Sh4mmy
06-18-2008, 06:04 PM
my m8 wrote this on a forum at a gaming site , i'll think you'll find it an interesting read.
"Pirating video games has now been around for a very long time, and has been blamed for some developers being out of jobs, low sales figures, and apparently debt…
Piracy has been rapidly growing, and effects all media formats that include:, music, films, and computer games.
Well today your very humble narrator Crowned Clown is going to tell you all about piracy in computer games; the law, developers, and the public. The LAW
Ok then let’s get the boring part of this article out of the way, the law.
The current law “begins” with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. That Act has been altered so that the criminal liability for making or dealing with “infringing articles” is now ten years instead of the previously two years.
The police may now seize an article if they reasonably believe that it represents evidence that an offence has taken place, or is about to be committed. Basically they are able to come to your residence, take your computer, and any discs they believe to be non-genuine, in other words, a copy of the original.
The police are also able to issue a warrant that provides authorisation for people to accompany them during the execution of a warrant. These can vary from software specialists, to someone from another company whose goods are believed to be pirated, and under the terms of the issued police warrant are able to look through your hard disk.
Under the current Act, the police have the power to apply for an order for the forfeiture of any infringing copies of a copyright work, and of any hardware or software specifically designed or modified for making or playing copies of the copyrighted work.
The power also extends to circumstances in connection under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, or an offence involving dishonesty or deception. Furthermore, in considering an application by way of complaint from the police or any other person, a magistrate’s court may infer (to draw a conclusion, as by reasoning), that an offence has actually taken place if it is satisfied that such an offence ha been committed, in relation to the copyrighted items and not just in relation to the actual articles in question. I take this to believe that the police and other may take possession by forfeiture of any of your software without actual proof of piracy.
This Act continues “Where any infringing copies or articles are forfeited under this section, they shall be destroyed in accordance with such directions as the Court may give”.
That is the law in detail about piracy and copying of any piece of software. But why and what exactly was the Copywrite law introduced for???
Simply – to protect the livelihoods of the developers.
Developers
Developers are believed to be highly affected by piracy in video games especially developers who only make games for PCs, this is because of how easily it is to get a game via the internet.
PSP’s are also said to be highly affected as well, despite the PSP also being region free, people use Custom Firmware on there PSP, to allow them to download games onto their memory stick enabling games to be played, something that Sony didn’t realise until the pirates done it first.
The famous R4 for the Nintendo DS also provides pirates the same ability in being able to download and play many games on just one memory stick, so you don’t actually have to carry many games.
This affects mainly small time developers who spent a lot of money, building and fixing their in-game engines; just to have their games pirated and get hardly any money for it.
Just recently Crytek famous for the recent game Crysis, has announced that they will no longer being making games just for PC’s now, they will also include the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the Wii. Crytek blamed video game piracy for the fact the Crysis was a flop on the PC despite getting 9/10 scores on many reliable websites. Yet others believe that the fact you need such a high performance PC to run Crysis, to be the main reason the sales figures weren’t as high.
Also it was due to piracy that Iron Lore were forced to shutdown, as they placed a program to crash a game if copied, with out anyone knowing this pirates got the game, it crashed on them as they played, the pirates told people on the forums and complained about it so no one actually bought the game; thus it becoming a failure.
The Public
Let’s face it PC games, and consoles games aren’t exactly cheap to buy £50 for a new game release £30 for a PC game…
So why not just download a copied game, instead of having to pay for it.
Well simple reason is that when you are buying a game, you‘re not just buying the game to play, you are buying the rights to play the game while also supporting the company who made it, so that they can have the finances to develop and create other games. If a game is successful then most developers would choose to further that success by creating a better and longer sequel.
Which you would want, for example look at the Success of Grand Theft Auto, without the success of the original, there wouldn’t be a Grand Theft Auto 4 today as no one bought the game funding the company for later on in life.
If people bought Dawn of War, instead of downloading it, then maybe Iron Lore may still be around producing yet another expansion pack for it.
Also, some games that are free are extremely profitable as well, Runescape is a well known game on the internet, it’s free, but offers the public to buy a membership, and additional weapons and armour.
However, Joe Public generally would choose to pay nothing if they could to play a game. Why should one spend out a load of cash on a game that they could just as easily download a copy to play.
It is after all, only human nature, and with the cost of living increasing, funds are generally not readily available to spend on entertainment.
Therefore, if a family are on a low income, they are unlikely to be able to afford to go out for their entertainment, but nowadays, nearly everyone has some form of gaming platform at home, and using pirate games may well be the only way they can participate in the gaming experience.
Conclusion
Well it’s mainly up to US, the public if the developers go on to produce a sequel to a game, or if a developer fails or succeeds.
However many people prefer to buy a game they have tried, which is where demos have much more use, as it allows us, to actually play the game to see if we like, and to leave feedback for the developers hence “Beta” trials.
But pirating games does ‘steal’ money away from the developers, money which they need to reinvest in order to continue to provide US the public, with new and exciting games to play. Therefore, if you enjoy playing a demo or a beta version game, then surely it is only fair and just to support the developers by paying a ‘fair’ price for it.
And FAIR price is what the developers should also be asking from their supporters. Maybe then, gamers will be only too happy not to pirate, as some games (whether it be the developers decision or the retailers) can be far from easily accessible / affordable to some people. "
"Pirating video games has now been around for a very long time, and has been blamed for some developers being out of jobs, low sales figures, and apparently debt…
Piracy has been rapidly growing, and effects all media formats that include:, music, films, and computer games.
Well today your very humble narrator Crowned Clown is going to tell you all about piracy in computer games; the law, developers, and the public. The LAW
Ok then let’s get the boring part of this article out of the way, the law.
The current law “begins” with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. That Act has been altered so that the criminal liability for making or dealing with “infringing articles” is now ten years instead of the previously two years.
The police may now seize an article if they reasonably believe that it represents evidence that an offence has taken place, or is about to be committed. Basically they are able to come to your residence, take your computer, and any discs they believe to be non-genuine, in other words, a copy of the original.
The police are also able to issue a warrant that provides authorisation for people to accompany them during the execution of a warrant. These can vary from software specialists, to someone from another company whose goods are believed to be pirated, and under the terms of the issued police warrant are able to look through your hard disk.
Under the current Act, the police have the power to apply for an order for the forfeiture of any infringing copies of a copyright work, and of any hardware or software specifically designed or modified for making or playing copies of the copyrighted work.
The power also extends to circumstances in connection under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, or an offence involving dishonesty or deception. Furthermore, in considering an application by way of complaint from the police or any other person, a magistrate’s court may infer (to draw a conclusion, as by reasoning), that an offence has actually taken place if it is satisfied that such an offence ha been committed, in relation to the copyrighted items and not just in relation to the actual articles in question. I take this to believe that the police and other may take possession by forfeiture of any of your software without actual proof of piracy.
This Act continues “Where any infringing copies or articles are forfeited under this section, they shall be destroyed in accordance with such directions as the Court may give”.
That is the law in detail about piracy and copying of any piece of software. But why and what exactly was the Copywrite law introduced for???
Simply – to protect the livelihoods of the developers.
Developers
Developers are believed to be highly affected by piracy in video games especially developers who only make games for PCs, this is because of how easily it is to get a game via the internet.
PSP’s are also said to be highly affected as well, despite the PSP also being region free, people use Custom Firmware on there PSP, to allow them to download games onto their memory stick enabling games to be played, something that Sony didn’t realise until the pirates done it first.
The famous R4 for the Nintendo DS also provides pirates the same ability in being able to download and play many games on just one memory stick, so you don’t actually have to carry many games.
This affects mainly small time developers who spent a lot of money, building and fixing their in-game engines; just to have their games pirated and get hardly any money for it.
Just recently Crytek famous for the recent game Crysis, has announced that they will no longer being making games just for PC’s now, they will also include the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the Wii. Crytek blamed video game piracy for the fact the Crysis was a flop on the PC despite getting 9/10 scores on many reliable websites. Yet others believe that the fact you need such a high performance PC to run Crysis, to be the main reason the sales figures weren’t as high.
Also it was due to piracy that Iron Lore were forced to shutdown, as they placed a program to crash a game if copied, with out anyone knowing this pirates got the game, it crashed on them as they played, the pirates told people on the forums and complained about it so no one actually bought the game; thus it becoming a failure.
The Public
Let’s face it PC games, and consoles games aren’t exactly cheap to buy £50 for a new game release £30 for a PC game…
So why not just download a copied game, instead of having to pay for it.
Well simple reason is that when you are buying a game, you‘re not just buying the game to play, you are buying the rights to play the game while also supporting the company who made it, so that they can have the finances to develop and create other games. If a game is successful then most developers would choose to further that success by creating a better and longer sequel.
Which you would want, for example look at the Success of Grand Theft Auto, without the success of the original, there wouldn’t be a Grand Theft Auto 4 today as no one bought the game funding the company for later on in life.
If people bought Dawn of War, instead of downloading it, then maybe Iron Lore may still be around producing yet another expansion pack for it.
Also, some games that are free are extremely profitable as well, Runescape is a well known game on the internet, it’s free, but offers the public to buy a membership, and additional weapons and armour.
However, Joe Public generally would choose to pay nothing if they could to play a game. Why should one spend out a load of cash on a game that they could just as easily download a copy to play.
It is after all, only human nature, and with the cost of living increasing, funds are generally not readily available to spend on entertainment.
Therefore, if a family are on a low income, they are unlikely to be able to afford to go out for their entertainment, but nowadays, nearly everyone has some form of gaming platform at home, and using pirate games may well be the only way they can participate in the gaming experience.
Conclusion
Well it’s mainly up to US, the public if the developers go on to produce a sequel to a game, or if a developer fails or succeeds.
However many people prefer to buy a game they have tried, which is where demos have much more use, as it allows us, to actually play the game to see if we like, and to leave feedback for the developers hence “Beta” trials.
But pirating games does ‘steal’ money away from the developers, money which they need to reinvest in order to continue to provide US the public, with new and exciting games to play. Therefore, if you enjoy playing a demo or a beta version game, then surely it is only fair and just to support the developers by paying a ‘fair’ price for it.
And FAIR price is what the developers should also be asking from their supporters. Maybe then, gamers will be only too happy not to pirate, as some games (whether it be the developers decision or the retailers) can be far from easily accessible / affordable to some people. "