There’s Disco Elysium, where the developers themselves tell you to pirate it because some parasitic corporate asshole stole it, and then there’s this, where the poor sods who got shafted by their parasite have their brains so rotten and Stockholm syndromed by its abuse that they get offended when you don’t give it money they won’t be seeing a cent of.
This game is evidently not worth even pirating. Don’t pirate it, don’t buy it, don’t play it, don’t even mention it except as an example of the evils of corporatism and runaway capitalism.
If you’re a developer (or anyone else whose work can be stolen by greedy parasites) take it as a cautionary tale and don’t let parasites steal your work. Unionize. Form a cooperative. Starve the parasites instead of feeding them.
Just to be clear, pirates are gonna do their thing. We were all kids once. Money and the economy is very hard. I get it," wrote the designer. "It wasn’t the piracy that bothered me. It was the people that flagrantly walked in here and wagged it in the faces of people who were waiting to play legitimately. That was the part that aggravated me. That and the Reddit responses that keep talking like i’m a millionaire. I’m very much [not]. I don’t own a home. I rent.
Sounds like a valid response to me. I got into piracy partially because of lack of money and partially because back in the day, I understood how badly record companies were ripping artists off and then using that money to sue their fans. Video games have always been a different beast, just like movies. They often employ so many people at so many levels that it’s not so easy to just say “If you want to make sure they get their cut just go buy it on Bandcamp Friday” in comparison to musicians. (back in the day we also bought merch and concert tickets to support artists, just less of that money makes it to them these days)
I often use piracy to be able to test out a game without risking spending money on something I end up hating, and giving myself enough time to decide that. I actually played Baldurs Gate 3 twice before I was able to afford buying it at full price shortly after release, but it was well worth it to buy an official copy even though I had already played it a bunch. I still played it even more after buying it. Well worth the full-price game.
If you’re going into it with an attitude of that all game devs are rich and that they’re somehow ripping off their fans and so you can feel justified in pirating and taunting them for it, fuck me, grow up.
I watched a youtube video which talked about a 2015 study into piracy.
The study was conducted by a collaboration of movie, music, television, and video game studios.
Movie and television showed that the piracy rarely affected legit purchases. It did not help, but it did not harm.
Music had a slight negative dip, where sales among piraters sometimes prevented sales.
But video games is what was really special. They found those who pirate at least 1 game a year are up to 100x MORE likely to not only buy the game, but buy it in multiple forms. So maybe you bought GTA:V on release day on PS3.
Then a few years later you bought it on PS4. Then later on PS5. I think it’s also on PC so throw that in too.
Only a pirate would love a game that much. And is probably pirating because it keeps their physical copy unopened.
A subset of users on the r/piracy subreddit responded harshly to the designer’s expression of disappointment, with some claiming that he must be fabulously wealthy. “This is like a man in a solid gold suit spitting at a homeless person,” decided one poster.
Lol, only /r/piracy would be dense enough to come up with that analogy.
It’s not that dense. Between Kraftons actions and this homie’s resume, all parties seem to be in it for the cash.
What do you show up to work for?
It’s like people only do things because they get paid. And that’s just really sad.
Krafton won’t be getting my money. I’m not rewarding them for their unethical behavior.
“Thanks for pirating a game that I’ve spent years working on,” game design lead Anthony Gallegos replied to one such self-reported pirate. “I’m disappointed that you’d do that when it’s kind of how we make our living. I hope you rethink your life choices.”
Thanks for working for a studio that sold their soul to a foreign publisher for $500 million and a $250 million bonus.
(And no, I’m not pirating the game.)
Thanks for working for a studio that sold their soul to a foreign publisher for $500 million and a $250 million bonus.
I don’t think that’s fair. Not everyone get to choose where they work.
You can hate mega corporations, CEOs and board members but most of the lower lever employees are not there by choice.
You can hate mega corporations, CEOs and board members
I don’t agree with their decision to move forward with Krafton. They obviously wouldn’t retain sovereignty by letting a publisher buy them completely out for $500 million. What transpired after the acquisition was something anybody with business sense could’ve foreseen to some degree.
but most of the lower lever employees are not there by choice.
This is a design lead speaking as far as I know. All employees are there by choice - even if it’s not their first choice, it’s their choice…as much as it pains me to admit (as somebody who isn’t a fan of the exploitation dynamics that run our society).
All employees are there by choice - even if it’s not their first choice, it’s their choice.
Well, in a sense yes, but for many people the choice is either work there or go unemployed, especially the lower you go on the corporate ladder.
Like I said, I don’t think it’s a fair choice.
Well, we agree.
As for myself? I chose to not be a slave and I’m sticking with that.
I also get to choose, but I am privileged to be able to choose.
With some exceptions, we all have a choice in the first-world. Chains can be external and internal. In your example, the chains are mostly internal even if there is some degree of external chains. If you’re living in SF and are a game developer, chances are you aren’t doing terribly.
As for exploited and poor third-world countries or those who lack citizenship in first-world countries (i.e. undocumented immigrants), I’m inclined to say that is modern slavery. It sometimes literally is slavery, even child slavery.
Here in the first-world, we presently benefit from child slavery and third-world exploitation in the products we consume. It’s not uncommon either.
I believe people have to choose differently if they want different. Be the change you seek, that whole jazz.
I’m not buying it because the first one was buggy as shit, had a draw distance that’s laughable even for a Unity game, had incredible music that’s it’s barely heard because it cuts off all the time, wall “suggestions”, clipping, other graphical glitches, and has the gall to advertise “Hit F8 to report bugs” every moment it’s showcasing its own bugs.
And don’t get me started on the design flaws. The Insulting unrealistic O2 meter. There’s not enough keyslots. Torpedos are useless. The Cyclops is useless, and yet, you have to spend all of these resources just to get some material for the final rocket. It dies to leeches in very short order, and moves around like a space cow.
Also, the whole game taunts a story and then delivers a milquetoast ending.
The Insulting unrealistic O2 meter.
You’ve got to be over 50. I have only ever heard dads and grandpas complain about mechanics that are clearly meant to introduce conflict and tension.
They are salaried anyway, they should be happy if people are enjoying what they created, pirated or not.
Maybe if they didnt have such weird data farming people would be more willing to pay for it. They basically justified all of the Krafton worries people had (outside of firing the devs).
People can run their own justifications for piracy, but god this has always been a shitty one.
It’s like not considering veganism because “The cow’s already dead. It’s been chopped up in that steak on the counter. Me refusing to eat it won’t change anything.”
It should be a rare justification, but it’s becoming increasily more common.
Why does every game need to call home? They dont and people have a right to protest that.
I personally wont buy the game or pirate it until changes are made. I can live without it.
Indeed, if the game isn’t financially successful, you can bet that publishers will shy away from similar titles and also the devs in the future.
Still, Krafton is one of the worst publishers I can imagine. So not giving them money is fair here.
Personally, I’m waiting for the full release before I pirate it.
After all, pirated games don’t get updates, so I want it to have most of the bugs already worked out by the time I get my permanent copy.
the game itself still gets updated. download pirated game -> update drops -> wait unil someone uploads it -> download latest version
If its too niche you might have the situation where nobody uploads the updated version and waiting will just get you the same version as if you didn’t wait.
repacks will generally use patch updates but I find it’s easier and less bug prone to just use a steam emu or patched steam and just replace the steamapps/common/game folder each update
So sad to hear no VR support. That’s what made the original so amazing for me
I would suspect the market slowdown in VR purchases might be pushing some publishers to spend less money on it than when the Oculus Rift and Valve Index were fresh and new. Meta’s relative dominance of the arena and it’s tightly closed systems are also impacted by people who don’t want to give money to Meta. If the Steam Frame is successful, we might see a turnaround on that, but currently I think the VR market has been stagnating a little under Meta’s dominance. Zuckerberg abandoning the Metaverse entirely also is evidence of a market that exists but isn’t large enough for most publishers to justify the extra costs to include VR support when they won’t sell enough copies to offset those costs.
It is still a tiny niche, clearly, and devs would have to carefully evaluate the benefits/costs of developing for it.
But I consider Zuckerberg abandoning the metaverse only an evidence of nobody giving a fuck about his metaverse. Including most people who got a quest.
