Joystiq poll: The way you play your games
by Blake Snow 
{ Aug 9th 2006 at 4:55PM }
Borrowing games (read: mooching) aside, how do you play your games? Note: We won't sell your IP address on the last option ("Avast ye, Matey!").Technical mumbo jumbo: this is not a scientific or rigorous poll and is only intended to capture the general consensus of Joystiq readers. Results will be posted approximately one week after the poll is opened for votes. Sure, you probably could hack this poll if you worked at it, but it's more fun for everyone if poll results accurately reflect the opinions of all readers, so please refrain from tampering with poll results.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ethan @ Aug 9th 2006 4:59PM
I buy my games.
Geist @ Aug 9th 2006 4:59PM
I'm not sure, but I think you mean Arrrrrr. Only dying pirates go Arrrgh.
James @ Aug 9th 2006 5:03PM
Buy and rent when I'm short on cash.
Einhanderkiller @ Aug 9th 2006 5:04PM
I chose 3 out of the 4 options.
exy @ Aug 9th 2006 5:05PM
Nobody can argue games are expensive, unless you're rich, in which case I'm sure you'd rather just roll around in your money.
Pirating games for me is like a "taste test," if it tastes good then by all means I will purchase it.
Games have just become too expensive to purchase something straight away without knowing the quality of what waits inside. amirightoramiright? ARR!
FurryJello @ Aug 9th 2006 5:06PM
I rent my console games from GameFly. I will purchase the ones I really like or play a lot. For PC games I purchase them.
Loque @ Aug 9th 2006 5:06PM
I pirate to demo games, then I buy em if they don't suck.
I'm a poor college kid. I'll be damned if I spend $50 on a POS
JoseMiguel @ Aug 9th 2006 5:09PM
A mixture of 1 and fourth. Yeah, there I said it.
blahman @ Aug 9th 2006 5:10PM
The Lord knows I TRY to do what #5 does, but in the end I'm too poor to purchase those games I really like. I do plan on importing Melty Blood: Act Cadenze for ps2, but as long as I'm poor as hell, MB React on PC will suffice.
T-Bag @ Aug 9th 2006 5:11PM
Rent and Pirate.
h2c @ Aug 9th 2006 5:13PM
This is a cool poll, but I would have liked the last option be worded differently and have one extra option added:
4) I pirate games INSTEAD of buying them.
5) I pirate games I would not buy anyway.
This lets us see if joystiq pirates are actually stealing revenue by pirating.
Oh, and Pirates of the Caribbean 2 sucked. :-)
Gerwurztraminer @ Aug 9th 2006 5:14PM
I am notoriously frugal with games and spend much time deliberating what to buy, when to buy it, and even how long I'll wait for the price to drop. My browsing a new/used game shop is probably what hell would be like for my girlfriend. I spend more time looking for a deal than I do actually playing the game.
Jose @ Aug 9th 2006 5:14PM
I pirated Far Cry, which I am very glad I did, because I sucked at it, and couldn't get very far at all, so I never played it. I had no problem deleting it from my computer, but had I payed $50 for it at launch, I woulda been burnt.
Most games I just buy. It's one luxury I afford myself. If I can, I'll wait 'til the price drops. I knew for a fact that GoW was going to go to the greatest hits, so I just waited it out, and purchased it at $20. Used games are awesome... kind of. I wish I could get my itradevideogames.com account to work.
JoseMiguel @ Aug 9th 2006 5:16PM
Adding to my earlier comment, why? Do you ask?
For a number of factors. Numero uno es que:
The PC games I want aren't for sale In My crappy third world country and online digital distributions is just taking off, thanks god. God knows I'd buy my original games if I could do it, and at an affordable price, which leads me to number 2...
2 console games. I don't buy pirated console games since Ps1 days, even though I can. Xbox and Ps2 are huge hits here due to their easiness to mod (even gcs are mod here and have its games pirated on mini DVDs or something) I buy them, either used or new. Games here cost to the tune of 80 to 100 (and the 80 one are the cheapest) due to some bloody store owners abusing consumers and hefty taxes. Good thing digital distribution is taking off, as I said earlier.
logikil @ Aug 9th 2006 5:17PM
Sorry to those of you saying you pirate games to try, but you're still not helping the VG industry. You want to try a game freaking rent it for a couple nights. Hell there are enough online services that allow game rentals that it isnt that expensive. The only folks that cant really do that are those that are PC gamers, and in most cases those games release with demos. So come on at least be honest.
potato @ Aug 9th 2006 5:17PM
Me? I buy, and I rent if I'm not sure about replayability. If a game looks like a 6-hour romp with no replay value, I'll go for the rent. $7-10 for that type of entertainment is a pretty good deal.
Now, for everyone here using the (tired) "I pirate to demo" thing: How far do you play into the game before going "Wow this sucks, consider it demo'ed!"?
I suspect many of the self-righteous ones here "demo" a game the whole way through, then tell themselves "well it sucked anyway" to continue to sit on their moral high horse.
JoseMiguel @ Aug 9th 2006 5:21PM
@ 15. The kind of people saying they test drive the games before buying them are most likely the person that wasn't going to buy it anyway. So it is not as if the VG industry is losing anything with us anyway.
logikil @ Aug 9th 2006 5:27PM
Actually Jose that isn't necessarily true. Rental stores purchase games from retail chains. That is money that goes to the VG industry. If there were a shift from renting to pirating a game "just to try" (which frankly i think is bullshit because if you seriously believe a guy pirates a game....plays it through to completion and enjoyed it....is then going to go out and buy a full retail copy.....i've got a bridge i wanna sell you) then those rental stores will purchase less copies to rent out which does hurt the industries bottom line.
jon swenson @ Aug 9th 2006 5:28PM
"@ 15. The kind of people saying they test drive the games before buying them are most likely the person that wasn't going to buy it anyway. So it is not as if the VG industry is losing anything with us anyway."
I dont know about that... If there was no way to get any pc game for free, they wouldn't just give up on playing games. If they had to pay they would.
Ian @ Aug 9th 2006 5:29PM
Wow I guess the "pirate to demo method" justifys everything *eye roll*. Am I the only one that buys my games? The only time I've ever pirated something is if its a rom for the SNES, NES, Genesis, or N64. Even then I'll get the ones I have usually like A Link to the Past or something. Its sad how people justify their piracy, but you know what. There are alternatives. Like actually trying the demo and not demoing the pirate. Or looking at the reviews and videos. Or even waiting till the game falls into the bargain bin and in your price range. For god sake if you pirate, then okay. But don't try to justify it with this bullshit.
John Lucas @ Aug 9th 2006 5:33PM
Used to be a HEAVY renter back in the late 80's/early 90's. But then again I was a kid back then so I didn't have the duckets to get my own.
Once I became an adult & had my own job I started buying games more often. My last days of renting was in the N64 days.
I never rent now though I would do so to test out whether I would like an unfamiliar game or not.
But those memories of me constantly keeping out games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms & assorted RPGs of the era compel me to buy rather than rent.
I practically BOUGHT those past games with the amount of money I spent renting them! Never again!
'Once I touch it, I own it' is my motto now.
John Lucas
nalgae @ Aug 9th 2006 5:34PM
I pirate games because I don't believe in intellectual property. A hundred years in the future, society will have moved on past it, hopefully.
Just like companies make employees sign over all their intellectual property rights, companies should sign over all of their intellectual property rights to public domain. It would be a glorious country, with freeware and shareware abound. We would have no publishing middle-men. Good developers would be compensated and funded directly, a la Shakespeare via his patrons. Most of his plays were based upon other plays by other people; he simply made them that much better and made money off of them. We love Shakespeare not because he had copyrights on his works, but because he produced work after work that was simply good and people KNEW it was him.
I say down with intellectual property.
ben @ Aug 9th 2006 5:34PM
I think you should add another option. "I borrow games from friends." Yeah, I do that one because I'm teh poor. Hell, most of my collection – it's so gaunt – is three or four years old. :)
Abbas @ Aug 9th 2006 5:34PM
I buy AAA titles like Half Life 2, Battlefield 2, Far Cry and play pirate verisons of AA titles like Titan Quest, Quake 4 and Condemed.
Fair enough?
John Lucas @ Aug 9th 2006 5:35PM
Used to be a HEAVY renter back in the late 80's/early 90's. But then again I was a kid back then so I didn't have the duckets to get my own.
Once I became an adult & had my own job I started buying games more often. My last days of renting was in the N64 days.
I never rent now though I would do so to test out whether I would like an unfamiliar game or not.
But those memories of me constantly keeping out games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms & assorted RPGs of the era compel me to buy rather than rent.
I practically BOUGHT those past games with the amount of money I spent renting them! Never again!
'Once I touch it, I own it' is my motto now.
John Lucas
Loque @ Aug 9th 2006 5:35PM
#15 I'm a gamer and all, but I'll be DAMNED if I support a shitty industry. If they aren't going to produce quality products, I'm not going to buy crappy games just to "support the industry."
How much money does the industry get for rentals? NONE. How much money does the industry get for used games? NONE. They support EB, Blockbuster, whatever, but not the game industry in any way.
Is the industry loosing money because of my pirating? Yes. Why? Because I refuse to throw my money at them.
TeddyN @ Aug 9th 2006 5:39PM
It's scary the number of people putting down 'pirating' as their method for obtaining games. It's especially depressing to think that my beloved PC platform is bearing the brunt of those robberies.
Even if you make a justification to yourself that you are pirating in order to 'try out' a game, your logic doesn't make sense. When you pay for a game, it's not just paying as a prize for you finding the game enjoyable. You are paying for the experience, whether it is good quality or not. If you deem the game to be unenjoyable and therefore do not wish to pay any money for it, then you have no right to be playing that game. Anyway, that's what demos and reviews are for.
You guys are killing the industry. Please study some economics, because your stealing will both affect supply (researching elaborate anti-piracy measures costs) and suffocate demand, since you are buying fewer games then you would without the option of robbing those behind the game. Stealing reduces the incentive to produce games. That is why stealing of any goods whatsoever is forbidden by law. However richy or poor you are, if you are stealing you are contributing to the absence of those goods from the market.
Tom @ Aug 9th 2006 5:40PM
Your question is worded wrong. It should be "How do you ACQUIRED the games you play?"
The question "How do you play your games?" would have answers like "With my hands", "Standing up", "By buying/renting/borrowing/steal them" etc etc
Also you could ask "When and where do you play your games?", to which we might respond "Alone in my room at 4 in the morning" or "online at my computer... alone... at 4 in the morning"
And of course the simple question "WHY do you play your games?" Answer: "Because they're fun, of course!" or possibly "Because I'm addicted and I really wanna quit by I'm almost to level 50 oh please please let me play or kill me!"
p-diddy @ Aug 9th 2006 5:42PM
*sigh* the age old "I wouldn't buy it anyway" excuse. Sorry, but this is the way the law works, as unpopular as it is: Even if you wouldn't buy it anyway, that doesn't mean it is ok to pirate it. The publisher has the copyright. Let me break that down: It is not the money-right, it is the copy-right, i.e., the right to determine who and how a work is copied. So by saying "I wouldn't buy it anyway" means squat. You are still interfering with the publisher's right to determine who and how copies are made.
Speak with your wallets. Don't pirate games or music. If you can't afford it, don't get it for free by pirating. It gives the ESA and RIAA et al a scapegoat. "Look, we're losing so much money to piracy. Please Congress pass more legislation." If they couldn't point to piracy, maybe they would realize that their product is over-priced or of low quality when people don't buy it.
-p-
logikil @ Aug 9th 2006 5:43PM
Loque
Hmmm lemme see if i get this straight. You don't want to support the industry because they release crappy games, but you are just as likely to go out and pirate those same games?
Seriously man do you realize how stupid and backwards that statement is?
Loque @ Aug 9th 2006 5:45PM
I'm MAJORING in economics, TeddyN, and You're wrong. Supply and demand have nothing to do with this. The supply is still there, and if the game is good, then the demand still is as well. Those who pirate for keeps are in the severe minority. Most do what I do.
Also, I can test drive a car and it is not stealing, why can't I test drive a game? Demos are usually watered down and super-polished versions of the final product. That's not what I want to see. I've played demos 10x more fun than the actual game. They are polished to HELP their games sell. I don't want that, I want to expirience the game before I shell out $50 to $60 for it.
Loque @ Aug 9th 2006 5:49PM
logikil, try a little comprehension.
If the game SUCKS, I don't buy it, and DELETE it. I'm not going to buy/play a crappy game.
If the game is GOOD, I buy it.
This way, I save $50, and the people who made the crappy game don't get a sale they don't deserve.
logikil @ Aug 9th 2006 5:49PM
Loque
Seriously man you don't deserve to call yourself a gamer. You are a thief, plain and simple.
p-diddy @ Aug 9th 2006 5:50PM
nalgae, just curious who compensates the drug companies for the billions of dollars they invest so your mother with cancer doesn't die from it? Without Intellectual Property anyone could freeride off of others' work. I'd also be curious who would compensate the developers in your scenario since people wouldn't stop pirating just because what they want is now cheaper.
Let me see: I buy 1 game for $50 and pirate 9 more $50 games for free or I could buy 1 game for $20 and pirate 9 more $20 games for free. Do you really think the person in this scenario would buy 3 games and pirate only 7? No.
IP has been around longer than the US. We're not moving past it.
-p-
obo @ Aug 9th 2006 5:51PM
Why not include borrowing and trading? At least half of the games in my house are my roommate's, and we loan and trade games in and out more than we rent, buy, import and pirate combined.
Loque @ Aug 9th 2006 5:52PM
How am I a thief? Because I won't give away my $50 for something I may or may not like?
and if you want to resort to ad-hominem attacks, You don't get to call yourself an individual. You're a sheep.
TeddyN @ Aug 9th 2006 5:55PM
Number 24;
Although the industry does not get any money from used games directly, it is foolish to say that piracy is an acceptable alternative.
Used games support demand for PC games far more then getting a pirated game does. If people are buying used games instead of pirating, used game prices are kept up and therefore people are
A) More likely to buy new games because of the smaller difference in price
B) People are more likely to buy new games because they regain more of their money when they sell the game after completion or boredom.
I've noticed that all your reasons for justifying piracy are PERSONAL reasons, that you don't like paying etc. But PAYING ensures that there is a game available for you to buy. Think of our gaming community. It's not just about you; everyone is being messed over by your selfish insistence on acting as though you are some sort of emperor able to sample everything and deign to hand out a reward if you feel they are 'worthy'. Fair enough if you don't think their product is worhty of your money, but if you don't want to pay for it you don't have the right to have their game on your hard drive. If there isn't enough information out there for you to make and informed decision about whether you want to buy a game, be safe and don't buy it.
John Lucas @ Aug 9th 2006 5:56PM
To continue from the words of Loque @ Msg. #24:
I have to add in that many of my games I bought were bought from pawn shops or used game shops like Rhino's.
I do buy direct for certain titles (I bought Mario Superstar Baseball retail & was glad to do it; satisfied customer on that purchase) but no one has that kind of money to buy each & every game that comes out.
The reality is that the world will ALWAYS have much more poorer people than richer people. The industry can't win anyway if they only catered to the rich. At least with the used game shops & rental places you build a following that will support you once they DO come into some leisure money. And their testaments from word of mouth pays for itself.
The reason I'd rather buy than pirate is because I like the physical copy. I can FEEL that I own it instead of just knowing I own it based on an icon on my computer screen. Pirating has its benefits for making backup copies & such but I like to own my stuff physically. I still value the instruction booklets! Hate it when I get games without them. Feels incomplete.
Truth is it's hellahard trying to make money in the game business & always has been. It's definitely a labor of love kind of profession.
That's why when I have the funds & I see a game that's good I try to buy. The gamemakers deserve SOMETHING for all this hardwork.
But I understand pirating too & it has its place as well. ESPECIALLY when games are riidiculously priced as in some countries. What do they expect?
John Lucas
logikil @ Aug 9th 2006 5:57PM
I'd like to know where i am wrong Loque? It has nothing to do with being individual. Pirating a game, ie cracking copyright in order to play it on your system without going through legal channels, is theft. So calling you a theif is not an ad-hominem attack, its a statement of fact.
p-diddy @ Aug 9th 2006 5:58PM
Loque, let me ask you this: If you were in a restaurant and ordered the burger, decided you didn't like it, sent it back and got the lamb, decided you didn't like it and sent it back, got the porterhouse and sent it back because you didn't like it, would you really expect the restaurant to let you walk out without paying for anything?
Not being a jerk, I'm legitimately curious.
-p-
Loque @ Aug 9th 2006 6:00PM
TeddyN, what you want me to do is buy a game on impulse. Not going to happen. If I pirate a game, to delete it later because it blows, and that puts a developer out of buissiness, too bad. Make a better product. That's how buissiness works. It just weeds out all of the bad developers.
Remember, I don't pirate to keep.
Also, used games hurts the industry because instead of 1:1 ratio between buyers and players, it becomes 1:2 or even more. That doesn't help.
Renting is even worse. One game bought, rented out 10's to 100's of times. I'm doing the same thing with pirating, exept I'm up $7 I don't have to give to blockbuster.
p-diddy @ Aug 9th 2006 6:01PM
By the way, I am all about the Greatest Hits type titles. Tons of good games for pretty cheap. I too don't have oodles of money, but I don't need to play a game the day it comes out. I can wait 6 months because I'm playing the games now that came out 6 months ago.
Repeat after me: I have no right to be entertained.
-p-
Loque @ Aug 9th 2006 6:01PM
P-diddy, I was in a restauraunt last night (olive garden) and they let me sample the wine before I bought a bottle of it.
fat boy @ Aug 9th 2006 6:02PM
Ah, the old "piracy is/isn't theft" shouting match.
It's said that one definition of insanity is "doing the same thing in the same way over and over and expecting a different outcome".
When you have the same argument with the same people over and over and expect a different outcome, that's called the internet.
one man @ Aug 9th 2006 6:04PM
I pirate all my games, I have a modded xbox gamecube and ps2. Plus I download PSP, GBA and DS games. I also have a modded xbox360.I don't remember the last time I bought a game, and I sleep very well at night. I really don't care about the "big business" people loosing money. I just don't fell like paying for anything that I can get for free. I am not going to try to justify my actions because I really don't care what random people on the Internet think of me. I have showed my friends how to mod their systems and now they get their games off the Internet too.
AoE @ Aug 9th 2006 6:06PM
I pirate EA's games on principal (usually I don't even play them, but it gives me warm fuzzies downloading them); I buy or import everything else, though I only import if I KNOW there's not going to be a domestic release... it gets too expensive otherwise.
Loque @ Aug 9th 2006 6:07PM
Modded xbox 360?
Good sir, you lie.
If you really do pirate to keep and feel no remorse, well shame on you. now THAT's stealing.
TeddyN @ Aug 9th 2006 6:07PM
Number 28:
You can test drive a car, and you can also install the demo of a game. Or read the reviews.
What doesn't happen is people stealing a car (and don't fool yourself; pirating is stealing since you haven't payed for the full product but you have it in your possession) and using it in everyday life; then, if they decide that it was good enough, buying the car because they want to reward teh company.
If you're a major in economics, then I'm sure you know that the reason for laws concerning theft are there is because there would be far fewer goods produced in the economy if it was operated on a basis of 'i feel like paying now' after having kept the product for a while. All those games that you've pirated and decided weren't good enough, you have pirated instead of buying and trying out. That is removing demand, whichever way you try to spin it. I keep saying this, but if money is scarce, READ THE FREE ONLINE REVIEWS and find a source that you trust. Supply IS affected, because confidence in the market is reduced. The incentive to produce PC games is being eroded by the nefarious activities of the 'arrr' crew because of the fact that people do what you are doing. Instead, they are making games for consoles.
p-diddy @ Aug 9th 2006 6:08PM
Loque, while buying used does create a 1:2 ratio, it's better than a 0:2 or 0:1000 ratio that pirating provides. While I think deleting a game is the right thing to do if you are not going to buy it, even if the experience sucks, that is what a game is, i.e., that is what everyone pays for when they buy it. People are paying for the eperience. By saying "well I'll try it out and THEN pay" you're still getting the experience, what the developer is selling, for nothing.
As for rentals, I don't think, but I can't be sure, that Blockbuster isn't buying one game and renting it to hundreds. They very likely have a deal where they pay the publisher/developer some percentage of the rental or some inflated price based on epected rentals. Otherwise developers/publishers would flip out for exactly the reason you pointed out, i.e., thousands of lost sales due to 1 purchased rental copy.
-p-
AoE @ Aug 9th 2006 6:10PM
@Loque
Umm.. actually he most likely doesn't lie. There have been softmods for a few months now, and modchips avaliable for at least a few weeks. So, if he says he's got a modded 360, I'm inclined to believe him.