Philosophical Quandry: Piracy

[Fyron]

Here is a philosophical quandry for you all:

Suppose you make a copy of SE4 for a friend. Your friend will play the game for a bit and decide if he likes it or not. If he likes it, he will buy it. If not, he will uninstall it and be done with it. Just him forever playing on this copy is not an option to be considered in this thread.

Yes, it is beyond a shadow of a doubt illegal piracy. I am not asking about legality, but about morality. Is it wrong to do this? Why or why not? Please, if your gut reaction is "pirate SE4 = bad period", please do not post yet. Think about it for a bit. Consider the possibilities. Then post. If your answer is still the same, go ahead and post it now. Just do not post without giving this some real thought. The same also applies to having the gut reaction that it is perfectly ok. Think about that in depth too. Thank you.

And before you ask, no, this is not a situation that has come up in my life. It is a hypothetical situation. I shall not post my opinion on the matter for a while.

This really applies to any game, but I just picked one we all know and love.

[ July 11, 2003, 08:49: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[Taera]

i see pirating as putting into image file or burning to a cd and then distributing it outside. giving it to a friend to try is not pirating because your not copying your game and giving it off to him - your sharing your CD. And your getting it back later.

[dogscoff]

If not, he will uninstall it and be done with it. Just him forever playing on this copy is not an option to be considered in this thread.

Well, this is the crucial bit. You can't really guarantee this in real life, so the whole issue becomes hypothetical.

However, even in this hypothetical case,it would still (technically) be morally wrong. Even if you argue that you're doing shrapnel/ malfador a favour by encouraging a new player by means of a limited trial, the right to issue such a trial still rests exclusively with them.

Of course, that's kind of a rigid approach, and it's really not the way ppl do things these days...

giving {your game CD} to a friend to try is not pirating because your not copying your game and giving it off to him - your sharing your CD. And your getting it back later.

Except that your friend could easily just install the game and not uninstall it- SE4 doesn't require a CD to run, you know.

[BBegemott]

In general piracy is when you make a profit from others work. If you don't make profit, so what kind of pirate you are?

And now comes the lawer and messes everything up...

[Gryphin]

EDIT:
As I was preparing my second post in this thread, (the one just before Geo’s), I realized this is not a matter of law or philosophy. It is a matter of morals
My first post came to the wrong conclusion.

I break rules all the time. I don’t violate persons intent that I have agreed to. Installing the game I agree to abide by the EULA.

-----------
This comes down to following the
Letter of the Law
Or
The intent of the Law

For the most part I have always followed the intent
The most important part I summarize on the Home page of my site:
“In my youth I was taught that first you must learn the rules, (and understand them), before you can break them. Later in life I developed the corollary, Sometimes you must break the rules before you can learn them, (and understand them)”

My understanding is the intent of the law would make Fyron’s concept legitimate.
In saying so I do not forget it is still ileagle.

[ July 11, 2003, 15:28: Message edited by: Gryphin ]

[Loser]

Well, if I did not have a close connection with this 'friend' I would just direct them to the demo.

However if, for example, they lived with me and I could persuade, pester, and encourage them to purchase the game (on an almost daily basis), then I would probably make the loan. It all depends, really, on whether or not I think they will buy the game once they decide they like it.

Of course, this is an early morning interpretation of half-formed thoughts. Possibly more to follow...