PixlBit

Stealing a game on pc is easy? When was the last time you tried? It's easy for someone who knows how, but to a normal gamer? Fuck no. If the game has any form of drm then you need to know how to install cracks, how to deal with isos, use virtual disks, and if it needs online verification, how to disable your firewalls and so on and so forth. It is easier than stealing a game on a console, yeah, but it's far from easy.

  "THERE IS NO FUCKING REASON WHY A DIGITAL DOWNLOADED GAME SHOULD BE THE SAME PRICE AS A PHYSICAL GAME!!  THEY CUT COSTS IN DISTRIBUTION & PACKAGING ALONE!!  IT'S A FUCKING RIPOFF!!  PERIOD!!" No argument there. They have to pay a fee to get it onto the digital distributor, but that's a one time fee. However, I feel the discounts we get on PC kind of justify it. I mean I got Skyrim for 15 bucks less than a year after it came out.

 I also agree with everything else, but there is a difference between wanting every dime from you and just wanting money from the purchases, and both piracy and used games take away from that.

Lee, I'm arguing with the point he made about using the money saved on used games to fund new games.

I'm not defending piracy. I was speaking specifically of your statement that saving money on a new game can be used to finance another new game. I just using that same logic and applying to piracy. You're right, in both cases, you are still screwing somebody. That is what I was trying to say anyway, I may not have worded it right though.

 Also, if you have ever something to say about me say it. You're both reasonable and generally polite so I won't take offense to it :p, and will either see your point or explain myself if need be.

 As for me pirating? Not really anymore. I used to be heavily into piracy. I used to also be heavily into used games. I'm not condemning either party, because I've done both. Now however, I buy new, but that's because on PC I get new games that are so fucking cheap it's beyonf belief. I don't blame people who buy used games, because they are going off the same logic that I am.

 The problem lies with the retailers, and their refusal to mark down prices on new games, forcing people who can't afford them into buying used games. Those are my thoughts anyway.

Yeah, but the same argument can be used for piracy. "If I pirate this game from Activision or EA, I can finance a game by a company I like!" What's the difference?

 Yeah, look. The problem isn't with pawn shops or anything. If it were just people trading their goods for other goods or cash and still buying new, there'd be no problem. It's just the state the industry is in now. A quote from the CEO of Ready at Dawn said this: "I'd love to see anything that can help distribution move quicker toward a 100 percent online model. It's not piracy but used games that are killing us." Piracy may be evil, but it's also hard to do, and is seen by many to be stealing, pushing many away. Used games on the other hand, makes people feel secure, because what they're doing is legal and accepted by society, but does the same amount of damage to the gaming industry when done on a large scale, which gaming retailers pretty much force to happen. 

 I have a friend who works at game, and he says that when they are training, they are directly told to try to sell used copies instead of new copies. If somebody is trying to buy a new copy, you are obliged to try and sell them a used copy by saying it's cheaper and it's basically the same thing. They constantly advertise used copies at every chance they get. 

The problem isn't with the trading, but with how hard used games are pushed.

I've both pirated and bought new games. There was a time in my life where I thought I'd buy every game I pirated, and I tried to justify it. Now I only download tv shows and movies lol because fuck em, their industry isn't in as much peril as ours.

Used games are pushed from day one to take money away from the dev and give it all to the retailer. That sounds exactly like someone selling a pirated copy to me. This isn't about you trading in games with your friends or whatever. This is about game retailers selling traded copies so that they get all the money and devs get nothing.

This discussion isn't so much about you trading games with your friend or something. As I said previously, Movies have other ways to make money apart from dvd sales. Games don't. Used games are pushed from day one to take money away from the dev and give it all to the retailer. That sounds exactly like someone selling a pirated copy to me.