Think of who you're hurting before you consider piracy.

3 years ago by The Picard Maneuver to c/comicstrips

MooseBoys 260 points 3 years ago

a game I made in 1995

a game someone else made in 1995 which was later hostilely acquired by EA only to see it immediately fire all staff and shutter the studio

FTFY

path: 0 3674798, hotness: undefined, score: 260, children: 7
Doubleohdonut 29 points 3 years ago

RIP Bullfrog (Theme Park, Theme Hospital, Dungeon Keeper etc.)

path: 0 3674798 3685758, hotness: undefined, score: 29, children: 3
Lemminary 23 points 3 years ago

And Maxis (Sims, Spore) 😥

path: 0 3674798 3685758 3688917, hotness: undefined, score: 23, children: 2
MrGooglyPants 13 points 3 years ago

Westwood 😭

path: 0 3674798 3685758 3688917 3704383, hotness: undefined, score: 13, children: 1
Bananigans 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 3674798 3685758 3688917 3704383 5818710, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Buddahriffic 13 points 3 years ago

Yeah, EA has done more to hurt game devs than pirates have. "Salary means we don't have to pay overtime!"

path: 0 3674798 3688390, hotness: undefined, score: 13, children: 0
Geobloke 7 points 3 years ago

Kane Lives!

path: 0 3674798 3682368, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 1
Viking_Hippie 3 points 3 years ago

True, but he plays for Bayern Munich now.

path: 0 3674798 3682368 3683340, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
dual_sport_dork 177 points 3 years ago

Or Nintendo:

"Stop pirating our old games!!!!!"

Okay, then sell me one of your old games.

"No."

path: 0 3686586, hotness: undefined, score: 177, children: 16
panda_paddle -83 points 3 years ago

More like: Nintendo, "here is an HD remake of that old game you wanted."

Fans, "We don't want to pay for old games!"

path: 0 3686586 3687112, hotness: undefined, score: -83, children: 15
Venomnik0 62 points 3 years ago

Actually more like: "Here's an HD remaster of an old game that we ported previously but instead of giving you the same price as that lets just charge $60 instead."

Fans:

path: 0 3686586 3687112 3687376, hotness: undefined, score: 62, children: 2
MyFairJulia 8 points 3 years ago

Fan: "I've been feeling like playing Super Mario Sunshine again lately. Do you happen to have this game?"

Nintendo: "Yes indeed, it is part of the Super Mario 3D Collection, which also contains Super Mario 64 with HD graphics and Super Mario Galaxy, also in HD and with added button controls."

Fan: "Nice! I'd like a copy of Super Mario 3D Collection."

Nintendo: "We only sold this for a short time after the 35th anniversary of Super Mario. So i guess you should've asked sooner."

Fan: "Well then. Now excuse me while i get an RCM-"

Nintendo: (cocks gun) "No you don't!"

path: 0 3686586 3687112 3687376 3739627, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 1
Number358 2 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3686586 3687112 3687376 3739627 4698796, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
CatZoomies 33 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3686586 3687112 3700873, hotness: undefined, score: 33, children: 1
Karyoplasma 5 points 3 years ago

It's impossible to pirate your own game tho. Why find an old cartridge and dump the ROM yourself if somebody already did it. The actual source code is probably somewhere in the shadowrealm, so nothing they can do.

path: 0 3686586 3687112 3700873 3718709, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
aesthelete 31 points 3 years ago

More like: Nintendo, "here is a collection of old games that you have to pay for a monthly subscription in order to access."

Me: "that's really stupid, no thanks"

PS: it is possible to be a fan of Nintendo's and also think they are dicks about emulation and piracy and don't offer reasonable alternatives...many things in life are multi-faceted as such, and it's perfectly OK (and healthy ackshually) to acknowledge the bad in those we admire.

path: 0 3686586 3687112 3698160, hotness: undefined, score: 31, children: 0
HappyFrog 29 points 3 years ago

Does that boot taste good? What would you do if you wanted to play, for example, The legend of zelda: four swords?

path: 0 3686586 3687112 3687657, hotness: undefined, score: 29, children: 1
activ8r 4 points 3 years ago

I just wanna play Wind Waker on the Switch. They already made a HD version! It will port across so easily... damn them.

path: 0 3686586 3687112 3687657 3692178, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
frezik 27 points 3 years ago

Nintendo: "Emulators are piracy"

Nintendo, 15 years later: "Anybody want to buy our emulated games on new consoles?"

path: 0 3686586 3687112 3698510, hotness: undefined, score: 27, children: 4
SnowdenHeroOfOurTime -4 points 3 years ago

... so in your mind their attitude has nothing to do with IP, just the technology used to deploy it? Your statement makes no sense whatsoever

path: 0 3686586 3687112 3698510 3715936, hotness: undefined, score: -4, children: 3
frezik 4 points 3 years ago

To add to what Skull giver said, the current retro market only exists because of the emulators that Nintendo has been fighting for over 25 years. There would be no SNES Mini console without snes9x or zsnes. Neither would there be a Nintendo e-shop for their old games on new consoles. The knowledge base to even make that work would not exist. Archiving old copies of games may not even exist.

Nintendo's position is highly hypocritical. They have benefited from emulation far more than they've been harmed.

path: 0 3686586 3687112 3698510 3715936 3731085, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
skullgiver 3 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3686586 3687112 3698510 3715936 3719298, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
dual_sport_dork 20 points 3 years ago

I don't mind the HD remakes, but I do mind the constant obsession with releasing them over making a new game or, ye gods forbid, coming up with a new IP. That, and it'd be nice if they wouldn't leave several of them locked to dead on arrival systems (like the WiiU) which just creates the same problem all over again.

But what really gets my goat is locking all the Virtual Console releases onto the shop of whatever console they're on, so when that service inevitably goes defunct they're all lost again. Those old 16 bit games aren't changing, having content updates, or getting patched. And they're just emulating them anyway, so just put a whole bunch of titles on a Switch cartridge or something and let me play them in perpetuity as long as my Switch still functions. I will not pay $60 for Mario 1 again. I probably would pay $60 for the entirety of the first party library from the NES on a cartridge.

All my old NES, SNES, N64, and Gamecube games still work just fine, decades later. But there's stuff that was on the DSi and WiiWare shops that's just gone forever, and you can never get them back.

path: 0 3686586 3687112 3689576, hotness: undefined, score: 20, children: 0
schema 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 3686586 3687112 3703376, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
FuglyDuck 155 points 3 years ago

"You wouldn't download a car, would you?" ... yes. Yes. I WOULD. Not that we can 3d print cars just yet. but I would in a heart beat if I could.

path: 0 3671685, hotness: undefined, score: 155, children: 25
themeatbridge 44 points 3 years ago

I don't trust a 3d printed gun, why would I trust a 3d printed car? But if I could make a car myself, I definitely would, even if I had to pirate the designs.

path: 0 3671685 3672749, hotness: undefined, score: 44, children: 14
rockSlayer 31 points 3 years ago

3d printed firearms have transformed into a whole cottage industry with all sorts of variations. The ones that are safest are essentially just stocks capable of holding the parts of a firearm. The ones that are completely 3d printed are still pretty sketchy and illegal to sell

path: 0 3671685 3672749 3673216, hotness: undefined, score: 31, children: 8
Zron 21 points 3 years ago

Any firearm that you, a private citizen, manufacture, is illegal to sell.

You are not a licensed firearm distributor.

But, at least in most of the US, it is perfectly legal to manufacture them for your own use. You just can’t sell them.

path: 0 3671685 3672749 3673216 3674895, hotness: undefined, score: 21, children: 6
nBodyProblem 8 points 3 years ago

You can sell homemade firearms you made for personal use and later decided to get rid of.

You cannot manufacture them for the purpose of sale, however.

path: 0 3671685 3672749 3673216 3674895 3675992, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 3
rockSlayer 3 points 3 years ago

that's true. I should have specified that a lot of the purchasable (fully and unquestionably in the right) stuff just sell CAD files for 3d printed parts, or print the parts for you. The more questionable ones sell ghost gun kits

path: 0 3671685 3672749 3673216 3674895 3675011, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
Colorcodedresistor 2 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3671685 3672749 3673216 3711174, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
nBodyProblem 14 points 3 years ago

The thing people forget is that 3d printing doesn’t just enable the direct manufacturing of parts, it also enables the manufacturing of tooling for parts that would never have been manufacturable at home otherwise.

For example, you can rifle a metal tube and form a chamber using electro etching and printed tooling. Or, you can make tooling to make magazine springs

The key point to be made here is that a fully plastic gun is sketchy but 3d printing has absolutely transformed the ability to make reliable and effective firearms at home without any off the shelf firearm parts

The same type of thing is happening in the car hobbyist world. We aren’t printing cars but people are using prints to make molds, form sheet metal, align parts for weldments and manufacture low stress plastic parts like intake manifolds.

path: 0 3671685 3672749 3676060, hotness: undefined, score: 14, children: 2
themeatbridge 3 points 3 years ago

reliable

Out of everything you said, this is the only thing that I disagree with, but it's the only thing that matters. I mentioned 3d printed guns because, if you don't use off the shelf parts, you really don't have any way of knowing how many rounds you can put through it before it explodes in your hand. Was there a tiny defect in your print? A misalignment or some debris in the print material? You're right that boring your chambers from stock is safer, but that doesn't make it safe. And that's a firearm you can inspect after each round.

A car has many critical components under the hood, especially when you use an internal combustion engine. That's a bunch of tiny explosions every second, and even setting that aside, you have the transmission, the brakes, the steering, the windshield, the stereo, any one of those could fail and kill you (or make life not worth living, in the case of that last one).

3D printing will continue to evolve and improve, but it will be a long time before I trust it enough to download a car.

path: 0 3671685 3672749 3676060 3684578, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
nBodyProblem 2 points 3 years ago

I mentioned 3d printed guns because, if you don't use off the shelf parts, you really don't have any way of knowing how many rounds you can put through it before it explodes in your hand.

I mean. Ya kinda do. A broken receiver isn’t going to make the gun explode in your hand, it’s just going to cease being functional.

Was there a tiny defect in your print? A misalignment or some debris in the print material?

More importantly, the issue with small defects is sidestepped by good engineering and process control. Your statement applies to almost every sort of manufacturing. All materials have internal defects and a range of potential material properties. You account for this by applying a safety factor so that the design stresses are well below the nominal material properties. For a material with higher uncertainty on the properties you simply apply a higher safety factor

That’s why many 3d printed guns look like bricks when an injection molded receiver would be much more sleek in comparison.

A car has many critical components under the hood, especially when you use an internal combustion engine. That's a bunch of tiny explosions every second, and even setting that aside, you have the transmission, the brakes, the steering, the windshield, the stereo, any one of those could fail and kill you (or make life not worth living, in the case of that last one).

Home built cars have been a thing pretty much since the start of the automobile. People who home-build cars don’t typically build their own drivetrain. It’s just not worth the effort when donor engines from wrecked cars can be had cheaply and easily.

Usually the DIY fabrication work involves building the chassis, suspension components, body panels, etc. As I pointed out, you wouldn’t just print the chassis. You’d use printed parts as jigs to align the welds, build mold for composite pieces, etc.

Nobody is going to be printing a complete car in the conceivable future, but 3d printing can absolutely help you build a good and reliable car from conventional materials with greatly reduced effort and tooling costs.

path: 0 3671685 3672749 3676060 3684578 3697468, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
Honytawk 2 points 3 years ago

Most dashboards in cars are already 3d printed.

path: 0 3671685 3672749 3682088, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
FuglyDuck 2 points 3 years ago

3d printing has come a long way, both in materials and quality. especially as you step away from FDM or resin printers. I certainly wouldn't trust a rando facebook marketplace printer who bought a creality to make a quick buck... but I would trust my own prints- mostly because I know what the materials are, and know I'll check for good print quality. reality is, though, that about the most you can print right now is a half baked golf cart chasis. if you want it to be safe... you're going to have to add a lot to it, and at that point, you might as well just buy a damn car or something.

path: 0 3671685 3672749 3673074, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
dingleberry 39 points 3 years ago

You wouldn't download a car, would you?

Movies studios now trying to download actors.

path: 0 3671685 3676047, hotness: undefined, score: 39, children: 2
FuglyDuck 11 points 3 years ago

Unions stepping up to the at for us all.

path: 0 3671685 3676047 3676430, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 0
BearOfaTime 3 points 3 years ago

"Trying"?

They're working round the clock to develop CGI "actors".

Gonna be interesting when actors start being replaced.

path: 0 3671685 3676047 3689729, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
ChillPill 13 points 3 years ago

Open source cars, let's go!

path: 0 3671685 3675778, hotness: undefined, score: 13, children: 1
Honytawk 3 points 3 years ago path: 0 3671685 3675778 3682072, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
psud 12 points 3 years ago

Borderlands lets you download a car, that's the second best way of getting a car in the game

path: 0 3671685 3677687, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 1
dual_sport_dork 2 points 3 years ago

And when you download a car there's even a pimento taco -- a pimentaco -- in the glove box.

path: 0 3671685 3677687 3686513, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
AffineConnection 8 points 3 years ago

but I would in a heart beat if I could

with your 3-D printed heart

path: 0 3671685 3675612, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 1
FuglyDuck 2 points 3 years ago

Hey, don’t knock it. My head lays down a sick dun step, some reggae and this weird steel drum Tropicana thing I’m pretty sure they ripped off some 90’s on hold music cover

path: 0 3671685 3675612 3676462, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
Viking_Hippie 6 points 3 years ago

If I had a dollar for every car I downloaded for GTA4..

path: 0 3671685 3683368, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
pivot_root 138 points 3 years ago

I'm fine spending money for a quality product.

Quality product. Not DRM-laden, always-online, unoptimized garbage that pushes microtransactions in my face. It's not a price problem; it's a service problem. If I'm going to get a shittier experience as a legitimate customer, piracy is the smart thing to do.

path: 0 3673389, hotness: undefined, score: 138, children: 23
WheatleyInc 25 points 3 years ago

If you're concerned about DRM, just use GOG or Itch. If you're concerned about shitty games, do research before you buy something and just avoid studios like EA.

path: 0 3673389 3673609, hotness: undefined, score: 25, children: 21
shadearg 31 points 3 years ago

Don't underestimate the FOMO factor.

Avoiding a title is simply not a consideration for a lot of people—especially if it's shitty. They're important context for meme and conversation material.

I genuinely wish this was a joke.

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3674392, hotness: undefined, score: 31, children: 2
ArcaneSlime 6 points 3 years ago

Did "all digital" kill renting? Back in my day we had Blockbuster and gamefly, and we could buy used disks from gamestop and play 'em for a bit and return them within 7 days to "rent" them as well. I'm glad I'm all ROMs and flashcarts these days.

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3674392 3675908, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
WheatleyInc 1 point 3 years ago

I'm pretty picky about what I get, so that idea didn't really come to me...

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3674392 3759708, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
ThatWeirdGuy1001 22 points 3 years ago

It won't change anything until people stop preordering games and actually wait for them to come out before shelling out a hundred bucks.

Pre-order and dlc is what has made gaming so awful lately. Game companies realized they can make a half-assed game and fill it with microtransactions and still make shit loads of money

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3677035, hotness: undefined, score: 22, children: 11
Lurking_Eye 9 points 3 years ago

The biggest issue with pre-ordering is the gaming community itself tbh. Even if an individual knows better intellectually, companies have people specialized to make advertising as engaging as possible. Most of us (I used to be one of them) simply do not have the tools, nor the idea, of how to mentally combat "hype trains" and thus get our expectations up praying that the game will come out good and satisfy us for a bit.

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3677035 3677395, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 10
antipiratgruppen 5 points 3 years ago

Pre-ordering makes zero sense for a digitally downloadable product, since it isn't scarce like physical products can be. Unless the company invents advantages that didn't need to be there, there's no benefit of being in the front of the queue, since eventually everybody can get a copy. Consumers are dumb...

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3677035 3677395 3687077, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 1
Aceticon 2 points 3 years ago

Good old inability to delay gratification (google it, it's an actual behavioural trait) in the face of the pretty clear logic that almost all games (except some multiplayer ones) are actually better a year later than at launch day.

Mind you, the world around us pretty much tries to train us every single day to be like that: it makes for wonderful profit-maximizing mindless consumers.

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3677035 3677395 3683051, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 6
crackajack 1 point 3 years ago

Exactly. Companies know how to manipulate our dopamine high and keep on repeating the cycle of pre-orders and post-launch disappointment; while the game developers are laughing their way to the banks.

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3677035 3677395 3685315, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
CeeBee 10 points 3 years ago

do research before you buy something

So instead of playing, I now have to do work to figure how to spend my miniscule available time on what to play to get the most out of said time.

I'm not mocking what you said. I'm just lamenting the state of gaming.

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3685847, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 2
dustyData 2 points 3 years ago

I'd rather invest my time figuring a smart purchase, than spend my minuscule available money padding some rich fuck wallet. I don't have much money or time, so I'd rather spend it on quality products and services than waste it on moneygrubbers.

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3685847 3687192, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
CeeBee 1 point 3 years ago

No one's disputing that. The discussion is about how awful it is that we have to do that. It sucks that our miniscule time is even smaller because we have to now sift through the garbage first.

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3685847 3687192 3760832, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Kecessa 8 points 3 years ago

Imma get downvoted for that but even Epic has loads of DRM free games... there's plenty of choice to buy DRM free games these days...

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3674508, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 1
Syrc 6 points 3 years ago path: 0 3673389 3673609 3674508 3675534, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
vox 5 points 3 years ago

i really want to use gog but they don't offer regional pricing.
like for example factorio is 8$ for me on steam but 36$ on gog. Skyrim is 40$ on gog and 17$ on steam.

path: 0 3673389 3673609 3677419, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
Blackmist 19 points 3 years ago

I don't pirate those either. I just don't waste my time with them.

path: 0 3673389 3682051, hotness: undefined, score: 19, children: 0
atnqty 68 points 3 years ago

It's probably not even made by EA but some company that made good game before being acquired by EA

path: 0 3672049, hotness: undefined, score: 68, children: 0
magnetosphere 53 points 3 years ago

I don’t pirate indie games, small-budget movies, or music from unknown bands. I hurt major corporations specifically.

path: 0 3672484, hotness: undefined, score: 53, children: 12
themeatbridge 33 points 3 years ago

For some older indie games, piracy is the only way to play them. But otherwise, I agree with this.

path: 0 3672484 3672779, hotness: undefined, score: 33, children: 6
JoMiran 18 points 3 years ago

This is literally the genesis of GOG.

path: 0 3672484 3672779 3672849, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 4
Viking_Hippie 2 points 3 years ago

True, but GOG doesn't have everything 🤷

path: 0 3672484 3672779 3672849 3683386, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 3
JoMiran 5 points 3 years ago

You misunderstood. I meant that piracy is literally how many of games were saved. GOG started because some guys stockpiled pirated copies of games, then cracked and/or reversed engineered them to work on modern PCs. Eventually, they got the rights to sell some legally and GOG.com was born.

My point was that piracy isn't always bad because companies have no incentive to preserve their products after they've stopped selling. (See vintage ROMs)

path: 0 3672484 3672779 3672849 3683386 3686879, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 2
magnetosphere 5 points 3 years ago

Good exception.

path: 0 3672484 3672779 3672841, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
AllonzeeLV 28 points 3 years ago

Exactly.

They steal more than we can dream.

They just used their influence to legalize their grift.

Legality ≠ Morality

Especially in a horrendously unjust nation such as ours.

path: 0 3672484 3673721, hotness: undefined, score: 28, children: 2
magnetosphere 10 points 3 years ago

The phrase “Legality ≠ Morality” comes to mind several times a week. Too many people let themselves ignore ethics because they don’t think (or care) about the difference.

path: 0 3672484 3673721 3675132, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 0
sour 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 3672484 3673721 3674234, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
bennieandthez 4 points 3 years ago

Indie games are better these days anyways. I just use AAA games as performance benchmarks lmao.

path: 0 3672484 3692961, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 1
winky88 3 points 3 years ago

I mean, I wouldn't set the bar that low.

path: 0 3672484 3692961 3693408, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
aluminium 51 points 3 years ago

Should be Nintendo, not EA. Fuck EA and all, but at least they don't kick up a big fuss when someone aquires games they don't sell anymore.

path: 0 3681754, hotness: undefined, score: 51, children: 3
WaxedWookie 19 points 3 years ago

Or steal code from the community they're busy suing...

EA are definitely the bigger problem as far as I'm concerned though.

path: 0 3681754 3683441, hotness: undefined, score: 19, children: 2
RogueBanana 16 points 3 years ago

Oh for sure but for this meme about pirating old games, no one else is worse than nintendo imo

path: 0 3681754 3683441 3683773, hotness: undefined, score: 16, children: 1
WaxedWookie 2 points 3 years ago

True.

path: 0 3681754 3683441 3683773 3702298, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
crackajack 46 points 3 years ago

Never pirate from indie developers. But for giant companies, pirating is a drop in the bucket for their revenue.

path: 0 3684964, hotness: undefined, score: 46, children: 23
uis 61 points 3 years ago

path: 0 3684964 3685181, hotness: undefined, score: 61, children: 17
N0N0 -19 points 3 years ago

Then why don't illegal obtained keys just become banned? As long as they don't, You can't expect customers to see any problem with them.

path: 0 3684964 3685181 3686113, hotness: undefined, score: -19, children: 16
dustyData 18 points 3 years ago

It's technically impossible to differentiate a legitimate key from an illegal key. They are usually created in batches to be distributed. So they are legitimate and exist way before the fraud takes place. By the time there's a charge-back on the purchase, whether the key is illegal or not is irrelevant. The damage is done, banning the user does literally nothing. The developer is still on the hook with the processing fees and the user already downloaded and installed the game.

path: 0 3684964 3685181 3686113 3687013, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 13
frezik 11 points 3 years ago

Not only that, but those users thought they were buying legit keys, and expect support from the original publisher. Pirates never expect support.

Factorio devs literally said to pirate their game rather than buy from one of these reseller sites.

path: 0 3684964 3685181 3686113 3687013 3698349, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 1
N0N0 -1 points 3 years ago

This is not true, keys are unique therefore it is technically very possible to track their way of payment.

path: 0 3684964 3685181 3686113 3687013 3728663, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 10
redcalcium 7 points 3 years ago

They would if they were easily identifiable. IIRC Steam might revoke them if the key is bought with stolen cards and their owners perform a chargeback.

path: 0 3684964 3685181 3686113 3686497, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0
uis 2 points 3 years ago

Thing is for copyright law those keys are 100% legal.

EDIT: I explicitly said for copyright law. It's how users justify that "they are not pirating", except it's much worse because game developers need to deal with fees anyway after chargeback.

path: 0 3684964 3685181 3686113 3686450, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
cryostars 7 points 3 years ago

Obligatory "but does piracy count as lost revenue?"

path: 0 3684964 3685797, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 4
Anticorp 12 points 3 years ago

Piracy probably generates more revenue than it destroys.

path: 0 3684964 3685797 3695919, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 3
wokehobbit -28 points 3 years ago

Fuck me what an insanely stupid comment.

path: 0 3684964 3685797 3695919 3696096, hotness: undefined, score: -28, children: 2
Carlo 18 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3684964 3685797 3695919 3696096 3698212, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 0
NathanielThomas 4 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3684964 3685797 3695919 3696096 3710895, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
UnD3Rgr0uNDCL0wN 40 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3683215, hotness: undefined, score: 40, children: 4
DarthBueller 23 points 3 years ago

But how will the US military get more cannon-fodder if people play Kirby instead of CoD?

path: 0 3683215 3684005, hotness: undefined, score: 23, children: 3
UnD3Rgr0uNDCL0wN 10 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3683215 3684005 3684032, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 2
dual_sport_dork 7 points 3 years ago

If the military recruited based on Duck Hunt I think I'd be screwed.

I've rolled over the score counter on the skeet shooting half of the game. I did it to see if any bugs or unexpected behavior would crop up if you do, but nothing interesting happens. It just rolls back over to zero. Anyway, you give me a Zapper and I can hit just about anything.

path: 0 3683215 3684005 3684032 3686454, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 1
The_Picard_Maneuver 3 points 3 years ago

That is some impressive dedication

path: 0 3683215 3684005 3684032 3686454 3688545, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
HawlSera 37 points 3 years ago

Is it really a victimless crime to go to archive.org and download yourself a copy of the never before released yet still fully completed Thrill Kill for PlayStation? Of course not, you need to think twice about the company that canceled the game and any bonuses the developers were promised, and didn't even tell them about it, with the developers themselves having to learn about it from IGN.

path: 0 3673264, hotness: undefined, score: 37, children: 0
simin 32 points 3 years ago

looking back i'm definitely guilty of pirating some indie games

path: 0 3677339, hotness: undefined, score: 32, children: 2
OsrsNeedsF2P 38 points 3 years ago

Indie dev here. Do whatever you want

path: 0 3677339 3679070, hotness: undefined, score: 38, children: 1
Zealousideal_Fox900 5 points 3 years ago

I used to make small games too for a little bit. Same.

path: 0 3677339 3679070 3685499, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
Transcriptionist 29 points 3 years ago

Image Transcription:

A four-panel comic by mygumsarebleeding.

The first panel shows a person with short, black hair, wearing a black shirt with the EA logo on it. They are talking to a person with long, black hair who is wearing a red shirt and facing away, arms folded. The first person is saying "I'm so sorry honey".

The second panel shows the first person from the first panel speaking to two smaller people, both wearing red and sitting at a table with their heads in their hands and empty plates in front of them. The person is saying "I'm sorry my children...".

The third panel shows a close-up of the person saying "There will be no food tonight".

The fourth panel shows an even closer view of the person's face, lines under his eyes indicating distress as he says "Somebody pirated a game I made in 1995".

[I am a human, if I’ve made a mistake please let me know. Please consider providing alt-text for ease of use. Thank you. 💜]

path: 0 3684291, hotness: undefined, score: 29, children: 2
Akasazh 14 points 3 years ago

Good human

path: 0 3684291 3686111, hotness: undefined, score: 14, children: 1
Transcriptionist 3 points 3 years ago

Thank you, fellow human 🤖

path: 0 3684291 3686111 3706031, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
fne8w2ah 28 points 3 years ago

You wouldn't pirate a car?!

path: 0 3689416, hotness: undefined, score: 28, children: 2
Anticorp 17 points 3 years ago

I would if I could!

path: 0 3689416 3695867, hotness: undefined, score: 17, children: 0
lugal 9 points 3 years ago

Speak for yourself

path: 0 3689416 3692382, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 0
Octopus1348 21 points 3 years ago

More like Nintendo

path: 0 3677445, hotness: undefined, score: 21, children: 0
Blastasaurus 19 points 3 years ago

I just spent the night on my first emulator playing F-Zero Gx. I'm so sorry children :(

path: 0 3676628, hotness: undefined, score: 19, children: 2
Bytemeister 4 points 3 years ago

That should have been the lead racing series for Nintendo.

Mariokart is just an arcade game with a racing theme.

path: 0 3676628 3686189, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
The_Picard_Maneuver 2 points 3 years ago

They're going to go hungry now

path: 0 3676628 3687684, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
Got_Bent 16 points 3 years ago

This is my fault. I haven't downloaded any premium content for my 1984 Summer Olympics game on my Apple ][c.

(Which for its time, was an amazing game)

path: 0 3672207, hotness: undefined, score: 16, children: 2
The_Picard_Maneuver 6 points 3 years ago

Isn't that one of those games that's near impossible to find a hard copy of? I might be thinking of another one.

path: 0 3672207 3672452, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 1
JoMiran 12 points 3 years ago

One of the games I grew up playing was Silent Service. For years it disappeared, then one day GOG brought it back from the dead because they secured the rights to publish the hacked pirated copy they had been sitting on since the cold war. Without piracy, the game would have just disappeared.

path: 0 3672207 3672452 3672898, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 0
Sabin10 14 points 3 years ago

I just downloaded exodos and bankrupted thousands of people

path: 0 3671488, hotness: undefined, score: 14, children: 0
RIP_Cheems 12 points 3 years ago

A shitty gaming studio that loves to ruin game franchises

path: 0 3688434, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 5
Weirdfish 6 points 3 years ago

EA and Ubisoft are responsible for ruining more of my favorite game franchies than I think all others combined.

path: 0 3688434 3691433, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 3
RIP_Cheems 2 points 3 years ago

How about we make a short list; Deadspace, starwars battlefront, Titanfall...

path: 0 3688434 3691433 3706779, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
Weirdfish 2 points 3 years ago

Rocksmith, Farcry, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, Mass Effect...

path: 0 3688434 3691433 3706779 3708252, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
NathanielThomas 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 3688434 3691433 3710910, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
NathanielThomas 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 3688434 3710904, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
winterayars 12 points 3 years ago

If it's EA then "skimmed profits off the top of" is probably more accurate than "made".

path: 0 3696795, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 0
gravitas_deficiency 10 points 3 years ago

But you can feast on your sense of pride and accomplishment!

path: 0 3673049, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 0
0_0j 10 points 3 years ago

Rockstar games grabbed a pirated MAX PAYNE 2 and more!, slapped a price sticker on 'em and uploaded to steam! 🤷🏿‍♂️ LMAO

path: 0 3716286, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 1
0_0j 4 points 3 years ago

pirates rights violation here! 🤣🤣

path: 0 3716286 3716346, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
m3t00 9 points 3 years ago path: 0 3701612, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 1
Karyoplasma 1 point 3 years ago

Gives me BL2 flashbacks. The hours I spent read-only farming for a perfect Pimpernel on that mission turn-in...

path: 0 3701612 3718831, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
lolola 6 points 3 years ago

Devil's advocate: is the time spent playing a pirated retro game still a kind of lost revenue, since you could be spending your time buying and playing all their new shit? I say this as a long-time retro gamer who finally broke down and bought some new shit recently.

path: 0 3674069, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 10
MindSkipperBro12 21 points 3 years ago

Make a better product then.

path: 0 3674069 3674206, hotness: undefined, score: 21, children: 1
Jimbo 1 point 3 years ago

Yep, hey EA, want me to spend time buying and playing your new games instead of yet another playthrough of Burnout 3? Make a game better lmao I WILL buy it

path: 0 3674069 3674206 3684321, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Manifish_Destiny 10 points 3 years ago

Going to work is lost revenue.

path: 0 3674069 3674156, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 1
SnipingNinja 5 points 3 years ago

Yeah, game companies should be lobbying for UBI for everyone

path: 0 3674069 3674156 3676962, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
Syrc 9 points 3 years ago

In a sense I guess? But then it’s still their fault for not keeping it available for purchase.

path: 0 3674069 3675599, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 2
Delphia 6 points 3 years ago

Or they pull a Nintendo "Heres a game we made 20 years ago. That will be $50"

path: 0 3674069 3675599 3681506, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 1
Syrc 1 point 3 years ago

Well at least that was three games. If you’re talking about the Mario collection and I’m not forgetting some other dumb thing they did.

path: 0 3674069 3675599 3681506 3690814, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Honytawk 6 points 3 years ago

Yes, just as much as when someone dares to enjoy a different hobby.

We are just statistics to them.

path: 0 3674069 3682114, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
The_Picard_Maneuver 5 points 3 years ago

I'd say no, because they don't own your time by default.

path: 0 3674069 3687521, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
Ajen 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 3674069 3674898, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
some_guy 6 points 3 years ago

Odd contradiction. I support pirating when a person can't access media legally (whether due to financials or just dick-moves by corps). However, this is the same logic that writers are striking against with streaming and I sure as hell support them.

path: 0 3719213, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
CookieJarObserver 3 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3696281, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
javacafe 2 points 3 years ago

Battlefront was dope tho

path: 0 3698691, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
ALostInquirer 4 points 3 years ago

Which one?

path: 0 3698691 3699032, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
MonsiuerPatEBrown 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 3676335, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
buzz 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 3700188, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1
NathanielThomas 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 3700188 3710848, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Darth_Vader__ -1 points 3 years ago

Of course piracy preserves old games. Also piracy is not a problem when it is miniscule. The issue is when piracy becomes the norm, so that these companies will be pushed towards more locked systems (consoles exclusives) and abandon PC. Some may even call for androud style locking up on PC.

path: 0 3690342, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 2
pandacoder 13 points 3 years ago

Google is already trying the latter with the Web DRM stuff they're trying to shove down everyone's throats (and why I stopped using Chrome and Chromium — I've been daily driving Firefox for a while now and replaced Chromium with Brave for when I need a Chromium browser).

path: 0 3690342 3690730, hotness: undefined, score: 13, children: 0
Smoogs 6 points 3 years ago

Streaming happened after piracy…but then piracy still happens to keep streaming in check it seems. It’s like that looming ‘did you want to make some money or no money?’ Threat On the greedy distributors. Has absolutely fuck all to do with the artist.

path: 0 3690342 3691146, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
LemmyIsFantastic -2 points 3 years ago

Yes you will scream bloody murder about AI pirating from artists. Get it together lol.

path: 0 7627497, hotness: undefined, score: -2, children: 0
harpuajim -4 points 3 years ago

I pirate because I'm selfish, just like most other people in this thread.

path: 0 3686416, hotness: undefined, score: -4, children: 21
Lemminary 7 points 3 years ago

I pirate because I literally cannot afford it, but do buy often when I can. We're not the same.

path: 0 3686416 3688848, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 20
khalic 5 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3686416 3688848 3689111, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
harpuajim -7 points 3 years ago

It's still selfish behavior. Pirating something because you don't have the patience to save for it doesn't change anything.

path: 0 3686416 3688848 3689008, hotness: undefined, score: -7, children: 18
CoolMatt 4 points 3 years ago

I don't think thats what the comment said

path: 0 3686416 3688848 3689008 3689230, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
dragonflyteaparty 3 points 3 years ago

So it's not selfish to repeatedly rerelease old games and charge full price for them? It's not selfish to never come down in price? Ever?

path: 0 3686416 3688848 3689008 3690381, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
harpuajim -6 points 3 years ago

It's a free market. If you don't like what someone is charging for something then don't buy it. If you pirate as a result then that's fine but it's selfish behavior.

path: 0 3686416 3688848 3689008 3690381 3691499, hotness: undefined, score: -6, children: 0
Lemminary 2 points 3 years ago

Lmao I've saved up for many games. I've also bought games after pirating them. You don't know me.

path: 0 3686416 3688848 3689008 3691895, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 14
harpuajim -3 points 3 years ago

I'm sure you have but that doesn't mean that your piracy isn't rooted in selfishness.

path: 0 3686416 3688848 3689008 3691895 3692361, hotness: undefined, score: -3, children: 13
ShittyRedditWasBetter -24 points 3 years ago

Whatever you need to tell yourself to justify your stealing.

path: 0 3681894, hotness: undefined, score: -24, children: 23
Lazylazycat 13 points 3 years ago

It isn't stealing, nothing is being taken.

path: 0 3681894 3683638, hotness: undefined, score: 13, children: 8
ShittyRedditWasBetter -10 points 3 years ago

My legal right to distribute my works how I see fit is absolutely being stolen. I'm absolutely allowed to sell my work in limited quantities.

path: 0 3681894 3683638 3686406, hotness: undefined, score: -10, children: 7
Lazylazycat 3 points 3 years ago

Nothing has been taken from you. You still own your work and can still use it and distribute it.

path: 0 3681894 3683638 3686406 3687002, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 6
ShittyRedditWasBetter -7 points 3 years ago

Whatever you need to tell yourself. That's not the law, and you are stealing my legal right to control my works.

path: 0 3681894 3683638 3686406 3687002 3688515, hotness: undefined, score: -7, children: 5
FlyingSquid 10 points 3 years ago

How dare people "steal" a 30-year-old game that no one is selling anymore!

path: 0 3681894 3683753, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 0
Solumbran 6 points 3 years ago

Tell me you are lacking so much knowledge on how computers work that you shouldn't be allowed to use them without telling me.

path: 0 3681894 3684806, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 3
ShittyRedditWasBetter -8 points 3 years ago

I do LFS for funsies. Please resort to more personal attacks because the reality hurts.

path: 0 3681894 3684806 3686174, hotness: undefined, score: -8, children: 2
Solumbran 2 points 3 years ago

Doesn't change what I said.

path: 0 3681894 3684806 3686174 3696729, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
ShittyRedditWasBetter -5 points 3 years ago

👌👍

path: 0 3681894 3684806 3686174 3696729 3699090, hotness: undefined, score: -5, children: 0
BearOfaTime 5 points 3 years ago

That you don't know the difference between theft and copyright infringement tells us all we need to know.

path: 0 3681894 3689996, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 2
ShittyRedditWasBetter -9 points 3 years ago

Whatever little semantics you need to justify your stealing 🤷‍♂️

path: 0 3681894 3689996 3690244, hotness: undefined, score: -9, children: 1
BearOfaTime 2 points 3 years ago

Cute.

When did I say I pirate?

Again, more sophistry and hubris.

path: 0 3681894 3689996 3690244 3690674, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
wafflez 4 points 3 years ago

Theft implies ownership. Even if you buy the game, the company or library host you bought it from doesn't consider it yours. So why would pirating a game be ownership, or "theft," either? Companies say what's in their best interest, money. Ownership, especially of digital media, is a social construct. Writing a file onto your disk is not stealing, as it implies limited supply. No product should have infinite profit, it should be relational to labor not money.

path: 0 3681894 3693236, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 3
ShittyRedditWasBetter -5 points 3 years ago

You are stealing my right to distribution. I've addressed this.

path: 0 3681894 3693236 3701908, hotness: undefined, score: -5, children: 2
wafflez 3 points 3 years ago

Doesn't detract from my point, it's still not taking any supply. Right to distribution is a social construct, not a material good

path: 0 3681894 3693236 3701908 3703847, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
ShittyRedditWasBetter -3 points 3 years ago

👌

path: 0 3681894 3693236 3701908 3703847 3706787, hotness: undefined, score: -3, children: 0
harpuajim 2 points 3 years ago
path: 0 3681894 3686398, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
ShittyRedditWasBetter -4 points 3 years ago

Bingo. I steal shit once in a while. I don't delude myself.

path: 0 3681894 3686398 3686431, hotness: undefined, score: -4, children: 0
comicstrips
comicstrips

@lemmy.world

login for more options
25869
8300
10351

Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.

Rules
  1. *� Be Nice!

    • Treat others with respect and dignity. Friendly banter is okay, as long as it is mutual; keyword: friendly.
  2. *�️ Community Standards

    • Comics should be a full story, from start to finish, in one post.
    • Posts should be safe and enjoyable by the majority of community members, both here on lemmy.world and other instances.
    • Any comic that would qualify as raunchy, lewd, or otherwise draw unwanted attention by nosy coworkers, spouses, or family members should be tagged as NSFW.
    • Moderators have final say on what and what does not qualify as appropriate. Use common sense, and if need be, err on the side of caution.
  3. *� Keep it Real

    • Comics should be made and posted by real human beans, not by automated means like bots or AI. This is not the community for that sort of thing.
  4. *�️ Credit Where Credit is Due

    • Comics should include the original attribution to the artist(s) involved, and be unmodified. Bonus points if you include a link back to their website. When in doubt, use a reverse image search to try to find the original version. Repeat offenders will have their posts removed, be temporarily banned from posting, or if all else fails, be permanently banned from posting.
    • Attributions include, but are not limited to, watermarks, links, or other text or imagery that artists add to their comics to use for identification purposes. If you find a comic without any such markings, it would be a good idea to see if you can find an original version. If one cannot be found, say so and ask the community for help!
  5. *� Post Formatting

    • Post an image, gallery, or link to a specific comic hosted on another site; e.g., the author's website.
    • Meta posts about the community should be tagged with [Meta] either at the beginning or the end of the post title.
    • When linking to a comic hosted on another site, ensure the link is to the comic itself and not just to the website; e.g.,
      ✅ Correct: https://xkcd.com/386/
      ❌ Incorrect: https://xkcd.com/
  6. *� Post Frequency/SPAM

    • Each user (regardless of instance) may post up to five (5 🖐) comics a day. This can be any combination of personal comics you have written yourself, or other author's comics. Any comics exceeding five (5 🖐) will be removed.
  7. *�‍☠️ Internationalization (i18n)

    • Non-English posts are welcome. Please tag the post title with the original language, and include an English translation in the body of the post; e.g.,
      Sí, por favor [Spanish/Español]
  8. *� Moderation

    • We are human, just like most everybody else on Lemmy. If you feel a moderation decision was made in error, you are welcome to reach out to anybody on the moderation team for clarification. Keep in mind that moderation decisions may be final.
    • When reporting posts and/or comments, quote which rule is being broken, and why you feel it broke the rules.
Banned Artists

The following artists are banned from the community.

  1. Jago
  2. Stonetoss
  3. GPrime85

It should be noted that when you make reports, it is your responsibility to provide rational reasoning why something should be removed. Saying it simply breaks community rules is not always good enough.

Web Accessibility

Note: This is not a rule, but a helpful suggestion.

When posting images, you should strive to add alt-text for screen readers to use to describe the image you're posting:

Another helpful thing to do is to provide a transcription of the text in your images, as well as brief descriptions of what's going on. (example)

Web of Links
Other Comic Communities of Interest

go to feed...