Piracy is when people rob ships, not when they distribute copies of software.

How much "loss" is there from copying software?  Most people who download it wouldn't be buying it anyway.  No probable sale, no loss.  It's like people thinking that by banning guns, you can keep society safer; Criminals will not obey gun laws and will get guns anyway.

It costs a lot of money developing copy protection schemes that will be easily broken anyway.  What about that loss?  It's like the time Sony Music spent like a billion dollars developing a copy protection for their CDs and some guy figured out it could be broken with a 79-cent Sharpie pen by blacking out an area on the bottom of the disc.  Oops!

I have purchased thousands of dollars worth of games, the majority of which were pieces of crap and I was stuck with them.  Some companies even go as far as to say you can't RESELL your only original game that you purchased.  That is really sad.

I bought Demigod during pre-release.  I've only played it once for a short time and so far, I'm not terribly thrilled.  Seems like a capture-the-flag game.  But I'm not giving up on it yet.  I know sometimes I have to get more experienced in a game to "get it".  It was that way with Supreme Commander, which I love now (and I bought it too).

I've downloaded many a "pirate" version of a game.  Usually they end up being deleted very quickly.  When I like them, I usually buy them.  I had Battlefield 1942 when it first came out, but I still purchased two copies of it, plus one of the expansion packs.

Each to his own, but I contend a company with a great product will make money.  Those who produce crap will lose in the long run.

and in 100% of the cases a good desktop firewall will stop the program from connecting to the internet without you knowing @_@

and in 100% if the cases windows vista will not let a program that has no admin rights do shit

That's exactly the issue.

Pirates have been utilizing high cost and DRM as an excuse for pirating music for quite a while. Now you have iTunes (whether or not you love or hate Apple) providing music for $1 a piece and now WITHOUT DRM. What's the argument now? 

A game like Demigod, set at $40 including VAT => 220kr (Danish Crowns); the cost here is usually 400-500kr for a game from a physical or internet store. I find Demigod to be quite the bargain, really. If I take my better haft to a semi decent restaurant, I'd easily throw twice the cost of Demigod away on the bill => $40 really should be affordable for EVERYONE. So stop the moaning and groaning, and start paying for the products you want.

I preordered my copy about 1 week before release. Then I downloaded the pirate version because it came out before the release date. Even though I have paid for the Impulse version I am still playing the pirate version offline. I am still playing the pirate version because i don't want to redownload the proper version.

You were 'forced'? Did you download it at gunpoint? Somebody had your sister kidnapped and wouldn't return her until you downloaded Demigod? Holy crap! NO. You were NOT 'forced'.

Cracking the game and downloading the cracked game ALL fall under piracy. There is no difference just because you say there is.

So let me get this straight. You're old fashioned so you want the CD/DVD, the manual, and other stuff. AND YET YOU DOWNLOAD ALL YOUR GAMES THAT YOU CURRENTLY OWN?

You are so full of epic fail it's ridiculous.

"i am not some rich spoiled brat like you"

Of course you weren't speaking to me, but just thought I'd throw this out there...just because a person can pay for thier games doesn't make them rich spoiled brat.  You know...they might actually work and save up money and EARN their money.

"Unfortunatelly you prooved to me one thing.Narrowmindedness,unenlightenedness,dimbwitedness  will never let you understand my reasons."

I think you just let us on to understand *why* you can't afford to buy games

How nice of you to autoinvite yourself into the conversation.Self importance getting to you lately?This is just what i meant by "spoiled brat"

Lets make it clear once and for all
TO COPY something its not the same as STEALING something!!!
someone here gave an example with a car that he "stole because he wanted to buy it later"
the truth is that its like you bring a spacial tool, place it near the car for it to scan the car
and then this spacial tool poops out a car just like the one it scaned

Other commonly used excemple is the "you wont steal a disk from a shop, so dont steal it online" WTF?

So dose it mean you stole the car? NO THE CAR IS STILL THERE! ALL NEW AND SHINY AND ORIGINAL!!!
but u got a nice copy and you didnt payed 1 cent for it as the tool is free (i.e uTorrent)

SO DOWNLOADING A GAME IS NOT THEFT!
and that is why law have hard time fighting pirates! because in fact they dont do anything illigal!

Illigal copys of games online come in fact from a modefied original disk that was hacked and uploaded
the guy that hacked it usually BOUGHT it as he got no other places to get it from (usually...)
so he have the full right to for the game, but the law says that he cant sell or do anything except playing it
BUT this hacker MODEFIES the code, therfore it is no longer DEMIGOD but a game "smilar" to it as the code was changed.
i know its wierd but thats how the law works, and there are no spacial rights reserved on every singel word
in the games code, only on the code as a whole!

Now some people may say "modefieing the game core is illigal"
well, its not... basicly yes buy practicly its ok. why? one word - mods!
new sound tracks, models, designes, all come to add better experiance to the game
yet the corporations dont githt them, why? because a good mod for a game = more sales for the game
hacking the game so that it will work without the disk is same as making a mod for it (practicly)
but because the corporations dont like it, they cry out loud to the press for how poor they are
(remember we are talking about a multi million corporation where 1 meneger get sellary
high enough to feed african town for a year)

So... not only that i dont feel bed, i dont even see why i should feel bad at all!

P.S: sorry for the lame english, hope u got my point!

Well Demigod3k is actually right about steal/copy thing. Copying means someone wont get their money, but technically - nothing is stolen. I never bought a single game before d/l'ing it from torrents and trying it first (well, actually, i just lied to you. I bought King's Bounty and Demigod right away:)). I dont trust demo's. I'm not stealing anything - coz if i dont like the game - i wont either play it or buy it. So publisher get zero money anyway, i dont get the game and NOTHING is stolen in the process. Noone is hurt.

Copy != Steal.

I've downloaded pirate version primarily and now me and 2 of my friends have bought the game...

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how about I'll just copy down your SSN, you'll still have it, all nice and shiny, and I can then use it for whatever I want. 

The thing with taking something that is the property of another does not mean you physically have to take it, I can copy down the answers to someone elses test next to me, and I am cheating because in essence, I am stealing that persons intellectual property.  They still have it, but I am using it when I shouldn't be.

I understand the allure of pirating games, its so much easier to get something and not have to give anything in return.  The problem is if a pirate keeps getting something and not giving anything, eventually the developers will stop giving, because they have not gotten anything for all of their hard work.

Ok you want to play smart lets play smart...
Copy - digital data transfrade by electronic pulses and then stored in a diffrent location

the storage is usally refared to a hard drive, but the law dont explain it so lets change it to "brain"

I hear a music over at my freands house, i memorise it, do i steal it? everyone will say no..
but if a day after that ill make a show and i will sing it, the next day ill recive a 10 million bill for braking copy rights.
Same as if ill hear a singer while he record a CD (before the release) and then sing it myself on my private radio station.

So as you can see, as long as the corporation dont loose an open window for a fat income, they dont mind
you can memorise it as much as you want (in other words you can copy and store it as much as you want)

that was hearing

Now sight: the demigod box, its designe, graphics, pictures, and name, are all under copy rights
the copy rights say that you are not allwed to copy it (as it is theft)
but by looking at it you infact copying it and store it in your memory
as long as it stays there no one cares
but if you go back to the music excample, like if you knew the name "demigod" before the games release
and then you released your own game with this name, and same designe, then you are accused of theft...

again, no one cares as long as the corporation didnt lost an open window for a fat income

Another fact: words and letters by themselfs are not copy righted
so if i am a games proggramer, i can tear appart the games engine
to change few things so that it will not look like demigod
then to repatch it into a whole new game and release it free online
as long as no one will think it was demigod, no one will care
on the second someone will see it in fact got too much similar code lines with demigod
then demigod developers will hunt me down and kill me not phisicly but with multi million bills...
or as i say, a legal murder by those who have money...

Ahh i could go on and on, just got tired...
bottom line, you cant beat pirace, the law is based on material (cars... other crap...)
you cant STEAL something that is not based on material (can you steal my sexual phantasy? )
you can steal colors, u cant steal lights... (unless you one of those fighting on the beach over sun)
and you cant steal digital information! you can steal a CD though
digital information is electronic impulses stored on your HD, electrons.. stored on magnetic plate...
and unless you can mark little "e" on those electrons, you cant say they are yours...