I think I have to disagree here in part at least. You are right in the fact technology can and often does make people stupid and lazy. When it comes to the time difference between now and 20 years ago though, our schools do have the upper hand in some fields. Back in my day we learned how not to get kidnapped from a talking puppet and a 15 minute "after school special" between cartoon shows in the afternoon. Today however our kids have programs like D.A.R.E. and organizations like M.A.D. and sex ed classes and seminars on sexual harassment and...etc etc. Our kids are taught a lot more early on then kids 20 years ago were. I think it's safe to say kids today learn at a faster rate as well. Your example does happen, but for just as often as it makes someone lazy and stupid it makes someone else smarter and wiser. We'll probably have to agree to disagree on this one.

It is a contradiction, yes, but it's also true. Aside from fatherhood I was ready for sex at 15. Emotional attachment? LoL what emotional attachment? I went from girl to girl to girl just as they went from boy to boy to boy. Some girls would get emotionally attached, true, but some didn't and just wanted the sex because their girlfriend said it was good. In todays world, sadly, there are plenty of girls that don't get emotionally attached over sex. Many of our younger girls even think that sex is a required part of a relationship many years before I feel they should think that way. I think being ready for sex mentally is different from being ready for sex as in responsibility. Responsibility and Maturity more often then not go hand in hand, but there are some cases when that isn't so. 15 year old girls can be ready both mentally and physically for sex, but financially they can't take care of a child and aren't ready for parenthood. Either way at that age we all "think we know everything" and a lot of us did things just because someone else told us not to, including having sex. In the mid teenage years some people are ready for sex, some aren't. It could probably even be based on a person to person case.

As for the rest, you're right. The laws need changed but won't be because they're too profitable and there are too many parent activists that would flip out if the laws were lessened in any way. No State, especially Florida, wants to look like it's soft on pedophiles or not protecting our children adequately no matter how many people's lives it ruins.

Thats why all these rules just need to be thrown out ..(except the right of consent dealing with underage sex).Down with censorship!!!!!

I am still sick of people saying it isn't a law to sell unappropriate material to underage children.(in america). It is ....If you sell a MA rated game to a minor without consent the family can sue you which is LEGAL recourse in a court of LAW.  All of you are falling for the American government's  renaming of things like calling laws guidelines so that americans can feel more free and better than everyone else.  Also, if you don't pay if you get sued, then you got to JAIL.  Sounds pretty illegal to me.  That is why most companies self censor so that they won't be sued out of business.  Pretty messed up how in America you can go to jail for not following a guideline...Another example is speed limits.   Its written as a guideline but, if you don't abide by it then you get fined, and if you don't pay said fine you go to jail.

Lets not forget that mortal kombat was only a few vote short from being banned.  And that you won't find the first Postal game for sale anywhere is america anymore.

Because all girls are victims, right? /sarcasm

I was a 'outsider' in school and didn't go down this path. What a fool I was eh?

Anyway, this has to be one of the BEST threads on 'piracy' I've ever read. Because its, like, totally not about piracy!

OK ENOUGH; BACK ON TOPIC NOW.

I've seen some 14 year old girls that seem more mature than plenty of 21 year old males I've known, lol,  but you are correct. There are some people who never seem to develop any understanding of anyone but one's self.

Something that has not been brought up yet in this thread.

Let's say Elemental becomes a classic in it's genre like MoM or AoW:SM and Stardock moves on, gets merged with someone or some other thing happens (as does often in the software bussiness). Let's also say several years have passed and many still play the game, but it, like many other games from years back are unobtainable except as expensive collector's copies on ebay. In that case no issues.

Try finding thes old classics that folks still play at a reasonable (non-subscription, non-collector price gouge) prices: Age of Wonders 2: Shadow Magic, Sid meier's Alpha Centauri, Panzer General, etc. Yes, I pirated these. I at one time paid retail and owned these, but lost my copies and could not reaquire them any other way but piracy. Steam and Impulse seem to be getting better at keeping some titles, but for many older games with a cult following, piracy is the only things that keep these gems alive. I consider the above titles near abandonware.

I will be purchasing and not pirating Elemental. I may get a No-CD crack because I cannot stand having to keep CDs out of the case. Plus, I have a feeling Stardock will be supporting this with many patches long after release if all goes well. Plus, I want the devs to get paid. But I am sorry. If there are no updates, your game is approaching a decade old, and I cannot buy it without great inconvienience, and I at one time bought it, I believe file sharing is fair game!

If the game is no longer being sold in any way, shape or form - discontinued, I believe it's called - I'd be hard pressed to present a clear and definitive case against downloading it.  Some companies release their older titles for free - such as the earlier Elder Scrolls and Command and Conquer games - however some don't.  With Digital Distribution, this is going to be less and less frequent as any game can be sold indefinately via the magic of the internet.

I don't feel bad about pirating pokemon red because you can't buy it in stores anymore and I already own a copy. I think there should be some real concrete laws that limit copyright. You shouldn't be able to copyright something and renew it forever, it should run out after 20-50 years.

What is sad is that our society idolizes being a child so much that growing up and assuming responsibilities like a mature adult is frowned upon, thus people are encouraged to stay children forever... and they do.

We have far too many 40 year old children.

I am not saying that children shouldn't be allowed to be children, but "growing up" is not "sad".

Like was mentioned, it is still legal but getting around DRM is not which makes the point mute. So you can have a backup copy, but you can't work around DRM which means you can't get your copy legally since DRM doesn't allow it. That's what scum sucking lobbyist get us with pos legislation. I am sure its crap like this that only fuels the pirates' ranks and probably one the reasons people, in general, don't treat so called pirates as we do spammers and phishers and the other scoundrels of the internet. If the laws were actually fair for the consumer, i think public acceptance of these acts would dwindle. But hey, we'll keep doing the same old dance, more DRM, more lobbyist, more unfair legislation because it is working SO well so far.

synnworld, interesting name. The cases you mention seem ok to me.

I have never pirated a game. Furthest I have gone along those lines is to install no cd cracks for a few games. For convenience. Though in one case I found that Securom would not let me load the game. The publisher no longer supported the game. Forum could not suggest how I might get the Securom reset. So I downloaded a crack for that one too. My game, I bought it.

I think genuine piracy is the equivalent of shop lifting.

I've always thought pirates are made up from 3 kinds of people.

Legiters

Habiteers

Freeloaders

Legiters have a valid concern (DRM stops them playing, they already own the game but the disk broke, see if it works on the computer). They will buy if they can but they hate to waste money and turn to piracy to fix things because the publisher didn't. Lan partys of 10+ people where you need a disk each is also a 'valid' concern in my opinion but publishers are trying to close this down hard.

Habiteers pirate because they always have. I had friends that were like this long ago, I even got some pirated games from them - I didn't even think about it as 'piracy'. I couldn't afford the games anyway, I wouldn't have bought them myself. Ironically I bought all the sequels to those games which actually means piracy incrased sales from me...

Freeloaders will pay the absolute least money for anything they don't deem as important. Games are usually within this catagory. If the pirated copies went away they would just play the game at a friends house and still not buy it.

Stopping 100% of piracy wouldn't incrase sales by more than 20% in my opinion based on who I think pirates but thats just some number I picked out of the air to illustrate that I don't think fighting pirates with DRM (even if it actualy worked, lol) is an efective idea. They need to continue to make things that only paying customers get that is USEFUL and rewards them for buying.