This might seem stupid, but hear me out.
Fallout 3 on Epic is 39 GiB, the reason for that huge size is you’re forced to download all the language packs, same story for Tomb Raider and FFXIII.
As someone with a monthly data limit of 140 Gib, and who has to share it with a family, these - unnecessary - download sizes are unacceptable and make me want - and plan - to pirate the game -which even though I didn’t play for I still legally own*- and only having to download 7 GiB.
I would’ve complained about disk space but you can just remove the extra languages conveniently located in saperate folders**.
This also applies to single player games with privacy-invasive DRM and usability-hurting DRM***, and for people who hate the idea of DRM in general.
*Own as a service and a using license.
**Unless you are tight on disk space and cannot fully download the game before removing the files.
**DOOM 2016 didn’t work on Linux duo to the DRM being incompatible with proton.
I would say that’s not pirating from an ethical perspective. If it’s actually legal with current laws may be another story.
My viewpoint is I’ve paid for the right to play the game, where I get it from doesn’t matter.
Piracy is effectively legal in Canada, for downloading. ISPs can’t share your private details without a warrant from the courts, and the courts have rejected mass John Doe lawsuits to unmask users.
Plus, infringement for private use has a maximum penalty of $5000, but could easily be set by the first case creating court precedent at 3× the retail price of the pirated media (punitive damages are usually capped at 3× the value of the good, in Canada.)
That means that going to court would be incredibly expensive, could only target single individuals, and would likely set a precedent that they can only get $60 in damages for a $20 movie. Not going to happen.
So, piracy is effectively legal in Canada, for private use. Just don’t be stupid and profit from piracy.
The only argument for piracy being bad is that it is stealing because they lost a sale they would have otherwise gotten. You already bought the game. Therefore, there is no lost sale. There’s not a single moral argument against it now.
That being said, your ISP can’t tell the difference, so make sure you use a VPN (especially if torrenting)
And that argument is BS anyway, because there’s no such thing as “potential profit” even though companies say there is.
When I pirated the most games I had no money. If I didn’t pirate it, I’d go play on the street or whatever lol. Not going to buy what you literally can’t.
Same goes for denuvo and the “always online” for single player games crap. I’m not buying any games using those on principle.
People say use a vpn, but it seems to me like most vpns don’t allow torrenting.
My understanding is that this is illegal under US law. It is, however, completely ethical.
I’m not from the US (and lots of people here either), so, we just don’t give a damn about the US law.
On the other side of the spectrum: Older games that I own on CD-ROMs are much faster to pirate, download, and install than it would be to find the CD in the attic and then hunt for the USB CD Drive ;)
