Silichna

Other than a well deserved holiday?

Hob Knob

I'm not even going to rise to that.

Agreed, if you're going to ignore fundamental points of my argument then boil it down to something which I at no point stated either overtly or otherwise then there is no point in continuing.

Honestly Gorlom, everyone who posts anything defamatory is, in your eyes, a "troll". I don't appreciated being called a troll, I'm not derailing the conversation, we're very much on topic here, and I'm not posting anything just to get a response, I'm expressing my opinion on the matter, which is what I thought we were all doing here. Also in response to your previous post since when do music artists have to go through developers, they go through producers so no I'm not talking about music artists. I'm well aware that the majority of them make their money through touring, my friend is a band manager. And to the rest of you, yes that is the general idea, the "evil" (you're a fool if you don't think large companies are evil, and I'm not just talking about games companies but companies in general, the larger they get the more evil they have to become to keep their fat cat shareholders happy) games companies pay their staff less, their staff leave them and set up their own games companies. That way if they were only in it for the pay cheque then they're out of the industry but if they really care about it and are passionate about it (like the ones that make the best games are) then they'll set up their own studios and make great games and be keeping the lions share of the profits, like they deserve. Then if the next thing you say is... "What happens when they become a big evil games company??", you'd hope that they wouldn't but realistically they probably would, then the same thing happens again. It's cyclical. Until a better system comes along or the laws are changed. I'd also like to see where I said that it didn't have an impact on the wider world or anyone else. If anything I've been saying it definitely does have an impact, an impact for change and a necessary one at that. Finally to the Ubiquitous, you're missing a crucial step in your arguments, stealing isn't stealing if it's a social commentary trying to invoke a revolution it's a necessary evil sure, but it's not stealing. Much akin to one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.

As for someone in my house that's not even comparable, at all. If someone's illegally inside your house, regardless of whether they've stolen anything or not, they've declared war against the sanctity of your property and can swiftly expect a baseball bat to be connecting with their head if I caught them. If someone were to steal the work I did for my company I wouldn't be too bothered about it to be honest, it's not my problem, it's to do with my companies security, and that's nothing to do with me. If someone were to steal my intellectual property from my home computer, that would be another matter entirely. I don't care how wrong or right others perceive this to be cause this is MY moral code but I don't see theft from large companies as theft. They make far far far too much money and don't pass it on to the people that deserve it. They hoard it all for themselves and their shareholders. The artists and the creators are the ones that deserve that money, not the developers. So I don't see it as stealing from them, I see it as a social commentary of the impending revolution and they can all go and fuck themselves. Theft from individuals and small companies is wrong most definitely wrong though as they can't afford to be stolen from. A lot of them have got their life savings on the line and I respect that, I respect that a lot.

I don't promote piracy of EA game in my fliers and stuff, I just promote boycotting all their products in general. I get people to listen to this: or read this: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/354650/ea-micro-transactions-will-be-in-every-game-eventually/ or this: And it just generally try to spread awareness of the massive problem that is EA. If they choose to pirate their games after that's their choice. Also all this talk about what the artists want is completely moot, the artists are paid a wage by the developers to do their job and that's where it ends for them. They don't say whether a demo is made, they have no control over anything that goes on with that game after they've made it. From then on out it's the developers game to do with as they wish and a lot of the time I don't agree with how they see it, so I will try before I buy (if I decide it's worth buying). I don't see it as stealing and I don't see it as wrong. The artists who invented and created the game are handsomely rewarded in their pay packets. So the only people losing out are the large companies who employ all these people. Hopefully, if we can get enough people to pirate enough games these huge companies will collapse and we can move away from this archaic system we have in place at the moment to one modelled something a lot similar to kickstarter. But on a global scale... People come up with ideas, you pay them if you like the sound of it, then they make it. Cut out the middle man, they're all cunts anyway.

Just to clarify I'm not equating either what I do or piracy in general to Robin Hood and what he did, I'm merely using him as a moral example of someone that did stuff others perceived as wrong but for the right reasons.

Hey in response to this, I don't actually play 95% of the games I pirate from EA, I think the majority of their sports games suck balls (no pun intended) and only play the ones I like, (usually the ones from the smaller studios that they bought out and I was very happy to give my money to before the merger). So there's not actually much personal gain from my piracy. I have a facebook page set up (Boycott EA), I make fliers and hand them out to people, I talk about it to anyone I know that likes games and am an active user on quite a few EA forums about the matter. Other than demonstrate outside their UK offices I'm not actually sure what much I can do. As for not being as evil as I claim them to be I'm only doing what I think they'll listen to and that is hurting their brand and taking money from their already HEAVILY lined pockets. Why would they listen to anything else? But why is it wrong? Because it's illegal. If it were legal, none of us would be having this conversation. Also though, that it is wrong is only your moral opinion on the matter. I don't think it is wrong. Just like I don't think Robin Hood was wrong with what he did or Aladdin.

My 2 pence is that EA can go fuck themselves, I've a lot of time for indie developers and I would never pirate an indie game, I've supported 6 this year alone (God Bless Kickstarter). But EA especially, can go and fuck right off. I'm never paying for one of their games ever again and at every opportunity I will pirate their games and generally try to subvert their company in any way possible. I think they're evil, and they represent everything bad that has happened in gaming in the past 15 years and their driving to make it worse. I'd invite you all to do the same and not only BOYCOT all EA purchases but also pirate as many of their games as you can and hopefully they'll stop with their relentless acquisition of smaller games studios that have become successful then serially diluting the games for the masses to the point where the game you knew and loved is gone and what's left is the title on the box and an n+1. :'( (sob sob). In general though I just don't agree with the entire argument, I'm of the same school of thought as the guy that wrote the article that Chris replied to. I'll pirate any and every game (from a non-indie source) and if I do like, then I will buy it. I've been burned too many times by critics that are most definitely in the pocket of the games companies (all you have to do is take a fleeting glance at metacritic to see this) to rely on those so if there isn't a demo I'll try before I buy whether the I'm allowed or or not. I think it is progressive and moves the onus to the games companies to bring out games that aren't crap and full of bugs, cause at the moment games are non-returnable items so if you've already purchased it and it turns out to be shit the best you can hope for is getting near cost back for it on ebay. It doesn't affect the games companies at all, their not out of pocket so they don't give a shit what you thought about the game. The only way to get companies to listen is to hit them in the wallet, and hit them hard! I'm not trolling either, I'm just expressing an opinion, which seems to be going against the general anti-theft vibe thus far. Rant over

Oh well, at least it's not just me, I was beginning to think it was my connection or something.

Permadeath for the win!

I'd have to disagree with you there Dix, I don't think the Met are particularly well trained and the majority of the one's I've had to deal with weren't particularly professional either. Awful lot of racists I've noticed in the Met and many times when asked under what law is it that you are stopping/arresting/hindering me, many of them don't have an answer, stay silent or just ridicule. When we get back to the station they just make something up and the staff sergeant of course believes the officer over the, innocent until proven guilty my arse!!!, offender. Also with the drinking on the tubes, whilst I dislike drunks on the tube also, I find banning drinking on them has meant that many people will just get tanked up BEFORE getting on the tube, thus making the situation worse. If you'd let them have a can whilst on the tube they wouldn't be smashed before they got in in the first place.

Thanks for clearing that up Chris.

Firstly I know what you're thinking and no this is nothing to do with the terrorist group in Spain... I just wanted to ask Chris if he knew roughly (no pressure at all) when the ETA for Xenonauts is. I'm happy for Goldhawk to take as long as they need to make the game as awesome as possible. I just need to know if I should be saving my last weeks worth of holiday from work for the Xenonauts release this year, or if it won't be till next year sometime? Thanks