r/explainitpeter • u/IAmABoss37 • 10d ago

I need your help. Explain it Peter.

Post image

Is the implication that PC gamers pirate their games?

5.8k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

295 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/IAmNotTheProtagonist 8d ago

No. Because in one case, you leave the original untouched. See it that way: If you steal my car, I'm not upset that you have a car, I'm upset I don't have my own anymore.

1

u/Livember 8d ago

Moving away from the example. Car rental place. It's not your car. It's not anyone's car. It's just a car. For rent. 

My point is these companies rely on digital sales to make money. Sure, a company like Ubisoft can afford piracy because they're huge, steam doesn't care too much cos they make billions, but your still stealing. 

And yes there's degrees, stealing from Walmart/Tesco Vs stealing from a family run business obviously has one be worse then the other. But if you want a game, and it can be bought from the original team (I don't care about piracy of abandonware, no one's making money either way) it is theft and morally wrong.

1

u/IAmNotTheProtagonist 8d ago

There is no such thing as "stealing not anyone's car". If it belongs to a rental company, it belongs to someone THROUGH the company, and depriving someone of an asset is stealing. 

Making a copy isn't.

And the fact you consider a corporation "not anyone" baffles me as you protect their right to still own what they sell. If they were truly "not anyone's", you damn right it wouldn't be immoral.

Now, that morality aspect is much more interesting than the definition of stealing. Is it moral to obfuscate the nature of your "purchase"? Is it moral to lock someone away from its purchase due to obscure rules (and not simply of, say, a specific multiplayer mode, like "ranked"). Is it immoral to make a copy of something not maintained by its original owner and made unavailable (even if paid for)?

Because if you allow people to own what they purchase, suddenly pirating BMW's heating seats makes no sense at all. You just turn on your goddamned heated seats.

1

u/Livember 8d ago

Ok so your argument boils down to if it's digital because its IP and not a physical item it doesn't count? 

In which case I assume you support AI farming and refactoring of images? 

1

u/IAmNotTheProtagonist 8d ago

As "stealing", yes. Morality goes beyond mere definitions.

1

u/Livember 8d ago edited 8d ago

Cop out, do you see AI farming and refactoring of images as morally acceptable? I didn't even use the word stealing in the comment you replied to :P edit: Appriciate your probably trying to say with "as stealing, yes" that you think AI farming is stealing, but it ain't clear if you are 100% and I'm not bothering wasting my time with a reply on that premise if you have the stance it is morally wrong if you think it's fine.

1

u/IAmNotTheProtagonist 7d ago edited 7d ago

"Cop out, do you see AI farming and refactoring of images as morally acceptable?"

No. And I don't see all piracy, or even all rescuing lives, as morally acceptable either.

Edit: Think of it that way: Burning down a cinema with important people for a nation in it is, at the very least, arson and "fear-ism". 99+% of the time, truly evil. But in Tarentino's "Inglorious Basterds" (or w/e it is spelled), it is the moment of triumph of the good guys.