Online Piracy - In Minecraft and General

[Zatharel]

Online Piracy - In Minecraft and General



What is online piracy?
Online Piracy is illegal copying of copyrighted materials from the Internet.

How is there piracy in Minecraft?
Cracked clients. People create and download cracked clients constantly for the simple reason that they don't to/are unable to buy the game.

Is piracy good or bad?
Piracy is never good, and it never will be good. But, it is somewhat justified for some people.

Why is piracy justified?
I'm not saying that everyone who pirates has a good reason, but some people do.
Here's what I mean by that:
As we all know, Minecraft is a game that needs to be bought. But, some people do not have enough money to buy the game, or they aren't able to pay online. The only thing they are left to do is, download a cracked client of the game.
As I said before, this is not in any way good, but some people can't do anything else, can they?
I'm going to put myself as an example:
I am not able to buy a lot of things online for the simple reason: My country does not have PayPal and other online payment methods. I was very lucky that Minecraft supports cards we have here.
I have also noticed, that a lot of people on various forums tell cracked users to "just get the game'. This bothers me, because people don't realize that the same person they are telling that to is unable to get the game. Yes, there are people who just pirate it because they don't want to pay money, or they want to see if it's good before they buy it, but I'm not talking about those people.
So, next time you see someone talking about a cracked client or a cracked server, don't immediately discriminate them.
On the other hand, there are people who are just lazy. They don't want to buy the game, because they can pirate it. That's not the point of making a game. If let's say, 100 people have the money and are able to buy the game, but instead they download cracked clients, Mojang doesn't get money. Mojang doesn't get money = company slowly falls apart. Company slowly falls apart = no more Minecraft.
There are also people who pirate it just to try it, because if they instantly spend money on something and that something turns out to be something they don't like, then they can't get their money back. This way, they can see if they like it or not, and then decide to buy it or not. This is smart, but, it doesn't justify the fact that what they're doing is illegal.


I did totally not copy paste this off the blog I wrote....what are you talking about?

 

[Srentiln]

I refer you to this:

https://twitter.com/notch/status/157261795139125248

The reasons (that I know of) of why people pirate:

1. The game is not available in their country [yet]
2. They cannot afford it at the current time
3. There is another reason why they cannot purchase it (payment methods, family physically stopping them, etc.)
   
4. There is no demo version of the game
5. The price of the game includes multiplayer services and they only want to play singleplayer

Did I obtain minecraft through means other than purchasing at first? Yes. I grew up in a time where EVERY game had some form of a demo. Whether it was a shareware disk you could buy for about $2 with a friend, something that came on the disk of another game, a store demo kiosk, or something you downloaded, you could ALWAYS find a demo for it. Now, there are very few games that offer a demo. Minecraft's demo version didn't exist until well after it was out of beta. So, I tried the game, I liked it, I bought it. Other games, I've tried them, didn't like them, and deleted them.

From my view point, using it strictly as a try-before-you-buy is no different than borrowing the game from a friend. Additionally, there is software out there (both commercial and free) that you run while you play a game and it records EVERYTHING the game needs the disk for. Even the stuff that is stamped in that can never be burnt. Therefore, you could borrow the game from a friend, run this software, play the game, return the disk, and still be able to play fully.

If game companies truly want to cut down on piracy, they need to at least consider doing the following:

1. Provide players with demos again - I'm not talking about renting a booth at PAX, give the players who don't have the money to go to a convention a chance to try out a game.
2. Quit it with all the Anti-pirate DRM bullshit - I'm talking about the stuff like UBISoft tried where you had to be logged in to their site to play a SINGLEPLAYER game. People want to be able to play their games even when they don't have an internet connection. If they can't do that with a legal copy, they're going to instead choose to pirate a copy where hacking groups have broken the DRM protection (usually within a week or two of the game's release)
3. Offer to buy games back from players who found out they didn't enjoy the game - Currently, the used game market is dominated by ebay and game stores who give players next to nothing for the disk, charge people several times more for the used game than they bough it for, and pocket all the profit. If the developers offered to buy it back for even half cost and sold the used copy for less than new, players who don't have the money to spend on a new copy would have a more affordable option.
4. Offer a singleplayer-only version - Personally, I don't like multiplayer in most games. It's usually filled with either "phr33 stoof pl0x" people or "i am teh 1337" noobs. If players can choose to pay only for singleplayer, they will be more likely to buy instead of pirate.
5. release the game at the same time! - I never understand why there are different release dates for different countries. If the approval process is different lengths for different countries, then plan accordingly!

*steps off soapbox
*smashes soapbox with hammer

 

[Zatharel]

I refer you to this:

https://twitter.com/notch/status/157261795139125248

The reasons (that I know of) of why people pirate:

1. The game is not available in their country [yet]
2. They cannot afford it at the current time
3. There is another reason why they cannot purchase it (payment methods, family physically stopping them, etc.)
   
4. There is no demo version of the game
5. The price of the game includes multiplayer services and they only want to play singleplayer

Did I obtain minecraft through means other than purchasing at first? Yes. I grew up in a time where EVERY game had some form of a demo. Whether it was a shareware disk you could buy for about $2 with a friend, something that came on the disk of another game, a store demo kiosk, or something you downloaded, you could ALWAYS find a demo for it. Now, there are very few games that offer a demo. Minecraft's demo version didn't exist until well after it was out of beta. So, I tried the game, I liked it, I bought it. Other games, I've tried them, didn't like them, and deleted them.

From my view point, using it strictly as a try-before-you-buy is no different than borrowing the game from a friend. Additionally, there is software out there (both commercial and free) that you run while you play a game and it records EVERYTHING the game needs the disk for. Even the stuff that is stamped in that can never be burnt. Therefore, you could borrow the game from a friend, run this software, play the game, return the disk, and still be able to play fully.

If game companies truly want to cut down on piracy, they need to at least consider doing the following:

1. Provide players with demos again - I'm not talking about renting a booth at PAX, give the players who don't have the money to go to a convention a chance to try out a game.
2. Quit it with all the Anti-pirate DRM bullshit - I'm talking about the stuff like UBISoft tried where you had to be logged in to their site to play a SINGLEPLAYER game. People want to be able to play their games even when they don't have an internet connection. If they can't do that with a legal copy, they're going to instead choose to pirate a copy where hacking groups have broken the DRM protection (usually within a week or two of the game's release)
3. Offer to buy games back from players who found out they didn't enjoy the game - Currently, the used game market is dominated by ebay and game stores who give players next to nothing for the disk, charge people several times more for the used game than they bough it for, and pocket all the profit. If the developers offered to buy it back for even half cost and sold the used copy for less than new, players who don't have the money to spend on a new copy would have a more affordable option.
4. Offer a singleplayer-only version - Personally, I don't like multiplayer in most games. It's usually filled with either "phr33 stoof pl0x" people or "i am teh 1337" noobs. If players can choose to pay only for singleplayer, they will be more likely to buy instead of pirate.
5. release the game at the same time! - I never understand why there are different release dates for different countries. If the approval process is different lengths for different countries, then plan accordingly!

*steps off soapbox
*smashes soapbox with hammer

Game companies don't care about people pirating their things as long as it gets popular.
Microsoft doesn't give a f*** about people pirating Windows. Why? Because even tho they aren't getting money, their product is still getting popular WORLDWIDE.
If someone were to make a statistic of how many people that play Minecraft have cracked client, we'd faint.

And seriously, every game should have a demo. I mean, let's say you buy a game that someone said was good, and it turns out to be a cheap buggy game. That's a ripoff. With a demo, you could actually see if you LIKE the game, rather then wasting your money just to TRY IT.

 

[Srentiln]

Actually zath, it depends on the company. If UBISoft didn't care, their DRM attempts would never have happened in the first place. Most indies care, but they are small enough to say "hey, I realize you probably have a reason, but please pay later if you can, M'kay?"

 

[Alpha]

Honestly I've always found having all my games on a unified platform and being able to play with my friends far more appealing than getting the games for free, despite having access to a private tracker and such. I enjoy having a Steam library which will sync itself across any computers I may use, and I love the social aspect of the platform (playing Gmod with friends is undoubtedly one of the best experiences in PC gaming). The same goes for music, I don't pirate it because I enjoy the convenience of having the stuff I buy on Google Play synced to all my numerous android devices. I own the content, and the content comes with me whenever I do anything.

I am not opposed to piracy in most cases, I just prefer to buy games and music because of the unified platform and convenience that comes with actually having the content linked to an account. I only torrent content that I can't afford or will not be able to access normally (films which are age-restricted etc.). I do have ready access to my debit card and PayPal account and for the most part I do pay for my software, apps, games and music (films I either watch online or go to the cinema), so I only pirate when I really feel like I need to.

Obviously Minecraft is different to Steam games because it is not on any one platform (in regards to the PC version). Still, being able to play on premium servers is enough for me.

tl;dr I will continue to buy my games because I like the platforms of Steam and Origin, which both have their high and low points. I can totally understand why people would pirate, and I am fine with that.