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.

  • MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • Haui@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      You hit the nail on the head. We really need more ethics and less laws in our lives (or the laws must be more ethical).

  • EmDash@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    My understanding is that this is illegal under US law. It is, however, completely ethical.

  • OboTheHobo@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    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)

    • Sneezycat@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      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.

      • OboTheHobo@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I don’t disagree, I only brought it up because it’s the only argument that holds any merit (even if little) and is made irrelevant in this case.

      • OboTheHobo@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I don’t disagree, I brought it up just because it’s the only argument against piracy that holds any merit at all )even if little) and is, in this case, completely irrelevant anyway.

      • OboTheHobo@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        As far as I know ow most paid VPNs allow it, a lot of free ones don’t. I can say from experience that Windscribe allows torrenting, although there is a 10gb limit per month on free accounts (there is a way to get around that tho)

  • HidingCat@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Oh yea, I used to do that when games were on discs, because sometimes the discs were slightly borked, or that the DRM with the discs were really annoying.

    • GrindingGears@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Sometimes you can’t even get them to run right on modern computers. Pirated versions usually have some sort of way of dealing with this, whereas the originals don’t.

  • Dandroid@dandroid.app
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    1 year ago

    I don’t think there is any moral issue with pirating games that you have paid for. You paid the developers for their time. Now you want to use the product you paid for in a way that fits your needs.

  • tunetardis@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I hate capped internet accounts. As the dad, I’d have to police the kids especially not to blow the monthly cap, and eventually I switched to a lower bandwidth but unlimited option and there was finally peace in the family.

      • tunetardis@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I don’t remember it costing much more and the kids seemed relieved to not incur my wrath on a monthly basis. And not long after, my ISP increased the speeds on all accounts, so it more or less got us back to where we had been anyway.

        Incidentally, if you’ve been with a particular ISP for years, it’s worth talking to a person when you change your account. They may have some discretionary power to give you say an introductory rate on a better plan to reward your loyalty?

  • sludge@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    its def not stupid, legit sources are super inconvenient, like i forget account passwords all the time, and steam makes sharing yr games for multiplayer really hard. way easier to just go download a cracked copy

  • LastOneStanding@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I don’t think you actually committed an act of piracy. Good for you, though. I’m still trying to figure out how to fit a 100GB game into my hard drive (SSD) without slowing my computer down. I, too, may turn to FitGirl for the answer. If my theoretical piracy isn’t piracy (because I bought the game plus DLC, just haven’t downloaded and installed) I don’t think your theoretical or alleged piracy is actual piracy, either. I have SO MANY issues with the username FitGirl, though. They could have figured out a name that wasn’t so sexist. I would have gone with SlimWare.

    • Evergreen5970@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      As a person who isn’t too knowledgeable about the piracy scene, what’s sexist about “FitGirl”? Is there some story behind the username that makes it sexist in use? My outsider’s impression is that FitGirl is a woman who likes fitness, exercise, and releasing pirated stuff for people.

      • LastOneStanding@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Most people refer to FitGirl as a man. They assume FitGirl is a man or know it’s a man. I thought like you once the first time I saw repacks made by FitGirl. I was like, “Oh, cool! A woman into fitness and computer science!” I hope I was right and I hope your “outsider’s take” is right. I fear that this is not the case. Note that I fear this, I cannot confirm if FitGirl is a man or a woman myself since this person is not my next-door neighbor. I just have been around long enough to see how FitGirl is always referred to as a man. Since I’ve learned more, the idea, as far as I can tell, is that the software gets “slimmed down” and “de-bloated.” Perhaps you’ve heard the term “bloatware?” My understanding is that, if FitGirl is a man, he is referring to women who complain about bloating and he is referring to the “bloatware” that he reduces in size as a woman who has been relieved of the bloating. “Fit” here does not refer to exercise, but rather a body type which, in turn, metaphorically refers to reducing the size of “bloatware.” Anyway, that’s what I’ve been able to piece together over the years. Mind you, it’s an interpretation of mine. Who knows how far off the mark I am? Maybe someone who knows FitGirl personally can tell us more. Maybe she’s somebody’s gym buddy.

  • liminis@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Even if you’re excessively concerned with morality and what people think of you, the only people realistically going to kick up a fuss about “pirating” games one already owns are Nintendo’s lawyers.

  • loops@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    DOOM 2016 didn’t work on Linux duo to the DRM being incompatible with proton.

    What’s really stupid about that is the devs don’t have to do any extra work to make it compatible, all they have to do is check a box saying they’d like it to work with proton.

  • DNAmaster10@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    Additionally, many newer games use Denuvo which is known for making your games run slower. Sometimes the pirated copies not only take up less space, but also perform better.

  • tuckerm@supermeter.social
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    1 year ago

    I had to torrent SWAT 4 a few years ago to get a copy of it, even though I had paid for it. I bought it on Direct2Drive back when that looked like a good option for buying games long term. When Direct2Drive was purchased by GameFly, you suddenly had to download games from the GameFly client, and not all of Direct2Drive’s catalog was available there. For the games that weren’t available on GameFly, it would just show you your CD key.

    Today they aren’t owned by GameFly anymore, but SWAT 4 still isn’t downloadable, it only shows your key. I finally bought it again on GOG a couple months ago when it was like $1. I almost didn’t want to do it out of principle though, haha.