Are you a Pirate Gamer?

[Azure Dragoon Paris]

Have you ever wondered that? Often you see a new game, and yes, it is very expensive. Think about all the blood sweat and tears the development team put in it so you can have fun with it, now, doesnt that deserve some of your money? YES!

See, this is the only way for the industry to prosper: They make the game, you like the game, you buy the game and they profit from your puchase. Piracy is wrong and really harms the industry of gaming.

However when you cant always have all your games as original... some may say you are a pirate and thief. For the sake of this discussion however lets take a look at the link for:


This Game

This NES game has an interesting price... Right? Bet its a great game to get that price tag on all of its copies.

Still it is a lot of dough .. quite a few rolls of green. Perhaps it is a good game.But how much of that money will go to the creator of the game? Nothing .. this game has so many years and besides its used. The company that made that game will not receive a penny so not only are you not supporting the industry buying this, but you are spending an exorbitant amount and the cart might not even work properly. Then, Is it worth it?

Obviously NO! It is a freaking game for the NES for heaven's sake ...

But .. What if you could play it?

Emulation has not only kept alive many old games but may even enhance their visual and sound quality.
Besides the fact that is not just for one NES its for any game. You will not find any new sealed copies of this in a store and even if you did it is safe to assume the purchase will not generate a profit to either publisher or developer.

What's more convenient to do in this case?

Get it by other means, the Internet has resources and there are people who do this as a service or for free in their spare time, coding and testing and so on. They will not be selling games will help you get the rom iso or whatever format of data you need if you have tennacity to look for them,

Now if you do not think this is something legitimate, you can search for the term

Abandonware

And think ... Can you consider Abandonware something that not only is no longer updated frequently but also the very company stopped making years ago? Even copyright expires. Therefore I can not just say that I consider myself a hacker or thief, just a lover of nostalgia who is recursive and eager to learn from the games before. In the past lies the answer for more and better games in the future and can not innovate without the foundations on which to build.

Now as my final thoughts:

For you that pirate games: Please dont pirate them.. at least not on any current gen, buy or if the game's quality seems shady... rent it first. Not only will you be protecting yourself from the game companies' wrath, you will also be helping by chipping in with your purchase to a future game's development. AND you will get a game from that and a clean conscience. How cool is that?

For you that like to collect pieces of Nostalgia: Please dont do things like that... your money will be better spent by kickstarting project or if you have money invest in your fave game company or studio. You will not only get perks... you may even get profits and games.

And for you that respects and undertands my opinion, thank you.
If I seemed an interesting topic and give comments like.

[TRSHFKHDS]

I agree with your thoughts.

[Foxiiify]

Nope, I may use an emulator from time to time for youtube reasons. but only if there is no way around it. But all the games I've emulated, I've purchased beforehand.

[Sweet Peppermint Tea]

yum_tea Every game I've played, I have either bought, rented, or borrowed from a friend. Someone, somewhere, got money into the hands of the games' creators (or, in the case of used and rented games, their duly appointed retail representatives) through legitimate channels. These days in particular, there are an almost limitless number of ways to get the games you want. Legit digital distribution, online markets, import shops, retro stores, big name retail chains, flea markets and thrift shops are all available to you. ******** use them.

Pirate s**t that's completely out of print if you must (I've had to do that with a few gaming books, sadly), but given our subculture's tendency to hoard s**t in pristine condition until the bills stack too high, you don't really have that excuse with video games.

[Ruff Rabbit]

I pretty much always pirate stuff before I buy it, I'm not sinking $20+ into something without being sure I'll like it or if I'll even be able to run it.
Or if I like the game but don't really respect the company I'll pirate it. Some people don't particularly deserve more money than they're making.

[YunaSama]

I pirate stuff all the time... SNes, Sega, N64, GBA, movies, music, etc... I even have a DS Lite with an R4 flashcard... If it's easy (and my pc can handle it) I pirate it... Anything else I buy...
I mean, you can get stuff for free (which is nice if you aren't all that rich)! And with the laws in my country, it is allowed to download stuff for own private use as long as you don't upload stuff (not counting the upload when using Torrents) or sell whatever you download... cat_pirate

[Mir Teiwaz]

Ween shellan yorra accroad mea, sarla oz enne.
Titil yehah, presia yorr wis yehah, presia yanje.

I used to pirate games. Now not so much.

The only thing I've used an emulator in recent memory was to stream Ar Tonelico 1 and 2.

I've played some of Dot Hack GU as well, but these are all games that even if you bought brand new, it's unlikely that the devs would see any of that money by now (since ya know, they're old PS2 games).

Square Enix has probably made more money off of my youtube channel (which has some extended tracks from NieR that SE claimed for monetization) than Bamco would have seen from me dropping a few hundred bucks on a sealed copy of the Dot Hack GU trilogy.

[Grace Is The Superest]

And if OP didn't convince you, I believe this definitely will.

[Azure Dragoon Paris]

I dont thinik anyone read the whole post.. still I am glad to see that people have chosen sides... however grey areas are always there.

Id say.. If there is one thing we can all agree is that we all Love games. So as I said before. If you realy want to help the industry buy the NEW games.

Used stuff wont give a game company a dime. And games that are no longer in production wont either.You got money? Buy the game!

You dont have any? Well play your old games and save up;
I for one am scratching the walls in desperation for A Copy of PKMN OR/AS which right now I cant afford. Still I woudlnt pirate it if I could. Why? Because its not right. Gamefreak and Nintendo deserve money for their Hardwork as does Bungie or Sony's SantaMonica Team.

If you cant spend money on it.. then maybe Gaming is not the hobby for you.

As a previous poster mentioned yes. There are ways to get really old games and still give the companies a proft such as Ps1/2 Classics on the PSN Store, Whatever Xbox is doind...(If anything.. I dont like the Xbox) And Of course Nintendo's Virtual console.

[nasa peepo]

Really, the only games I commonly pirated were those that were never available/translated here in the first place.

I try and support my favorite companies when I can, but sometimes... s**t happens.

[Fated raison detre]

I pay for my stuff. Like an honest, responsible adult. If I can't afford it, I just save up.

[Azure Dragoon Paris]

TRSHFKHDS

I agree with your thoughts.

Thank you, Nice to see someone does.

Foxiiify

Nope, I may use an emulator from time to time for youtube reasons. but only if there is no way around it. But all the games I've emulated, I've purchased beforehand.

Like brand new? Directly from the game store? Its okay to buy used games. But I remember-back when I was younger that japan had this thing about stopping the used sale market on it's tracks with a "no resale" law. The Gamer community cried out in agony and since they could have right down boycotted the companies and government the initiative was dropped. Now for the other thing... you go to gamestop and they have 2 copies of the same game one is a cheaper, used one and then the other one is brand new sealed. Which one of these will turn a profit to the company after you bought it? Neither (not saying you shouldnt buy the new one but definitely no the used one.) Gamestop will buy the game from the publisher and sell it to you for a much higher price.. they are after all "the Middle man" But if you buy the new one Gamestop will order more as the new copies get sold out. Which will mean the game company will actually make money from their next batch of copies as well as from the first one.

On the other hand The used copy was purchased as new by a person. Then the person took it back sold it for a fraction of what he paid... and then they sell it to you. That means that game resellers will profit twice and the game company only once.

Sweet Peppermint Tea

yum_tea Every game I've played, I have either bought, rented, or borrowed from a friend. Someone, somewhere, got money into the hands of the games' creators (or, in the case of used and rented games, their duly appointed retail representatives) through legitimate channels. These days in particular, there are an almost limitless number of ways to get the games you want. Legit digital distribution, online markets, import shops, retro stores, big name retail chains, flea markets and thrift shops are all available to you. ******** use them.

Pirate s**t that's completely out of print if you must (I've had to do that with a few gaming books, sadly), but given our subculture's tendency to hoard s**t in pristine condition until the bills stack too high, you don't really have that excuse with video games.

You are the one I was referring to on the previous post I made:

Same as above... why go to a flea market? Digital Distribution I am all over that.. love it. Import Shops? Sure they know what theyre doing. Still the so called "Retro" store does the same thing as any other store that sells used. Stuff... they raise the price and see if anyone will pay for something just because its "cool and Retro" Id say your best examples are Import stores and Digital distribuition But I am here to expose and defend a truth. Only we can keep game developers stay where we need them.. making games.

Ruff Rabbit

I pretty much always pirate stuff before I buy it, I'm not sinking $20+ into something without being sure I'll like it or if I'll even be able to run it.
Or if I like the game but don't really respect the company I'll pirate it. Some people don't
particularly deserve more money than they're making.

You dont have to pirate stuff if youre insecure about buying it... metacritic and many other sites will tell you what they think... online written reviews and youtube are great ways to know how much a game rocks or sucks... now.. out of all the pirated things you own...how many did you actually pourchase later?

YunaSama

I pirate stuff all the time... SNes, Sega, N64, GBA, movies, music, etc... I even have a DS Lite with an R4 flashcard... If it's easy (and my pc can handle it) I pirate it... Anything else I buy...
I mean, you can get stuff for free (which is nice if you aren't all that rich)! And with the laws in my country, it is allowed to download stuff for own private use as long as you don't upload stuff (not counting the upload when using Torrents) or sell whatever you download... cat_pirate

Uhmm I am not sure what to tell you... just because you can do it doesnt mean you should do it....

Nekrotical

I am now going to pirate everything just because of your post.

I have no idea how you concluded that from what I wrote.

Mir Teiwaz

Ween shellan yorra accroad mea, sarla oz enne.
Titil yehah, presia yorr wis yehah, presia yanje.

I used to pirate games. Now not so much.

The only thing I've used an emulator in recent memory was to stream Ar Tonelico 1 and 2.

I've played some of Dot Hack GU as well, but these are all games that even if you bought brand new, it's unlikely that the devs would see any of that money by now (since ya know, they're old PS2 games).

Square Enix has probably made more money off of my youtube channel (which has some extended tracks from NieR that SE claimed for monetization) than Bamco would have seen from me dropping a few hundred bucks on a sealed copy of the Dot Hack GU trilogy.

If the game is no longer being made then its very unlikely they would see a dime on a game out of print. As I explained early in this post. Still I guess you have some collector's pride in you.

Grace Is The Superest

And if OP didn't convince you, I believe this definitely will.

Uhmm I am not Completely against or support Piracy. I just believe that if you really cant get it or its been dead over 5 years and you want to play it... why not?

[Azure Dragoon Paris]

Fated raison detre

I pay for my stuff. Like an honest, responsible adult. If I can't afford it, I just save up.

Well said.

[YunaSama]

Parisu-Kun

YunaSama

I pirate stuff all the time... SNes, Sega, N64, GBA, movies, music, etc... I even have a DS Lite with an R4 flashcard... If it's easy (and my pc can handle it) I pirate it... Anything else I buy...
I mean, you can get stuff for free (which is nice if you aren't all that rich)! And with the laws in my country, it is allowed to download stuff for own private use as long as you don't upload stuff (not counting the upload when using Torrents) or sell whatever you download... cat_pirate

Uhmm I am not sure what to tell you... just because you can do it doesnt mean you should do it....

But I choose to do it because I can do it... emotion_awesome
I've always learned not to steal from friends, family, children, old ppl, and poor ppl... I don't really care about stealing (replaceable stuff) from rich ppl who don't fall under the groups I just mentioned... Stealing a copy of a game from a rich company won't keep me awake at night... cat_ninja