What do you think about this?

Piracy has been a big issue in Malaysia, aside from fraud and identity theft, pirated goods are now seen as a commodity. Piracy has always hit the gaming industry hard, with sales of pirated goods outnumbering retail or original goods by 8:1.

This issue exists for many reasons, usually related to the economical lifestyle of the buyers, their preferences and also the prices of these goods. However, are the buyers the only one to blame?

As the economical situation in most countries vary, the cost of these goods also increase or decrease depending on the state of their ecomony. But do you think these goods are as valueble as they cost?

RM100 to RM150 per game can be taxing to a gamer, where gamers in Malaysia are mostly students and young adults aging from 16-28. Their age also represents their purchasing power, having an average of RM800-RM1600 to spend monthly, students rarely spend that amount on money games. RM 100 per game however, isnt really a burden for a person making that amount, assuming he/she buys only 1 game monthly, effectively they would have enough to eventually buy all the games they want... eventually.

But why spend a hundred dollars on something that will blow away within months? Many turn to piracy because they see no value in purchasing these goods legally. Spending 100% less on a product is always better.

As much as we like games, seldom do we purchase all of them (as in originals) unless we know those games are good. This is highly due also to the number of not-so-properly-produced-games or flops, such as the much anticipated MOO3, which many of the hardcore fans thought it was not a good buy compared to its prequel. This is perhaps, one of the many reasons gamers choose to "test" software before eventually buying an original copy... eventually. Money they throw at the pirates however, go only to the pirates.

So, yes, we know what piracy is, but is it really our problem?

Yes, very much our problem. Due to the high rates of piracy in Malaysia, many of these foreign companies find Malaysia a hard place to survive in, particularly when it comes to sales and events. Because sales are low, they also hold less priority on having events such as E3 or similar events in Malaysia.

What are companies doing to prevent or fight piracy?

Many companies such as EA (Electronic Arts) embrace piracy as free publicity while adding value added services/content for original copies of their games. They however still keep the standard cd-protection softwares on their products to avoid them being copied or cracked, though many of which are cracked anyway.

EA's approach have been adopted by many companies, providing value added content online. But is that enough?

I think, for gamers who play games at the cybercafe more than home, buying an original game is less than practical. Since the majority of gamers play LAN, its hardly an option to buy an original game unless they can play at home.

Im sure many of you buy pirated from time to time or have bought it before? What do you think?

I don't see the point of buying an pirated DVD games now, since we can just download it off internet, I'm pretty sure most of us here do that too.

But meh..
I'll be honest, the price of the original copies are just too expensive..
You know what? I think if we have shops that rents them would be nice, but then again, knowing the mentality of majority of Malaysian..Not a very bright idea..

Just my 2cents though..

I think our local ISP are partially to be blamed for indirectly encouraging us to support piracy. System specs aside, you see, even IF I do own a decent gaming rig, my online experience will be hampered by those greedy capitalist at the tip of the financial food-chain. IMNSHO, I think none of these ISP have any interest to provide us good servive at heart. As long as they have a steady income of cash flowing into their now fat wallet, they wouldn't even give a damn if we're teleporting frustratingly in-game. IMO, This POS connection they've provided is one of the main reason why so many local gamers resulted in playing LAN games. Playing online at the comfort of your home with a connection speed that's similar to what a guitar string can offer, really defeats the purpose of buying original in the first place.

I live in the east and at my place, to get even the original is a rare find. Not to mention the price doubled when shipped from the west. Do this game company have even the slightest idea on how to market goods with this overpriced games? I would consider IF they sell them at RM50. Not to mention, newer games always come faster in pirated copies compared to orginal. Probably have to wait a year.

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Added on October 31, 2008, 7:37 amI mean comeon. Some even give away their dvds for free for promotional value (magazine especially). I don't need the game book or any other goodies that comes alone.

This post has been edited by LeechFever: Oct 31 2008, 07:40 AM

Well, in Indon, I never see someone buy original in the rest of my life living in Indon. So I was very surprised that in Malaysia still got people buy original.

if it was RM50 i will buy original. cause you see, USD50 for people in Malaysia is not worth it. At all. Dollar for dollar, how can we compete with USD currency? People pay 50, we pay close to 200.

What game companies should do is to follow the PS3 game region system. Whereby it is cheaper in Asian regions. Total revenue for gaming companies will also rise, I think at most 5-10% of people in Malaysia uses original.

for me its the matter of the love for the game.my original intention of playing the game is to play single player mode only so i dled the game.enjoyed the single player mode but it was so short so i was like good thing i dled this game but then i found some cracked servers online n tried it out.i loved the multiplayer gameplay so much i decided so buy original so that i can play in sg servers to play with lesser ping(back then there werent many local servers) n i have to say it is worth every cent.its my of saying thank you to the developer of the game for making such an enjoyable game.

btw i am rarely affected by tmnut.i can smooth online gameplay most of the time.

This post has been edited by prash: Nov 1 2008, 12:31 AM

for me the exchange rate isn't a matter to be seen

but what's more important is the fact that our standards of living here are crap and considering how prices of everything = rapidly increasing. salary = constantly being constant

which leads to people not even wanting to buy an original DVD which is worth RM 20-40

earning 1.3k in uk will leave u with extras after grocery and some extra fun

earning 1.3 in malaysia will leave u partially broke after grocery leaving little space for fun.


not to sound unpatriotic
it's just how i see things are around here ^^

my 2 cents.

so yeah ppl dont want to fork out rm 20-40 for an original DVD movie

which leads to

if that's true for the adults ( as mentioned 28 above ) what about the younger ones spending for ori games which are like 100-250 at best.

though i have to admit buying original games does give u a good feeling and the little extras pirated ones dont get.
but still.... it's not worth it

For me, I think we should blame our ISP and the pricing. TMnet/Streamyx don't really desire us to connect to d outside world. We lag there, and our internet pricing which is considered as expensive is already burdening us from buying original game copies.

Even if we buy it, our ping doesn't really fall below 100 ( yes i know there are some but sometimes we don't have Malaysian servers to play)

I won't hesitate to buy if the prices are at least RM 20~30..for countries such as Aussie, UK, NL, and other countries have cheaper prices. I know the prices in Malaysia are the same as Aussie and others, but think about it, their average income is much higher, 30 dollars are nothing for them, but for us, 30 dollars (not ringgit) are VERY expensive.

This post has been edited by KuzumiTaiga: Nov 1 2008, 08:36 PM

exactly

Wrong. In Australia, games or other things are priced differently on every states. At least we have standardized games prices in almost every places as most of our products are controlled products. But things are different in Australia. Most of the time, games are more expensive. It is also true that Streamyx sucks your money more than giving more speed but Australians have nothing better from us. They depended totally on servers in their land. Try to look at games which have fewer servers. For example, MOH: Airborne. There are only 2-3 servers in Australia that caters for all Australians. They might go outside servers but there's none in Singapore and going further up will make them laggier than us. While we on Malaysia don't have servers nearby but we can actually play at Aussie servers or even go to Hong Kong and Japan for decent pings (100-200 ping).

Lots of people think that Australia is far more advanced that our country but that's not likely the truth. But what make them better are things like calm and helpful society. I might not have yet experiencing myself living there but I have friends who told me their experiences.

Hmm, actually, the reason why we connect to HK and JP very well is because of our connection hub is the same from asia -> US. Remember that earthquake a few years back that affected the internet lines? While Malaysia uses the Taiwan -> Korea -> Japan -> US route, Australia uses a different ocean line, connecting straight to the US. Their connection to the US is far better as it connects directly (their ocean fibre cables) to the US. THe same lines Singapore use to the US. This is the main reason why they dont really need local servers in Australia. MOH is also an old game.

It's not about an old game but a less popular game. Mind you that I have the game preordered and after getting it, there's no sign of local nearby servers. Actually we can go to US servers through Australian route. From my experience (this might be bias but this is what I saw), we can connect to US better compared to European servers. Australians might connect to US better but just see at their options; very few. At least we have more options. That's my point.

TS are so stupid for asking this question there r no such things that where gamers in Malaysia are mostly students and young adults aging from 16-28. Their age also represents their purchasing power, having an average of RM800-RM1600 to spend monthly.

Did u make a survey first before u post ? and one more things any wrong if we purchase pirated software ? did everyone spend their money on game and don't spend on their food? U better thinks about it TS life and virtual reality are not same

Wadahek? Chill dude, TS created this thread for healthy discussion.....

I don't see you very clever when you're saying people stupid.

Just buy the game most of the other gamers in your preferred genre are playing. That way you can never go wrong.

The biggest portion of the game consumer market are casual gamers. Everyone knows this lol. You can pretty much guess who are the ones that spoon feed piracy the most too.

Out of all the publishers and dev's out there in the industry. The one that's handling it the best is Valve. I got my CoD4 through Steam purchase. Well, a friend bought it for me and I payed him back.

It's pretty secure as long as you're not as gullible most newbies are. Also be on the lookout of noobs that commit philsing and account frauds.
You gotta be net smart in order to keep your account and all your games out of their hands.

The future of most pc game sales might as well be online purchases.
Get your CC cards ready people.

and... No, I am not going to lend you my account. Don't ask.

This post has been edited by t3quila: Nov 3 2008, 04:49 AM

I would be glad if all games are things like Steam or EA Online Download. Those pirates or people who likes to download illegally can go die.

This post has been edited by Dark Steno: Nov 3 2008, 05:52 AM

i LOL'ed

Oh wait. How about the companies who get no money when you buy pirated software? How are they going to pay their staff? How are they going to spend anything on food then? If you don't have the money, don't buy the game. Simple as. Please don't call the TS stupid when you're the dumb criminal. =/

This post has been edited by Grr: Nov 3 2008, 10:04 AM