Piracy is the great equalizer

[Jetsetlemming]

Maya has a student edition that's free.

But it requires XP Pro. Fucking jerkoffs at Autodesk requiring an OS nobody else bothers with at all

There isn't even any explanation as to WHY, as far as I know the only thing Pro has over Home is a different name and a few more minuscule security things!

[Sentura]

I understood what he was trying to say. I think you're giving the average pirate (Johnny Iota) too much credit to say their motivation is anything but getting something for nothing, which is not a protest against pricing, drm, quality, etc. nor is it really a side-effect. I'm sure it's true for some people, but not the majority.

Edit: I need sleep.

again you're saying the same thing. i'm not giving the average pirate any credit at all, i am just assuming he downloads something for free, an action which is in itself a protest. you're thinking of protest as in some sort of boycott. johnny is thinking that he gets it for free.

Yes, I basically reiterated my point.

Saying "I'm downloading this because if I buy it I have to put up with DRM" is a protest. I don't see how someone downloading something for free, for the sole reason that they want it for free, is a protest. It’s just stealing, and should be labelled as such.

but even stealing is a form of protest, which was my point.

[Taylor]

And my point is, unless given a valid context, it's not.

[Sindwiller]

And my point is, unless given a valid context, it's not.

Which is true.

[Sentura]

And my point is, unless given a valid context, it's not.

fact is that most if not all people had enough wealth and were given enough service, they would not steal. ergo is stealing a protest. in our specific case, this holds true: if johnny had enough money and service, he'd not pirate; thus making stealing (or in this case, warezing) a protest against a) prices and b) service.

QED

[2d-chris]

I think the temptation to get something for "free" is far to great for most people to handel, at least an till they become somewhat mature enough to see and care about the bigger picture. That maturity happens at different times, for different people.

Maya does have a learning version, however, you cannot export assets to game engines (not the two I was using) so it becomes useless for a game developers. Students could get some good out of it though

[TorQueMoD]

Fuck off people pirate as a form of protest!

People pirate software simply because they'd rather get it for free instead of paying for it and anyone who says differently is simply trying to justify stealing to themselves or others.

If you decide to pirate something, its your own damn choice, I'm not going to lecture you. But don't try to justify a criminal act by claiming its a form of protest. That's just stupid.

Also, piracy isn't a protest against DRM, its actually supporting it. If Piracy wasn't so rampant, DRM wouldn't be an issue. In my opinion, a publisher or other company who uses DRM however, is shooting themselves in the foot because the ones who pay for your software are the ones who get hurt by DRM and you're only going to piss them off and force them to boycot your products. The pirates aren't affected by DRM because they always find a way around it within a week tops.

You want to protest against DRM, use your wallet. Don't purchase games that include DRM and DO purchase games without DRM. But stealing isn't going to change a damn thing. If you don't buy from publishers who don't use DRM, you're not sending a message to those who do. Notice how Ubisoft stopped using Starforce when customers stopped buying their games and complained about how shitty it was?

[Sentura]

Fuck off people pirate as a form of protest!

People pirate software simply because they'd rather get it for free instead of paying for it and anyone who says differently is simply trying to justify stealing to themselves or others.

If you decide to pirate something, its your own damn choice, I'm not going to lecture you. But don't try to justify a criminal act by claiming its a form of protest. That's just stupid.

i never justified it, stealing is still stealing. what i am saying is that regardless whether legal or not, it is a form of protest. in fact, you said it yourself.

[TorQueMoD]

fact is that most if not all people had enough wealth and were given enough service, they would not steal. ergo is stealing a protest. in our specific case, this holds true: if johnny had enough money and service, he'd not pirate; thus making stealing (or in this case, warezing) a protest against a) prices and b) service.

That is a very skewed way to look at things. You think that the only reason people steal is because they don't have money? I'd say more than anything people steal because they're lazy, greedy or self entitled. Sure, money is a factor, but its not the only reason. There are plenty of wealthy people who steal. Also, why buy a game or music CD or movie that I'm not sure I'll like if I can just download it for free? Or hell, lets cut the crap and just say, even if I like the movie, why buy it if I can get it for free?

Saying that people pirate because they're poor is basically saying that all people are altruistic in nature and that poverty causes people to become less minded individuals. That's absolute garbage. People are going to be theiving bastards regardless of their financial status. Having money does not mean you have the character and morals to prevent you from stealing. Your financial security has nothing to do with it.

Now I can say that people in countries where a product is not available really have no other course of action but to steal it, but again, I would say this is less a form of protest and more a showing of the demand for said product in a specific region. If the publisher or distributor of said product is too blind to realize said demand, then its their own stupidity. Its still however, not a great justification because if you really wanted, you could in fact purchase directly from the manufacturer and have them mail it to you.

[TorQueMoD]

i never justified it, stealing is still stealing. what i am saying is that regardless whether legal or not, it is a form of protest. in fact, you said it yourself.

Piracy isn't a protest. You're not pirating because you're saying "fuck DRM" In fact if anything, the only people "protesting" are the ones who crack the software. Being an average joe who downloads their software after its cracked, isn't making a protest, its simply taking advantage of someone else's work or saying, I support them in their actions. But really, you're just cashing in on someone else's work and saying "great, now I can get it for free"

Protesters don't work annonymously. A car bomber doesn't blow up a car and then shut up about it. They leave a message that says "I did it" to make their point.

[Taylor]

And my point is, unless given a valid context, it's not.

fact is that most if not all people had enough wealth and were given enough service, they would not steal. ergo is stealing a protest. in our specific case, this holds true: if johnny had enough money and service, he'd not pirate; thus making stealing (or in this case, warezing) a protest against a) prices and b) service.

Again, if Johnny Iota is stealing because the games are too expensive, yes it's a protest. If he is stealing simply because he wants to get something for free, which is far more likely*, it is not a protest; it's simply theft. This is a glamorised view of what really happens.

* It's not too hard to get supporting evidence that when piracy is not such an easy option people buy the games instead. See: Consoles.

[Jetsetlemming]

Again, if Johnny Iota is stealing because the games are too expensive, yes it's a protest. If he is stealing simply because he wants to get something for free, which is far more likely*, it is not a protest; it's simply theft. This is a glamorised view of what really happens.

* It's not too hard to get supporting evidence that when piracy is not such an easy option people buy the games instead. See: Consoles.

Maybe I'm just overly optimistic but I think the pirates who can afford to buy games and pirate just because they can are the minority to the teens and students who can't afford to buy what they play but don't want to abstain and people living in areas where buying it is impossible. I know when I was younger I pirated like a motherfucker, not because I just liked pirating, but because I was dirt poor and they were available.

Then again, that's not really a protest, and there's no solution to that, unless you believe that adware company guy who says that all PC games should use the free and ad-supported model. I felt guilty about it, and would've bought games if I could (and every time I had some spending cash it typically went towards games, though now that I think about I think the lion's share of that spent money when to arcades in quarter-form! ), but it's not like I was angry at the games industry at their perfectly reasonable prices on PC.

You can't get blood from a stone. No matter what you do to try to prevent pirates, or make the games more worthy a purchase, there will always be a segment of the gamer population that downloads. Such is life. There are plenty of PC gamers willing to buy games, and who do so, and it's really not a subject that anyone should be getting pessimistic or depressed over, and abandoning the PC market or implementing absolutely retarded DRM schemes is not excusable.

[Warby]

It really is a simple rule, if you can't afford something, you don't get it. Why is it any different for software than stealing something from a shop? the answer is because it's simply easier to do...

no ... i think its because nobody looses anything. if i go into a store and steal an hd tv that store and panasonic now have one tv less they can sell.

while there are still equally many cod 4 copies available for purchase after little johnny pirated his copy.

lets use a little example here what STEALING would really be in the game industry: game X comes with 10k beta keys everyone pays for their key but i am a haxor and use some keygen or just wild guessing to find out one of those beta keys and i play the game with that key now poor sucker Y that actually bought that key cant play with it because i already registered with it he sure as hell will bitch to the developer/publisher and they will sure as hell come after me ... i would think twice about doing this or to be more precise i would flat out NOT DO IT !

[Bic-B@ll]

so i never really downloaded shit besides photoshop. fast forward to me going away to college and being bored and i started downloading movies to watch, especially because i brought my projector with me. last week i got an email from the school that made me shit my pants. full story here:

http://suprbay.org/showthread.php?t=33050

turns out that you can get caught being a pirate

[FrieChamp]

so i never really downloaded shit besides photoshop. fast forward to me going away to college and being bored and i started downloading movies to watch, especially because i brought my projector with me. last week i got an email from the school that made me shit my pants. full story here:

http://suprbay.org/showthread.php?t=33050

turns out that you can get caught being a pirate

wow that IS some scary shit! Looks like you got away this time though! I liked the "parents...will not like this" part