I Have an Unpopular Opinion

[RealEgg]

It is ok to pirate a game if it is no longer being sold directly by the publisher. For example, a game you wanted to play stopped being available 15 years ago, sites like Ebay don't have the game or it is very expensive. That would be one of the very few situations where piracy is ok. What do you think?
DISCLAIMER: I am not encouraging any illegal activity. This is a hypothetical discussion.

[Out Of Bubblegum]

I say yes. Even if you bought the old disk from eBay, the publisher and developer get no money from it.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by MarketBag177:

It is ok to pirate a game if it is no longer being sold directly by the publisher. ...What do you think?

No, it is not "OK." Theft is still theft.

If, however, you had already purchased this game in the past, then I'd be much more supportive. (There's often official support/approval for this, too, by the IP owners.) In the US, I think it's a legitimate practice - A valid license entitles you to own a copy, but it may not be specific to the exact copy/media, just that you have license to own one. (A backup/archival copy is also allowed.)

[RealEgg]

Originally posted by Out Of Bubblegum:

I say yes. Even if you bought the old disk from eBay, the publisher and developer get no money from it.

This is true.

[RealEgg]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

Originally posted by MarketBag177:

It is ok to pirate a game if it is no longer being sold directly by the publisher. ...What do you think?

No, it is not "OK." Theft is still theft.

If, however, you had already purchased this game in the past, then I'd be much more supportive. (There's often official support/approval for this, too, by the IP owners.) In the US, I think it's a legitimate practice - A valid license entitles you to own a copy, but it may not be specific to the exact copy/media, just that you have license to own one. (A backup/archival copy is also allowed.)

But if you buy a legit copy off of Ebay, no one except for the person selling it gets any money.

[xAlphaStarOmegax]

Originally posted by MarketBag177:

It is ok to pirate a game if it is no longer being sold directly by the publisher. For example, a game you wanted to play stopped being available 15 years ago, sites like Ebay don't have the game or it is very expensive. That would be one of the very few situations where piracy is ok. What do you think?

I'm not against it for any situation.

[Xautos]

An unpopular opinion: all you highly strung and holier than-thou types can unblock me if you had the stones to actually respect another person with an opinion.

anyone can have an unpopular opinion on something, don't make it right.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by MarketBag177:

..
But if you buy a legit copy off of Ebay, no one except for the person selling it gets any money.

That is a transaction that transfers the license/product. Transfer of license is an accepted practice in general, except where it is prohibited. It's possible that the manufacturer may prohibit certain sorts of licensing, even full transfers. And, gamers have been caught up in that issue as well with developers/publishers that have tried to disallow such practices. And, the legal system has responded to that, too. (Functionality issues must be retained AFAIK, though some things may still be in limbo.)

There's no equivalency in your example - Theft is still theft.

If you steal a game, you've still stolen it. If you knowingly buy a stolen thing, it still remains stolen and you become a party to that theft. If you knowingly download and use an illegally copied/distributed game, you are party to that theft and are a "thief."

There is no justification inherent in "I wanna, therefore I can." Just because you want something does not mean there must be some outside justification for the act that you want to do or the thing that you want.

See here: https://strebecklaw.com/video-game-copyright-length/

[RealEgg]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

Originally posted by MarketBag177:

..
But if you buy a legit copy off of Ebay, no one except for the person selling it gets any money.

That is a transaction that transfers the license/product. Transfer of license is an accepted practice in general, except where it is prohibited. It's possible that the manufacturer may prohibit certain sorts of licensing, even full transfers. And, gamers have been caught up in that issue as well with developers/publishers that have tried to disallow such practices. And, the legal system has responded to that, too. (Functionality issues must be retained AFAIK, though some things may still be in limbo.)

There's no equivalency in your example - Theft is still theft.

If you steal a game, you've still stolen it. If you knowingly buy a stolen thing, it still remains stolen and you become a party to that theft. If you knowingly download and use an illegally copied/distributed game, you are party to that theft and are a "thief."

There is no justification inherent in "I wanna, therefore I can." Just because you want something does not mean there must be some outside justification for the act that you want to do or the thing that you want.

See here: https://strebecklaw.com/video-game-copyright-length/

It's actually not called thievery, it's called copyright infringement, not the same thing. Would you rather pay hundreds for a game that doesn't even benefit the creators, or get it for free and have the ability to emulate it on your devices?

[RealEgg]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

Originally posted by MarketBag177:

..
But if you buy a legit copy off of Ebay, no one except for the person selling it gets any money.

That is a transaction that transfers the license/product. Transfer of license is an accepted practice in general, except where it is prohibited. It's possible that the manufacturer may prohibit certain sorts of licensing, even full transfers. And, gamers have been caught up in that issue as well with developers/publishers that have tried to disallow such practices. And, the legal system has responded to that, too. (Functionality issues must be retained AFAIK, though some things may still be in limbo.)

There's no equivalency in your example - Theft is still theft.

If you steal a game, you've still stolen it. If you knowingly buy a stolen thing, it still remains stolen and you become a party to that theft. If you knowingly download and use an illegally copied/distributed game, you are party to that theft and are a "thief."

There is no justification inherent in "I wanna, therefore I can." Just because you want something does not mean there must be some outside justification for the act that you want to do or the thing that you want.

See here: https://strebecklaw.com/video-game-copyright-length/

When the publishers are not selling the game, it becomes a victimless crime. If the devs don't want people pirating, they can just re release the game for the original price.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by MarketBag177:

..
It's actually not called thievery, it's called copyright infringement, not the same thing. Would you rather pay hundreds for a game that doesn't even benefit the creators, or get it for free and have the ability to emulate it on your devices?

OK, then you're guilty of a theft of copyright privileges and or a copyright infinger...er. By whatever flavor, you're still guilty of a crime.

What you would "rather" do is immaterial - That's the whole point! There are laws keeping people from doing to you exactly what you're proposing to do to others.

Originally posted by MarketBag177:

..
When the publishers are not selling the game, it becomes a victimless crime. If the devs don't want people pirating, they can just re release the game for the original price.

Michaelangelo ain't makin' no more paintings, either, but stealing the Mona Lisa is still a crime. And, forcing someone to do something that they do not want to do is a crime, too.


You can't justify your criminal desires by trying to find non-laws that legally, morally, or ethically seem to support the illegal thing you want to do.


It's illegal. If you engage in it, you're engaging in illegal activity. If you engage in illegal activity, you are a criminal. It's that simple, no matter how much you really want to do the illegal thing...

[🍋 Lemonfed 🍋]

what I find dishonest are peoples going like ""oh but you can emulate this game for free since a long time ago"" when the old game actually get re-released as an excuse for not wanting to buy it.

I don't care if you pirate old games but if the developers make the efforts in getting the game legally available again , don't be a free loader , support them if you can.

[Hairy Hands Harry]

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

Originally posted by MarketBag177:

It is ok to pirate a game if it is no longer being sold directly by the publisher. For example, a game you wanted to play stopped being available 15 years ago, sites like Ebay don't have the game or it is very expensive. That would be one of the very few situations where piracy is ok. What do you think?

I'm not against it for any situation.

So much for your Christianity and reading the Bible. You don't give a dam about "Thou shall not steal". You are not a Christian.

[Schindler's Lifts]

When it comes to online piracy, I'll always hold Gabe Newell's quote with me. Game companies just would not have to worry about piracy if they just gave their customers a place to legally purchase and download their old games online.

Originally posted by Morkonan:

Originally posted by MarketBag177:

..
When the publishers are not selling the game, it becomes a victimless crime. If the devs don't want people pirating, they can just re release the game for the original price.

Michaelangelo ain't makin' no more paintings, either, but stealing the Mona Lisa is still a crime. And, forcing someone to do something that they do not want to do is a crime, too.

To get the Mona Lisa, you have to steal it from the Louvre, which deprives others of a chance to enjoy it. To get an old Nintendo game, you just need to download an 8kb file. Nobody is being deprived anything. Not even Nintendo, since they don't make any money from secondhand sales of the game anyway.

It's a victimless crime.

[morbidarchon]

YEP.

Sometimes I think it's alright in general. (Play before you pay, for the entire experience such as online and etc) but of course that's not okay.

[Faster With Feeling]

If a game becomes abandonware it's usually OK to share it around since no one has a clear title to it but it's a very grey area to be messing around in.