I’ve come to firmly believe that all games should have an invulnerability setting for the sake of accessibility. It’s probably one of the easier settings to implement for most games and it would have the most impact for the wide range of accessibility needs out there.
Anything that circumvents the design of the game to gain an advantage is technically cheating. I wasn’t necessarily saying it shouldn’t be there. Just pointing out, there is usually a wat to do it in most games. The devs have to have a way to test things and move the stories forward without playing hundreds of hours of game.
Maybe you’ve read it before and you want to skip to the good parts. Maybe it’s non-fiction and you’re only interested in something specific. Maybe there are parts of the story that make you uncomfortable, but you’re enjoying it overall. Maybe a page is missing. Maybe it’s an abridged version and it’s not up to you, that’s just what was available.
And to the original point, what of translations? Maybe the original author is dead, and somebody translated their book. Are you ‘circumventing’ the author’s original intent to ‘gain an advantage’? I mean, yes. Does that mean you’re ‘cheating’?
What about audio books? Was the book intended to be read on a page? Are you cheating by having the book read to you?
Calling these things ‘cheating’ is silly and unnecessarily loaded, and they assume that the goal of a work is completion. That the only reason you would start a thing is to finish it. I don’t believe that’s the case for any art. One might say that the challenge in a game is the point, but that’s only sometimes true, and challenge is relative. If something comes naturally easier to you, is it ‘cheating’ to use mods to make the game more difficult, because you’re gaining the advantage of improving your experience, against the original intent of the game? I don’t think so, so I don’t see why it is any different the other way around.
To think about it another way: if you subtract that paragraph from that book, does it cease to be a book? No, it’s just a different book, and that can still have value to people. You’re not ‘cheating’, you are making a new experience for yourself.
I could go on and on so I’m gonna stop myself here.
I like Jedi: Survivor’s method of accessibility. They let you slow down the game if you need a little more leeway with the bosses. You can crank that slider down to like 10% speed and it’s like being Neo in that scene where he dodges bullets. You can still fuck up but it’s pretty easy. I used it for the platforming because I hate platforming so much.
Right? When I was a kid I would specifically enjoy the “challenge” of trying to beat something over and over. Nowadays though… I just like playing a game for the experience. I still like feeling “progression”, so things go from difficult to easy as my character advances. But having to repeat something multiple times? Eh… just not my jam anymore.
In the end, it’s personal preference, and so both play styles should ideally be supported.
I love a challenge, it’s how I relax. If something isn’t challenging for me I quickly get bored and stop playing. I basically need my brain to be stimulated and thinking and trying to properly relax. Which is why I often trend towards “hardcore” or difficult/brutal games.
Does anyone else remember bringing home free trials on floppy disks? Like you get the first level of Wolfenstein or Commander Keen and you just play that over and over because you don’t have any money.
A bit before my manufacture date but as a kid there used to be CD ROMs in cereal boxes which had games like Tonka, Hot Wheels, Timon and Pumba, Rainbow Fish, etc. Those were hype.
A lot of games allow you to adjust the difficulty mid game. I’ve played several games on “ultra masochist hard” only to lower the difficulty for the bullshit final boss (looking at you Kena).
That’s actually what I tend to do, but would be nice (for laziness) to have two different settings. Or for cases where games don’t allow adjustment after starting.
Funny you bring up Kena, because that is actually probably a prime example for me too. Loved the rest of the game, but the boss fights were a bit too difficult imo!
I wouldn’t mind but I also maybe wouldn’t use it. Even though I’m with you. Boys fights are fine set pieces but not really my favorite part most the time. I’ve had ribs of fun with with ring and DS3, but what I like about then is the setting, exploration, and tension moving from bonfire to bonfire.
I’m stubborn though and would have a hard time convincing myself that it’s ok to decrease the difficulty and not cheating/missing out on the intended game.
Genuine question, is enaulating older systems, with ROMs/ISOs you get off the Internet, considered piracy? No current systems, only older ones. Newest one is PS3. Is this piracy?
Edit: ok, thank you, everyone. I emulate very old games because it’s a nostalgia thing. Games I played when I was very young and I wanted to play them again. I don’t emulate anything new as I have a huge collection of physical copies of games I played on newer systems like the PS4.
It is supposed to be, technically. IIRC, you’re supposed to copy your own stuff - such as BIOS and ISOs - rather than download others, which is why things like PCSX2 doesn’t natively come with a BIOS.
If you play the game beyond what would be a trial/demo (equivalent of first chapter/level content), yes you would be. And the fact is, basically everyone is okay being an asshole, because the demographic of video games cannot ask their parents for thousands of dollars every year, at the rate they complete each game. Most video game pirates are either completionists, collectors or speedrunners.
I would say though the differentiator is video games that have practically stopped selling (pre 2007 and retro) and their companies that have gone bankrupt/defunct/extinct, in which case it does not matter at all, as the creators no longer earn money from the game.
Many unreasonable people that claim DRM is bad for performance, disguise the argument that all DRM is as evil and bad for performance as Denuvo is. Arguments need to be honest, so call DRM what it is. Masking arguments makes them weaker.
For the people discussing here: remember that the morality of an act depends on the act itself, the context where it happens, and the moral premises. It does not depend on how you phrase or label the act.
With that in mind: since I define arseholery as “actions or behaviour that cause more harm to someone else than they benefit the agent”, and there’s practically no harm being caused by OP’s actions, I do not think that OP is being an arsehole.
That still can’t inform you properly on how a game ‘feels’ to play. I’m very tempted by Alan Wake 2, but having bounced off many other similar games because of how they control has me pining for a demo. I’ll not be dropping 50 quid without being able to try it first
A good quick look or early game LP with commentary will fill that in. The Giant Bomb format has one person asking another a series of questions, and game feel usually comes up. ACG reviews so many games that it's more than likely he covered it in a video. If you find a couple of YouTube channels where the reviewers or LPers have similar tastes as you, it ends up being as good a method as any to make an informed purchase. Demos can also sometimes be misleading, depending on the game. There's no perfect answer here, but there isn't for any other purchase either.
I dunno about that. Another person can describe a game however they see fit, and they may even be thorough, but what someone might define as clunky controls might feel fine to me. I can’t know how a game feels to play unless I play it for myself. Most of the games I regret buying were games I bought based on what youtubers and reviewers were saying
It's not perfect. Nothing is. But it does make for a pretty informed decision. As long as you don't abuse it, there's always 2 hour refund policies as well. I don't think it makes the OP an asshole to pirate a game as a demo, but I've been burned so few times by this strategy that I've never considered some other means of trying out a game to be necessary. If you're really unsure, you can wait for a sale, too.
If OP doesn’t spend money, and pirates the game, the devs get no money If OP Doesn’t spend money or pirate, the devs still get no money. It doesn’t actually matter to them whether or not you have the game, only whether you pay
And you should pay if you think it’s a worthwhile experience, but piracy frees you from gambling on the marketing tactics made by corporations. I don’t even know for sure that the reviewer I’m listening to isn’t sponsored by the devs. If a person cannot afford to buy a game, they should just pirate. It’s a sale the devs would have never made to begin with. If a person needs to make sure their money is being well-spent, it’s the same thing with a bit more financial give. Ultimately, game devs can either release demos, or let pirates do it themselves
I just think of all the poor souls who actually spent money on Arkham Knights or Babylon’s Fall
You'll know if the reviewer is sponsored by the game, because they legally have to disclose it. ACG probably takes one or two steps more than necessary to prove he's incorruptible.
The type of person who buys Arkham Knights or Babylon's Fall despite the plethora of warning signs is either such a fan of Batman or Platinum that they can't help themselves, or they're like my friend who needs to see every major shit show in gaming. Neither game sold many copies.
I pirated more in the past than I do now. Big difference is that I can now afford it to pay for games.
Currently I’m more a retro games pirate. Older games are pretty much harmless to pirate.
You pirate with the intention to buy. IMO you’re one of the best possible pirates. A lot of people might never purchase a game unless it’s really necessary for online play or something.
I love supporting good games and awesome studios. What I don’t like it getting screwed because screenshots and trailers look cool and they game turn out to be shit and still cost me $50.
You've got to use reviews and video content. Get really acquainted with a few reviewers and what games they really like, what they don't, and their general mindset. Even if a reviewer doesn't like a game, if you understand their taste and preferences you can even tell when you might like it. Cross reference with general public opinion, or perhaps the development history of the studio and if you've played and enjoyed their previous games.
But basing anything off ONLY screenshots and trailers is a horrible trap and piracy isn't the exclusive way to find that out.
It depends how often you want to buy new games. I regularly consume gaming media for fun, so often I only need to watch a review or two to get a solid idea of if it's worth a purchase, so maybe 10-20 minutes, and often times you can just listen to the review in the background of doing other stuff. And I only need to do that maybe once or twice a month at the absolute most, I'm not super rich or anything.
This is all implying I already have good trusted review sources. I'd recommend ACG Gaming if you don't know any yet, he's a smart writer and goes very in depth in his reviews. He buys all of the games he reviews for integrity purposes.
Of course, if you're being absolutely honest that you always buy a game you like after pirating to try it, I think that's just fine, I have no qualms about using piracy as a tool that way, this is just how I do it.
Retro games are also widely unavailable, and often times when they are available, it's only on a subscription service for a machine that I don't want to play them on. Imagine instead if these companies steered into what their customers actually want. That would sure be nice.
If there is no demo that’s on the devs. Also you could just refund on Steam, that’s what I do, can’t be arsed to download the game twice really. If it’s good it stays, if not down it goes.
A lot of people talk about the steam refund policy however I just don’t trust that I will get my money back even though it’s a “non questions asked” kinda deal. If I’ve given them $80 for a game, they can easily decide to just keep it…
Is it a small studio or a place that encourages unionization and pays creators for their creation? Then not really, cuz you still paid for it in the end.
Is it a shit studio with shit ethics? Then yes. Stop giving monsters financial approval.
Or just stop playing games from shit studios with shit ethics in the first place. If they're that bad, you shouldn't be playing their games at all, pirated or not.
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