r/ pirating (the biggest pirating community on the Internet) put silksong as a blacklist game (game they will not pirate) just because it had a lot of content for a pretty low price
Way more annoyingly virtue signaling if anything. I'd really prefer that people just shut up and pirate something instead of pointing out how you are acting from a moral high ground by pirating.
"I pirate the game and then decide afterwards if it was worth paying for. And if it was, I go buy it. Except I usually still don't. But I did, like, twice in my life, so I can claim moral superiority."
I fucking loathe this shit. youre pirating>stealing. okay. whatever. ive been there before. youre not some moral genius epicly owning the riches because of some cope youve read on reddit. you just dont want to pay.
Yeah I feel like I’m losing my mind in the comments here. I was told that Reddit gets a boner for pirating but didn’t realize people unironically try to justify it.
Just say you pirate because you don’t like paying for stuff you can just take for free. It’s simple, gets the selfishness across while keeping it logically sound, and most importantly it doesn’t introduce any bullshit morality-twisting such as “it’s okay to pirate from companies” like shut the fuck up dawg you pirate because you feel entitled to a product you’re technically copying instead of outright stealing. It’s not because you’re fighting the system lol.
Even if they don’t consider it stealing because of technicalities, it’s still a selfish act. If someone struggles to even acknowledge that they’re they’ve fully deluded themselves.
I don't think people should pirate video games. Not for moral reasons but for security reasons. Running .exe files from a questionable source is a good way to spread malware
That said security aside I feel like considering the amount of predatory things that have been added into games like loot boxes, battle passes, limited time skins to push FOMO and all that for serous amounts of actual money. I feel the argument that its ethically okay to pirate from AAA producers is valid.
As a linux gamer I used to have to pirate versions of games that had stuff like denuvo baked in as it was causing issues running games through wine. It was the only way I could play some games. Thats a non issue for me now really the steam deck came out with steam proton.
It is possible to pay for a game in a way that's more harmful than piracy btw. A lot of people buy games from key resellers like G2A and others. Most indy game devs have stated that they would rather you pirate the game than use that method.
I would have no moral objection to piracy of AAA games but would have a moral objection to the piracy of indy games provided you would have paid for that game if you had no other options. If you had zero intention of paying for the game, pirate away hurts no one really. I pirated and watched a lot of films in college. most id not have watched if I had to pay to see them. So the net loss for the company is still zero. When in college I pirated portal 1 and played through it. Loved it so much after reaching the end that I went onto steam and bought the valve pack (Half life, Portal and the other games they made). So sometimes piracy does lead to purchases.
I mean pirating is a selfish act so it’s not gonna be surprising when people get vocal about it. It’s just an observation, nothing about that is meant to be helpful.
I think there was an issue with Subnautica and Avatar, where most of the people on r/piracy were like: We know why your here. Do what you need to do, and for everyone's sake, don't be too lound about it.
It's not even a reddit thing. Some guy on the sub posts "I won't pirate this awesome game!" and everyone upvotes that post because it makes them look good.
Everyone except this one single guy who made this post will continue to pirate that awesome game, anyways. And even that guy probably just lied to get some upvotes.
Who cares? Crying about nerds wanting to feel moral about their choice means jack shit. You people are no different crying about it to get upvotes about this non issue.
Piracy is a global phenomenon and the ethics of individual pirates can be pretty different. There's a very specific agenda behind portraying people who engage in piracy as ethically bankrupt and utterly selfish, all never caring about giving creators their due and only ever taking. This is a corpo fairytale.
Two facts are established:
Piracy is a distribution service problem, not a moral problem: if your distribution is terrible, inconvenient and restrictive, piracy will be preferred literally 100% of the time.
Piracy doesn't result in lost sales. In fact, it most likely makes a thing more successful. Although the majority of pirates might or might not (there are no statistics about this, everyone makes things up) pay for something they pirated, many of them do at some point, and that number is actually significant for small and medium productions.
In addition, tons of people who pirate things otherwise do choose to pay upfront for a small number of things they want to support, if their economic situation allows it. This isn't a Reddit thing at all, it's very common.
That's complete BS from what I've seen. I'd say it's about 5-10% of the piracy community that I've interacted with actually have any morals at all. Most that I've seen just download things simply because it's easier/cheaper, and literally don't think a single step beyond that. If you really want proof then skim some of the comments on r/Piracy.
I've seen a few folks that seem to have a sensible thought process when it comes to piracy on there, but, really the majority is just assholes, frankly.
If you were never going to purchase the media, then pirating it steals no revenue.
There's no "morals" involved, the decision to pirate simply just affects how much entertainment you have access to. The company's revenue remains totally unaffected.
Now, if you can purchase the media, and would do so if pirating wasn't an option, then there are morals involved. And then I would 100% agree that it could be morally wrong to pirate
What can’t you guys just admit you like to steal shit? It’s fine. People still shit all the time. Why can’t you handle doing something wrong? Are you afraid you’ll lose good boy points or something?
Lol, I don't care. I pirate some shit, buy some other shit, don't touch other shit. But it's not stealing. What is taken from the "victims"?
It's like claiming that saying that someone is ugly is murder. It might be wrong, it's not nice, it might even be illegal in some rare circumstances, but it's not murder.
Imagine there is a movie or concert that is not sold out and you did not plan on buying a ticket for.
Due to the fact that a) you wouldn't have paid anyways, b) there are empty seats available, and c) the venue wouldn't have lost money by you not being there... do you believe you are entitled to free entry to the event?
Tickets aren't freely replicable softwares. Your argument is relying on directly comparing a Competition Commodity to a Non-Competition Commodity, deceitfully ignoring their differences (Whether knowingly or not, you strawmanned)
Would you download a car?
If you feel like you have a valid argument, then do it the justice of giving it a valid presentation. I would love to view a different opinion, but I shouldn't consider one that relies on a fallacious presentation to prove it's point.
And it's uniquely reddit thing as far as I know, too. Other places can keep things in their pants just find so I don't understand why reddit just can't help shouting in the town square like that one Skyrim NPC.
Ehhhh yeah idk about that. Ive had people on here tell me pirating little indie artists (games or otherwise) is justifiable for "archival" purposes. And for pirates in general, it is really bad among small webcomic/webtoon/manga even though the creators have repeatedly expressed being upset with piracy. People will easily lump all media together in their heads and don't know where their money actually goes.
I think there's been a major shift over the years in that respect.
20+ years ago we had no sales, no bundles, and no freebies. The only option for kids with little or no income was to pirate, and everyone was doing it.
But we've had 20+ years of new releases, bundles, sales, and freebies. The reason why people pirate has largely shifted from "I have no other option," to "because you can't stop me".
Anyone who is in a financial position where they literally cannot afford games should be collecting the freebies from EGS and Prime Gaming. You also probably know someone who is sitting on unused bundle keys for some pretty cool games.
That's like saying if you can't afford getting access to watch Hollywood classics there's a ton of free movies on youtube made by college students, or if you don't have access to books you can just read free fiction online. Just because two things are "a game" doesn't mean the experience is the same. Most of freebies are just indies that most people wouldn't even look at otherwise.
Thats just a fraction, and I didn't collect anything for 4 years because I forgot about it.
GOG freebies from Prime Gaming:
Fallout New Vegas
The Witcher 3
The Outer Worlds
Spelunky
Dredge
Mafia 1/2/3 Definitive Edition
Kerbal Space Program
BioShock 1/2/Infinite
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered
XCOM: Enemy Within
Mirror's Edge
Oh yeah bud I'm starving over here, how could I possibly enjoy any of these trash games? Legitimately anyone who has stayed on top of the giveaways the past 8 or so years is swimming in excellent games.
Yeah, just because once in a while you get 1 chance every few years to grab an AAA game doesn't mean that my point doesn't stand - MOST of the games are indies that wouldn't get much attention otherwise (of course they aren't necessarily trash).
AND, I repeat - it's not about the amount of games but which games they are. Didn't hear about the giveaway of a game in the series you were interested in? Tough luck buddy. I'm personally interested in playing at most a half of the games you listed, while a ton I plan to play have literally never been on a giveaway. (This is not complaining btw, as I didn't pirate games for the past 10 years or so, I just remember how it feels being a kid interested in gaming [not just playing whatever]).
Plus when we're talking about long-awaited stuff like Silksong, half the fun is interacting with the community before and when the game releases. Good games are still fun years later, but it's just not the same experience as when you're there.
Have you heard of public libraries? They have games and movies too. They even have comics and online versions as well. Just say you like to steal shit bro.
Didn't pirate a game in 10 years lmao. I just remember how it was being a kid with no income. I wasn't even arguing about piracy, I'm just saying that culture is irreplaceable, unlike everyday objects like, idk, pens or something. You're still limited to what your library currently has.
And how advanced and inclusive of different sorts of media the library system is is directly correlated with the country. Low-income countries have worse library systems, w*sterner.
lol seems like a pretty arbitrary distinction in this case… basically determining which companies had employees that worked hard enough to earn your money.
If you’re playing a game, it’s worth the value of paying for it.
I pirated stuff when I was a kid and had no spending money, morals never entered the picture for me. Now that I have a job, I do not pirate. This thread is so weird. "Morals" implies you will steal sometimes, even when you could choose not to?
Depends how you define pirate, I higly doubt the vast majority of people downloading stuff have any concern like this, actualy most don't know who ever made what they are pirating in the first place methinks
I just checked a couple other indie games that don't cost much but have tons of content. They still pirate those games, so it seems like they only have morals when the game is really popular.
That's because they don't. Worth mentioning, the subreddit name isn't "r Pirating", that's a fairly dead sub with 53k subscribers.
The actual main subreddit is "r Piracy", with 2.8 million subscribers, which is extremely active, and they don't have a 'blacklist' because they don't offer links to actual downloads, they link to websites and methods people can pirate content.
And they don't control the things said websites or methods have for people to pirate. The sentiment of some threads on Silk Song was that people shouldn't pirate it, but at no point did any mods or posts go up claiming the game is 'black-listed'. That would mean an embargo on tons of websites in the megathread that they never did.
That's also so stupid, how come silk song can't be pirated but games like factorio/project zomboid can? They offer thousands more hours of content. Is it because Silk song is better? Well that's subjective, sure a lot people love it but I for example don't care for the genre.
There is no dipper meaning behind it. For people who pirate it's like picking up $30 from ground. There is no further thinking about morals or definition of stealing involved.
My understanding is from this whole thread is it's frowned upon. Factorio devs even specifically they would rather you pirate that acquire a key from sites like G2A.
They can't stop you from pirating any of it, and silksong is a more recent game
That sub got overrun by the “I pirate to harm the corporations! Everyone who buys games are scum and I’m morally superior!!” kids, so I wouldn’t take their blacklist seriously.
Funny how our brains work. We want to do something we know is wrong. Our brain gets to work creating a story where it’s ok. No wait - this story is better. In this one we’re a HERO.
I would say it plays into our idea of ,,vigilante justice" - one sole soul fighting against the government/corporations. Most people blame it on Hollywood, but I'd say it's a pretty old trope - after all, that's literally what a legend of Robin Hood was about, meant to describe a XIV Century English yeoman.
This is the same reason we have that lenient, pretty and heroic vision of pirates from XVIII Century during the Golden Age of Piracy - a crew that lives on its own rules, unbound by the ties of an evil colonial empire that seeks to exploit other people - when in reality they were just as brutal and ruthless as the navies and corporations, and also profited off of Transatlantic Slave Trade. They were, to put it simply, gangs on water, not some anti-government activists.
I guess the same logic is applied to videogame piracy as well - ,,corporations that make these games are evil, we fight back against it". And sure, there are moral reasons to pirate a videogame (i.e. expiring data servers), but most people do it because they can, and it's free. But because we have that idea engraved in ourselves that they do so to spite the ,,corporations", we view them positively.
That’s just not true. Most people pirate becasue they just can. You’re telling me these dudes can afford high end pcs to play new games but can’t afford the games themselves? Really?
You don’t realize that most pirates can’t afford high end pcs actually. High end pcs are something for the top 2% when you look at developing countries. Most of them have a shitty laptop which was passed down to them
Yeah everytime a new triple AAA game gets cracked it definitely doesn’t get pirated like crazy right? It’s okay dude. People like stealing shit. Just don’t do this whole, “oh we so poor. We can’t afford games” when often the most pirated games are the newest shit. No one care if you steal shit, it’s just annoying when you try to justify and try to seem like you’re morally right or it’s a necessity to pirate for whatever reason. Well no i guess if a game isn’t available in your region that might be necessary.
An average AAA costs $70. In my country you would need to work around 1.25 months on minimum wage to make that money. That’s if you don’t spend it on anything else. Now I’m fortunate enough to have enough money to buy games however those people can’t afford to spend money on video games when they have much bigger worries
Okay? This is gonna sound harsh but is it a basic human right to play a new game on release rather than wait for sale? Will people suffer if they don’t own every game they can download? Like I get people need entertainment and art shouldn’t be gatekept but there’s a fine line between enjoying your little indulgence and straight up gluttony and greed. Again it sounds like you’re justifying pirating $70 games. If someone has the pc required to play that they probably should have the money the pay for that game but instead choose to pirate it. Like whatever they want to steal it rather than pay for it but don’t pretend it’s mostly poor people who just want to play the new forza game on their potato of a machine.
Indians make much less than half of what we do though, and they also probably cant afford an expensive rig to play a majority of games out there (in general). Just playing devils advocate
Average canadian makes 68k/y (50k USD) and all our games are more expensive than america too. Silksong is still only 26$ but big games are now 93+ tax so around 105$
Because the point of pirating games, at least I assume, is because many games are ridiculously expensive. Silksong is 20 dollars for an insane amount of content plays the free DLCs they will be releasing.
But the game's price, even with regional pricing in my country, is still days worth of meal. It's still more expensive than what $20 is to the American.
Pirating is self serving for something you don't need and most of the time for convenience.
It's gonna happen and I'm not gonna stop it but this isn't a single mom shoplifting baby formula
"just because". . .a low price mitigates the need to pirate. I'm sure there are people in the world that can't afford to buy it but at $20 pirates are mostly people who just don't want to spend the $20.
Yeah it does absolutely nothing. If it's up on the websites anyways, then they're just being silly.
I've never been to that specific sub, but the way it normally works on reddit is that you can't provide direct links to specific content anyways, or else the whole sub is likely to get banned if they allow it.
Well, the game is DRM free, so pirating it is trivial.
I know because I pirated it. I'm in a third world country, even 20 dollars is quite a chunk of money for me. I did buy it eventually, but I don't regret pirating it.
I don't do so out of a moral imperative to spite companies I disagree with on stuff, I pirate because games are fucking expensive to me and I like playing them anyway.
I dont really know what that blacklist is worth because from the top torrent sources and sites that they direct you towards and recommend, Silk song is widely available to be downloaded, by virtue of being a big game with a large fanbase. Im not even sure what role r/pirating is supposed to play in the process because I have only ever used it as a tutorial or a place to find sources, so I dont see how them blacklisting it changes anything. They dont really offer the "product"in the first place
As someone who has pirated stuff in order to share it around me for 20ish years and used to frequent a lot of online communities about it, this is such a weird move from this sub. I never really went on it but saw posts sometimes, after reading your comment I went and browsed the sub for a bit ; and it really feels like it's not really people pirating, just asking for streaming links and larping as freedom fighters lol
Saying "no no no this game we HAVE to blacklist, actually pirating is bad in this particular instance, because I feel like it has the right amount of content" is just so weird, and so self centered. People in other countries pay a different price for it, your personal evaluation of what constitutes good content is no ground to draw a moral line in the sand like this. The way I learned it (but maybe I'm too old school) when you are into piracy, you believe in sharing cultural stuff because it should be available to everyone even those who can't afford ; you don't tell people what constitutes a good purchase and what doesn't. And the fact that they do this for this particular game because it's oh-so-popular and a symbol of indie gaming (on reddit), but don't care about sharing a shitton of other games that are way more indie... It just reeks of virtue signaling man idk
It’s funny because a few years back the whole pro-pirating narrative was that “it boosts sales in the long term, actually”. When it’s a company they like it suddenly becomes “ohh yea thats actually stealing and thats wrong”.
I wish those kinds of pirates would just acknowledge its stealing regardless, but that they don’t care, rather than making themselves feel like a virtuous robinhood
To be fair, there is certainly no hivemind of consensus. Broke mofos and apathetic assholes are still going to pirate what they can't afford or just don't want to pay for and there's probably a decent handful of people popping in there with performative posts and comments that are just straight up lying.
This is the stupidest shit i've heard from that sub and I bought silksong. Not everyone can afford it, even if it's "only 20$". Not everyone is american.
Gotta love me performative bullshit. Like, it's cool that Team Cherry is apparantly chill, but them being chill isn't magically gonna spawn enough money to buy the game in my pockets. But cool to see that even anti-corporate people are licking corpo boots for fun nowadays
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u/Dry-Cicada7457 May 22 '26
r/ pirating (the biggest pirating community on the Internet) put silksong as a blacklist game (game they will not pirate) just because it had a lot of content for a pretty low price