose some".
- Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)
No.
- Are you an active member of the cracker scene?
No.
- Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
I'm more on leeching but not to the extent.
- Your age?
24
- Your gender?
Female
- Which country do you reside in?
USA
- To which social group do you account yourself?
The Anti-Social?
Wandering game dude
How i became a pirate
Well there's always a good reason for everything so i'll just sum up everything ive been doing for the past 2 years or so.
For a long period of time longer than i know ive always had dreams of playing games especially ones ive been interested due to a commercial or a personal recommendation from a friend but i knew due to my financial status i would have to wait or never get it at all.
Eventually one day sometime in high school i was bored on wikipedia and somehow found my way to Project64's article this intrigued me however i had no idea what i was getting myself into so i dismissed it for years.
It wasn't until somehow someway im not even sure how but i managed to get back on the subject of Project64 again sometime in senior year and then i realized i had a laptop of my own so why not try this stuff out.
After all the prepartion and anxiety i found myself playing games like Killer Instinct Gold and Smash Bros 64 on my laptop and i was stunned for life.
This quickly lead to obsession where i would rather rip then buy games sorry guys i luv you i do but a gamer has to do what he has to do!
Eventually i got myself into other consoles, eventually leading to learning how to play burned copies on my PS2, eventually leading to learning how to hack my wii, eventually leading to learning to play homebrew emulators, eventually leading to playing backup copies of gamecube and wii games.
Was it worth it? Thinking back on it i imagine how much money i'd have to spend on everything i got and pretending its over $500 then hell yes it was worth it.
In general im more glad im a pirate but there are disadvantages like not having CD art or the covers and of course you have to go around the bush just to play it that is pretty annoying.
But yep im comfortable with my captains hat and shiny hook to grab anything more i seek that is delicious for my pirating tastes. XD that was weird.
Layin down enjoying the fun unleashing the power of the sun and capturing them all until I'm done.
Toothless Pony
for my reason/excuse (don't feel like going through all the questions and you can look at my profile for what personal information, if any, i'm gonna share with a "random anon")
reason: can't afford/find the games at the stores or the store just never have remotely close to the selection sites such as EP has (kinda obvious on that part) and its typically hard for me to find any "good" game anywhere these days so i stick with the older ones.
excuse: similar to above except its more about finding older games. how often can you find snes/genesis gen or older games in stores nowadays? or for that matter ps2 games?
off-topic but i kinda wish EP had skype on the contact part of the profile as thats about all i use in that regard outside of in-game chat and on other websites.
Member
I pirate lots of things (movies, tv shows, games, etc), but I usually stick to stuff that's not available for legal purchase or if it is, it's been out long enough that they've pretty much made all the money they're going to off it. That said, let's be honest here: piracy is here to stay. Everybody does it at one time or another and the Copyright Nazis are delusional if they think they can stop it at this point. Fortunately, after the failure of SOPA, PIPA and ACTA, I think they've finally realized this and I've noticed that they seem to be backing off a bit. My current policy, then, is to support those companies who seem not to care about piracy (or if they do, they're fair about it) by still purchasing their products legitimately for the most part. However, if a company stubbornly refuses to allow people to share their stuff, even if there is no legit release (Viacom, I'm looking at YOU), to them I say yo ho ho and shiver me timbers.
Registered to participate
How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?
Discovered Mp3s way back then, with a modem and a searchengine in the internet that leaded to napster...and the story continues 15 years on.
What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
Guess P2P got to hot for me, since you can get everything the save way with one-click-hoster, if not I ignore that product.
What is your justification for pirating?
Can't feel any shame on stealing thoughts.
What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?
6 years ago only p2p, since then one-click-hoster like rapidshare
Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?
nope
To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)
at most some old games from gog.com but I never done that.
What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?
More 1984!
What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
Living, sharing, being creative, consuming at low cost...
What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
Ignorance
Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
Bullshit
Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)
nope
Are you an active member of the cracker scene?
no
Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
bloody leecher, but hail to all the great uploaders out there
Your age?
28
Your gender?
male
Which country do you reside in?
germany
To which social group do you account yourself?
unemployed
Last edited by lali_puna; 30th-January-2013 at 20:49.
Tired of this world
- How did you become a pirate? What is your story from the beginning?
Well. I'm brazilian and every single person here already bought a pirate dvd or game. Well, I used to buy pirate games for two reasons:
- Original games were far too expensive (and they still are… some games are about 1/ 4 of the minimum wage).
- I could find way more interesting titles on sale on pirate shops.
But that was always material things, I only began pirating through internet when I realized I didn't need to pay $10 on a pirate game when I could pay $1 on a cd/dvd and burn it myself. As well, I thought that I could have games I couldn't find anywhere here, nor pirate or original.
So, I guess I always used pirate content and stuff, it is in the culture here (lol, it is). I began sharing content last year, here on the forums, when Megaupload came down.
After seeing that the forum was empty on stuff and I download so much content from here, I felt like I needed to help other people who, like me, wanted games and couldn't find them or couldn't buy them. I NEEDED to help as those who helped me.
So I began sharing games, but I stopped that when it became a responsability that I couldn't really take.
Today I only share things that someone specially request me and I don't guarantee the reuploading the thing after it is deleted.
- What are your limits when it comes to piracy? What stuff/means are too hot for you?
Well, I have no problem sharing. I think that, well, if you can't afford it, well... this is the way you can have it. I don't have in mind right now a thing I wouldn't share. I just have in mind that if I know the person who wants something and I know he/she can really afford that thing with no problem at all, they should support it and buy it. That's it, besides that I don't have anything in mind.
- What is your justification for pirating?
People need things. It is so hard for you to have and pay for it all. I pirate the things I can't afford at all and I really want. People want things, you know, and they will find a way to have it. But I have in mind that if I have the money to have an original copy without interfering with things I REALLY REALLY NEED, I will do something to buy it.
Besides that, many stuff are sold limited to a country or a group of people. I have no problem with pirating those. If they don't wanna sell it, I'll pirate it.
- What means of download do you use? E.g. bittorrent/Filehosters/FTP/etc. If you use several: to what percentage each?
I guess I use them all, lol:.
I normally tend to use torrent, cause they're faster and what I can't find with them, I download on the other ways. But as I look for many "rare" things, I guess I use 50% to filehosters and 50% on torrent.
- Have you ever been caught by lawmen/publishers? What was your penalty and how did it affect you?
No..
- To what extent do you use legal download shops? (e.g. iTunes)
I use sites like Amazon (actually, I use a local site here, but it is... like... the same thing).
- What would have to change to make most people stop pirating?
Some people pirate cause they don’t have the money to afford the thing they want. So this is one thing that would have to change.
Besides that, there are people who can afford it but prefer not to because they “don’t have to”. So I guess you would have to change people’s financial situation and some people’s doutrine.
And… that won’t happen, sorry.
Oh, and some pirate things that they can’t easily buy original.
- What do you think: What is the reason for most people to pirate?
I can’t tell for the others, but my guess is that most people living in this world are poor and they can’t afford things, so they pirate them. And that is a simple thought. There are social reasons besides that, if you ask me, like “everyone watched/played this, I don’t have money to it and I can’t have more money for it and I need to fit in” and worst things too…
- What is the best-working copy protection in your opinion?
I don’t know, I guess you can pirate everything that is not material. There are those who can encrypt and those who will decrypt… so I don’t know.
- Please give a statement on this quote: "piracy harms industry and in return harms users."
I like to support things if I can…
But industry could, instead of trying to make their products less accessible, change their mind and make different versions of their products that would reach the most people.
I mean, industry’s reaction is suicidal. They could think on better ways to make money and minimize piracy.
- Are you an active member of the homebrew scene? (legal)
No.
- Are you an active member of the cracker scene?
I’m not a cracker, but I use cracked products.
- Do you contribute to this community (=uploading) or just leeching (=downloading)?
Read above.
- Your age?
20.
- Your gender?
Male.
- Which country do you reside in?
Read above.
- To which social group do you account yourself?
I don’t think I fit anywhere, lol. I come and go when I feel like needed.
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