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Console Players Are Pirates
According to a study by Macrovision one in five console gamers is a pirate, or uses pirated software. Interestingly the study, detailed on GamesIndustry.biz, also found that "three quarters of them would have paid for the games if they hadn't been available for free." Coverage also available on IGN.
I don't believe this for a second. A survey of 6000 people does not represent the millions of gamers in North America. Also... the main bias of this survey is that Macrovision is trying to peddle their copy protection services to MS and Sony.
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
I may have missed something, but they go from talking about software to games... software is not the same as a game, and that stat seems wildly out of whack. There are a handful (at least) of hurdles that one has to overcome before being able to priate a game, and it doesn't seem like the average gamer would neccesarily also be tech savvy enough to have, and keep the motivation in order to actually pirate the material.
That people who only have a passing interest or curiosity in a game would pay money for it. (outside of a rental)
Now if they could download and burn the same game they may be more willing to give it a wirl.
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May I ask why? You supported them when you purchased the XBox. Why not buy games for it. If a software developer puts out a title that is to your liking and of suitable quality why not pay the company that produced it?
Please elaborate.
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I don't suppose Macrovision would have the slightest bit of bias in this sort of a study? Seeing as they sell copy-protection technology...
I would expect such blatant racism on Fark, but on Slashdot? Mods please ban this asshole.
For a number of reasons, including who conducted it (Macrovision), their sample target (Techno-savvy gamers), and their sample size (6,000). Not to mention that we haven't yet seen the actual survey that they (presumably) e-mailed these people. There's also the issue of multiple responses from the same person. I assume they tried to prevent this with IP logging, but it is certainly still feasible. Also unknown are they type of "gaming" sites. If they attached a survery to GameCopyWorld.com, that just might skew the results a tad bit. I will take this article and with it, a giant-sized cube of salt.
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Doer of bad deeds, screenwriter-wannabe
savagexp
Modding a PS should not be a suprise as many games from Japan don't work in a US version. They have nobody to blame but themselves.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
I could see that 1 in 5 computer gamers may be pirating games, but console gamers? I can't see 20% of kids with PS2's or Gamecubes cracking games... Is it really that easy?
There is no way! Even here at work where most people are techy, the bulk of people do NOT pirate console games. I would say more like 1 in 10 (if even). And that ratio would certainly drop in a general population count.
...one in five Xbox and PS2 gamers is using pirated software...
Does this mean they are actually pirating Xbox and PS2 games, or is it also including gamers with pirated software on their computers? This seems kind of vague to me. I am curious what exactly they asked the gamers in the study.
A new study conducted by California-based firm Macrovision
Just stop there, with that source, the rest of the article is worthless.
I would be willing to grant that such piracy probably happens, but this sounds like a scare tactic comming out of Macrovision trying to prop up sales of their anti-copying technologies. I expect a study to follow which claims that games with their newest technology are pirated far less. It will, of course, be the same level of bullshit at this study, but if it drives one or two companies to adopt their technology then it will easily pay for the minimum wage they paid someone for half a day to call random gamers and ask a misleading question.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Laziness is the father.
So 1/5th of the players (assuming the study is anywhere near accurate, which I doubt) are pirates...that doesn't support the statement "Console Players are Pirates." Yesh.
- AMW
"According to a study by Macrovision one in five console gamers is a pirate, or uses pirated software. Interestingly the study, detailed on GamesIndustry.biz, also found that "three quarters of them would have paid for the games if they hadn't been available for free." "
Funny, the console market is pretty darn strong. You'd think all this piracy would mean that this year would be a real drag for console game publishers.
"Derp de derp."
Duh. They take a bigger loss on every console not sold.
Think, idiots.
My stupid web site
Macrovision, RIAA, et al - have discovered how to PREDICT THE FUTURE!!!1!1 bah, you get the idea.
Idiots. I doubt they even bothered to do any kind of reputable research for this and just made it up out of whole cloth, or the survey consisted of someone asking their drinking buddies what they thought some good numbers would be.
It would be pretty hard to get accurate predictions on something like this regardless, even if they did try. From someone that's actually downloaded things, and knows people that've downloaded things, the reality of the situation is:
If people download something, it's because they don't want to pay for it. Lack of availabilty online won't necessarily make them want to pay for it. Downloading it MAY change their mind and make them want to pay for it, in which case they will do so. I download music so I won't have to listen to the crap that turns up on the radio (not to mention having to wait through the commericals & talk talk when I just want to hear music). I download vid files because the stuff on cable has no redeeming entertainment or intellectual value. I download games to find out if the damn thing sucks so much that I won't launch the program more than twice.
Give me content that doesn't suck through an "approved" outlet (which is to say, one they can directly line their pockets with) and I'll pay for it - to the extent that I have available currency. I'll still prefer cheap or free media outlets to overpriced ones, and I'll still only buy the things I want to own. If it's not that good, I'll still get it from the library or listen to it on the radio first. I buy what I want to own, I don't buy what I don't want to own.
My point is that this research only tells us that crippleware worked better in this particular case, a case where I think the registration fee was set way too high. Looking at just the uncrippled registrations, he made $3900 in about a year for his couple of days work. To me that seems pretty fair, and certainly not something I'd complain about. All registrations totaled $34000, and he claims it would have been $50000 if all versions had been crippled. That seems like an awfully good return for a couple of days work. Good on him for making that, but it seems a bit off to be complaining about his users honesty given just how much he made from that software.
"The survey participants were randomly selected from a pool of visitors to various game-related websites."
Any chance of a list of which websites? Any chance to actually see the questionaire? I really really hate it when these pseudo-scientific adverts are presented without providing any backing. I understand most people aren't interested, but there's no reason the down and dirty info can't be linked off the shock and awe press release.
Personally speaking (and I suspect I'm not alone) I have a load of consoles around my house, all chipped, or 'opened' (apart from the PSP and DS).
I've got every console I've owned chipped as soon as I was able to. It's not a matter of wanting 'free' games, it's my urge to make the device as functional as possible. You buy your console and it does X, you chip it and it does X plus a bit more. The world's full of millions of these damn consoles, all uniform in their ability/appearance. You just have the urge to get a little bit more than the next guy - the commoner you can look down upon.
My PS2 was nice, but I bought into DVD when it started off and US imports had the latest films, different cuts and lower prices. How f'in annoying was it to be only able to play back 2/3rds of your film collection? When MGS came out in the US months and months before the UK, why on earth should I sit twiddling my thumbs before I can play it?
For the Xbox it's the wonders of Media Centre - Now there's no reason MS couldn't have released something similar, but they didn't. It's out there, I want it and I need a mod chip to make it happen.
To sum up my ramblings, a large number of people don't mod purely to pirate. They mod to 'free' their console of all the artificial restrictions that've been forced upon it.
Somebody pushes you, your first instinct is to push back.
This is what Macrovision is fighting. The consoles have copy protection and most people happily live their lives with it. A minority are opposed to it, you know they are, they've spent an evening swearing at it whilst clutching a soldering iron. You're not going to make them stop, you just enter an escalating race against them. New protection followed by new patch/chip/technique. It's got personal and I'm not going to let Macrovision stop me.
PSP seems to be a bit of an advance, you need to buy games for it, but it plays movies, I can just stick the card from my camera into it, it's region free for games, seemingly it'll synch with the new PSX. I'm just curious to see if my theory holds out, will it be less of a target for hackers due to it's higher original functionality.