Unlocking ingame items for free - is it piracy for you or not?

[Nord1ing]

For example, AC: Odyssey in-game items sold at (expensive) price after you payed already full price for the game.

Getting that type of content for free (CheatEngine entered the chat) is it piracy for you?

[Arika]

if it's a single player game. who cares, it's your game, play it how you want. If it's a multiplayer game, it's cheating

[OddOod]

26 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Pirating Ubisoft games is always morally right.

Meh, they make enjoyable games and mostly only charge extra for cosmetics. Isn't that behavior something we want to encourage?

 

30 minutes ago, Nord1ing said:

is it piracy

It's freebooting

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Youre getting digital content that youve been intended to pay for, but arent. Thats piracy, weather you think it should be or not.

4 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Meh, they make repetitive games tat run like shit and cost too much, as well as charging extra for cosmetics.

 

fixed  it for you

Ubisofts games feel more like a cash grab than a actual game

[OddOod]

5 minutes ago, Helpful Tech Wiard said:

Youre getting digital content that youve been intended to pay for, but arent. Thats piracy, weather you think it should be or not.

fixed  it for you

Ubisofts games feel more like a cash grab than a actual game

I ask that you kindly refrain from putting words in my mouth. And if you do, have the common decency to at least not include typos. 
If you don't like the games, don't play the games. If you like the games, buy them on sale. Is that a difficult concept for you to grasp?

[whispous]

In a singleplayer game, it's modding.

[shoutingsteve]

Do you also feel that sequels should be free because you bought the first one? Of course not!  More content has a pricetag.

[shoutingsteve]

You are also edging along a very large conversation about the moral dilemma of "victimless crime".

[TetraSky]

Microtransaction in a single player game shouldn't even be a thing in the first place. They are nickle and dime everything these days. Can't even have cheat codes anymore, it's all about paying money to skip now.

It's technically piracy, since they are "selling" it and you are getting it for free... But I personally wouldn't condemn anyone for doing so in a SINGLEPLAYER game they paid for. Microtransactions are a plague.

[Hachi_Roku256563]

Its more or less the same as Obtaining dlc for free because its included with the games files

you own the base game you did not pay for the extra content hence you dont own it

[dilpickle]

If you have to ask whether something is piracy it's piracy.

[shoutingsteve]

1 hour ago, TetraSky said:

Microtransaction in a single player game shouldn't even be a thing in the first place. They are nickle and dime everything these days. Can't even have cheat codes anymore, it's all about paying money to skip now.

It's technically piracy, since they are "selling" it and you are getting it for free... But I personally wouldn't condemn anyone for doing so in a SINGLEPLAYER game they paid for. Microtransactions are a plague.

If you created your own content, it isn't piracy.  If someone else gives you content they created for free, it isn't piracy.  If you circumvent a paywall, it's piracy.

Just because you find a law to be in opposition to your opinions doesn't make it any less real.

[thrasher_565]

who is Ubisoft... they died long time ago... use to make good games.

[OddOod]

8 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

who is Ubisoft... they died long time ago... use to make good games.

they do again. It's kind of a remarkable come back story. The Far Cry series has been fun (3-5). They don't really make bangers anymore, but a lot of what they put out is mindless fun. 

[Stahlmann]

Legally yes, morally no (imo).

[Nord1ing]

13 hours ago, TetraSky said:

Can't even have cheat codes anymore, it's all about paying money to skip now.

Memory editors still run fine (artmoney, cheatengine).

Fox example I like AC:odissey, but not the grind part. And ubisoft charge even for faster grinding.

So memory editor saved me hours:)

[IPD]

17 hours ago, Helpful Tech Wiard said:

Youre getting digital content that youve been intended to pay for, but arent. Thats piracy, weather you think it should be or not.

fixed  it for you

Ubisofts games feel more like a cash grab than a actual game

And yet, it's not legally the definition of a piracy, as that would require distribution or profit. 

 

16 hours ago, TetraSky said:

Microtransaction in a single player game shouldn't even be a thing in the first place. They are nickle and dime everything these days. Can't even have cheat codes anymore, it's all about paying money to skip now.

It's technically piracy, since they are "selling" it and you are getting it for free... But I personally wouldn't condemn anyone for doing so in a SINGLEPLAYER game they paid for. Microtransactions are a plague.

Agreed.  Except that "piracy" is not quite apt.  Theft, but not piracy.

16 hours ago, dilpickle said:

If you have to ask whether something is piracy it's piracy.

Nah.  People ask because more people keep obfuscating what the actual, legal definition of online piracy is.  Same reason toolbags keep bringing other words like "privateering" into the argument--because their argument is full of hot-air, vacuous, and a logical sieve.

 

3 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Legally yes, morally no (imo).

Sort of?  But more like the opposite is true (legally, no---because no distribution/profit; morally yes--because you were supposed to pay for said content).

[Helpful Tech Witch]

38 minutes ago, IPD said:

And yet, it's not legally the definition of a piracy, as that would require distribution or profit. 

 

But i think your wrong there.

Matalica used to not just go after the people who uploaded to napster, but the indivisuals who used it, for piracy, so I'd guess that they had some legal ground to stand on for it being piracy.

[IPD]

3 minutes ago, Helpful Tech Wiard said:

But i think your wrong there.

Matalica used to not just go after the people who uploaded to napster, but the indivisuals who used it, for piracy, so I'd guess that they had some legal ground to stand on for it being piracy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_piracy

 

The RIAA went after seeders, not leechers.

 

THEFT, not piracy.

[tikker]

40 minutes ago, IPD said:

And yet, it's not legally the definition of a piracy, as that would require distribution or profit. 

2 minutes ago, IPD said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_piracy

 

The RIAA went after seeders, not leechers.

 

THEFT, not piracy.

Not sure what the Wikipedia reference is for, but it literally starts with "Online piracy is the practice of downloading and distributing copyrighted content digitally without permission". The RIAA choosing to go after seeders is simply fighting it at the source. You can keep arresting everyone that pirates, or spend that effort taking down and making it harder for distributors, or ideally both. The RIAA themselves tell you on their website that unauthorised downloading constitutes piracy:

https://www.riaa.com/resources-learning/about-piracy/

Quote

Many different actions qualify as piracy, from downloading unauthorized versions of copyrighted music from a file-sharing service to illegally copying music using streamripping software or mobile apps. Read on to learn to distinguish between legal and illegal practices.

Piracy does not require distribution or profit. Illicit or unauthorised aqcuisition of copyrighted material is covered by it.

Spoiler

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497206001040

Quote

Online piracy refers to the unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented (electronic) material, such as music or software files.

Which as source quotes the Computer Software Copyright Act of 1980 (https://repository.law.uic.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1479&context=jitpl)

Quote

Any exact copies prepared in accordance with the provisions of this section may be leased, sold, or otherwise transferred, along with the copy from which such copies were prepared, only as part of the lease, sale, or other transfer of all rights in the program.

 

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/piracy

Quote

2) An infringement, usually intentional, of the intellectual property rights of others, such as an authorized copy of book or movie. 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118517383.wbeccj116

Quote

Digital piracy refers to the illegal act of duplicating, copying, or sharing a digital work without the permission of the copyright holder, a violation of copyright laws (Copyright Office of theUnited States 2008).

 

18 hours ago, Helpful Tech Wiard said:

Youre getting digital content that youve been intended to pay for, but arent. Thats piracy, weather you think it should be or not.

Have to agree with this. As much as it sucks, you have not paid for said content and thus you have no right to it.

[LogicalDrm]

2 hours ago, IPD said:

Agreed.  Except that "piracy" is not quite apt.  Theft, but not piracy.

Theft, fraud, knowingly acquiring stolen items... Does it really help you to think that they are different terms used for same crime? What do you think term "piracy" comes from? Surely not theft committed by pirates of seas? It literally means taking something you haven't paid your fair share of. Doesn't matter which term you use, you just like being the "wise guy".

 

Anyway. In old days there used to be "cheat codes" for singleplayer games. And sometimes for multiplayer games too. Which would grant access to various tools left in as easter eggs by devs. Using these to spice games for good fun, and make games last wouldn't be counted as piracy, in any way or form. The codes exists and their working was baked into final code.

 

What I think you are talking here is modifying games code to acquire something that is behind paywall. I would call it piracy. Or stealing (which is theft). You didn't pay for them, and you are using tools that aren't made by devs to acquire them. "Moral" part here is imo crappy argument. Morally I don't like X, therefore I have right to steal from them. Thats like you going to any larger store you don't happen to like, picking something small and not paying for them. Morally you have every right to do that since you don't like them. Or they have been painted as "bad". Or they do X bad thing.

 

Its another conversation whether singleplayer games, or games in general, should have extra stuff you need to pay for after paying full price for the game.

[IPD]

Downloading AND distributing.  There's no "or".  That's the semantic difference here.  I get that a lot of you would fail etymology and probably out of law school--but there's a fundamental necessity for both to be present--in order to qualify as piracy.

 

Without providing stolen content to others--and/or profiting thereof--the act is simply theft, NOT PIRACY.  Still a crime.  Still punishable in a court of law.  But NOT PIRACY.

 

This isn't about "Being a wise guy".  Words mean things in a court of law.  Laypeople trying to conflate them all for the sake of expedience (at best) or lack of understanding (at worst)--doesn't actually change the legal definition of these terms--despite whatever desire there is to do so.

 

It's not much different than when people go around throwing wild accusations of "War Criminal" at everyone they don't like--without understanding either the Hague Conventions, the Geneva Conventions, LOAC, etc.

 

P.S.

I would not take anything the MPAA or RIAA says as authoritative or legally true.  Their bombast is about draconian control--and they use very broad strokes to paint everyone who doesn't color inside the lines of their antiquated business models as some form of criminal.

[Rex Hite]

It's a game, have fun with it. 

I'm not sure how aligning the perfect head-shot or running around for loot requires moral and ethical upstanding-ness, let alone fosters it. 

It's also appropriately meta; cheaters give the upstanding citizens another enemy to defeat or challenge to overcome. That's why everyone's there.

I say go for it and let the scolds steam. 

 

 

[lewdicrous]

I don't think anyone is going to rightfully lose sleep over this if it's a single player game. You bought it, you can play it however you wish.

Just don't do it in multiplayer games.

[Arika]

hang on, i think there's some misinterpretations going on in this thread

@Nord1ing Do you mean

• unlocking in-game items that you can get through normal game play that you CAN pay for to get quicker

or

• unlocking premium mtx only items?

because there is a very big difference between the 2.