Is it still Piracy?

[Edgeofmadness]

Before I start, I would it like to state that I am not a supporter of Piracy,I am a strong believer in that developers work hard to make games, and should therefore be paid for their work. I know sometimes they release buggy games, but they still worked to make the game, that is why in those cases I normally wait to but the game at a discounted price, as not to rob the developer. 

 

Here is the scenario I am in now: I am from South Africa, and I buy most of my games on the Steam platform, earlier this week Steam relocated South Africa from the United States dollar region, to now be in our own South African Rand region. This has come with some advantages, with region specific pricing for us, making it a lot cheaper than buying games in US dollar, the problem however is that some of the games in my wishlist are just no longer available for purchase. Some of these are major release like 'Lords of the Fallen', 'Dark Souls 2', 'Evil Within', 'Wolfenstein: The New Order', 'Grey Goo' and others are indi games like 'the Stanley parables'. I have checked over game retailers like GOG and Origin, and the majority of these are not available on either of those sites. Which leaves me to look at sellers of physical media and a quick search indicates that I still won't be able to buy most of them.

 

My question then: Is there a point that it becomes clear a person is unable to legally buy a PC game in their region that pirating that game becomes an option? If yes, when would you think this point might be, considering you might never have the option to buy it? 

 

(this might all be over dramatic, and Steam might just still be busy with repricing, with the games available in a week or two hopefully)

[kgorringe]

If the company/developer is no longer selling the game, I say it's fine to pirate it. Since there is no other way to get it, and it's not like you're stopping the devs from making any money.

[Venomz1337]

Pirating is Pirating.

This doesn't make it legal.

 

@Edgeofmadness

[Guest Kloaked]

It's still piracy, but in that case I would understand, personally.

 

I think there's even been a few developers who say that they understand the circumstance and say it's fine.

[minibois]

You can still get them on G2A right? Or is that not a thing for South Africa?

[squirtle4287]

It's still Piracy, but if you want to, I can understand why. Me myself personally don't pirate no matter what.

[Jerakl]

I think some devs a while back stated that if for some reason you couldn't buy their game because of region lock they would actually encourage you to torrent it.

If you can't obtain it because of a region lock, then yes, I think it's ok to torrent.

 

If it's because you're a cheap bastard like me, then no

[Enderman]

this happened before with a game not available in australia

the developers welcomed people to pirate the game to play it there, and suggested people donate if they wanted to support them since they cant buy the game

 

but this is just those developers and everyone will have a different opinion

its up to you if you want to pirate to play an unavailable game, nobody is going to stop you

[airdeano]

if you are not purchasing the software title and using other means to not pay

for the software, you are illegally obtaining a license without properly paying

for that license (that is pirating).

[vigorstick]

The developers aren't losing any money if you pirate the game because they're not selling over there anyway. But yes it is still pirating, but in this case it's fine because no one is getting hurt.

[Edgeofmadness]

You can still get them on G2A right? Or is that not a thing for South Africa?

 

Thanks, I Just did a quick test, and it does seem like we would be able to get some CD keys for Steam from G2A under a global region.

[Majestic]

can't you connect via some vpn?

[minibois]

Thanks, I Just did a quick test, and it does seem like we would be able to get some CD keys for Steam from G2A under a global region.

Maybe that works for you.

 

I think some devs a while back stated that if for some reason you couldn't buy their game because of region lock they would actually encourage you to torrent it.

I think the dev of Hotline Miami said that was ok.

[Railgun]

[Guest]

can't you connect via some vpn?

That's against steams terms of service

[MoonKnightSpidey]

Are you saying is it ok ethically or legally?

[Guest Kloaked]

this happened before with a game not available in australia

the developers welcomed people to pirate the game to play it there, and suggested people donate if they wanted to support them since they cant buy the game

 

but this is just those developers and everyone will have a different opinion

its up to you if you want to pirate to play an unavailable game, nobody is going to stop you

 

That was Hotline Miami, wasn't it? Maybe? I remember seeing them talk about it on someone's podcast, just can't remember which.

[GodSpoon]

Legally, not really

Ethically, I mean to each his own, but I can understand that

 

You could always order a hard copy via say or something amazon though correct?

[Edgeofmadness]

You could always order a hard copy via say or something amazon though correct?

 

Technically, yes we could order it, but the problem is our postal service is bankrupt and only works sometimes, so we might not actually receive goods we order and pay for. It is a bit of a lottery, so buying digital good would be best.

 

Are you saying is it ok ethically or legally?

 

I was more asking from an ethical point of view, I assumed the piracy would always be illegal. Ideally, the game should just be available for purchase here.

[Railgun]

I couldn't care less about what the law is. I just go by morals.

[Yoinkerman]

Yeah its piracy but there's not really another choice.

I'd say just play other gsmes

[Tech N Gamer]

Just use a tunneling software and trick Steam into thinking you're in another country like the US. Zero Punctuation does the same in Australia, he uses a proxy located in the US to get all those games since Australia isn't the friendlies to game.