Topic: How to solve the tedious problem of localisation (?)

Still doesn't give you the "right to pirate"

Piracy is piracy. Just because they aren't currently using the IP doesn't make it yours for the taking. Not taking the high horse. I pirate (or rather used to) but at least I acknowledge that I'm wrong for it. These are video games...they aren't something vital to your existence...just because you want something doesn't give you the right to take it...even if you have the means to do so.

Piracy, no matter what you say, is illegal. An IP belongs to someone else, and the excuse "it's old, it is not harming anyone!" Does not cut it. Specially with VC, where more and more old games are appearing.

Except you missed the point. No one HAS to give you a product, nor do you EARN the right to pirate it.

I've pirated a few things over the years and I view all of them differently based on how distribution has changed:

Game Piracy:
I used to pirate a lot of PC games but I stopped when purchasing them online became as easy as it is. I even went back and repurchased some of the games I pirated from years gone by. With that said, even when I was pirating games I never returned games I had purchased and I never brought used games unless it was the only option. I also never pirated console games excluding a few NES and SNES ROMs before Nintendo's Virtual Console.

Music Piracy
I like to get CDs rather than download stuff so if I can't get a CD of something and really want to hear it? I usually just pirated it. If I came across the CD I would then get it if I still liked it. With Youtube and now Spotify, Google Play etc etc? It's harder to justify so I don't really do it anymore. That said I haven't deleted all of the music I accumulated either via piracy or shared with friends. I also have a few game soundtracks and so on. I'll put it this way, I have just over 100 CDs on my shelf, a typical album is ~110MB and my music collection is 29GB. Do the maths.

Movies
I never saw the need to pirate movies. I'm even less interested now that Netflix is available. Literally the most sketchy thing I do with movies these days is strip the DRM from iTunes bonus copies you get with Disney's Blu-Rays. Purely so that I can watch them on any device, which is handy

TV Shows
This is the one that people will be ready to throw stones at me for. As it is I currently only pirate Gotham and Castle. Gotham season 2 isn't airing in Australia yet. I started pirating it when the TV station that aired it here kept pushing it back to later and later timeslots. At least Season 1 is on Netflix, so that's something, but I don't really want to wait a year for Season 2. With Castle the channel that airs it at least offering a streaming option. Unfortunately they're three weeks behind. Still, I used to pirate quite a bit more but things have improved to the point where I only pirate two shows now.

....... basically, I don't have a "right" to pirate stuff. But if there is no other way to get that content? If the "illegal" way is significantly more timely, of a higher quality AND more convenient? Then screw that company, get your act together.

@skywake: I am not too mad about Castle. As much as I love the show, I am so far behind and so low on money I might have to pirate, my DVR got wiped recently. I probably won't but I would love to catch up on the show, Hulu only has the most recent episodes and I am still on Season 6 or 7.

@DefHalan:
Out of curiosity I also looked up what the availability of these shows are on iTunes and Google Play here. It's about $50AU for a season of Castle which in itself is insane given Netflix is $12AU/mo for 2x HD. Worse yet both services are only upto episode 3 so they're not even ahead of the free-to-air service. Gotham? Nothing. You can't even buy Season 2. From what I can tell there is no legitimate way to watch any episodes from Season 2 of Gotham in Australia.

So yeah, when the piracy debate comes out and it's a question of who is to blame? I don't think it's as simple as putting it all on consumers. If it's a question of legality it is always on consumers. But when it's not really available? When consumers are screwed around? When you do eventually air it but put it in a 1AM time slot? It's a bit rich to then act all surprised when piracy exists.

It's less true for games but it's still a thing. Region locks, games that don't come out, long delays for particular reasons, insane DRM policies. Do these things justify it? No. But they do go quite a way to explaining it.

@skywake Gotham season 2 just started last month, it's going to be a little bit before you can buy the whole season.

@Darth_Vader:
I think you misunderstood. You can go on iTunes/Google Play and get a Season pass for shows where they'll let you download episodes as they air. The problem is that ontop of being seriously overpriced there's no point, because there are ZERO episodes from Season 2 of Gotham legally available in Australia. Season 1 aired about a week behind the US, was available on catch up TV services, was on iTunes and Google Play an episode at a time and eventually came to Netflix. Season 2 isn't available and there is nothing to suggest it will become available... until the DVD/Netflix release after the season ends.

With Castle it's available on iTunes but only upto episode 3. Which is in-line with what's on the free service and is three weeks behind the US. So there's no point to getting that either. If you're wondering why piracy of TV is more of a thing outside of the US than it is inside of the US? It's for reasons like that. And while it is on consumers when they do that it's pretty easy to understand why it's a thing.

With all due respect to everyone here, techincally you do have the right to pirate. Downloading and sharing games is not considered as a crime that is malum in se(wrong in itself) piracy is merely considered as a mulum prohibitum crime(not inherently evil but is prohibited by the state). So technically you do have the right to download those games for om torrents etc. it was merely taken thru law by the legislative power of the state. So if you live in a coubtry who has no prohibition to such and is not a signatory in any international conventions regarding protection of intellectual property rights then you have ALL THE RIGHT to do what you want.

@skywake
Yeah Gotham has been a complete cluster on WIN. I found it poorly advertised causing me to miss the first couple of episodes, and then, half way through, they stop showing it. I checked the TV guide for a couple of months, but gave up. The same happened with Farscape years ago, it kept getting shoved about and ended up being shown at 1 in the morning. I'll be downloading Gotham soon, and I'll feel no guilt over it.

@Tubalcain:
I'm all for pushing media companies of all kinds to make it easier for us to access their content. Holding content to "ransom" with things like region locking, delayed releases and to some extent platform exclusivity. If they push it too far all of that stuff will encourage piracy. Sometimes the only options a consumer has are piracy or not consuming the content at all. As is the case with Gotham S02 in Australia ATM.

But even then I don't think we have a "right" to piracy. As consumers we don't own the content, it's upto the content producers to distribute that content. If we take it into our own hands? That's still technically theft. But if the content isn't available by any other means? I think that company significantly weakens their argument if they complain.

@skywake: dont get me wrong I agree with ith you wholeheartedly. It just irks me to see so many people thinking that the legal aspect of videogame piracy as black and white. Just to be technical you do have the right to download and share games to whomever you want. Its only the law that defines it as piracy. So for example you live in a country that doesn't have any piracy laws then you do have the right since it is merely the law that makes it a crime. Its not like those crimes that are wrong in its self such as murder where it is punishable d spit lack of enabling litigation.

Except you missed the point from the start - the whole thread was about localisation.
If in the thread about localisation you got lost when I mentioned "piracy" (in just half a sentence out of 30 lines of text) you shouldn't have replied. Moderators exist to prevent threads from derailing - and not to be the cause of derails.

If what I have said goes against the rules of the community you can ban me or edit my post, but you can't take 2% of what I have said and start an entirely different conversation (and a futile one that we have had countless times).

@Tubalcain: I disagree with that. I don't think you have a right to steal, even if your country doesn't have laws against it. Just because there isn't a law against it doesn't mean I have a right to do it. You have the ability to pirate, not the right. The people that make the content should still be paid for their work, you don't have the right to the content for free. It sucks when you can't get it legally and I understand why people pirate in those situations but if still doesn't give you the right.

Let's keep this on topic please, this is not a issue of piracy, it's an issue of localization.

@DefHalan: again I agree wholeheartedly, but you are talking about moral matters. Law and morals are different thing. Whatever is not forbidden is allowed. So unlessits forbidden the. You do have the right. Ill give an example. In the 80s my country did not have a anti camcorder law to prevent movie goers from capturing movies in the cinemas. During that time, (theoretically) if i wanted i could go to the movie house and record the movie with my cam. Furthermore, no one can stop me, in fact if i were to be prevented i will have a cause of action against the person who prevented me from doing my deed. Was it morally right? No. Did i have the right to do it? Yes.

@Darth_Vader: Piracy is connected to localization. Even the OP mentions Pirating. A lot of people defend their pirating through games (or other media) not localizing. If you don't want us to talk about Piracy then I think we need a new conversation starter.

I understand piracy is a solution but the ethics involved don't need to be the focus of conversation.

Honestly if we just stopped region locking media of any kind it would solve many of the issue we have.