This troper has a pirated version of Spyro 3: Year Of The Dragon (cracked by a group called Paradox), which allows her to - if she so chooses, which she usually does - become invincible, have unlimited lives, and be able to get all the eggs and gems in the game without actually collecting them just by pressing the shoulder buttons. Unfortunately, this version will not let her battle the Sorceress the first time around, instead glitching out and returning me to Sunrise Spring Home with no eggs or gems in some bizarre fusion of the balloon (which takes you to Midday Gardens after defeating Buzz) and the rocket (which takes you to Midnight Mountain after defeating Scorch). This prevents me from accessing the Sparx worlds and getting OneHundredPercentCompletion, and has led me to believe that the only way to do so is to use no cheats at all or play a legitimate copy. Oddly enough, all my other pirated games are fine.

Back in the old days of computers, back before the Internet was big, there was the commodore 64, and other 8 bit computers. And there was much piracy. The thing is, the pirated versions were BETTER than the originals. Did a game keep a high score list and not save it? Well, the pirated version would make it save the high scores to the disk. Game UnWinnable because of some bugs? Not after the pirates got through with it. The pirated version also wouldn't rattle your disk drive, would often take up fewer disks, load much faster, and have optional trainers (but disable high score saving when you used them). No matter how good the protection was, people would crack it as a matter of pride. Oh, and there's the matter of the games from countries with a different video standard that wouldn't run on your computer at all. The pirates would NTSC-fix them to work, which often required MAJOR reprogramming. Digital piracy is evil?

Not to mention that some of the pirate "title screens" they created were actually pretty impressive for an 8-bit computer...

Something similar can be said about the Wii's Virtual Console. While, let's say, NES VC games are several megabytes long, the respective roms are merely kilobytes, which is really healthy for a console with only 512mb of internal memory. And those roms can be easily played on the console via homebrew, with the emulator that supports things like saving snapshots (that's pretty useful in games where you're supposed to write down long passwords to go on) and playing with lots of control schemes -simultaneously-. And you can configure them as you wish. That aspect is even more enhanced with SNES/Genesis games; in VC, if I'm not mistaken, you can only play them with Gamecube and Classic controllers; in an emulator, you have the generic nunchuck + wiimote avaliable too! Another funny aspect of the Wii is that, apparently, using homebrews make your console safer than, say, updating your console via Nintendo (even with no homebrews); it has been reported that some un-modded consoles BRICKED upon installation of the new System Menu. Digital piracy is evil?

The PS3 version of GunstarHeroes is 35 MB. The ROM for the Genesis version is 1 MB, and the only difference between the two versions is an annoying frontend that doesn't let you watch the intro properly or use the ingame menus.

If Steam (Or someone else) ever started selling download-to-own cars (ones that you can actually drive IRL, not one for a game), I would probably buy one. So yes, I WOULD download a car.

My opinion on it used to be that music was ok to pirate, but not other things. However, recently, I've just stopped giving a damn about a lot of things (basically, I've always known how shitty the world is, but until recently I've had hope it might one day be better. Not anymore), so I'm fine with everything being pirated. Ironically, the above mentioned reasoning in the parenthesis came during a speech to my my own father about how crappy the world is.

This troper remembered Pirating both Tiberian sun, Tiberian dawn And Renegade it wasn't until the release of Tiberian Twighlight that the former 2 became freeware (Rendering being convicted of Piracy invalid). Renegade...not so much

This troper often calls his friends who do such digital piracy "dirty thieving brigands". All in a spirit of humor, of course.

Arrr!

This troper's entire family is pirates, although his dad will only watch something pirated if it's good quality (DVDRip, R5, Workprint, PPVrip, etc.) A very big chunk of his life is guilt-free downloading.

Same troper here- his high school teachers, when showing a movie, would download it and show it as opposed to renting it.

An interesting example happened to Da_Nuke. When the Canadian exchange girl was at her house, she ''never'' downloaded a single song, in Canada, where doing so is a crime. She moves to Mexico, a place where ordinary piracy is culturally ''encouraged'' and where digital piracy will probably never be enforced, and next thing we know, she was downloading entire discographies.

In Canada, downloading is still a legal gray matter; however, uploading is illegal.

Actually, both uploading and downloading (more generally 'sharing') of music is all pretty grey, and most courts would have a hard time really convicting anyone, considering the taxes we pay (specifically said to be for this reason) on all recordable media.

I believe it's only illegal if money is involved somewhere. (selling burnt [=DVDs=] for instance)

Oh yes, that's definitely illegal. If there is no money, then it's a bit more grey.

Actually, uploads are illegal while downloads are legal. It's the difference between distributing copies (uploading) and making a copy for yourself (downloading). The latter is technically fine because the Canadian equivalent of the RIAA gets a cut of the tax that's part of the price of recordable tapes and discs. They are, of course, trying their damnedest to get this 'fixed'. As far as this troper knows, though, it only applies to ''music'', not video.

Music is 100% fine to download under Canadian law. (There is a specific exception in the copyright act for it, and a levy is placed on all blank media that goes to pay musical artists). Other kinds of downloading are technically legal, in that they aren't explicitly illegal. (In the last case that involved this kind of thing, the supreme court decided to put any decision on the legality off until more lawsuits about it rolled in). In any case, the head of the RCMP is on record as saying that they don't care about people who download stuff for their own use. They only care about people who distribute pirated works for cash.

This troper honestly thinks that piracy is a Very Bad Thing. Ironically, he lives in a country where the vast majority of people pirate their [=DVDs=] and music. And it's only a few minutes away from Florida. This actually strengthened his conviction, especially when people argue that piracy is justified if the pirate lives outside the US and Europe and has to wait for the media.

It's also justified when the country where the item originates from ''refuses'' to have it exported...EVER!

Did you just say "I want, therefore I'll have"?

I thinks they meant "I can't buy it legally anywhere, so I'll get it illegally". This troper ''used'' to think like that before she found a site shipping to her country.

This troper used to download some from limeWire in high school, but doesn't anymore. And is also a big anime fan but doesn't watch fansubs or download them. She just sticks to anime YouTube channels, Hulu and Funimaition's Video Portal. If she likes it, she'll buy it, and feels very proud of her small, but steadily growing anime collection, most of which was bought because of legal alternatives and not piracy. However, she does sometimes download comic issues, because she doesn't want to pay three bucks an issue when she knows they'll put them out in trade paperbacks, which she ends up buying anyway. Otherwise, she looks for comics at the library.

This troper chanted this for two whole years of middle school and her freshmen year of high school whenever someone told her that they got their Ipod/MP3 music from Limewire.

This troper is the same in the level one bullet above, and I don't even bother anymore, largely because he'd run out of breath. One of his coworkers-who is a dick-makes a point of passive-aggressively pointing out he would burn me a copy of X game, CD, or movie, if only I pirated. He also points out whenever I so much as ''look'' at anything pirated in his presence.

This troper shares the troper above's pain. And probably displayed terrible grammar in that last sentence.

I can only add this.

Being a strong believer in following the law, yet being surrounded by people who don't, I find myself being the deliverer of this trope. I'm not a KnightsTemplar, so I'll gladly watch something that I know is downloaded if I visit a friend, but I'm against doing so myself. Then again, the pressure from friends, random strangers, adults, teachers (!) and internet denziens is downright annoying. I have, uh, ''experienced'' before, but the bad conscience means I don't anymore.

Wow, you watch something that's downloaded when you're at a friend's house to keep your conscience clean. At least your friends are more honest about it.

I never said that I keep my conscience clean, and I don't particularly like watching things that other people have pirated either, but there's a difference between doing things I believe in (or in this case, not doing things I don't believe in) and being a huge asshole to all my friends. It's not like I hate myself for not managing to hold myself to the standards I know I should hold myself to. No no. Not at all.

I know how you feel. At first, like everybody I know, I didn't give a crap, but then I started to find music that I really loved, and artists that I really wanted to support. I justified downloading because I used to live out in the middle of nowhere, and I had no money. Now that I have both an income and somewhere to get great semi-obscure music, I try to never download anything.

This troper manages to find lots of good music for free ''without'' piracy.

This troper salutes you.

Knowing how much of a CorruptCorporateExecutive a record label can sometime be, Da_Nuke actually ''prides'' himself in stealing from the evil record labels. Nine Inch Nails's album "The Slip" is the proof that record labels are obsolete and doomed to disappear.

So your justification for stealing from artists is that they're already being robbed by record labels? Real classy...

I'm pretty much like the 1st guy in this part. I don't do it but have no problem with other people doing it as long as they know it's illegal. This is more because I have a rule that I will never inform the authorities about anything that doesn't directly effect me (like if someone steals my stuff I will call the cops, but not if someone shoplifts). If they want to fuck themselves over it's their business.

In truth, I want digital piracy to either be legalized or criminalized. If the entertainment industry (or, more importantly, the entertainers and developers) really aren't being hurt by the downloading, then the option should be made freely available to everyone without guilt. Or, if there really is damage being done by the people who do this, then people should be incurring severe fines and/or jail time to the point that anyone who actually does so is aware of the risk they're taking. What I can't stand is the current situation, where the thought process is "downloading these files is bad and wrong, but there's no reason not to do so, and you're an idiot if you don't". Or worse, "it's okay for me to download these for free, but other people should still pay for them."

This is the way of all victimless "crimes". Nobody gets hurt, therefore nobody is around to report it, therefore the law rarely gets enforced. Theoretically, the penalties for digital piracy are severe. On the books, Copyright violation is, in theory, a criminal offense (hence the FBI, CIA, Interpol, etc. warnings on media products). In reality, it's unenforceable... and unnecessary. Copying information is not the same thing as taking stuff, and, in fact, the only way to protect one's monopoly in information is to violate another's stuff. Which is more wrong?

I'd say the people who started the whole thing. You know, ''pirates''?

It's not victimless. The people who would have retailed the media are now losing revenue. UNFAIRNESS!

I've heard some piracy advocates argue that most pirates wouldn't pay for the stuff anyway. Which means the ones that would are losing the retailer's money, and the ones that wouldn't are taking stuff without permission that they have no intention of paying for. I think we have a word for that.

I've also heard advocates insist that "This is the age of information, all information should be free, it wants to be." Alright, by your logic, your own personal private information wants to be free because it should be - fork it over." Insert counterargument on how personal info doesn't count.

It doesn't count and shouldn't, and the two should be considered separate, everyone still has their right to privacy.

This troper only uses [=ROMs=] to avert NoExportForYou, and to play games for which I actually own the source media (several from the cartridge era of gaming, like ''Power Blade'' and ''Super Mario All-Stars''). I guess decrypting [=LIT=] ebooks would count to some people, but I ''paid for those''! And anyone who thinks ripping a purchased CD to an iPod is piracy is just going to have their face laughed in. Of course, mostly I shop at iTunes and cut out the disc altogether.

This Troper will second that- he will only download [=ROMs=] of games he could never get legally. {{Earthbound}}, we're looking at you.

Do the kill switches built into Earthbound trigger when it's played on [=ZSNES=]? I haven't tried it.

I haven't had any issues.

This troper used to do this quite often with arcade games that lacked home ports, or had ports that either blowed or were different from the arcade original, such as ''{{Area 88}}''/''U.N. Squadron''. He still does it today with the Japan-arcade-only ''{{Tetris}}: The Grand Master'' series and ''TGM'' clones, because he's not buying a Japanese Xbox 360 for a console installment that's not even a real TGM game.

This troper didn't even know file-sharing was illegal until he came across the trope here.

This troper admits to pirating music and ROMs, but will try to buy a game or CD when she gets the money. Personally, I don't like it when people pirate things they can easily buy domestically because they're too cheap. I have a friend that does this and it's become a running joke that if he gets sued for piracy, that he'd try to find a torrent of a lawyer.

This troper is the same. She actually got into an argument with a friend because he couldn't get why she wanted to support Studio Ghibli by waiting for their movies to be released on DVD.

This troper only resorts to bootlegs (he refuses to call it "pirate") under four circumstances:

A legal copy is unavailable because it was never exported.

A legal copy cannot be purchased because it's abandonware.

He already has a legal copy, and is downloading a cracked bootleg to get around DRM.

So you buy a legal copy without checking to see if it has DRM, and ''then'' download a crack, which as far as the producers know is no different from someone downloading it without the game, thus further "justifying" DRM? Good for you!

There's this delightful little website called "Google" that I use to determine if a title I want has DRM, before I buy it. If there's no mention of DRM, then I have no reason to download a cracked bootleg to go with my legit, shrinkwrapped retail copy. Google's really awesome; you should try using it.

Not to mention that some of the DRM is outright ridiculous. SecuROM takes the cake. "Thank you for buying our game! As thanks, you have to reactivate the game every ten days or you won't be able to play. Also you're only allowed to install three times. And we'll mess up your computer." Thankfully EA removed the "ten days" thing, but still. I fully understand wanting to protect your games against piracy, but basically punishing the people who bought it isn't the way to do it.

''Cough'' This Troper bought MassEffect legally, but downloaded a cracked copy rather than install the ''virus'' that they refer to as copy protection. And I knew full well what I was doing.

He already has a legal copy, but that copy is unplayable for assorted reasons.

This troper began his long history of digital piracy when he was 10 years old with ROMs for the SNES and NES; back at that time, he didn't know that what he did was illegal (tough he knew it wasn't morally good).

This troper tends to simply justify his regular acts of piracy by concluding that a company like Wizards of the Coast a) can probably afford a few illegally downloaded 4th edition books (which are far less convenient on computer anyway) and b) isn't selling 3.5 books anymore. Of course, he had a medium-sized guilt trip after reading the "If You Downloaded This Book" section in the CthulhuTech rulebook; this proves that he only feels guilty about digital piracy ''if the company acknowledges it's a problem''. If WOTC want to bury their heads in the sand, he'll gleefully take their materials.

Although he does tend to eventually buy most of the materials he pirates, because the books are more convenient.

This troper feels like an idiot whenever he buys the books since all his gaming group have pirate downloads of them. True books are more convenient, but they're way more expensive. He now has pirate scans of all the books he paid for (thanks to his gaming group) which are more convenient (as long as I have access to a computer) simply because they all fit on a flash drive. I don't feel the slightest bit guilty about this since I've already forked out money for the hardcopies.

You know what I really ''really'' wish someone would do? Make some kind of software that has all of the rulesets and updates from any given edition of a tabletop game so that I don't have to either scan through a PDF ''page by page'' or go over to a bookshelf and take out a rulebook and see what I want. Seriously; I'd ''thank'' whoever did that.

This troper is in a strange gray zone, in that he's just too damn lazy to bother pirating the music, and would rather just ask for a given band's CD for Christmas or his birthday. That said, he ''does'' listen to music on YouTube, which has become his default CD player when he only wants to listen to specific songs. Similarly, he's also too lazy to bother trying to figure out how to pirate music or movies he might otherwise like, and is perfectly happy to spend the money to get it. This is the same attitude he has regarding hiring a plumber, electrician, or mechanic if he ever has to deal with maintenance problems-why bother doing it himself and royally screw up, when he can just pay someone who actually knows what the hell they're doing to do it for him?

The interesting thing to consider, of course, is that the people who go after you for downloading MP3s often aren't the artists, but the RIAA execs who've managed to manipulate contracts and laws pertaining thereto such that only they themselves profit, rather than the artists. This troper will gladly start shelling out $40 a CD... When someone starts legitimately allowing him to do so without getting a disc that has one song he wants and eleven he doesn't. Otherwise, he'll settle for downloading songs and sending checks to the artists. Pay the creators, not the distributers. And as to software? He's of the belief that companies who want to complain about people ripping off their games shouldn't give people a reason to do so - I.E. don't stop selling them, or putting in DRM nonsense that causes more trouble for legit buyers than pirates.

The problem regarding a lack of good songs on CD would have easily been resolved if CD singles were still around. People get to listen to the song they want, record companies get money, and nothing is pirated.

CD singles are still released in the UK, but account for a minority of music sales these days.

''$40?!'' That said, you have a point about the majority of the money going to the record execs instead of the people who, you know, actually ''made'' the music.

That's like saying it's wrong for the people who invested in a company to get the profits. Breaking a band costs a TON of money, in short, there's a lot more into it ( and the bands know this ) than just making and selling music. Bands are like businesses, record companies are providing investment capitol and expected to be paid back. To be fair, it is arguable whether some of their charges are reasonable, but as a concept it makes sense.

This troper's happy to download individual songs her friends recommend or put on fan soundtracks, and has actually ''bought'' a couple [=CDs=] because of this. Anything else, she won't pirate unless it's a Sims 2 expansion or impossible to purchase legally. Also, video game soundtracks (which tend to fall into the "unable to purchase" category anyway) tend not to count in her mind.

This troper rips audio from YouTube without a shred of guilt, because hey, it's on the internet for free already, amirite? However, she refuses to use LimeWire any more.

This troper is just sad that the state of piracy has fallen to such low standards. Seriously, you're not a *real* media pirate unless you plow your pirate ship into a Best Buy and pillage it of all its [=DVD=]s, games, and [=CDs=]. Yo ho ho, you little pansies!

This troper would gladly do so, if it wasn't for the fact that landgoing pirate ships are kind of obvious when it comes to crime.

If I owned a Best Buy and someone tried that, I'd ''let'' them pillage everything. Actually, no, first I'd try to give them as fun a fight as possible, but still let them win, and throw them some candy on their way out.

Seconded.

This troper only pirates things that are out of print (because the publisher gets exactly the same return from him downloading as from him buying second-hand) or unavailable where he lives (because it's not a lost sale if they never intended to sell it to him in the first place), but thinks anti-piracy has gone way over the top these days.

This Troper once referred to someone who pirated a well-known video game as having "fallen to the dark side", and proceeded to have an overly long conversation full of Star Wars puns with him.

This Troper justifies piracy by pointing out that movies and music are merely long numbers, and you shouldn't really expect to make money by selling people numbers. Although he did pay for The Sword's first two albums after he realized how awesome they were. Then he ripped them to FLAC, since they're still just numbers, and keeping them on the original [=CDs=] is very inconvenient.

My word, you're a caricature. I'd like your name, address, bank account and credit card number, since they are, after all, just numbers on a computer, or ink on paper.

To this troper, digital piracy is not evil - just a royal pain in the ass when it comes to making the games work. He also had some kicks out of telling his gullible neighbor that modding his XBox to play pirated games will brick the console. He's right, because the information comes from a credible source, right?

If I'm thinking of buying a CD, I usually pirate it and if I like it, I'll buy it legally. If I don't, why should I pay for something not intended for me? Also, I really wonder why it's legal to copy CD's with DRM for personal purposes but not DVD's. I also pirate stuff that's definitely not reaching my country (meaning most anime).

To my mind, there is a lot of stuff out there (mostly television, movies and music) that I simply refuse to pay for. I'm only rarely opposed to watching/listening to these things, I simply am not going to pay good money for a sub-par product. At the same time, I have downloaded movies which I would never have seen otherwise that I'll later buy because I enjoyed the movie so much. I'll pay for good quality and not regret it for a second, but I don't feel bad at all for not paying for things I don't actually want much. I guess what I'm saying is that I purchase more due to digital piracy than I would without it.

For each story along these lines, I can talk about a people I've spoken to online, ''people I respect'', who have said things like "I was looking forward to buying this game. Then I found out they're releasing it in Europe a week before the US. This is an insult, so I'm going to download the game and not pay for it." Or "I've read reviews of ''Mario Kart Wii'', and I'm not going to support Nintendo for releasing such a broken mess. Still, I want to play it, so..." There are many people who will download things for free that they would have settled for buying if they didn't have an alternative. And given the option, they'll say ''anything'' to justify their right to not pay for it. But rarely to justify not playing it. It's all about entitlement...

Well, what those reasons people are very different from the reasons stated by the fellow Troper. The previous Troper admitted to wanting to buy something only if they think it's good, not because "it doesn't come out for the console they want". They never said anything about games, in the first place. Also you have no proof that they would have bought it if they didn't have an alternative, as this troper knows plenty of people who don't have the means to pirate said video games but refuse to buy it while secretly wanting to play it, and guess what? They don't buy it. Never underestimate fanhate. I generally agree with the opening troper as for, This troper is an anime fan, and has been since they were still released on VHS, and in order to watch a new anime, I would literally go by the description on the box. What ended up happening was that I often ended up paying at least $30 for a 4 episode anime, that I wound up hating. Until I learned how to download and watch anime onlline, I would spend up to $90 a year on anime alone (what? the economy was good back then), of the selection that I bought I only liked 1 or two of them if I was lucky (this was before box set releases). Then I found out how to download free anime online I would use that as a test to see if I liked the series enough to buy it or if I would want to claw my eyes out from watching it. I still buy anime I just only buy what I like.

This troper, at a friend's birthday party, overheard a couple guys talking about R4s and how they have hundreds of games on theirs. When said troper pulled out his DS game case, said guys were surprised to find out that he "actually" buys DS games. Now, I don't mind people who pirate as long as they are aware of the taboos of pirating and do buy legit copies if it's affordable, but when you're of the "buying commerical works is dumb, you should just download it for free" mindset, ''especially'' if your wallet can afford legitimate copies...

7}} This Troper justifies his piracy (which is honestly fairly infrequent, if you don't count reading manga scans illegally online) by stating that he's poor and cheap, so there's no way that he's going to pay for this stuff regardless. He figures it's better to be a fan and encourage other people to get interested in the products so that they might buy it rather than not do anything at all. Doesn't change that it's illegal, but he doesn't particularly care.

This is pretty much my MO when it comes to piracy. With an addendum that most of the anime subs I watch are either finished series (meaning I'd have to get [=DVD=]s, which would blow if it turned out I didn't like a series), or stuff I eventually plan on purchasing at some time in the future (Basically meaning I'm planning on paying back my tab). A friend of mine when completely legit with her anime watching, and I told her "Yeah, I'd do that, except in most cases, it's either I watch illegally or not at all", seeing as how I have neither the money nor inclination to pay atm. To be fair, I do watch tons of stuff legally when I can online, through services like Hulu.

At this troper's college, piracy is the fifth highest reason people get kicked out of dorm housing, after things like drinking or assault. This troper plays fast and loose and pirates anyway, because she pays for most of her music and mostly downloads TV shows, which the school cares less about, because she cannot make a job work with her school schedule just to afford exorbitant DVD boxset prices. (Her college doesn't have medical amnesty, either. We're very progressive.)

This Troper has no problems whatsoever with piracy, since copyright is just an unnecessary massive honour system that everyone will never agree on. Between performances, commissions, benefaction, etc there's no reason to stop people doing whatever they want with digital things they own. Yes, that's right - OWN.

This Troper was first introduced to a number of artists through illegal downloads. Some aren't worth buying, or even keeping. Some are worth keeping, but might or might not be worth buying (I haven't decided yet). And in one case, I first collected many of the artist's songs, then paid her via her website's tip jar, then eventually bought the albums through iTunes. Heather Alexander, in case you're wondering.

This Troper knew a girl who was totally opposed to piracy, since she was a musician and saw the use of her music without request or acknowledgment as the theft of her intellectual property. Of course she has no problem with accepting burned [=CDs=] and [=DVD=]s from others. I guess it depends whether you are the victim or the beneficiary as to whether you consider it evil.

I buy music if it's available legally by the song. I don't want to pay for an entire CD if I only want a handful of songs, nor do I want to jump through hoops to get my music. I'm all for supporting the artists I like, but sometimes that just isn't easy or even possible. I don't even see it as illegal if piracy is the only option.

This troper is a total film nerd, but doesn't live near New York or LA, so doesn't even get the opportunity to legally see a lot of limited release, indie, or OscarBait movies before they come out on DVD (which is often months to a year after they come out in theaters). Thus, piracy.

This troper, who watched Star Trek growing up, believes piracy is, in fact, the future. Watch TNG and be amazed at how they download food, yes, food, for free! (never mind movies, music and tea in the mug of your choice)

According to certain AlternateCharacterInterpretation[=s=], the Federation is technically Communist.

Actually it was a Socialist Utopia.

This troper ({{Dark Lady Celebrian}}) has gotten into arguments with some people she knew over the subject of emulators and torrents. I am strictly against torrenting and piracy while these two girls basically lived on it. Cue many, many arguments about the evils of torrents and emulators.

One of this troper's friends justifies his piracy in the main by the fact that it's usually for his ... uh ... private collection ... and therefore that he is actually contributing in some way to the fight against said industry by denying it profits.

This troper tends to pirate. He justifies this by being a college student with no money. His policy: pirated material while not objectively okay is at the very least a 'zero-sum' game. Nine out of ten times, the things he torrents are not things he would have spent money on to see, and he is not depriving anyone else of their chance to go and see it. His downloads tend to be either music or anime/comicbooks/manga. In the case of an 'indie' developer/artist, he will make all efforts to purchase the damn thing (Scott Pilgrim, World of Goo.) This is the ONLY reason he hasn't played Braid yet. Finally, even though I torrent without regret, it is only about 20% of my total media use. I do buy things, own a TV and rely of free/ad-supported giveouts. I'm lo g free legal alternatives (Hulu, lastFm.,

This troper has only pirated things that A) Are no longer available (IE, NES Games) or B) he already owns a copy of, but said copy has been damage. This was especially true when not only was the copy damage, but my CD-ROM drive was damage too, so having a physical copy ''wouldn't actually fix anything''.

This troper has his a sort of code when it comes to downloading/watching on Veoh: "How much does the industry need my money?" So it goes:

Movies/TV/Music: Anything goes.

Porn: (that is, downloading episodes ripped from paysites) Anything goes.

Anime: I'll only watch the first episode online to see if I would like it. If I do, I'll buy it.

Comics: Only old stuff. If it's something I can get in the comic shop or order from the company website, I buy it. If it's something I would have to go on Amazon/Ebay/etc for, I download it.

Video Games: Again, only old stuff. However, I will usually buy the VC version if it's available, simply because I'd prefer to play it on a larger screen in my nice recliner.

This Troper used to pirate quite a bit, but has since stopped, started getting rid of every piece of warez in his possession and spent a lot money buying stuff he has previously pirated. Pirating just doesn't feel right anymore. He's also developed a paranoid streak. Still, he feels very little sympathy for the RIAA and their ilk. And in any category, any case of NoExportForYou is up for grabs.

This Troper agrees that individuals really can't screw over musicians any more than a corporate recording label already has. However, he tries to get a commensurate amount of money to struggling artists, especially if they're independent. One of his favorite indie labels, the now-defunct Merck Records, went under for lack of profit. Since Merck Records was by and large a bunch of guys from the old {{Demoscene}} who made retro-sounding techno music, pretty much all of their fans were internet-savvy enough to pirate their music, and it's alleged that this contributed to their money problems.

Heavy subversion - Most small time musicians NEED to distribute their songs over torrents to get anyone to listen to them. Most radio stations only play Top 40 due to the fact that you can buy a single license to all play Top 40 hits. How do they make money? Live concerts, merchandise and personally having fun with their fans (often involving pizza parties). Sounds like a great arrangement for both sides.

This troper tends not to pirate much, but sincerely believes that getting the big money out of the entertainment industry would be the best thing ever to happen to it.

Inversion: The ''{{Touhou}}'' fanbase. This troper's been made fun of by a friend for having attempted to buy one of the games: "Who the hell BUYS a ''Touhou'' game?"

For the longest time I didn't even know that Touhou Project was not something meant to be downloaded for free.

This troper, after years of buying used, older games that have long gone out of print, has realized that that sort of stuff is absolutely pointless, especially for games that are emulated. He bought a Sega Saturn at Fanime for $55 and now wants to it smash it to pieces, as nearly every game that he wants for it is either already emulated (''BattleGaregga'', ''{{RayForce}}'') and/or prohibitively expensive (''RadiantSilvergun'').

This troper is in the process of a 12-step program he designed to gradually free himself from all illegal downloading. First he declared he would not download anything that he can legally obtain in this country (buying it on eBay doesn't count). Then he declared he would not partake in anything that other people downloaded that falls under this category. Then he declared he would not download anything that ''will eventually'' become obtainable here (such as television series that haven't started airing here or will eventually show up in Blockbuster). Then he declared that he would also ban anything downloaded via torrent, because the people he uploads to are likely not operating under said restrictions. His expected next step: setting a price limit (anything that costs under X to ship here, I won't download). He's hoping that, by the end, he'll have the courage to take the biggest and hardest step of all: deleting everything he'd downloaded before accepting those restrictions.

You're the industries biggest friend, if everyone had acted like this iTunes wouldn't have happened, Hulu wouldn't have happened and Netflix wouldn't have happened. Why innovate if there's no incentive to do so? at least piracy gives them a reason to adapt to the internet.

That makes it alright, then?t.

Yes.

Well, if you fully admit to signing up for that sort of ideology, my work is done here.

There's no reason not to in a lot of countries. Sadly most digital distribution is limited to the USA and it's not gonna change unless the people give them a reason to change that.

And I (the original poster) actually do live in one of those countries. Which is why the first steps I took involved limiting things to what I can't purchase here. I have very little objection to pirating things that I can't get anyway. Unfortunately, with the advent of eBay and international shipping, the line becomes rather quickly blurred, and in practice there's very little I can't actually obtain legally if I wanted to.

And you are doing this because...?

Because it's the right thing to do.

This troper only loots things he can't buy normally, such as limited print run stuff and most Adult Swim cartoons. Hey, I'd happily buy them if they'd put them on a DVD formatted for my region.

This troper downloads as a way to discover bands, movies, etc that he normally wouldn't be able to check, and happily purchases the product if he enjoys it.

This troper downloads [=ROMs=] of games mainly as a way of trying out games for his older systems (Seeing as you can't rent games for them anymore). Nowadays, he still uses emulators from time to time; usually to try out a level hack of a favorite game, try out a game he's never played before, or for challenge runs requiring use of GameGenie codes (Seeing as he don't have one for some of his systems), though he still prefers to buy an original copy of the game whenever possible.

It seems like the old asking nicely technique doesn't work very well to prevent piracy, seeing as this screenshot was taken from a pirated movie.

DesertDragon's only rule against piracy is to not steal anything indie. LadyGaga will not lose her mansion because I downloaded the three songs off ''The Fame Monster'' that I liked. However, independent bands and filmmakers actually need the support, and even if their stuff ''was'' easy to find on bootleg, I'd feel much better actually buying it.

This Troper is a pirate, and all my friends know it. (Hell, I wear a button that essentially advocates it.) I don't feel guilty about it, because I know that most of my money wouldn't go to the artists anyway. Plus, most of the bands I listen to are okay with it.

This troper kinda agrees. He can't avoid piracy at times - his games are either downloaded, pirated or (only for his GameCube) used (because original games are ''really'' expensive in his country), he downloads lots of songs (and sometimes burns some MP3 songs as regular audio [=CDs=]), sometimes watches movies from borrowed pirated [=DVD=]s and due to horrible showtimes watched the first three seasons of ''Heroes'' on borrowed pirated disks. But he still buys [=CDs=], doesn't download movies or TV shows (That stuff was meant to be watched on a TV, not a computer! Even those ''Heroes'' [=DVD=]s were played on my TV!) or buy pirate [=DVD=]s - theater, video rental, TV or buying the regular one are good enough - and even though bootleg transcripts/translations of the two last Harry Potter books were on the net, he still waited the four months before the book release in his country. Sometimes, he can see a bit of dissonance with people he knows, who just like to download or buy pirate versions.

If it's not available in my country and time, then it's fair game. If something is burdened by DRM to the detriment of usability, go ahead. I may not be a free-market zealot, but if the crappy black-market knockoff is actually ''better'' than the legit product, don't expect me to get upset when people choose the superior option. DRM makes it hard to distribute free copies to all your friends? Buy it. DRM requires a constant internet connection for a single-player offline game? Buy it and crack it if you can. Pirate it if you can't. DRM installs a virus? Definitely pirate it! DRM limits the number of installs or otherwise forces you to buy multiple copies? Buy one and pirate another if the DRM makes the first stop working. DRM is detrimental to performance of your computer? Pirate it. DRM requires me to install Steam on a Mac? PIRATE! PIRATE! PIRATE THE THING! Admittedly, a lot of my approach is largely theoretical at this point, as my media consumption is increasingly limited by the fact that most new shows, movies and games aren't very good and neither are the old ones.

Your rather elitist attitude aside, This Troper has very little sympathy for you. Particularly given that ''Steam'' has none of the issues you mentioned. Its a DigitalDistribution service (one which allows you to download, backup and play any game you've bought on any computer that can run it, no less); the very thing that many people cite the lack thereof as a reason for piracy. Also contrary to what some people seem to think you can play steam games offline. If you insist on buying first party Valve games on retail (which still comes down to the same thing, since you can make a backup if you buy digital and you have access to the d/l version after you've registered the retail copy) then it'll only take you a 1.5mb download and about 30 minutes (and that's assuming you haven't already installed it)...not to mention you've wasted money on petrol/bus fares/metro tickets/etc. Adding in the fact that it allows you to install patches as soon as they're available, provides online play facilities (something you'll have trouble getting hold of if you pirated it, begging the question of why you bothered considering the online/community elements of most of Valve's games), allows everyone in the world to start playing their copy on the same day (removing regional lockouts) the only reason to pirate a game available on steam is to avoid paying full price.

I assume this was written prior to Steam becoming available to Macs. If not...why are you whining? Steam is convenient.

I don't do it for the same reason I don't use drugs, with my luck I'd be the one to actually get caught out of everyone who does it in the area. I know it's just paranoia, but I'd rather stay on the safe side.

I'll say the same thing here that I've said to everyone else I know. Hoist The Colors.

Thing I don't understand is why everyone assumes that digital piracy is evil just because it's illegal. Seriously, people who pirate actually feel the need to justify it with all sorts of reasons because they feel guilty. Fact is, illegal != morally wrong. Some people (like myself) disagree with intellectual property laws on moral grounds, I think it is ridiculous to suggest that someone can own an idea as opposed to a physical thing. I'll purchase media to support the creators, for example I like to spend my hard earned money on print copies of webcomics I like because I know it goes straight to the artists, but I have no problem with "illegal" downloading, and in cases where they make it impossible to play the legal version due to copy protection, well then I simply refuse to buy the legitimate copy period (actually that's not entirely true, but if I do buy the legit copy I end up cracking it anyways).

Skadrii is a composer/songwriter. Who doesn't perform (and therefore makes virtually nothing from concerts). Who strangely doesn't have a big problem with illegal downloading. Perhaps this comes from having looked into contracts with recording companies, where from each $15 CD sold, he'd get... something like $0.07. Not a huge amount to lose if someone downloads a CD, likes it and then decides not to pay for it. When he gets a website to which he can upload his music, Skadrii's more likely to implement a "pay what you like"/"donation" approach under the assumption that (a) people will be more willing to pay an artist than a recording company, (b) people can get the music for free anyway so fixing prices won't change anything, (c) recorded music will not be a factor in his finances at all, so that matters will be arranged such that money made by record sales will be only an added bonus suitable for obtaining luxury items like a third meal or health insurance.

It should be noted that Skadrii ''would'' have a problem with other people selling his music and not paying him a decent percentage of the profits though. (That's the kind of situation intellectual property laws were created to prevent, after all. Current digital piracy laws have little to do with safeguarding intellectual property and a lot to do with NewMediaAreEvil.)

The bizare fact was, this troper bought more movies and TV shows on DVD back in the days when he did a bit of pirating on the side than now when he went (more) legit and got a Netflix account. Now I rent practically everything I want to watch and I'm pretty sure the studio doesn't get that much in revenues from it. I still have an external hard drive with every single DVD I own ripped to it (beats hauling the giant collection to college). I still get tempted with out of print things, though.

And now he he helped a friend download a copy of a PSP game that his friend just bought because the non-cracked version wouldn't run on his homebrew enabled PSP (since they changed up the encryption). I'm not even sure what the morality involved there is.

This Troper gets most of his music collection off Youtube. He does not use torrents though but he sees nothing wrong with it. Then again some people have described his morals as being "almost non-human".

Hell his entire fucking ''family'' does this! And we justify it by saying that we are not making a profit.

Most of the pirating this troper does is of episodes of British tv shows on the week it premiered on TV, because it usually takes about a YEAR for it to come stateside, and also cause they cut stuff out for ad breaks, the fuckers.

This Troper has no political or moral reasons preventing or encouraging him from pirating, he just likes downloading things he wants for free.

As far as This Troper has seen, I have an odd take on the whole piracy thing. I have no objection to torrenting files I have not paid for, as long as I have access to them in other ways, i.e., soundtracks for movies and games. Also, if it's something I have no access to, media not released in my area and will not be in the foreseeable future, I have no problem with it. Similarly, my computer is frustratingly picky about installing games; something wrong with my disk drive or summat. Anyways, as a result I frequently download games through torrents; however, they're games I've already paid for through proper legal channels. They just don't work properly. I've debated where I fall on the moral scale of things in this scenario, then put it to a good thing canceling out a bad thing, move myself to the gray area in the middle of the scale and call it quits.

This Troper would like to thank all TV Tropers for it's contributions to this page. It has helped him write an good economics paper.

Honestly? I've reached the point where I pirate stuff just because it's a hell of a lot more convenient for me; copyright "laws" be damned.

STARSCREEAAAAAAAAAAAM!

...yes?

This troper once booted up a rom of SimCity Creator for the Nintendo DS, and one of the first things he saw was the cutest little mayor ever telling him "Thank you so much for buying our game!" Said troper felt so guilty, he didn't play the game, and bought it instead. Now THAT's Anti-Piracy.

This troper downloads games,tv series,music,comic books,etc. 90% of his life is digital piracy since he doesn't do anything else than staying at his computer all day. He doesn't feel too bad about it tough, because besides actually buying his favorite games(wich already makes him a saint compared to everyone else here where he lives), he knows that he only downloads things that he'd never buy in the first place either becuase he can't pay for them or because he can't buy. For example, this troper is seriously considering downloading two bioware games(Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age) even tough he always buys bioware rpgs he likes(the only exception being Jade Empire), the reason he's considering it is that they are impossible to find in here anymore and since he can't buy it out of steam he will have to pirate them. Wich is a shame since he would surely buy both games and all [=DLC=]s if he could.

This troper averts it by having only CC licensed music in his computer.

This Troper doesn't feel the need to "justify" downloading music. Bands get such a tiny amount of their money from CD sales that most could care less. Concerts and merch is where bands really make their cash. If i like a band i go to their shows and buy their T-shirts and the like. Games can be a bit of a grey area but i've always applied the one year rule. If it has been out for a year, it's no longer making any real income.

That's this troper's MO on piracy too. If the band is self-publishing, I'll pay for the albums. If most of the money is going to big-wigs that barely have anything to do with the making of the music, then I pirate away and support the band by going to their concerts. Also, the band's opinion on pirating is a big factor too. If they're okay with it, then I slip on my eyepatch, peg leg, and hook hand. Arrrgh.

This troper's reason for piracy is that since life screws him over in so many ways, the one time it's unfair in his favor, he's not going to pass it up. That guy who cuts me off on the highway, the fast food clerk who gets my order wrong, the local official who answers my letter but does what the big lobbyist tells them anyway? They don't care about me, so I pass it right on down the line.

This troper doesn't need to make up an excuse to justify copying.

Strangely, how guilty pirating a game makes me can be influenced by a number of things. The biggest factor would obviously be how old a game is and what generation it was made in. Based on age alone, I wouldn't pirate anything from the sixth generation/2000 or later. However, things such as ''the game's graphics'' and ''how likely it is that people around me can identify it'' can make me feel more or less guilty. Might be why I was ok with pirating King of Fighter 03 but I feel deep shame for even considering pirating Marvel Vs. Capcom 2.

This troper really just doesn't give a fuck about this, and downloads things with very little guilt (but not stuff by indie bands who NEED the money). Ironically enough, his taste for things tend to be {{Abandonware}} and NoExportForYou.

This Troper avoids pirating things like movies and music but has a large collection of theater bootlegs (of both the video and audio variety). It's hard to really feel like a disservice is being done because... if I want, say, a video of an understudy in a role or to see or hear a show that's long closed it's not usually possible to see it except through bootlegs. Almost every show This Troper has paid money to see live was on account of bootlegs getting her interested first (and she enjoyed the show so much more because she was familiar and therefore able to appreciate the nuances more). Yet, funnily enough, it's much riskier and more difficult to bootleg theater than things like movies and music (this has become a big problem for theater fans when people who are used to more traditional piracy and concerts do things like post bootlegs on YouTube, which both hurts the person who risked recording it and also makes theater bootlegging seem like a bigger problem to theaters who therefore are harsher about it.)

As a sidenote, Rent released a filmed version of the show on Broadway right before it closed. This seems like it would be a much nicer alternative to bootlegs... but actually, pretty much every bootleg trader This Troper knows couldn't stand it. Shows are made to play to the audience, and the vast majority of bootlegs are filmed from a single spot in the audience, so even though they can't match a live experience by any means they are a decent representation. This filmed version of Rent, however, constantly jumped between angles and levels of zoom and generally did a bad job of showing the musical as it was meant to be seen -- as if they were trying too hard to play to the expectations of the typical moviegoer.

This troper sets a limit with albums; if I want more than three of the songs on one album (or I really want the album because of the artist or whatever), ''and'' there's a practical way to get hold of the album over here ([=eBay=] doesn't count, although that hasn't stopped me on some occasions), I'll go and pay the £10; otherwise, I'll see if it's on the next ''Now That's What I Call Music!'' album; otherwise it's download time. (Through the numbers of artists I've got into through downloading odd songs here or there, I'm pretty sure the record companies are close on profit out of me.) TV; download it from America, and buy the [=DVDs=] when they come out over here fifteen months later. Games; pirate and/or emulate {{Abandonware}} and NoExportForYou, second hand what's available, and buy the rest new. Films; can't be bothered, because I'll never get round to watching them anyway. Porn; there's so much free stuff around that paying for it is the domain of idiots. Pay per play; fundamentally immoral and stupid. Ultimately, it's all born out of the fact that where realistic, I prefer to have something physically tangible like a CD or a DVD than a collection of files on a hard drive that I'll struggle to replace the next time I upgrade my PC or the drive dies or whatever - which is also my objection to DRM and legal downloads. (The pipe dream is to replace ''all'' my illegal songs with [=CDs=] at some point, but that'll require buying some four hundred odd albums - more than a few of which probably no longer exist - for the sake of one or two tracks from each.)

this tropers view on the subject? It's only piracy if it's still being sold.

This Troper thinks that it's good to hurt the RIAA and MPAA. They bend the rules to actively and blatantly STEAL money from artists. And the government passes, instantly and unanimously, any law that they propose in order to bend the rules even further. Seriously, people. When you buy music and movies, the artists aren't getting any money. Who are making megabucks though are the evil corporate execs that do these things. And there's not one single person in THE ENTIRE WORLD that will do anything at all to try and kill these people.

It's because this is ''capitalism''. Whoever has the money makes the rules - In that whole Capitalism vs actual socialism it's pick your poison. Government caters to those who give them the most money at the expense of the consumer, or there's no point in trying to be better.

This troper doesn't pirate stuff he can get legitimately. Pirated copies don't really add to the collector's value at all. (Pirated cartri He does make exceptions if:

The thing is not available in this region. I could often import it like I did with ''TalesOfEternia'' (I ordered a copy from ''Sweden'') because after all, it's still an original copy of the game that has collector's value. However, most manga? Good luck finding ''TalesOfInnocence'' in America.

Likewise, I fell into habit of reading manga scans online because they're updated weekly and it's quicker to upload something digitally merely because you don't have to put it on paper, which takes time and money. With manga it's kind of inevitable that there would be a pause, though. However, the advantage of waiting until the monthly ShonenJump is that you can go on an ArchiveBinge since you get a months worth of the series at once as opposed to just a week's worth in Japan.

It's really really hard to find. I pirated the ''NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' and ''{{Akira}}'' mangas because they might as well be printed on paper made from Albino Redwoods given how rare they are out here. Only ''ONCE'' have I ''ever'' seen a bookstore carry volume one of the Nausicaä manga and not yet have I seen books four through six of Akira. So if you're wondering why we're pirating some stuff? It's because it's not printed enough. I'd definitely buy the Nausicaä and Akira Mangas for collectors' purposes if ''I can actually bloody find them'' in stores or sell my soul on an online auction on eBay. I have a budget and I can't spend a couple hundred bucks for the Akira books when buying them one by one is ''cheaper''.

This troper prefers not to use Limewire to download songs. However, if there is a song I have plans to use (or I can't get it on CD), I will rip it from youtube. Then Limewire went down for legal reasons. Something tells me folks will switch to my method soon.

I will pirate anything that is system exclusive that can be emulated by my computer (I'm not buying a system to play one game...exclusives are a lousy idea) and any game that is more than 4 or so years old. Obviously, if there are no localizations of a foreign product or if the product isn't produced anymore, then pirate away. I will also pirate anything that has invasive DRM on it. I will generally not pirate anything that can be found on Steam, I will just wait for a sale in that case. In general, games are too expensive. $50 for a new game is ridiculous; I get about 5 months of Netflix movies with that. Even old games are overpriced. There's the Nintendo brand Wii games that are still $50 after 5 years, but even VC games are too much. $5 for a 20 year old NES game? It should be about 99 cents. I think games have gotten to the point where development costs are totally out of whack with the size of the audience. I don't pirate movies though, as I just watch them through Netflix and I hardly ever watch movies more than once anyway. If it's good enough for me to watch more than once, it's good enough to blow some cash on. I will pirate music, but I don't listen to anything new anyway. I will probably use Itunes if I ever get an Ipod or something (but even then it's too expensive. A dollar per song? Albums should be about 4-5 dollars via digital distribution, as you don't get anything but the music). I've only pirated one book in my entire life; A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin, and I'm very glad I didn't spend real money on that turd.

This troper's favorite vocalist sent him an entire album(SIAM's The Language Of Menace) by email in a subversion of this trope!

This (poor) troper downloads like a madman, but when he occasionally has money, he prefers to buy his stuff.

This troper used to pirate(most of her JonathanCoulton collection is pirated), but eventually quit. She does download some things, but they're things that aren't for sale (Youtube [=AMVs=] she likes, cartoons that aren't going to become available for iTunes) or if she can't get something off iTunes. She doesn't think piracy is evil(although if you can afford it and genuinely want the thing, just buy it, your "moral pirating" is probably not going to help anything) and thinks a lot of DRM is crap, but it's sort of a vicious circle: DRM gets worse, more people pirate, executives freak out and invent even worse DRM, etc. It would help if people could collectively stop being greedy idiots(and that goes for excessive piraters too).

This troper doesn't condemn piracy too much (as most who pirate are cheap like me anyway), however he considers inmoral the '''selling''' of pirate copies (if the seller just downloaded it and not actually did a job) at more than a reasonable price. (internet can be expensive but not THAT much)

This troper's music teacher pirates near enough everything (most of the school's music software is illegally downloaded), but piracy also makes him lose out on a lot of royalties that he earns from his former career as a music producer - although that doesn't seem to bother him much.

This troper is a frequent pirate (having a large game collection, music collection spanning 50+ gigs and an anime/movie/TV show collection two or three times that), but he still likes to buy stuff from creators he likes. See also: his purchase of the discography of The Protomen and a shirt from them after pirating their albums.

This troper pirates most if not all of the music he listens to - because its free. I can't argue with that.

This troper only pirates because she's poor and doesn't have a credit card. Once she gets a job and a way of buying stuff online, she's resolved to buy a legit version of everything she's ever stolen. Ever.

This troper is so pissed by the DVD copyright ad every American DVD has these days that he's considering moving to the dark side for good. I didn't spend 20€ on a DVD just so I could be condescendingly taunted by a non-skippable minute of the most intellectually dishonest guilt-tripping ever, usually featuring a bunch of teeth-gratingly annoying douches sitting on a couch, watching Die Hard and basically going "BUY REAL DVD'S OR YOURE A NERRRRRRRRRRRD". I AM A NERD. I don't need to be forcibly yelled at about it every time I spend my hard-earned cash to buy a DVD. Just... awful, as a psychological tool and as a marketing tactic.

I grab torrents of software I'd like to buy because I'll be damned if I'll not try software before shelling out US$200+ of unrefundable cash only to find out the software sucks. How about full-functioning (but timebombed) demo versions? Why do software houses not do this?

Trygames used to have this IIRC, but now only for the smaller games.

''Frostsabre.'' On Nciku (a Chinese-English site) if you type the word "piracy," (盗版, daoban) just look at the examples. How would people be satisfied if piracy were banned, just curious?

On my end, (I dabble on both sides) I buy more games than I pirate. I've bought TrackMania and Torchlight, to name a few, that way. On the other hand, I bought StarCraft 2 because I thought the campaign was going to be good, only to realise that I enjoyed a single mod (Desert Strike, by the way) better than that.

This has probably been mentioned before, but this troper would not have gotten into many bands if it weren't for downloading. This troper is also into really obscure music that can't be found in stores nearby *or* on iTunes. How am I supposed to listen to music that I can't buy?

This troper doesn't bother with any justifications. I just download anything I want, because I'm completely egocentric and somewhat sociopathic and don't care about anyone. It also applies to all other laws and regulations - while I understand that they exist, I don't care about them, and simply can't grasp their meaning - they may apply to others, but I can't relate to them. And if benefit from breaking a law will be considerable, and chance of punisment very small, I will do it without any hesitations. Though such situations are, unfortunately, rather rare, and in my country minor offenses, such as drug possession, stealing from people not belonging to your social group, physical assault and such are considered OK by many people, and cops are universally despised and hated.

This troper doesn't consider it piracy if he can find it on the first page of a google search. He downloaded BitTorrent but hasn't used it once.

This troper will pirate TV shows for a rainy day, and download a couple games to see if I like 'em before I buy 'em (or if they're really freaking hard to find and no longer sold, aside from the occasional eBay auction), but that's pretty much it.

Greetings from /v/, where we pirate all of our games; not so that we don't have to pay for them, but so that nobody else ''gets'' paid for them! I don't know if that's proof that DigitalPiracyIsEvil or just proof that HitlerAteSugar.