ShogunDarius
Member
http://www.vg247.com/2014/07/22/britain-just-decriminalised-online-game-piracy/
Piracy is bad and this wont help, but I dont see there ever being an end to piracy
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Britain will not actively prosecute online piracy
- Thread starter ShogunDarius
- Start date
http://www.vg247.com/2014/07/22/britain-just-decriminalised-online-game-piracy/
Piracy is bad and this wont help, but I dont see there ever being an end to piracy
rainking187
Member
Why even bother sending the letters then?
YianGaruga
Banned
From the article
This is an amazing development imo and absolutely the right way to deal with piracy.
reptilescorpio
Member
Agreed, will save the industry a ton of money fighting something that can only be reshaped, not stopped.
TitusGroan
Banned
Hmm... as much as I'm happy that this seems like a step backwards from the government's previously heavy handed approach, I'm not particularly pleased that they seem to be going to completely the other end and doing pretty much nothing. There's a halfway point between treating software/music pirates with a heavy hand, and doing next to nothing to tackle the issue, and it would be nice if the UK government could find that halfway point.
I make a living with online software and fully support this.
As Steam has made very clear, coercion is not an effective means of combating piracy - friendly pricing and consumer engagement is.
If people actually understood what piracy vs paying does, I think we'd have at least a decent chunk of those who would normally pirate software choose to purchase it instead. After all - presumably it's software you actually want.
As Steam has made very clear, coercion is not an effective means of combating piracy - friendly pricing and consumer engagement is.
If people actually understood what piracy vs paying does, I think we'd have at least a decent chunk of those who would normally pirate software choose to purchase it instead. After all - presumably it's software you actually want.
Pyros_Eien
Member
You say this like you believe they would have disapeared otherwise.
Good. Now maybe the movie studios will get their heads out of their asses and eventually let us buy movies digitally with no DRM. I'd potentially switch from disc to digital if the files were portable, but they are locked to the platform you buy them on - eg ios, sony etc. and no, ultraviolet isn't a decent alternative, support for it in Europe is shit
Reminds me of the cop riding a bike with balloons shouting "halt before I start simulating gun fire!"
Infernal Monkey
Member
Quick, make everything even more expensive in the UK to balance it out.
toythatkills
Member
This seems very unlikely to be true the way VG247 report it.
YianGaruga
Banned
They're going after the distributors instead and will spend millions on education and raising awareness instead of punishing the people downloading. That's not "nothing".
From BBC
How about BBC?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28374457
michaelius
Banned
Fightning piracy is pointless - give people services where they can get software for fair prices and convinient access to them like Steam - and most of people will grow up out of it as they get more disposable income as they get older and start working.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
That's very nice of them
Uncle Rupee
Banned
Great... now we can expect even more draconian DRM from the publishers and manufacturers.
Absolutely. Make it easy for me to pay, and give me content that I can use wherever I want (don't tie my hands) and I will pay you.
Case in point - US TV shows. Used to be months between US and UK broadcasts (still is for some shows). And sky etc would complain about piracy. Then they did something about it. Now with many high profile US shows,they broadcast only a day or two after the US broadcast date (24 is on a Wednesday for instance). And they even simulcast the LOST finale and 24's opening episodes. And my response is to support sky and watch on their channel, because it is easy
Oh absolutely not, I just think this will accelerate the process. But yes, it is reality already. So many of the games I play now require constant net connection, and as far as I can see are run on server-side and only simulated on the client-side.
There is a reason why such games tend to be the ones that haul in huge revenue.
Basileus777
Member
HBO seems pretty lackadaisical about piracy. Sky probably just pays them too much money for them to care about how many people can legitimately watch it.
Infernal Monkey
Member
Ahaha, they don't care about the rest of the world and never will. They didn't do shit all in response to it being the most pirated TV show ever in Australia.
A Sky Now TV Entertainment package including GOT costs £4.99 a month. You can sign up and be watching in less than 5 minutes with zero contract. That's hardly difficult.
EDIT: Welp. They've only gone and removed it. BRB, removing egg from face.
DiscoJer
Member
Steam isn't the best example, since they have their own DRM - Steamworks. Not everything uses it, and there is offline mode, but more than once I've had my internet down and be unable to run my games because of it.
GOG is a much better example.
Fredrik
Member
I don't see how, going by my own experience from working with younger people most of them seem to lack the moral thinking regarding anything found on internet, everything is free to them, they see nothing wrong with taking it, so simply removing the laws and let them make their own choice and hoping that it will be the right one seems like a naive way of thinking imo.
Palette Swap
Member
Short of forcing always online, that doesn't work at all.
Basileus777
Member
They care about making the most money, which seems to be in making exclusive deals.
toythatkills
Member
Yeah, see? Britain hasn't "decriminalised" shit.
YianGaruga
Banned
Steam was offered as an example of not having DRM, but combating pricay through superior service and consumer engagement. Steam is still better in that regard than GOG overall. DRM doesn't have a lot to do with this discussion aynway, since it is useless in preventing piracy.
Sure, I know enough people who think this way. Education, awareness and good online services are the only way to change those people's minds. Not harsher punishments.
If the report is correct, they effectively decriminalized the act of downloading. Of course piracy in general is still illegal. The headline is just misleading, but hey, gaming journalism. If you're taking headlines at face value you're doing it wrong.
TyrantGuardian
Member
So, what's the alternative? Charging them with 10 million dollar fines?
Edit: Actually, has this decriminalized anything? Not quite getting this news story. It feels like it's just about these letters themselves not enforcing any punishment, but whether the punishment remains separately from this action isn't mentioned anywhere.
HalfwayOrb
Member
I used to pirate PC games so much in the old days. Now I have 490 games on Steam.
Companies need to protect their rights somehow. It's the same with f2p actually. That is a legal model based on the reality of piracy.
A part of customers pays, another doesn't. It is unfair to the company and the paying customers. Making it fairer would mean more people pirate and play for free but that puts companies out of business.
So when you can't fight pirate reality, you come up with f2p. Pirates are winning and f2p is the price we are all awarded.
Some closed platforms would like to have a word with you: Xbox One, PlayStation 4.
pants
Member
Basileus777
Member
You are way over-reaching with the link between the rise of F2P and piracy, especially when many of the most lucrative P2P games are focused on online multiplayer where piracy can easily be controlled. And the rest are mobile games preying on whales.
dragonlife
Member
Time to download some cars.
YianGaruga
Banned
Sure, of course. Closed platforms work nicely until they don't. Not sure I would call this DRM though, but I might be wrong. I was primarily talking about the PC digital download space though, where DRM never did anything except pissing of customers.
Crimsonclaw111
Member
And on that note, more RAM as well.
Agreed. This should be emulated in other countries.
Yeah Steam sale is so insane that I don't even think of pirating anymore. I mean shit costs nothing nowadays (compared to shitty console prices..)
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