Gabe Newell was/is right about piracy.

[100% habibi, 0% jihadi]

He made a comment years ago saying piracy isn't a money issue - but a service issue. People who spend thousands on a gaming-rig who choose to pirate aren't doing so for money-related reasons. Tonight I discovered he is right.

In addition to Steam - I'm on Game Pass (for PC). Been there for a long time. There is a game I wanted to mod - called Crackdown 3. I was able to find the game's location on my hard drive - which is WAY more obscure than the simple Steam where you just go to Steamapps and choose the game.

Anyway - so I find folders for the game's videos which I actually enjoyed a lot and I thought wow that's so cool I don't even need a tool to extract them they're just all sitting right there in two folders.

Turns out those folders are 100% locked for any kind of editing - so even though I'm admin on my computer - and even though I pay for Game Pass.....I can't access the files. That blows my mind - and it also proves what he said years ago is true - because now I'm thinking about sailing the black seas in hope of finding someone who found a way around this issue. Again - not for money reasons - but for service reasons.

[Mr_Blank]

Maybe he is but I’m not gonna give a dude who takes advantage of children any benefit of agreeance.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

borderlands legendary collection for switch on cartridge tricks you into thinking you are getting all 3 games but what they do is give you bl1 on cartridge and a code for other 2 games. Scummy stuff like that happens and you are powerless

[Boblin the Goblin]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Mr_Blank:

Maybe he is but I’m not gonna give a dude who takes advantage of children any benefit of agreeance.

How does he 'take advantage of children'?

[Chaosolous]

As with all things, this is only partly true.

[gugnihr]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Megami Blanc:

borderlands legendary collection for switch on cartridge tricks you into thinking you are getting all 3 games but what they do is give you bl1 on cartridge and a code for other 2 games. Scummy stuff like that happens and you are powerless

As long as they are actual downloads and not cloud gaming (streaming) it is not really true that you are completely powerless

[100% habibi, 0% jihadi]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Chaosolous:

As with all things, this is only partly true.

could say the same of this comment of yours :P XD

[Mr_Blank]

Początkowo opublikowane przez SlowMango:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Mr_Blank:

Maybe he is but I’m not gonna give a dude who takes advantage of children any benefit of agreeance.

How does he 'take advantage of children'?

Promoting and allowing gambling on his largest games like csgo, a game that people can play before they’re legal to gamble btw.

[dieterdb]

tbh this service was better when this statement was released but nowadays its becoming a joke...

oh you buy a game on release?
how about we let you wait 5 days for no apparent reason except we don't trust you and the multiple k's you've already invested in Ur account...

literally would've had a better experience with a cracked edition and this happens so much im losing count how many times my experience as a pirate would just be plain better.

[tyl0413]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Tiberius:

Początkowo opublikowane przez EnÐΩGeÑe§¡§:

Well, to be fair, the 'world' was a lot smaller back then. Pirating on dial-up was not fun. lol.

I remember watching parts of this world come online. Then I would meet them in game and shoot them. Good times. ;)

10-20years ago, you prolly also didnt have disposable income

Americans should not be allowed to participate in these discussions, they have more BDs in their local walmart around the corner after they removed 90% of their stock due to low demand than i've seen my whole life yet they chose to rent xvid tier trash for the past decade to play on TVs that spy on them. They're the reason piracy is coming back again, even tho it still sucks because now theres nothing else to rip from but the trash off streaming services but I guess at least you can cut your losses and not pay for it (or not even watch because most modern entertainment and software is absolutely terrible).

Początkowo opublikowane przez Γαῖα:

While the governments and internet providers played whac a mole (funny how no one has got around to reclassifying the game due to it violent connotation), these pirate sites still to this day proliferate (cut off the head of a serpent and two grow back).

It was i feel the unscrupulous nature of some people to plant dangerous stuff inside said advertised files and a serious lack of know how on the part of the majority of users at the time to circumnavigate the pitfalls that had led to a lessening of privacy.
Thing is even in its heyday, it didn't bankrupt the various firms like they claim. Those that stood to gain still had the nice houses, swimming pool and fast/luxury car. Piracy of products is far older than the internet and it never ended trendy names that still to this day prevail.

So piracy is about money but just not from the culprits Gabe Newell suggests.

So you're trying to suggest the existence of some very low quality releases that may include malware led to the lessening of privacy and not being forced to consent to very extensive surveillance when using most modern official digital platforms?
At least one doesn't cost money and any firewall/AV/adblock/etc will not let it through because their buddies are on the corporate whitelist.

Początkowo opublikowane przez kilésengati:

Steam isn't without flaws, but he was absolutely right about piracy being a service issue.

I appreciate Steam and GOG way more when I wanted to watch movies, there is literally no good options available to me, especially official.

[vkobe]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Tiberius:

Yea that explains why piracy is dead. Oh wait... it isnt

it dying between 2010 to 2018

after electronic art, ubisoft, epic game store messing like you are forced to be online to enjoy single player game, exclusivity

netflix, disney+, crunchy+funnyanimation,hbo, amazon+ didnt help either and they increase their prices with crap service and more commercial

so gaben is right when service decrease with increasing price you look for big trouble and your customer going to check alternative

also rip this thread when mod coming to close it :^(

[NW/RL]

Piracy decreased with the advent of streaming services, back when the prices were cheap and there were only a few players. Now that everyone wants in on Netflix's game, the incentive to pirate has returned, and with it an increase in piracy. Gaben was spot on