Software Piracy

[zedong]

I'm not usually a ranter and raver in forums but I have encountered an issue that has made me go through the painstaking process of registering on this forum just to vent.
I have been a Civ fanatic since 1993 when I used to stay up for days playing civ with friends in our dorm rooms. Now that Civ 4 has come out I have been as addicted as ever to the great graphics and the still great game play. My bubble has been burst however when I first tried to purchase Civ from Direct2Drive.com only to discover that I cannot purchase the game because I live in Barbados and some genius decided that we don't seem to count as real people. I may sound a bit melodramatic but I do find it amazing that after a game has ben released for a year, it is teh appropriate to sell it to us "peasants" in third world countries.
This attitude leads me to my other great peeve, software piracy. I have friends who are developers and I hope to be one myself one day. As such, software piracy really ticks me off becaues it is often not the big Firaxis type company that suffers but the small developers. Having said all of this, why are people surprised when people in developing countries like Barbados pirate software, music and videos? We can't buy from Direct2Drive, iTunes or a myriad of other sites and companies like Amazon.com happily sell us Music, DVDs and Books but say no no no to PC Games and electronics. This really makes me laugh as our money is only good enough for what they want to sell us as opposed to what we want to buy.
At the end of the day, all I can say is that I'll keep "stealing" software, music, videos and audiobooks until someone finds a away to allow me to legally purchase it.

That's my rant, take it or leave it.

 

[Willowmound]

This thread will be closed down I'm sure, but before that happens let me say that if what you are telling us is true, I'm with you all the way. Have you been given a reason by anyone as to why Direct2Drive won't take your money?

 

[Sadan01]

Threads and posts about piracy are usually locked on these forums.

 

[Gav]

i would presume this is a licensing and distribution issue.
if you want to buy the game from www.cdwow.ie i'll post you the game.

 

[DemonDeLuxe]

This thread will be closed down I'm sure, but before that happens let me say that if what you are telling us is true, I'm with you all the way. Have you been given a reason by anyone as to why Direct2Drive won't take your money?

I'm pretty sure it's true. Another guy had a long thread complaining how he could not buy the game because he currently lives in China. It's weird, really.

 

[Lewsir]

Of course its true. Many US-based websites are not even set up to accept foreign addresses. If you don't enter a state, it won't let you proceed. I used to pretend I lived in Texas because a zip code in that state matched my Paris zip code.

Now I live in Kenya and believe me there's no hope of the game showing up here for at least a year. On the other hand, living in Kenya its also hard to do much illegal downloading because the internet connections are so bad So I will probably buy CIV4 through Amazon and have it delivered to someone coming to visit me. But if that's not an option for someone, forget it.

 

[Doomed_UK]

I will also say that the silly method of 'release in country A on X date, but in country B a few weeks later' encourages piracy.

 

[Reg Pither]

But even so, what sort of person knowingly breaks the law just to play a game?

Games are luxury items. They're not food, or fuel or a place to live. You don't need them in your life. Just because something nice that you'd like isn't available is no excuse to steal it. Pathetic.

Rant over. Take it or leave it.

 

[Willowmound]

But even so, what sort of person knowingly breaks the law just to play a game?

Oh, lots of people you would probably never recognise as criminals.

 

[Turner]

Theoretical discussions of piracy I'll tolerate.

Talking about how to pirate the game, or advocating it, or telling people how to do it, will get you a warning, possibly a ban, and a thread closure.

 

[DemonDeLuxe]

But even so, what sort of person knowingly breaks the law just to play a game?

Games are luxury items. They're not food, or fuel or a place to live. You don't need them in your life. Just because something nice that you'd like isn't available is no excuse to steal it. Pathetic.

Rant over. Take it or leave it.

You just outed yourself as not being a real CIVer. CIV is life, breath, everything. CIV is the sense of creation. Amen.

 

[Ani]

Piracy is still wrong but yes i understand why you wold go to the step to when you cant buy it. Its partly the same reason europe with Scandinavia got a high piracy rating. When the seller says you are a secondrate customer people tend to get pissed.

Abouth breaking the law.
I am not sure he will be breaking the law if downloading as its likely the game havent been copyrighted there as they dont sell it there. Offcourse it depends where he download it from to. This is one of the main reason asian software piracy avoided prosecution some years ago. (before the program was copyrighted they made copies)

A risky but possible solution is to get a friend of you order or buy it and get it sent by package to you. That depends on what postal options is available where are though.

 

[onedreamer]

But even so, what sort of person knowingly breaks the law just to play a game?

Games are luxury items. They're not food, or fuel or a place to live. You don't need them in your life. Just because something nice that you'd like isn't available is no excuse to steal it. Pathetic.

Rant over. Take it or leave it.

well sorry to point it out Reg Pither, but using pirated software (not selling it) is not a penal crime. Therefore it's hard to say that it means breaking the law.

 

[Willowmound]

well sorry to point it out Reg Pither, but using pirated software (not selling it) is not a penal crime. Therefore it's hard to say that it means breaking the law.

I'm not sure that's true everywhere. Local laws and all that.

 

[The End Is Nigh]

only to discover that I cannot purchase the game because I live in Barbados and some genius decided that we don't seem to count as real people.

I don't see what the problem is. Barbados is clearly listed in the countries from which you can purchase Direct2Drive products.

 

[Slax]

There was a recent thread about how Direct2Drive products are often never patched, so it may be a blessing in disguise.

 

[emalherbe]

Had the same drama here in South Africa. But - lucky for us some European sites (not Amazon.com or direct2drive) do ship here. What does make it diffirent from your problem is that here it is a distribution issue - it only hits our stores 1 month after the US release. But I wanted my pretty pre-order.

EDIT: You can order it on-line from our ZA retailer that ships international: here

 

[Olie]

Oh quit complaining! You live in Barbados! Shouldn't you be lounging on a beach somewhere?

Seriously though, it must be immensly frustrating to be in your position. Games companies and retailers complaining about piracy should do more to prevent situations like that which Zedong describes, (evidently) it would do much to reduce their problem.

As to this thread being closed, No-one seems to be advocating piracy, I see no reason why a discussion about the causes of piracy shouldn't be allowed to continue.

P.S. You should of called this thread, "Pirates of the Caribbean", getit? Piracy (game, that is), Barbados (the Caribbean area)... took me ages to think of that.

 

[warpstorm]

big Firaxis type company

Firaxis isn't big. They only have about 50 employees (and not all of them are developers).

 

[TerraHero]

@Zedong

If they dont want to sell it to you then they probably wont care if you pirate it anywy, for they dont seem to care at all about anything from you and your location.

@Doomed_UK

I totally agree, the first few weeks are vital for the game producer and publisher as this is where the sales are made. Release a game 2 weeks or a month earlier in 1 location and not in another location, especially ebtween such internet junky coutnries like the US and Europe a piracy network is up and running in no time flat and since people cannot get the game legally yet they are more prone to settle for a pirated copy often telling themselves "ill buy it in stores when it gets here"

Appart from all this alot of "professionals" in economy say that the piracy is a big hole in the economic system for software and that it hinders the economy to follow a normal patern but they alos seem to let out that a game's price is not rated to its quality at all. Poorly programmed and made games go for 50-60euros (where i'm from) just as much as the really awesome and carefully made games and games are also increasing in price at the retailshops.

I believe all the next gen consoles anounced increasing the price of there games again, for starters its juz 5euro's (again where i am from) but in a few years it will haev accumulated upto 10-15 euro's. So i think its not right to judge the same about all people that pirate, true that there are those that pirate purely because of the "im to slacky to pay for a game" you also got the people like Zedon who are denied acces to a game alltogether or people that refuse to pay an outragous price for a game without even knowing if its actually really good or not and worth the top dollar we all pay for our games. Even tough prices can be alot cheaper, just look at most online stores, they often go 20-50% below the retail price and i'm sure they still make a profit.

So in short, more global acces to a game at the same time, lesser insane prices will cut down piracy more then any protection they put on it.