There is the rub. Society is not "writing" the laws anymore. Special interest (read as vested interest) is doing it for us via the best Congress that money can buy. Sadly enough for some, more and more people are joining the copyfighter cause (read as quickly becoming the new norm) as a direct result of the bullshit laws being passed by said noble institution of the people.

The answer is for games companies to stop wasting money. E.G. Demigod Maps. They don't have to be that detailed. Then, you can retail your game for less, given that it's impossible to recover that money.

DRM promotes piracy, not by any other method, but simply how you can't sell your game. I would sell World of Warcraft, BioShock, a bunch of them. Now, I won't put my money down for any game. If you buy a DVD or Blu-ray, there's even less stopping you pirating it. But you don't get a CD-key with your DVD. I bought Transformers blu-ray, didn't like it. Price went up, and I'm going to re-sell it for a profit. Next time I go to buy a Blu-ray, I'll take that chance. Games? Forget it.

Frankly, buying Demigod has taught me, why I don't buy new games anymore. Broken multiplayer. Poor balance. But I can't recoup any of that.

A great example of how it should be done is Valve and their free weekends for games like UT3 and L4D. That's a chance to really play the game before putting money down. That's how it should be done. I played UT3 for the free weekend, didn't really enjoy it, didn't buy it. I played L4D on a free day or weekend, enjoyed it, bought it. 

I bought Supreme Commander and FA, and it turned out great, so I thought that perhaps I could start buying again. But no.

Let me add to the STFU list, then:

If you defend someone like tommyth3cat, who clearly DOES have the money to buy games and chooses not to, STFU. All of your arguments about not depriving anyone of income based on the pirate's inability to pay fail when the pirate could pay, but is just an asshat. And if you try some stupid bullshit about "well, I can only afford X number of games per month," please die in a fire.

If you pirate a game to "try before you buy" before any reviews are out, even if there is no demo, STFU. Waiting a week to get reviews, gameplay videos, etc would not have damaged the gameplay experience for you, and would almost certainly have answered whatever questions you had.

If you feel you should be entitled to play all games regardless of your ability to pay, STFU. There are lots of things we'd all like to do and can't afford. Grow the fuck up.

If you think piracy by people with the ability to pay is not stealing the income copyright law was designed to provide the creators, STFU. Join reality before you open your mouth.

Funny, that's exactly the argument I make when people use poor game quality to justify piracy. Your opinion about whether they deserve to get paid for that work is entirely irrelevant.

Now, if anyone can find anything worth discussing that doesn't fall under either of those STFU lists, please continue the topic. Otherwise we can continue the sanctimonious ass vs whining criminal act for all of eternity.

Ahehe, in my opinion, one way to start stoping the piracy, and start calling it what it really is-THEFT.

I've never understood why they use a "fancy" term like Pirate for Thief.

@cobraA1

You are most skilled at flapping your mouth and not really saying anything. Just keep arguing with yourself because I'm not wasting my time typing up responses to your dribble.  If you want me to actually answer your questions then you can show me some common fucking decency and not lob insults at me in every reply.

Truest statement I've seen so far about how these piracy discussions pan out. 

I'm just using it as an example of what's possible. I didn't say I expected them to succeed.

Do you think that this will be the last attempt at such a thing?

Even if they fail, the idea is out. There are other ways to do this.

It is up to us to decide what path we want to take now. And how much piracy there is will help pave the way towards one path or another.

Do you think that just because you can rationailze all this in your own way, that you can somehow determine the course of the future?

You don't determine the course of the future of gaming by taking the high ground in an argument.

The future of gaming will be determined by the publishers.

You swear at me while complaining about decency?

If you are to use the word "f**king" with me, I'm not even sure I want you to try to answer my questions.

Are we still getting the bug where the next page doesn't appear until there are two posts on it?

Oh, but i DO agree that there is a somehow controversial definition of Copyright infringement.

Virtual theft still gets a virtual object for free by stealing it, though.

However, since i can also purchase a CD with virtual objects on it, i consider both stolen when someone takes it off my Hard-Drive and re-installs the product itself (not the CD, not the Virtual object as it was once legally bought).

What has just been stolen is my right to use a legal copy from ME, not from the corporation who sold it to me.

Copy/Paste, rinse & repeat. Result=Piracy.

No, it's only cuz almost simultaneous posters have hit the "Post Reply" button and the site is still updating the thread/reply numerical order.

UNLESS your browser refreshes the FlashPlayer driven cache fast enough to show you the new page.

Sometimes CTRL-F5 helps but not if your reply is a multiple of 25+1.

quoting this for the laughs, seriously... this is how you make arguements? Present yourself as above the fray to deflect anything you don't wish to acknowledge or respond to.

At least some of the people with your position make good points, you however make none.

Ctrl+F5? Wow, that actually does do a complete refresh of the page. Along with Ctrl+R or holding down Shift while pressing the reload button. Gotta love Firefox, lol .

I'm just copying you. Learn from the master, right?

I never thought i would have to repeat an earlier solution.

Still waiting for YOUR suggestion, though. Even if the next financially feasible title offers you a demo (YouTube has plenty of that sort of teasing videos, in fact) to test before you decide to buy the real...

fully-functional_server-ready_accounted-for_registrable_valid_unstolen... version.

And since tommyth3cat dosn't think I make points, here is one that I made earlier (heavily edited because apparently he tends to read between the lines rather than actually read the lines):

HERE IS A POINT

\/ \/ \/ \/

In OnLive, the game is 100% server side so there is nothing on your computer to copy.

Your computer sends the server the actions, and the server sends back video.

Something like this could be the future of gaming.

/\ /\ /\ /\

THAT WAS A POINT

Do I need to do this every time I make a point so that he can actually read it?

Just to make it crystal clear zyxpsilon Pirated copys do not equate to sales with that said... What companys need to do is take the same approach blizzard is doing with Starcraft 2 show off a match between 2 competant players in high rez. not some garbage youtube video.  Since they are taking a proactive approach to showing off what the game is rather than vague hints and speculation.  As far as i understand it from the stories i read on Demigod, it had very little in ways of gameplay footage before its street date was broke.

So either you take a company on faith that you will get something worth your money or as many people do now who don't like to throw away their hard earned money, they demo a game, if it doesn't have one then it depends on the game. at least in my prospective. I don't really play single player games on PC thats what an Xbox is for but some people will happily download mass effect and play the pirated version.  that is what it really boils down to personal decisions... even though you like to call me a thief and a criminal you're painting with a broad brush.  After i pirated sins I enjoyed it so much i bought it... simple as that.  I don't wake up in the morning saying to myself, "How can I ruin a game developers day?"

The problem is and will always be money and not willing to shell out your cash for something that hasn't proven to you it is worth the investment.  again Starcraft 2 has already done that for me and im buying it the day it comes out because of the 20min matches they recorded showing all aspects of the product that in going to throw my money at.

On a side note I never liked Dota so I didn't care about Demigod. I'm speaking in broader terms not specifically to this release.