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Topic: Turning In Software Pirates?

Posts 1 to 20 of 30

brooks83

Ok, I am in a bit of a moral dilemma here. Browsing through Craigslist, I have come across a few listings of people selling discs with tons of illegal roms and even hard drives full of Wii games. Do you think I should report them to Crime Stoppers and possibly get some kind of reward for turning them in, or should I just mind my own business? I mean, for all I know it could be some guy down on his luck trying to raise money to buy his family groceries, but on the other hand what he is doing is illegal and there are many other things he could be doing to help out his family. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

brooks83

Namo

Its none of your business really. Sure, piracy is bad, but its not like he's saying "Hey, I just committed a murder, anyone wanna buy the body?"

Namo wrote:

"O Gods of gaming, I beg thee, have mercy and do not allow another game franchise to be ruined for me by its fanbase. Amen."

Grounder is the best robot from the Sonic universe ever. Period. Metal Sonic? Pffft, forg...

Aviator

Personally Yes, Professionally Yes, unless you know them.

QUEEN OF SASS

It's like, I just love a cowboy
You know
I'm just like, I just, I know, it's bad
But I'm just like
Can I just like, hang off the back of your horse
And can you go a little faster?!

Ravage

I wouldn't think the person at hand would be in that much need of money...

Sean Aaron ~ "The secret is out: I'm really an American cat-girl."
Q: How many physicists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Two, one to hold the light bulb, the other to rotate the universe.

brooks83

Yes Namo, piracy isn't exactly a high level crime (compared to murder etc.) and they may not even follow up on my tip if I decide to give one, but piracy does hurt the gaming industry.

brooks83

The truth is, you can't stop all of them. Why burden yourself?

Namo

What if the guy really is poor though? What if he has a child or two and has no choice but to do such a thing in order to feed them?

And then what if you reported him and sent him to jail? What would happen to his kids?

I think people should mind their own business and quit blueberrying about piracy. Wherever there's something valuable, someone's willing to steal it. Some people get away with it. Some don't. Who cares? As long as you aren't doing it or as long as someone you know isn't doing it, there's no need to go all mango on some random stranger and get them in trouble. You don't know there situation, nor is it your place to ask. Just leave the guy be. If it becomes a problem, the FBI or police will likely catch up on it due to the fact that the moron posted it on the freakin internet.

Edited on by theblackdragon

Namo wrote:

"O Gods of gaming, I beg thee, have mercy and do not allow another game franchise to be ruined for me by its fanbase. Amen."

Grounder is the best robot from the Sonic universe ever. Period. Metal Sonic? Pffft, forg...

Ravage

Toki wrote:

The truth is, you can't stop all of them. Why burden yourself?

That is possibly the worst reason you could give. It is a terrible mentality and I suggest that you think it over.

Sean Aaron ~ "The secret is out: I'm really an American cat-girl."
Q: How many physicists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Two, one to hold the light bulb, the other to rotate the universe.

Namo

Ravage wrote:

Toki wrote:

The truth is, you can't stop all of them. Why burden yourself?

That is possibly the worst reason you could give. It is a terrible mentality and I suggest that you think it over.

Are you going to go out and stop every murderer or every rapist? No, because you'd get murdered or raped. Maybe you should think over your mentality.

Edited on by theblackdragon

Namo wrote:

"O Gods of gaming, I beg thee, have mercy and do not allow another game franchise to be ruined for me by its fanbase. Amen."

Grounder is the best robot from the Sonic universe ever. Period. Metal Sonic? Pffft, forg...

I suggest you get a grip. Don't bother wasting your time cleaning up somebody else's mess. Life's too short.

Edited on by

brooks83

Namo wrote:

What if the guy really is poor though? What if he has a child or two and has no choice but to do such a thing in order to feed them?

Save your sympathy for someone who deserves it. If he really is that poor (he couldn't be that poor as he can afford an internet connection and a computer to create pirated goods) then shame on him. If he loses his kids from going to jail than it is HIS OWN FAULT for doing something illegal. He can get on unemployment, welfare, food stamps, any number of things to keep his family from going hungry.
That being said, I have not reported him and I may not. I was just kind of looking for some opinions on the subject.

brooks83

brooks83

Toki wrote:

I suggest you get a grip. Don't bother wasting your time cleaning up somebody else's mess. Life's too short.

It's not like it takes a long time to copy and paste the link and post it into the Crime Stoppers tip box lol.

brooks83

Namo

Like I said, the guy's an idiot anyway, he openly admitted to selling pirated goods on the internet. He doesn't have much time left before someone reports him.

But hey, if you're so worried, save his email address in case he smartens up and takes down what he's doing before he's caught.

Edited on by theblackdragon

Namo wrote:

"O Gods of gaming, I beg thee, have mercy and do not allow another game franchise to be ruined for me by its fanbase. Amen."

Grounder is the best robot from the Sonic universe ever. Period. Metal Sonic? Pffft, forg...

brooks83

The guy is selling a hard drive full of 200+ Wii games for $45. I'm sure some people would buy it.

brooks83

Namo

Then let whoever wants to buy it, buy it. Who knows, this could even be a sting operation from an undercover FBI agent tracking down possible software pirates.

Namo wrote:

"O Gods of gaming, I beg thee, have mercy and do not allow another game franchise to be ruined for me by its fanbase. Amen."

Grounder is the best robot from the Sonic universe ever. Period. Metal Sonic? Pffft, forg...

Ravage

Namo wrote:

Ravage wrote:

Toki wrote:

The truth is, you can't stop all of them. Why burden yourself?

That is possibly the worst reason you could give. It is a terrible mentality and I suggest that you think it over.

Are you going to go out and stop every murderer or every rapist? No, because you'd get murdered or raped. Maybe you should think over your mentality, Mr. Superhero.

So if you were being brutally murdered right in front of me, I shouldn't try to help because I can't stop every murder? Just think if cops carried that same mentality, they wouldn't really be cops then, would they? Everyone should try to do their part, we can't count on the police to do everything for us. The police are actually in a minority compared to the amount of responsibility they carry. They absolutely can't do everything for us, which is why such things as crime stoppers exists (that, and some people will be afraid to leave tips, stuff like that). It's like telling one person to do something compared to getting multiple people to do it faster. And he's not stopping anything, he is just giving a tip. It is still up to authorities to act upon it, and then it's on to the court of law. I see absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Sean Aaron ~ "The secret is out: I'm really an American cat-girl."
Q: How many physicists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Two, one to hold the light bulb, the other to rotate the universe.

Aviator

If the guy was poor, how could he afford the internet to upload all those games.

Edited on by theblackdragon

QUEEN OF SASS

It's like, I just love a cowboy
You know
I'm just like, I just, I know, it's bad
But I'm just like
Can I just like, hang off the back of your horse
And can you go a little faster?!

HolyMackerel

Namo wrote:

Ravage wrote:

Toki wrote:

The truth is, you can't stop all of them. Why burden yourself?

That is possibly the worst reason you could give. It is a terrible mentality and I suggest that you think it over.

Are you going to go out and stop every murderer or every rapist? No, because you'd get murdered or raped. Maybe you should think over your mentality, Mr. Superhero.

Are you going to go out and stop every software pirate? No, because you'd get pirated. And then you'd have a major identity crisis on your hands. That argument isn't really applicable to petty crimes like this. Calling the police because you saw someone breaking into a car on the street won't directly cause your car to get stolen.

But in all seriousness, and as someone working in game development, the best thing anyone can do is be a legitimate customer, and help your friends and family know why it's important for us to pay for the games we play. Persecuting pirates doesn't achieve anything except for a load of witch hunting and negativity.

I can understand why some would stoop to piracy, and it's for a myriad of reasons, but if you value gaming to any degree and you want games to continue to be released, then you must use your money. It's the nature of business. The act of spending is like the act of voting - you're empowered with the choice to support the continuing existence of the games and studios you like by making the purchase.

And of course those who pirate games want games to continue to be made. Why make the effort to obtain and play them otherwise?

Ironically, software pirates are not in on this empowerment and thus miss out - they can't speak directly to the developers and say, "I really enjoyed this game, and I'm letting you know I want more". They're in for a free ride but have to be hidden stowaways in the luggage cabin. As a result, the games they like may never get sequels, and studios they like may close down.

HolyMackerel

Namo

I agree with every word in the above post except that last sentence.

It's not like pirating one copy of a game is going to drastically effect sales THAT much to the point where a studio goes out of business. No matter which way you look at it, there are always going to be more people who actually buy a game than those who would steal it.

The only case where there are more pirates than consumers is World of Goo, where 90% of the PC installs are pirated. Even so, the total number of those who have it on Wii and PC is still more than those who have it stolen on PC alone.

Edited on by theblackdragon

Namo wrote:

"O Gods of gaming, I beg thee, have mercy and do not allow another game franchise to be ruined for me by its fanbase. Amen."

Grounder is the best robot from the Sonic universe ever. Period. Metal Sonic? Pffft, forg...

SpentAllMyTokens

A happy medium, if you're not comfortable with turning him in to the police, would be to report his ad to Craiglist. I'm sure it violates their terms of use, and they'd remove the ad pretty quickly. Doesn't do him any good if he can't sell it.

I am way too lazy to think of something clever.
My Backloggery

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