Forums > MobyGames > Poll (2008-02-18)
Katakis | ă‚«ă‚żă‚ă‚ą (43087) on 12/17/2008 4:42 AM · Permalink · Report
From the games you own, how many of them are pirate versions?
- All of them.
- 75% - 99%
- 50% - 74%
- 25% - 49%
- 1% - 24%
- None.
vedder (70822) on 12/17/2008 10:33 AM · Permalink · Report
I find this poll confusing. All games I legally bought, I clearly own, because I have them in a box or jewel case (And if someone stole them I could go to the police and my insurance would give me money) or in a few cases they are available in my steam game list and I can download and install them legally wherever I am.
But with pirated games? I download them, play them and delete them again. So at any time I might have up to a few pirated games on my pc. Does that mean I own those games? And do I unown them once I delete them? Do I own this website if I download its content to my hard drive?
At no point in time I feel like I'm owning a pirated game.
DreinIX (10446) on 12/17/2008 3:24 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start stvedder wrote--]I find this poll confusing. [/Q --end stvedder wrote--]You should see the other one...
Anyway, I’m sorry (I think). I didn’t see beforehand there would be any confusion. “Pirate version” as in illegal – obtained by any means (bought, downloaded, etc.) and “own” as in being yours for as long as you want to keep it. You may always delete a game that you downloaded for an emulator but you can also always throw away (or give) a game that you own in original. Doesn’t the time that you have something in your possession count as “own”? Of course if you download illegal games to play them and delete them at some point while having a number of originals in your possession (on other occasions as well) you can’t really answer with an accurate percentage. Unless you can find an average or answer with a percentage for a given time.
Not sure what are all games that fall in the unofficially published category Klaster 1. Whatever games fall in that category though I think whether piracy is involved or not comes down to the way those games are supposed to be distributed and how you obtain them. Now if for certain or all the occasions it’s whether they should be distributed or not on the first place then I don’t know.
vedder (70822) on 12/17/2008 6:45 PM · Permalink · Report
Ok, thanks for clarifying.
When looking at pc games I physically or digitally have in my possession at this moment about 10% pirated. But when looking at pc games I've played in the last 20 years about 70% I guess. But I do make a good habit of buying every game I played through completely.
When looking at the complete contents of my harddrive (particularly my complete copy of MAME...) I'd say about 98%. But most of that I've never played nor ever will. It's just there to... you know... boost my e-penis! ;)
Indra was here (20755) on 12/17/2008 6:57 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start stvedder wrote--]I find this poll confusing. [/Q --end stvedder wrote--]It is confusing when you're referring to downloadable content. This poll however, makes sense to gamers from many less developed countries where you can purchase illegal copies of games (usually just the CDs).
Guess what my answer is. :p
100%
Daniel Saner (3503) on 12/17/2008 9:00 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Indra Depari of 'da Clan Depari wrote--] It is confusing when you're referring to downloadable content. This poll however, makes sense to gamers from many less developed countries where you can purchase illegal copies of games (usually just the CDs).[/Q --end Indra Depari of 'da Clan Depari wrote--]
This is how I interpreted it too. Downloading is not owning. I occasionally download something I would never pay $1 for, but would for some reason like to have a look at. That has got nothing to do with owning (e.g. music, downloading it is legal where I live, and it is my primary source for discovering music, and deciding what I am going to buy afterwards.) As you said further down in the thread: a heap of downloaded MP3s is no music collection.
I voted for 1%-24% (it's probably not even 1%), thinking of the couple of CDs people brought me from Thailand :)
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 12/17/2008 10:36 PM · Permalink · Report
But with pirated games? I download them, play them and delete them again.
In my dial-up, sneakernet days I stopped acting that way after waiting to download a file for a second time at 1200 baud. Figured it was more worth my time to just rustle up storage and save myself the download time. (Eventually I had boxes of hundreds of floppies with no real organizational scheme, assuredly taking me longer to root through them all than it would have for me to just download them again... assuming that the BBS was still up, still contained the file in its file base, and that I could connect to it on the first try.)
As technology grew apace, my frustrations moved from transfer speed and storage size to the mere impermanence of warez connections. Now that HOTU has stopped serving up most of its files (the gamebook pdfs still seem to transfer though, good news!), for instance, I figure that many of its offerings will never again be accessible... anywhere! (but who knows, perhaps there's a "COMPLETE HOTU set" torrent floating around somewhere.) Saving a local copy of everything that came my way seemed he only reasonable way to know you had what you were looking for at your disposal on demand. Oh, the travails of a researcher!
Klaster_1 (57612) on 12/17/2008 10:35 AM · Permalink · Report
What can be considered as a pirate game? If you mean both unofficially published and disc images, so I have about 99 percents of then in collection. Never bought any legal one, except The Orange Box and gifts to friends.
chirinea (47495) on 12/17/2008 3:10 PM · Permalink · Report
That's what we're talking about: I don't even count my ROMs. I mean, I have the full set of 3 or 4 systems in my machine (ahem for professional reasons, I must say!) but I don't even remember it, I just don't consider them belonging to my collection. If I had, for instance, those pirate Genesis carts which I used to rent back in the 90's, I could count them. But downloaded games just doesn't count.
chirinea (47495) on 12/17/2008 3:41 PM · Permalink · Report
Well, let me try to explain with another kind of media. I have more than 20GB of downloaded music (illegal, I mean). If anyone asks if I have a certain album in my collection, I will never answer based on what I have on my HD. I'll answer based on my physical collection. I don't know, maybe you can think of "own" as in "bought it" or "own" as in "physically own". This is one of the reasons which I always avoided buying downloadable games. If I'm going to pay, let's say, 20 bucks for a game, I'd like to have a box and a media and stuff. I know it may just sound silly, but that's how I feel about it.
When the internet wasn't around, having pirate games was something different. You had to have a friend of a friend who had that particular game and then you copied it. Nowadays, all you have to do is Google the game and voilĂ . Think of it in these terms: you don't call a guy with hundreds of GB of downloaded games a "collector". In my have list you'll only find original games, unlicensed maybe, but not pirate games. You won't find those games I downloaded and printed the cover art.
Indra was here (20755) on 12/17/2008 7:00 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start chirinea wrote--] I'll answer based on my physical collection. I don't know, maybe you can think of "own" as in "bought it" or "own" as in "physically own". This is one of the reasons which I always avoided buying downloadable games. If I'm going to pay, let's say, 20 bucks for a game, I'd like to have a box and a media and stuff. I know it may just sound silly, but that's how I feel about it. [/Q --end chirinea wrote--] We concur with this perspective. Software shouldn't be treated equally similar as physical objects...no matter what Microsoft and IP lawyers tell you. :p
DreinIX (10446) on 12/17/2008 10:26 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start chirinea wrote--] This is one of the reasons which I always avoided buying downloadable games. If I'm going to pay, let's say, 20 bucks for a game, I'd like to have a box and a media and stuff. I know it may just sound silly, but that's how I feel about it.[/Q --end chirinea wrote--]
It's not silly. I understand exactly what you mean, but... some games are available only via a download. No boxes, no manuals, no nothing. I have two such games and they're stored on my hard drive. Can't I say that I own them? If someone asks me about my game collection I'll include those games too.
chirinea (47495) on 12/18/2008 3:13 PM · Permalink · Report
And that's why I included the "own" as in "bought it" option. You sure can include those games in your collection. This is somewhat hard to sort out, in fact. I mean, I should count some games turned freeware and available for download in my collection, but somewhat I don't.
robotriot (9015) on 12/17/2008 4:09 PM · Permalink · Report
I own exactly one pirate game, Desert Demolition for Mega Drive. I bought it in a lot off ebay once, and it took me a couple of weeks to realize it actually was a pirate cart. It's complete with cover art on the box and all, so they went to great lengths actually to make it look kinda sorta legit.
Klaster_1 (57612) on 12/17/2008 7:26 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start robotriot wrote--]It's complete with cover art on the box and all, so they went to great lengths actually to make it look kinda sorta legit. [/Q --end robotriot wrote--] Look at this scans: slipcase from good cardboard, accurate design, product code(!). And it sill is a pirated game.
