[quote name='dtcarson']Two different issues:
Is piracy "bad"?
Does piracy, and being a CAG, affect the game industry?
Is piracy bad? Yes. Firstly, it is stealing. Secondly, there is some evidence it negatively affects the game industry. In my opinion, even if it had no affect whatsoever on the industry, it would still be wrong.
Does piracy/being a CAG affect the game industry?
Various sources are of various opinions about piracy. I'll leave that one alone right now, it's irrelevant at the moment. My response about the car thief/used car sales was in relation to the "piracy=stealing" argument, and my thinking you were calling CAGing similar to piracy in that regard. They are still analogous situations, and if you can't see that, perhaps you should go back to third grade.
Stealing/piracy = bad
Buying used/CAG games/buying used car = ok.
Like I said earlier, being a CAG is not necessarily bad for the industry. There will always be people who look for things on sale or cheaper or used, be it games, books [university textbooks!], cars, houses, whatever. That's a recognized and accepted component of any active economy. Likewise, there will always be people who have to buy the console/games on release day, or for full price. If a game costs too much to buy, the price will be lowered until enough units are sold. Then the maker will take that into account the next time. Yes, that affects the industry. It's called economics. Why did Betamax die out? One reason is more consumers and rental places bought VHS, for whatever reasons. That's called the marketplace. Betamax had to adjust or die, and they didn't adjust very well.
If I can buy 3 good games for 50 bucks, rather than 1 game for 50 bucks, I will most likely do so. Unless that one game for 50 bucks is more important to me than the 3 games.
I think CAGs are exposed to more games than the average gamer. Their average price paid may be less, but many of these games they then resell to people who may not be CAGs, and those people can then be exposed to a type of game or a publisher they weren't before, and if they like it, they are more willing to buy new from that genre or publisher in the future.
I don't know, I don't even know what you're trying to say. Product prices vary. A manufacturer or retailer will sell a product for the price he can get for it. Over time, almost all prices drop until they hit an equilibrium where they maximize units sold and price paid. Then the industry adjusts and takes that into account for the next time. So I shouldn't buy a TV on sale because I'm hurting GE? I shouldn't buy last year's car because I'm hurting the auto industry?
Being a CAG does *affect* the industry. It doesn't necessarily *harm* it. In fact, I would argue that it helps it, by helping to winnow out the chaff, and show publishers there is a very large market for more reasonably priced games. If no one bought 50000$ SUV's, the SUV makers would change their product/pricing so they were more attractive. Consumers get more product for less money, or are willing to pay more money for more product, everybody wins.
And yes it would matter if you pirated all those games. Apart from the fact of piracy being stealing, you could put CC people out of work. Your buying those games, used or cheap, puts money in other peoples hands who are going to spend it. They might spend it on games, or other stuff. Odds are they aren't pirates, so if they buy a game, it will be a legitimate game. The industry does recieve some money down the line. And if that massive CC sale helps CC learn to not buy 150 copies of Pryzm the Unicorn, but to buy more Disgaea, then that's a good thing.[/quote]
"pirating" a car in the context youre using it, would be equal to cloning a car. not stealing it off the street.
i never said piracy was good.
i never said cag was bad.
yes it would matter if you pirated all those games. Apart from the fact of piracy being stealing, you could put CC people out of work.
yeah dude i know. i kinda said that it would effect the general economy
