Doom 3 piracy out of control

I'm still astounded that so many people have such little regard for intellectual property. I saw on GameSpot that Doom 3 piracy has easily spiraled into the millions of dollars of damage and the game doesn't even come out until tomorrow.

Is it just because I've worked in media my entire life, and as a programmer now, that I find this behaviour disgusting? I mean, did people ever consider that the work people did to create something entitled them to some kind of compensation?

I certainly realize that there are times when the price of something makes it not worth it to you, but when that's the case, don't buy it. Let the market dictate what something is worth, but don't steal it. I don't buy expensive cars because they're not worth it to me. I don't steal them either. It's sad that people don't see any difference.

17 Comments

  • The difference is if you steal an expensive car you deprive someone who does want to spend the money of one.

    And do you have any evidence that these people won't buy the game? Many of them may be copying it for the "I had it two days earlier than you" brag factor.

  • Typical response from someone that doesn't seem to get it.

  • Id has not announced yet release date for the demo. Many people, myself included, want to see how fast the game is on their hardware and will probably download pirated version to see for themselves. Besides, shipping dates here in Europe are 10 days behind US, so the wait is unbearable.



    That said, many people will never buy the game, but that is the reality - Internet (high speed) giveth, Internet taketh. As much as Internet helped the pioneers of shareware (Doom was one of the, if not THE first game to be offered this way)), it is now being (ab)used against them.



    We should all learn to adapt to this situation, as it is not going to dissappear and is probably only getting worse. Hopefully, percentage of those who will never buy under any circumstances is a lot smaller than percentage of those who can be "persuaded" either by better pricing, availability, support or general quality of what we produce.



    Btw, I noticed one strange irregularity (usually it's the other way around) - Doom 3 is cheaper if ordered through Amazon.co.uk than over Amazon.com - in US it is 54.99$, in UK it is 24.99£ which is about 45$

  • I agree with you, Jeff, however I won't call it 'stealing', as it technically isn't. It's unlicensed usage. You may (at least here in The Netherlands, and I'm sure in the rest of Europe it's the same) have a copy but you may not use it unless you have a license.



    That aside, the amount of piracy of Doom3 isn't different from the amount of piracy of any other game. Often a game is released into the warez scene before the official release, as groups often have suppliers early in the chain, like working in distro companies or stores.



    Activision also made a mistake: In Europe we have to wait 10 days till we can buy it (august 13). Those 10 days are not for translating the manual into 20 languages, that takes much longer than that. (UK can have the same manual even). Also boxes with descriptions in various languages can be pre-manufactured (they are) way before the game is done.



    Why the delay? In Europe there are highly sophisticated CD duplication factories, we don't need to wait till a big ship arrives in Rotterdam to deliver the games: fork the master over to a factory here and manufacture the game locally.



    Due to that delay a lot of eagerly waiting folks in Europe and elsewhere in the world have a choice: download or wait 10 days. Some can't stand the wait when they can download it as well.



    Valve has thought of this and came up with a solution: Steam. The minute the game is gold you can download it from Steam. Great concept and really using 21st century tech.



    EA will release the sims 2 worldwide on the same date as well. It IS possible. It is also, sadly, necessary to do so to avoid a lot of downloads.



    Besides that, we have to pay 55EURO for the game here. Money is not that important to me, but for gamers who don't have a lot of money, it can be too much. If you take into account what the dollar - euro rate is at the moment, you get a pretty well idea how europeans get ripped off by Activision.



    But hey, it's doom 3. Although a lot of people already reported the dull gameplay in the second half, I'm still going to buy it :)

  • I never understood the argument that thieves would never buy that game (software, cd, whatever) anyways - why exactly are they stealing it then? It's obviously something they do not want (otherwise they would buy it), so why are they stealing? IMHO they're just trying to find excuses for their stealing.



    As for stealing cars - why exactly is it different? Cars cost money to make, so do games. Strangly I don't see many people who advocate stealing as harmless crime giving away their work for free...

  • The matter isn't a moral one, it's a business one.



    If your business model wont sustain contact with the real world the fault always lies with the business model never with the real world that refuses to comply with your business model.



    If you come to launch with no demo you fuel desire for people to get their hands on your product. There's a pro... the fueled desire hopefully equates to a rush to the shops on launch... and a con, in that people will seek other means to obtain your product if they're available.



    If you have brought to the highest pitch you can desire for your product and you stagger release globally (as often occurs with Europe), then in the age of the global ecconomy you're a bloody idiot and point blank deserve to get your knuckles rapped.



    If you decide to mark-up the price at a premium in a region simply because your distributor has developed the habit with all types of media from games to book of translating 1 for 1 dollars into pounds sterling, and then translating the sterling into Euros at the exchange rate when dollar to sterling hovers around 1.5.... effectively screwing your customer just because your can... if your customer decides to screw you simply because they can you don't get to call foul, you get to suck it up the same way they do.



    If your business model doesn't survive contact with the real worl.... change your business model.

  • "As for stealing cars - why exactly is it different? Cars cost money to make, so do games. Strangly I don't see many people who advocate stealing as harmless crime giving away their work for free..."

    Theft is taking something away from someone else. Person A has object X. Person B steals X from A. A doesn't have X anymore.



    Running a pirated game isn't theft as it doesn't steal anything away from the creator. It's more like using a service (hiring a consultant for example) and not paying for that service.



    Note: I'm against piracy but I'd like to state also that piracy isn't theft. Please use the proper terms which are also used in court.

  • As Frans said, software piracy is not stealing ... just as Assault is not Burglary. Piracy is generally carries no penal consequences (but plenty of civil) while stealing most certainly does. There are clear conceptual and legal differences between the two ... just because one mentally equates the wrongness of the two acts does not make them the same.



    As much as we all hate software, those who equate it to stealing ... is it fair to charge a kid Grand Theft for downloading 3D Studio Max because he wants to make models for Unreal?

  • ... I really should proof what I write before hitting that submit button ...



    "Piracy is generally carries" --> "Piracy generally carries"

    "As much as we all hate software" --> "As much as we all hate software piracy"

  • "Theft is taking something away from someone else. Person A has object X. Person B steals X from A. A doesn't have X anymore. "



    This is wrong. You haven't been reading your John Locke, tsk tsk. :)



    To define theft, you must first define ownership. Ownership is the right of use and disposal of some asset. Assets are not defined as "tangible." They can be tangible or intangible. They can be a piece of land, a clock, a copyright, a patent, or a trademark, or any endless number of other things. Ownership can only be transferred by the owner--the right of use *and disposal.* Most often, ownership is transferred from person to person by means of an agreed upon trade. Sometimes this trade is arm's-length--i.e., 1.99 for a burger at McDonald's. Sometimes the trade is extremely complex and represented by a legal document--i.e., a contract.



    Theft is the appropriation of another's property either as a failure to gain approval from the owner.



    Notice how vague all this is. It leaves the particulars to definition. To apply it to this specific case--ID software owns a software product, for which they will trade a copy to another person for a certain amount of money. Anyone that obtains, without Id Software's permission--which means without paying for it, or having permission by some other means, a copy of DOOM 3, has stolen from ID software.



    To the person that said that this is a moral issue--I obviously don't agree. It's a profoundly moral issue. If you advocate that others should be able to appropriate your property without your permission, then it doesn't matter if that property is tangible or intangible--or if the person is doing it via a software download, or by burgling your home. Ownership, property rights--these are principles; and the slightest abrogation of these principles destroys them outright. It's either-or. Either I have the right to dictate the terms by which I will transfer ownership of my property, or I don't.



    Great blog, Jeff.

  • "Notice how vague all this is. It leaves the particulars to definition. To apply it to this specific case--ID software owns a software product, for which they will trade a copy to another person for a certain amount of money. Anyone that obtains, without Id Software's permission--which means without paying for it, or having permission by some other means, a copy of DOOM 3, has stolen from ID software. "

    Not here in The Netherlands and other countries in Europe and if Im not mistaken also in the US. You may own a copy of DOOM3, you are just not permitted to use it, distributed it or sell it. You may own the copy though. Please read into this before you make a claim. As a software vendor I have done a deep investigation into what software selling really is and what you can do and should do as a software vendor, i.e. what do you sell and what that means and thus what it means to users buying what you sell and what they can do with it.



    With software, the user owns nothing but a license. A software vendor sells a license to use a copy. It doesn't sell anything else. A user therefore can only own a license. A person who buys DOOM 3 in a store, buys a license, a license to use the copy he gets with the license.



    What does a person get when he downloads the iso's from a website? A copy, without a license. The user doesn't get a license, thus doesn't steal anything, as the user doesn't steal a license, the ONLY THING a user can buy!.



    The person who downloaded the iso's can however try to run the game, with software which makes this possible (a crack, serial generator or what have you). When the person after applying these programs runs the downloaded software, the person violates the DMCA in the US by applying a crack to a piece of copyrighted software and furthermore violates teh copyright law in the country he is running the software in.



    That's it. It might sound weird and not fair to the software vendor, but that's how the law works. I didn't make these, your government did.



    Another aspect comes into play when the user downloads the iso's using bittorrent or other p2p network. These networks often share the downloaded files also (Bittorrent does this while downloading!). This means that a downloading person is also SPREADING the copy again.



    This is a more severe violation of the copyright law, as you may not distribute copyrighted software without a license to do so. Often people don't think of this aspect when downloading a pirated copy.



    I saw Jeff wrote another piece on his blog about this. I'm not sure if he refers to me when saying some people want to downplay piracy. I certainly don't have that intention, however I find it close to stupid when people are not realistic about this. Although I wish we could live in a world where we wouldn't need a lock on our door, the reality is different: give a person who doesn't want to pay for things (services/goods) an oppertunity to use services/goods without paying for them and they will take that oppertunity. I.o.w.: software vendors should be aware of the fact that piracy will happen and should work hard to make the oppertunity as low as possible.



    The last thing I want to add: please, if you all want to discuss this on a higher level than throwing mud, use the proper terms as they're also used in court and in any decent law book. As stupid as it might seem, piracy as in unlicensed usage of a piece of copyrighted material isn't theft, it's unlicensed usage of copyrighted material.



    The weird thing is: you can't say any pirated copy will be one sale lost. Perhaps the pirated copy will make the user aware of the great game and make him buy a license after all. This is not a lame attempt to make it look less bad, it is just an illustration of how things can be seen.



    Unlicenced usage of copyrighted material is something that's wrong, as stated in the copyright law.

  • "downplay piracy" I meant: make it less severe and bad as it really is. I find piracy bad and don't want to make it less bad than it really is. Just a disclaimer for the possibility I used english words wrongly :)

  • Did I steal it? yes, yes I did. Did I then go pick up my copy from the local retailer? Yes, yes I did. All of my friends also had copies obtained less than legally from me, and have all bought their copys as well. Is this indicative of all downloaders? No clue. Do I on a regular basis download games illegally? Every single title I consider buying. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Do I then purchase them? Sometimes. More often than not, I play the game for 10 minutes and see that yes in fact, its a pile of garbage, and I've saved myself $50. I stopped buying games first after getting Quake 3 and being sorely dissapointed. Do I feel even the slightest guilt for this? Zero. How many titles, games, cds, movies, so on, have you personally purchased and not gotten what you felt you paid for? If everyone made a counterclaim for damages from all the shoddy releases, it would put a serious dent in the market, mark my words. I don't care what the law says. I don't care what the RIAA says. I will continue to preview my software, audio and cinema selections illegally before I consider purchasing them. Every copy of anything I have thats been downloaded I have a retail copy of as well. So let them come kick in my door. I'll kindly flip them the bird. I'm sure I'll be flamed for admiting to stealing a game that is so beloved, but I don't care. My reason for stealing may or may not match that of others, but i'd like to think there are quite a many people in the same boat as myself.

  • What can i say, which has not already been said?. I will just add my opinion on the issue. As far as piracy goes, you must look at it from both angles, "the consumer" and the "software Companies", as they are the parties involved in the process. The software company invests capital into software development, this is done in order to yield a return, and preferably greater one then the invested capital. When the product is a good one the profits are generally proportional to how good. In this sense its a business venture to come out with a gain in the end. The consumer, can be looked at either as a whole in groups or as a single entity. As a single entity the consumer really doesnt contribute to the gross return of the software company, The consumer however can greatly increase the potential of revenues for the software company, if the product was satisfactory, the single consumer cna spread information to others and therefore generate more sales or pirates.. On the whole, more operation lisences will be sold if hte product is good. Piracy in its own right takes on the role of a medium to spread information. If the product is good then the product is accepted, amongst pirated circles as well as non pirated circles, but the pirated community is also the same community which buys the product. Not all, some people as mentined ealrlier can not afford any software, nevertheless, they can only benefit the software company by pirating the software, as they would never be capable of buying it outright... This means in the final result it is not cirtain that pirating software at the current state in time is a bad thing. It is a system in place to protect the consumer from bad software, as well as benefit the software company by providing free advertising which reaches consumers who will purchase the product. I personally feel as long as the laws allow the consumer to preview the products i nthis way, it will continue and even become more envolved... Dooom 3 is a great game, i will buy it.... As I am sure many others will... what can be said about all this, its reality, and its too complicated to discuss really, the bottom line is, unless people are jailed and fined on a mass scale... the software companies and the consumer must come up with a different solution.. as the spread of computer continues this piracy can only grow... who knows some day things may change not today though and i cant complain

  • Yeah, I really respect the opinion of someone with such stellar grammar and spelling. Krystoferq might be a thief, but at least he can communicate normally. The idea that piracy protects the consumer is the single most stupid thing I've heard on the subject.

  • YEAH!! Just downloaded my very own copy of doom3 gotta go install now. I'll probly do that while listening to my downloaded mp3s on my downloaded windows OS. Don't you love the internet? Ever heard the saying retail is for suckers?

  • It seems to me, that people download pirated software because they know that they probably won't get caught. IF I steal doom 3 from best buy, i'm likely to get caugt, seeing as there are numerous risks to shoplifting. However, if i'm able to get the game, for free, without hardly any risk of getting caught, i'll fu**ing steal it. It's a simple choice. People don't care about ethics: they care about what they want. They want a game, they can get it for free. "Yes, it's illegal, but how the hell are they going to catch me?" I think that it _is_ wrong, and i have never done it, but i must admit, i _have_ come close.

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