If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing

[Dark Lucifer]

No, seriously, I don't understand why video games company being so fucking greedy
If company want to be disrespectful, then we can do this piracy

 

[Krazy Kat]

No, seriously, I don't understand why video games company being so fucking greedy
If company want to be disrespectful, then we can do this piracy

long live captain oraa

i'm searching a news about nintendo/sony sued someone in china with piracy, i don't find any so i guess china is powerfull than nintendo thus can mass produce retro emulator based on nintendo / sony model

look at ayaneo it similar to psvita thus capable running nintendo switch

 

[DunkeyKong]

Pirate enjoyer

 

[Krazy Kat]

feel betrayed do ya?
i feel that too on 2014 when sony and xbox used it pricing to play online with the game i already bought

when in steam i don't get any charges to play it online

 

[RageBurner]

No, seriously, I don't understand why video games company being so fucking greedy
If company want to be disrespectful, then we can do this piracy

Wisdom, right here.

 

[Dark Lucifer]

Wisdom, right here.

Wisdom?

 

[RageBurner]

Wisdom?

Yeah, what you said is wise, makes sense.

 

[Dark Lucifer]

Yeah, what you said is wise, makes sense.

Oh, I see. I just Italian and And I still kind of learning English

 

[RageBurner]

Oh, I see. I just Italian and And I still kind of learning English

No problem amico.

 

[Advil Lavs]

If they are disrespectful to you,
be disrespectful too.

 

[Dark Lucifer]

If they are disrespectful to you,
be disrespectful too.

What the heck is that supposed to mean?

 

[Bonkers225]

The streets will flow with the pixelated blood of the unbelievers!

 

[Ikagura]

Even when games were physical you basically were buying the licence to legally use said program,the support itself is just a tool to use them.

Piracy is merely meaning you're using any program without their respective licenses and is stealing in the intellectual property sense of the word rather than the physical one (like using a patent without authorisation).

It's more of a victimless crime as well.

 

[thanonyx]

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

 

[Ikagura]

I think this quote is too often taken out of context.

The whole "If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing" is flawed because you still technically own the product's license but not the physical/content of the product.

Yes, it does suck that you don't own every files of said product but when you buy you have a tacit agreement with the company providing it to you.

Piracy is the act of using a product without getting the licence (yes, even if you borrow or lend a game to a friend you're technically crossing the line as you didn't get it, only the support but it was tolerated).

While I won't defend a company's action or the latest trends like GaaS or Cloud Gaming I still am consciously aware that, by downloading even a 25+ years old video game, I'm technically stealing it (not the cartridge, the CD nor the folder containing the data but the intellectual property).

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Even when games were physical you basically were buying the licence to legally use said program,the support itself is just a tool to use them.

Maybe theoretically, but practically you owned a piece of plastic casing and a silicone chip with a copy of the game data on it. No one could take it away from you. Or a plastic disc with a copy of the data. The end user agreement just served to clarify that they were selling a license to use the data and not ownership of the data itself.

Now through digital licenses they reserve the right to take away the license to the game when before they didn't have such an option.

 

[DanVzare]

While I agree with the sentiment. I'm not particularly fond of the phrases "If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing." Or the similar phrase "You can't steal what you can't buy." Because it weakens the argument for piracy by being illogical.

Firstly, if buying isn't owning means that piracy isn't stealing. Then it stands to reason that if buying was owning, then piracy would be stealing. Except piracy is never stealing (at least not in the traditional sense). Since stealing would imply removing the original. Piracy makes a copy. It's closer to stealing the same way as stealing someone's idea. It's a completely different concept to what most people think of when stealing is mentioned.

Secondly, you totally can steal things that you can't buy. As an example, I can't buy the crown jewels, but I certainly can steal them. I can't buy the books from a library, but I can definitely steal them. And there's plenty of other examples, such as the government can steal land when they can't buy it, and so and so forth.

So as someone who promotes piracy, I'm against those phrases simply because under scrutiny, they make piracy sound like a philosophy that doesn't stand up to reason. While in actuality, it does.

But like I said, I agree with the sentiment behind it.

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

While I agree with the sentiment. I'm not particularly fond of the phrases "If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing." Or the similar phrase "You can't steal what you can't buy." Because it weakens the argument for piracy by being illogical.

Firstly, if buying isn't owning means that piracy isn't stealing. Then it stands to reason that if buying was owning, then piracy would be stealing. Except piracy is never stealing (at least not in the traditional sense). Since stealing would imply removing the original. Piracy makes a copy. It's closer to stealing the same way as stealing someone's idea. It's a completely different concept to what most people think of when stealing is mentioned.

Secondly, you totally can steal things that you can't buy. As an example, I can't buy the crown jewels, but I certainly can steal them. I can't buy the books from a library, but I can definitely steal them. And there's plenty of other examples, such as the government can steal land when they can't buy it, and so and so forth.

So as someone who promotes piracy, I'm against those phrases simply because under scrutiny, they make piracy sound like a philosophy that doesn't stand up to reason. While in actuality, it does.

But like I said, I agree with the sentiment behind it.

I generally prefer a different truism.

"When companies make it inconvenient to purchase games, piracy becomes a necessity"

 

[What's His Face]

I generally prefer a different truism.

"When companies make it inconvenient to purchase games, piracy becomes a necessity"

This. There is also the other truism about Capitalism: Customers are not obligated to buy from you, they can buy from anyone else or simply not at all.

 

[otogirisou]

If piracy isn't stealing i would never pirate​

 

[Advil Lavs]

What the heck is that supposed to mean?

If they want you to spend more money to play a game you already own, for example, just pirate it.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I didn't start the war, but I'm sure as hell gonna end it.

 

[Ikagura]

Maybe theoretically, but practically you owned a piece of plastic casing and a silicone chip with a copy of the game data on it. No one could take it away from you. Or a plastic disc with a copy of the data. The end user agreement just served to clarify that they were selling a license to use the data and not ownership of the data itself.

Now through digital licenses they reserve the right to take away the license to the game when before they didn't have such an option.

Technically you could still be dependant on a server online to activate a game. Yes, Games For Windows Live basically forced you to do that even with physical games.

While I agree with the sentiment. I'm not particularly fond of the phrases "If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing." Or the similar phrase "You can't steal what you can't buy." Because it weakens the argument for piracy by being illogical.

Firstly, if buying isn't owning means that piracy isn't stealing. Then it stands to reason that if buying was owning, then piracy would be stealing. Except piracy is never stealing (at least not in the traditional sense). Since stealing would imply removing the original. Piracy makes a copy. It's closer to stealing the same way as stealing someone's idea. It's a completely different concept to what most people think of when stealing is mentioned.

Secondly, you totally can steal things that you can't buy. As an example, I can't buy the crown jewels, but I certainly can steal them. I can't buy the books from a library, but I can definitely steal them. And there's plenty of other examples, such as the government can steal land when they can't buy it, and so and so forth.

So as someone who promotes piracy, I'm against those phrases simply because under scrutiny, they make piracy sound like a philosophy that doesn't stand up to reason. While in actuality, it does.

But like I said, I agree with the sentiment behind it.

The issue I got is that some people will try justifying unscrupulous actions by repeating the sentence while in reality they just want free games.

It's the same with those that claims they care about preservation while they're playing games that ended up getting leaked therefore haven't come out already (then the whole "preservation" argument is not applicable for these).

Same thing with indie games that are Epic Game Store exclusives so they prefer to pirate it despite being legally available.

This. There is also the other truism about Capitalism: Customers are not obligated to buy from you, they can buy from anyone else or simply not at all.

That's better than "the customer is always right".

 

[DanCalibur]

 

[SpikeSlania]

Same thing with indie games that are Epic Game Store exclusives so they prefer to pirate it despite being legally available.

That is the main reason I don't actively support Switch emulation. A lot of people using it to pirate indie games on android phones and other under powered systems since they're a lot easier to emulate. I'm also not actively going to go against emulating the Switch, but it's like really, you're doing that to pirate Indie games which are often very small teams just trying to make ends meat.