Pirate's remorse

For the longest time I never really thought this would apply to me. I honestly thought that it was just some guilt and it would go away in time. But this morning I realized just what it truly means to have pirate's remorse.
The other day I spent pretty much like every day since I started pirated video games, complaining about how much video games suck nowadays and how much I hate where the video game industry is going. When Mike said, "You know, Nolan, you used to enjoy video games before you started pirating them. Before you had those flashcards, you used to spend hours playing games through and loving every minute of it. Now you can't even enjoy them anymore because you can just get the game in an instant." I didn't really believe him since, I stopped pirating video games, I just kept the roms because I didn't feel like deleting them after all the time I put into getting them.
But this morning I really though to myself about this and tried to remember the last time I enjoy a video game and sadly it was many years ago with Chibi Robo for the DS...I bought games after that one, but I also had my flashcards as well and around that time I bought only games I wanted to spend money on, which wasn't much. Most of the games by that time Mike bought me and sadly none of them I beat.
For the time in a long time I took a long hard look at my video games and tried to name one that I have beaten since the days of piracy and very few can I say that I have beaten.
This doesn't seem right to me. Before piracy, I used to be a serious hardcore gamer who used to play video games and enjoy them. Now I a self-absorbed former pirate who can't take more than 5 minutes to play a single game. Hell I haven't even re-played some of my favorite games. For someone who loves Yoshi's Island (Yes I know I might as well marry that game!) I was shocked that I could barely play that game, now I know something it wrong.

So from this day forward, I will not pirate anymore games, movies, anime, and tv shows, so I can finally enjoy them again.
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person

Comments

Guild McCommunist
Pirating just shows you the best and worst of video games but it doesn't make me really "doubt" them. I just makes me more bored with them. It always comes down to "Why play X when I can just play another game?" I have a whole library of PSP, DS, and Wii games I never have (nor will I probably ever) finish. But for my Xbox 360, which I don't pirate for, only a few games aren't finished or played any more (usually games I didn't like but I bought for $10 like Prince of Persia and Dead Rising or big ol' RPGs I don't have time or the motivation for like Lost Odyssey).

I really don't pirate much any more since the Wii and DS have been collecting dust and I'd much rather purchase PSP games for my Vita than play them on my Go. I don't need to pirate music with Spotify (and I only really listen to music on my PC nowadays), and movies I just use Netflix for. Plus my money flow has been better in general so I'll buy more games more often.
 
BrightNeko
I think piracy is best used to check a game out for something you have no idea on. It can lead to many great titles one would normally over look, but doing it to much leads to just not finishing or enjoying much cause there is always something new. If you know your going to buy something just don't pirate it, but if you are curious on something wet your beak on it.

I basically ended up the same way as you, and gave away my acekard, unmodded my PSP, and kicked piracy before attempting it as a demo process. Something you might want to consider setting a limit on how far you can go.
 
The Catboy
I am still not deleting the files I have nwo, like all the roms I want to test, nor will I unmod my systems or sell my flashcards. I am just not going to pirate anymore games.
Personally I put a lot of work in my modded systems, like my xbox with the 120gig harddrive, there is no way I would throw 6 months of work away.
Plus I collect flashcards, not just for piracy, but for collecting them.
 
Lucifer666
Unfortunately piracy has done the same to me.
I don't think I'll ever enjoy games as much as I used to back in the day, which is pretty unfortunate.
I gave away the last of my three flashcarts a year and a half ago, and I've been buying games ever since (and never selling), but it still doesn't feel the same.
I remember my first DS game was Brain Age. I had only that for around 2 and a half months, and I was playing daily, despite it not being a very relatively entertaining game, but I was pretty content with it.

And now? I haven't even beat the Grand Prix of Mario Kart 7 (I'm on 150cc), and I got it before launch.

:sad:
 
Foxi4
Have you considered the fact that playing a larger number of games simply refined your taste in gaming? A wine taster can pick up all the tiny details about a given wine, even down to the barrel it was stored in. He or she would not be satisfied with your everyday bottle of budget wine, while the average Joe wouldn't see the difference between a typical everyday wine and an expensive, rare delicacy one.

Games work the same way - when pirating, you play a whole lot of good and bad games. Your horizon of expectations broadens and your specific likes become more prominent. You begin to have very specified demands, and when they are not met, you feel the sensation of longing for features that were present in a game you really liked and are absent in the one you are playing now. You stop relying on magazines when planning your gaming schedule - you become a critic yourself.

Your genre awareness increases and as money constraints become non-existant, the quest for the perfect game begins, destined to fail as there will always be this one game you haven't tried yet that might suprise you with something new that you might enjoy.

You need to learn how to enjoy games in a new way - a way a conisseur would. You need to pick up the factors you like the most and try to focus on them. I wouldn't call it Pirate's Remorse so much as growing up, really.
 
G
I have only 4 DS roms on my DSTwo.
Along with the GB/NES games that you just HAVE to have.
 
emigre
[quote name='Pingouin7' timestamp='1338749930'] I have only 4 DS roms on my DSTwo.Along with the GB/NES games that you just HAVE to have. [/quote]

This is the most sensible thing to do regarding piracy. Just have a few games on your card.

What I do is just not use a large microsd/MSPD/HDD. That way you put on a few games at a time and work through them. After the initial year of piracy, I can't say I've ever had an issue with pirates' remorse/piracy syndrome.

Personally I use 1GB SD cart for my flahcart, a 4GB MSPD for the PSP and a 16GB USB for the Wii, along with an 8GB SD card for NGC games via DML(which is shared with homebrew). And I pretty much finish games I like. End of.
 
DiscostewSM
Used to have a number of games on my DSTWO that I would play constantly, but for the past year or so, I've had no incentive to play them, and no incentive to play newer games. Interestingly enough, I still play my "bought" DS games from time to time.
 
The Catboy
[quote name='Foxi4' timestamp='1338749728']-snip-[/quote]
You know I thought that myself, but the real fact is, I stopped enjoying them the moment I could get the games in an instant. It's not much the quality of the games (that is a small factor) but when I didn't have to work for them and could just sit back and get them any time I wanted. Well after like 15Gigs of roms (that's just NDS roms alone), I didn't feel like finishing them anymore. Yes piracy did introduce me to some games like the SMT games and Phoenix Wright games, but with that said, it also spoiled me.
Growing up is a factor as well, but at the same time it's not the major factor in this field.
Plus I am also a collector at heart, I love owning the games in my collection and love having the real copy. Having a digital copy just made me regret the games.
 
G
Some games are just so good that you will want to finish them even if you have piracy syndrome.
(Phoenix Wright being one of them.)

I had downloaded the three Castlevania games for GBA and the three for NDS, never actually felt like really playing through them.
If you keep your rom library small, you'll have a much easier time.
 
Icealote
I know that feeling all too well. Buying games and playing them have been a first step in recovery :P I sound like I've been gaming therapy 101. Plus being careful with money and the need to furiously research about a game to find out if its worth buying and playing it helps a lot.
I like to think of it as an understanding of how the rich get bored when they have it all. That's why some I've met love to work for something they actually can't get straight away and work at it til they do.
I'd say just take a step back before you could pirate stuff. The joy slowly comes back :)
 
Hells Malice
I can see not pirating games (well, i can't since I don't have the piracy-gaemz-no-fun disease people seem to get), but everything else is a little harsh.
Especially anime. Unless you watch almost none, or only really old series. That shits expensive. If I owned all the anime i've watched, i'd be in an alley with a shelter MADE of DVD cases, and shattered dreams. Cost aside, tons of great anime never makes it for an official sub.

EDIT: Oh wait I forgot about legal streaming...that's like piracy with an excuse though haha. Plus it's shit quality.
 
DinohScene
I've also downloaded a ton of games that I never play.

Nowadays I straighten it out with buying the games I really really want and pirating the ones that seem funny/worthy.

I usually end up buying those as wel xd
 
The Catboy
[quote name='Hells Malice' timestamp='1338773256'] I can see not pirating games (well, i can't since I don't have the piracy-gaemz-no-fun disease people seem to get), but everything else is a little harsh.Especially anime. Unless you watch almost none, or only really old series. That shits expensive. If I owned all the anime i've watched, i'd be in an alley with a shelter MADE of DVD cases, and shattered dreams. Cost aside, tons of great anime never makes it for an official sub. EDIT: Oh wait I forgot about legal streaming...that's like piracy with an excuse though haha. Plus it's shit quality. [/quote]
I have netflix and Mike has pretty much all the box sets of the anime not on netflix.
Plus I hate watching anime online or on my computer. There is just something that makes bored of it faster. The moment I watch it on my TV I am way more interested in. Maybe it's because on the computer I have a million distractions, were as the TV kinda for some reason demands more focus. IDK, it could be I just don't like watching things on my computer.
 
Hells Malice
Weird. I like anime way more on my computer since headphones are a much better method of listening to anime. *shrug* I agree with the distraction thing though. Hell i'm here right now inbetween episodes, haha.
Still there's so many good animes not on netflix, and not officially subbed. You're stuck with a pretty limited selection. Buuut I suppose i'm thinking more "me" when I think of not pirating anime, so.
 
The Catboy
I am not always a big fan of subs. I don't read fast enough and often times I find they take away from what I am watching.
I am not saying I am 100% in favor of dubs, because a bad dub can also kill a series, but I often prefer it.

Still I can easily give up pirating movies and anime. I didn't pirate them that often and when I did, I ended up deleting them anyways because I already owned the DVD, Netflix, or I know where to buy it cheap.
 
Skelletonike
Well, like I've often said in the forums, I don't really pirate that much, I usually do it to try out a game (especially in PC games case, since they're so cheap compared to the other systems and have better graphics) and then I often buy them, sure, some games I never buy, I probably didn't really like them or they just weren't my style, it happens quite a lot. However, there are games that I just must have, all Harvest Moon games, all Rune Factory (for DS), all the Dragon Quest games released for the DS and several other ones (actually, the one game series that I rarely purchase nowadays it's Pokemon, I bought Soul Silver but thats cuz Silver was my fave Pokemon game ever, and it really reminded me of my childhood.
Although I do get most of them, in some cases I can only get them later on, since they're either too expensive or not really worth the price at the moment, I will eventually get them tho, the only reason I would think of hacking the 3DS would be for region lock, since I don't wanna lose a game just because it never came out in Europe (I blame you Xbox 360). T_T
 

Blog entry information

Author
The Catboy
Views
280
Comments
34
Last update

More entries in Personal Blogs

More entries from The Catboy

Share this entry

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    BakerMan @ BakerMan: this one +1