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What do you do when people you know pirate games?

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Obviously most of us (hopefully all!) here are opposed to piracy, but what would you guys do when you see your friends happily trading downloaded console games between each other all the time? I don't just mean 1 or 2 people, more like 15-20.

I took a firm stance against it, and tried to talk about it from my side but the general message I got back was "so what, I'm getting the game for free" or "it's not worth buying this game".

I was just wondering if any of you guys have talked friends into being guilty enough to start buying games again or have a similar experience.

Replies

  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
    It wasn't until I got a game job that I started buying the majority of my games. Mainly for financial reasons, as I would never have the 'so what I got it for free, this game doesn't deserve my money' mentality. I just flat out loved games and couldn't afford them :( No excuse, though I know.

    And now - I read people saying (like for L4D2) things like, "Cool video but definitely not worth buying this time. A torrent will do fine =)". When I read that, I'm just like Fuuuuuuuck you.

    As for friends, most of my friends buy their games. In fact, I don't know anyone who still pirates a game.
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    as I recall, a lot of people on here are rather pro piracy...
  • JacqueChoi
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    JacqueChoi polycounter
    A lot of my friends still pirate.

    I'm able to convince pretty much all of my friends to buy games with strong online multiplayer.
  • Disco Stu
    pirate.gif

    I guess id pirate a singleplayer game but i dont have any on my list.
    Mostly i play steam onlinegames and pirating isnt really an option there
    unless you want to play on some shitty russian server full of
    hackers.
  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
    Why would you pirate a single-player game?
  • TWilson
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    TWilson polycounter lvl 18
    heh who cares...

    I've seen my own iPhone game pirated now. Live and let live.

    Best thing you can do is set an example.
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    I shame them

    shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame them
  • Firebert
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    Firebert polycounter lvl 15
    if they're physical copies, grab them up and throw them under your car, and roll over them a bunch, then cover them in petrol and light a match... see if they really give a shit... if they do, then they shouldn't pirate... if they don't... let 'em

    if they're not physical copies, then delete them from their machines on the sly... don't forget about that saved game data backup

    edit: you may need to invest in some sweet ass mission impossible style gear to pull this stuff off with the right flair

    oh, and words are useless at this point... hence the need to act out irrationally to get your point across
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    Ask them for copies... But seriously. I know of a few. The best you can do is try to convince them its worth it for them to buy it. I have had a little luck with the guilt into at least making one or two consider purchasing it if they do like the game.
  • Slum
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    Slum polycounter lvl 18
    Firebert wrote: »
    if they're physical copies, grab them up and throw them under your car, and roll over them a bunch, then cover them in petrol and light a match... see if they really give a shit... if they do, then they shouldn't pirate... if they don't... let 'em

    if they're not physical copies, then delete them from their machines on the sly... don't forget about that saved game data backup

    edit: you may need to invest in some sweet ass mission impossible style gear to pull this stuff off with the right flair

    oh, and words are useless at this point... hence the need to act out irrationally to get your point across

    Actually, thats pretty funny. I'm curious what a hardcore gamer with tons of pirated games would do if you just deleted everything they 'owned' and 'worked for'. Irony is awesome!
  • Mark Dygert
    Firebert wrote: »
    if they're physical copies, grab them up and throw them under your car, and roll over them a bunch, then cover them in petrol and light a match... see if they really give a shit... if they do, then they shouldn't pirate... if they don't... let 'em

    if they're not physical copies, then delete them from their machines on the sly... don't forget about that saved game data backup
    That's a good start, but I suggest you replace "physical copies" with "ex-friend".
    Just before you back over them for the 4th time, ask out loud:
    "why are you taking food out of my mouth?"
    bump bump
    "Why are you forcing work over seas?"
    bump bump
    "Keep it up slackers and there won't be an industry for you to join once you get done half assing your way through clown college. You're only hurting your own future mother f*ers!"
    bump bump
    "Ok who's next?"


    I found that if you do this to one person in plain view of your other friends they all stop pirating games.
  • achillesian
    i'm kind of a digital hoarder, so mostly what i do is download, and never play them. So, dont know where that puts me.
    I have a binder full of games i bought legit when i had a job though! But i dont play them either.
  • carlo_c
    TWilson I don't know about you but I feel like setting an example does nothing anymore.
    adam wrote: »
    Why would you pirate a single-player game?

    I'd say it's because most single player games haven't got the replay value of a multi-player game.

    I rent single player games I want to play usually, go through it once on hard difficulty for some extra game time and give it back when I've completed it.
  • rooster
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    rooster mod
    I've never seeked out pirated games, but in uni if someone gave me a disk and it was sat there for a few weeks and I'm broke, I usually tried it.

    I always buy stuff now, on steam if possible. its just so damn handy.. If I see others doing it though, I turn a blind eye. It sucks, but I'm not going to start preaching- at most I'll say something like 'looks sweet, I might buy that looks like they deserve the cash'. I would just turn down or throw out any disks that came my way nowadays
  • rollin
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    rollin polycounter
    I do pirate games from time to time to check mod compatibility

    this makes me less angry if I have to delete the game (and see my money flying out of the window) bc of an bad mod support

    better are games like homeworld or Dawn of War where it is possible to test mod-stuff already with the demo.. these are the best games imo and I really love studios who are so fair.

    I buy all games that pass this test though.


    I knew someone who downloaded "every" game just bc he was able to.. he never really played them.. so I think, well...

    Hardly know any people who do not buy their games.
  • Ferg
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    Ferg polycounter lvl 17
    I kill them immediately
  • ColinR
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    ColinR polycounter lvl 9
    Funny you should bring this up Carlo, as last night had a conversation with two friends of mine where one was describing how he'd flashed his Wii console and then the other was interested in doing the same.

    I obviously jumped in and disagreed with doing it, but they straight out just didn't care. I went down the whole pre-owned market with them and how that works, and I know that both often buy pre-owned games so the issue with where their cash ends up if going that route is kind of the same.......as in developers don't see a penny.

    One of them did use an example of pirating a game and realising that said title is so good that it deserved a purchase entirely instead of getting it for free. So in that sense maybe it does get people playing titles they usually wouldn't, and then sometimes spur them on to purchase it. I'd still imagine the percentage of this scenario happening to be extremely low though.
  • Disco Stu
    adam wrote: »
    Why would you pirate a single-player game?
    Probably because i wouldnt need a key to play online and im a bad person.
  • System
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    System admin
    My connection functions as an awesome piracy deterent as its so slow itd take about 30hours+ to get a game. I dont mind a little bit of piracy here and there but I think seeing friends who have money, pirate games... annoys the fuck out of me. I don't mind piracy when its used as a kind of trial/extended demo, but to ignore stuff thats on-sale/going cheap anyway just rubs me the wrong way.

    Theres a lot of games I'd like to try or am doubtful that i'd buy at their fullprice - the kind id probably pirate, find out I was correct in my assumption and not really play much of them. Still, if I saw them on offer (without having pirated them) id be quite happy to buy them.

    I dont think im pro piracy as such, as I dont really like to see it used as a complete alternative to buying things. I do however REALLY like the freedom and access it allows to things you are unsure about or arent definate purchases - I think molyneux's recent comment on what he'd do differently to demos would be applicable here. However Until ive actually had something stolen from me I dont think my opinion really counts. Id like to know what people like 2DBoy feel on the matter :o

    (to add to that final paragraph, if i had friends n shit near me i could borrow / rent games and experience them that way)
  • snemmy
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    snemmy polycounter lvl 18
    I mostly pirated games I wouldn't have bought anyway... but it's been many years since doing so.

    I try to explain to friends about pirating and the whole used copy empire of Gamestop. That's about all I can do.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    I get pissy with them about the subject. Very. Pissy.
    I've never pirated a game and never will.
  • Gilgamesh
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    Gilgamesh polycounter lvl 12
    To be honest, I download some games that I am not sure on (wether I would like it or not) and demos are not available for. Nothing worse than spending out cash on a game that is hit and miss for my style of play and hating it in the end or playing 20 mins then dropping. I have to admit though about about 50% of the games I download I actually buy if I like it. Always nice to have hard copies of the game and also a decent box. The other 50% I haven't played much (if at all) and if there was a demo I still wouldn't have bought it.
  • monkeyboy_garth
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    monkeyboy_garth polycounter lvl 9
    you kick them in the balls, that's what.
  • System
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    System admin
    Had a break, been playing some Doom 3, still rocks hard :D Yes it's legit and in a box with instructions, so is every game I own... but... the story was different when I was in my teens. First the Amiga 500 then onto a PS2, nearly every game was pirated and we weren't connected to the internetz in them days...

    I think it's just a teen rebel with a cause thing, mainly with consoles. A stupid notion that your somehow getting back at society and those big faceless corporations. When you get older you start to realise the big picture that when you deprive an industry of money you are literally fucking up the economy and your possible future, your childrens future. It AINT worth it.
  • ImSlightlyBored
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    ImSlightlyBored polycounter lvl 13
    adam wrote: »
    It wasn't until I got a game job that I started buying the majority of my games. Mainly for financial reasons, as I would never have the 'so what I got it for free, this game doesn't deserve my money' mentality. I just flat out loved games and couldn't afford them :( No excuse, though I know.

    And now - I read people saying (like for L4D2) things like, "Cool video but definitely not worth buying this time. A torrent will do fine =)". When I read that, I'm just like Fuuuuuuuck you.

    As for friends, most of my friends buy their games. In fact, I don't know anyone who still pirates a game.
    word
    I buy games so hard now I can afford it, I feel guilty for even getting games on the cheap when they haven't sold so well.

    edit: to keep on topic and not derail, I don't really know anyone who pirates games any more either. I know one guy who plays homebrew on psp (does this count???) but as far as I know, no one who is an avid pirate.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I pirate:

    -Games that I already own for the console, but I want to play it on PC (Fallout 3, I wouldn't buy a game twice anyway)
    -Games that don't have demos (There's no reason not to have a demo GTA4, especially when you don't know how well it will run on your PC)

    I don't buy used games since you aren't paying the people that made the game, your paying the guy that traded it in and a store chain.

    I'll never buy a song from an artist on a label that's part of the RIAA, (Yay for independent labels). I have a dislike of organizations that charge poor college kids $17,000 per illegally downloaded/shared song for "damages"


    I believe you shouldn't charge someone for the same data over and over, you saw the movie in theaters, you bought the VHS, and then the DVD? Companies are just milking you. I do like add-ons and expansions they do with games, it allows you to enjoy over again.
  • t4paN
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    t4paN polycounter lvl 10
    aesir wrote: »
    as I recall, a lot of people on here are rather pro piracy...

    I think there's a difference between pirating 3ds Max and photoshop in order to learn the program, and pirating games.

    Even if you didn't before, the moment you start having aspirations of breaking in the industry you start buying games thinking "I wish people buy my games when I get them out there.

    I've got a couple of friends who still pirate games and never buy any (except for wow, bleh) and one of them (his parents actually) is filthy rich too, which pisses me off. He once told me he'd never buy a game I worked on and that he'd pirate my shit and I'll never make money off of games. Come to think of it, I've not seen that douche since. Good ridance.
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    t4paN wrote: »
    I think there's a difference between pirating 3ds Max and photoshop in order to learn the program, and pirating games.

    Even if you didn't before, the moment you start having aspirations of breaking in the industry you start buying games thinking "I wish people buy my games when I get them out there.

    I've got a couple of friends who still pirate games and never buy any (except for wow, bleh) and one of them (his parents actually) is filthy rich too, which pisses me off. He once told me he'd never buy a game I worked on and that he'd pirate my shit and I'll never make money off of games. Come to think of it, I've not seen that douche since. Good ridance.

    I remember past conversations on pirating games. Lots of people still pirate them on here.
  • metalliandy
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    metalliandy interpolator
    I never pirate anything ever.
    Its just not cricket

    And if any of my mates pirate anything them im all like

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93CPo0sBVZc[/ame]
  • Ride
    Pretty much all of my friends pirate like 95% of all the games they ever play. "Screw those wealthy CEO's, why would i wanna support their third private jet for!?" is pretty much what they think justifies it all.

    Altho, average joe's actually lose jobs because of it.

    Damn it.... DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    I didn't have internet as a youngster so I got my games through shareware catalogs, I paid for my demos!
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Ride wrote: »
    Pretty much all of my friends pirate like 95% of all the games they ever play. "Screw those wealthy CEO's, why would i wanna support their third private jet for!?" is pretty much what they think justifies it all.

    Altho, average joe's actually lose jobs because of it.

    Damn it.... DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!

    Lets all start independent studios!
  • ElysiumGX
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    ElysiumGX polycounter lvl 18
    I find better friends. Ones that aren't giant douche nozzles. If the game isn't worth buying, it isn't worth playing. Or they're simply too lazy to buy/rent/borrow it, or try the demo. It takes very little effort to borrow a game someone has finish, or trade in one you have recently finished, to save money on the next. In conclusion...folks who pirate games, when many other options are available, are the definition of stupid. Or they're 12.
  • bluekangaroo
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    bluekangaroo polycounter lvl 13
    I dont do anything... what can you do? Its not my responsibility or job to try to stop people from pirating games. Thats up to the authorities and head honchos in the gaming industry to figure out.
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    Just gonna poke the bear a little bit...

    How many people have roms of NES/SNES/Genesis games on PSP's/R4's/PC's? Who has a Mame cabinet packed with roms?

    I thought average joes lost their jobs because: of crazy spending, pissing off the publisher, bad deals with publishers, bad planning (taking too long at times), not having much capitol to go a stretch w/out payment from a publisher, knee-jerk reaction to market and stocks plummet (so the company who borrowed money has it just vaporize).

    I don't think I've ever seen a studio close because of rampant piracy. Well, I base this on GameBiz and Gamasutra articles about closures, and no one has come out and blatantly say it. So I could be wrong, if I am just post the article. What about games that sell boatloads (GTA4/GoW/Madden/Anything with Mario/Pokemon/"Fit" on the cover)? I KNOW those games sold tons, and I KNOW they must be pirated like mad.

    A few years ago someone wrote in an article "We lost X amount of dollars due to piracy.". If you printed 20 games, sold 10, and found out that one person copied it and 8 people are playing from that one copy, how can you count that as a "loss"? You still have 10 physical copies on the shelf for people to buy later. Let's just say these people were NEVER going to buy it. And now someone comes in and buys the remaining 10. Is that a bonus? Does the bottom line only show 2 pirated games? You sold through all of them ever made. Does that fill the hole of the pirated games? Is piracy an issue only when your game doesn't sell bucketloads? Would every unsold game be considered a pirated copy? Is Psychonauts one of those pirated games?

    No I don't pirate games. Was actually a collector with 900 games from Oddessy (1st 100 made boxed with all parts) to PS3, and 100+ PSN/XBL/Steam/WiiStore games. Sold them all when I moved, and back up to 300 again :P.

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLsJyfN0ICU[/ame]
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    ElysiumGX wrote: »
    I find better friends. Ones that aren't giant douche nozzles. If the game isn't worth buying, it isn't worth playing. Or they're simply too lazy to buy/rent/borrow it, or try the demo. It takes very little effort to borrow a game someone has finish, or trade in one you have recently finished, to save money on the next. In conclusion...folks who pirate games, when many other options are available, are the definition of stupid. Or they're 12.


    Borrowing a game or buying it used doesn't help pay the people that made the game, just a fyi.
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    lamont, your arguments continue to be retarded.

    First you argue that average joes lose their jobs for other reasons, therefore piracy is not to blame.

    Your second point is that you've never seen a studio close because of piracy. Have you ever seen one close because of low profits? Do you think there might be some sort of factor that affects this? Could it be, that even though other factors affect low profits, piracy could contribute?

    Your third point, is that someone once said an incorrect statement about every pirated game being a lost sale. For some reason you then talk about unsold games being lost sales. This has what to do with anything? Nothing. It's the type of shit glenn beck says when he wants to win an argument.
  • ScudzAlmighty
    I pirated Sid Meier's Pirates...
    but that was just on principle.
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    Aesir,

    I know this is an open forum, but don't be an asshole. All I did was make some very valid points to something that I've talked over with friends.

    To say a studio closed 100% to piracy is retarded. I said and I quote:
    So I could be wrong, if I am just post the article.
    So go out and prove me wrong. I don't care for game piracy, and to show actual facts of people loosing jobs because of it, is damn sad.

    I take that back Aesir, I apologize for calling you an asshole. Your argument was in no way a personal attack, I read the first line wrong.
  • frostymoose
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    frostymoose polycounter lvl 17
    I buy pretty much all my computer games on steam. The convenience is worth it, but hey- I don't buy that many games anyways.
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    What was that Greek combat game that came out last year? I can't remember the name, but they were like "Piracy was partly to blame...".

    To the Google!!
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    Found this dude on 1Up.com which took me to here: Gamasutra Article.

    From 1Up article:
    I just choose to vote with my dollar.
    But you still want some form of entertainment?

    From the Gamasutra article:

    It seems to be a 3 pronged reason for Iron Lore to close: Street date piracy which contributed to bad flack from forum members, the there were stupid reviewers and stupid customers.
    Two, the numbers on piracy are really astonishing. The research I've seen pegs the piracy rate at between 70-85% on PC in the US, 90%+ in Europe, off the charts in Asia. I didn't believe it at first. It seemed way too high. Then I saw that Bioshock was selling 5 to 1 on console vs. PC. And Call of Duty 4 was selling 10 to 1. These are hardcore games, shooters, classic PC audience stuff. Given the difference in install base, I can't believe that there's that big of a difference in who played these games, but I guess there can be in who actually payed for them.
    This is shocking for me as it's a game I didn't even remember coming out. The only way I remember is because this article is what got us talking about it.

    Titan Quest did okay. We didn't lose money on it. But if even a tiny fraction of the people who pirated the game had actually spent some god-damn money for their 40+ hours of entertainment, things could have been very different today. You can bitch all you want about how piracy is your god-given right, and none of it matters anyway because you can't change how people behave... whatever. Some really good people made a seriously good game, and they might still be in business if piracy weren't so rampant on the PC. That's a fact.
    The reason why I buy my games.

    It is an uphill battle for people who don't have Madden sized budgets for advertising their game. Game piracy no matter how you try to justify it in you head is like kicking you brother in the balls and taking his money.


    If you had known me back in 1997~2000 you would have seen a massive binder with a few dozen burned PSX/DreamCast games in them. Then one day a little empathy kicked in and I got rid of all of them. Every game I had pirated, I bought retail, not used over the years. Because I don't want that shit to happen to me.

    For a person to work in this industry or want to work in this industry and pirate games is just shooting yourself in the foot.
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    The "prove me wrong" argument doesn't state your case particularly well either.

    as an example:

    evolution is immoral, prove me wrong. Find an article that proves that evolution is moral.

    Nobody has ever died from mosquito bites (in the absense of any disease such as malaria). Prove me wrong.

    cupcakes are responsible for over 100 deaths a year. Prove me wrong.


    Prove yourself right.
  • Swizzle
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    Swizzle polycounter lvl 15
    This thread is delightfully topical.

    I work in a computer lab at school and somebody left their flash drive in one of the computers a few minutes ago. It's standard practice to look through stuff on flash drives until we find the name of the owner and then attach a note to it with their name and put it in the lost and found in case they come looking for it.

    Anyway, I sat down to look through their stuff to see if I could find anything with their name and saw that they had a folder titled "Adobe CS4 crack". I opened up the folder and saw that it had some sort of crack and keygen stuff. So I renamed the folder "don't be a dick - stealing software is stupid" and I renamed the readme file "i could've deleted all this stuff". Once that was finished, I went back to looking for the person's name. Not ten seconds after I renamed those files, some guy walked in the door to get the flash drive.

    I hope shame works as well with these things as I've heard.
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    aesir wrote: »
    The "prove me wrong" argument doesn't state your case particularly well either.
    But if someone is saying 2+2=5 and they think they are right... then what do yo do :P.

    So I am now DL'ing the Titan Quest demo off Steam to see what the hub-bub is about.
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    aesir wrote: »
    evolution is immoral, prove me wrong. Find an article that proves that evolution is moral.
    I like sex.
    aesir wrote: »
    Nobody has ever died from mosquito bites (in the absense of any disease such as malaria). Prove me wrong.
    Mosquitos can also carry parasites which are NOT disease or bacteria. These parasites can affect the heart causing to to stop, or complications from inflammation of various body parts. Malaria is a parasite, not a disease BTW.
    aesir wrote: »
    cupcakes are responsible for over 100 deaths a year. Prove me wrong
    How many survivors of cupcake choking mishaps do we have here?
  • HonkyPunch
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    HonkyPunch polycounter lvl 18
    I used to, but realized that honestly i never played games enough to warrant buying OR downloading them.
    I pre-ordered brutal legend, intend to pick that up when I have money D:
    and will probably start actually playing video games again when I have money (that's what keeps me from playing them, is that I can't really obtain them) until then, i'm waiting for the new Dwarf Fortress build and playing more Dungeons and Dragons.
  • firestarter
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    firestarter polycounter lvl 18
    Photoshop CS4 is $699 US, £615 in the UK and €813 in the Netherlands/Belgium, which is at todays exchange rate $1024, $1222 respectively. Adobe (and others) are hiking prices negatively to which people earn within their relative gross national income. Apart from it being stupid to say the least, already withstanding the inflated price of common productivity software, who should be feeling ashamed?

    Games are in a different ocean.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    has photoshop changed $4,000 worth since version 7?
  • dejawolf
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    dejawolf polycounter lvl 18
    is borrowing games my friends bought pirating? because thats pretty much all the pirating of games i've done.
    now movies are a different story..
    in oslo btw, we do have problems with people just walking into stores and just taking whatever they feel like. stores go bankrupt because the police isn't doing shit about it.
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