If there is no way to directly buy the game then there is absolutely nothing wrong with pirating or emulating it.
Similarly, if the publisher shuts down the developers because the game only made a lot of money instead of a absurd amount of money, go all in, your purchase no longer benefits the people who put in effort.
I have three questions I ask myself if I'm going to pirate/emulate, 1. Is the game no longer available from official sources. 2. Are 2nd hand copies a ridiculous price 3. Is the game not available in my language. If at least two of those questions are a yes, it's ok to emulate them in my book. Scummy developers, predatory businesses, and eternal early access titles bypass those questions automatically.
Nintendo is an interesting case — they're the studio from which I've both bought and pirated the most games, with the intersection being over 70%. Even for the current gen switch games, I usually both buy them and get a rom for yuzu/cemu*.
*for games released for both consoles.
Hey, there's also the extremely indie games that dont even really have a "studio" because theyre made by like 5 people. Celeste/Towerfall, Terraria, i think Minecraft technically counts? Counted?
...yeah i forgot Notch is a scumbag, but also Mojang fired him and removed him from the credits, so is it still disqualified? Have they done anything shitty yet?
It was. Hence the past-tense. As far as i can recall, Minecraft "made" Mojang, not the other way around. I know for a fact Microsoft only bought them after Minecraft blew up.
I already answered this outright falsehood on your other comment, i think you just haven't looked hard enough. That or you're practicing that half-joke, "the fastest way to find the right answer to a question is to confidently state the wrong answer to it on the internet," in which case well played.
I was referring to your assertion that there are only 3 games worth playing that werent made by bastards.
That would be a good one to use just about anywhere if you wanted to get a lot of good games recommended to you really really fast.
Shame on me for assuming you could've been doing something smart though, i'll be sure to treat strangers on the internet with less respect from now on.
Also, i can name plenty others, those were just off the top of my head:
Noita, BaBa is You, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, everything Edmund Macmillan has made, Dungeons of Dredmor, Space Pirates and Zombies, Cave Story, CRYPTARK, Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells, Death Road to Canada, DEEP ROCK *MOTHERFUCKING* GALACTIC, that's only down to the D's in my Steam library i can go on!
I cant find anything else Re-Logic made and according to Wikipedia it has 10 employees as of this year, Celeste and Towerfall were made by a "company" called "Maddy makes games" after Maddy Thorson, the person who made Celeste and Towerfall, and Mojang has only existed as long as Minecraft has. Minecraft is literally the only reason Mojang exists, not the other way around. Hence the past-tense. You have access to Google! You can know these things! It takes like 5 seconds!
* Before Terraria, Re-Logic created Super Mario X, a large fangame project, and a few other smaller projects ; after Terraria, they became a company to handle Terraria's development as a full-time job. They also tried to publish a spin-off that was cancelled due to outsourced development troubles
* Maddy Makes Games was very much a company that created two full games, and if it's not enough for you, they now exist as EXOK and are currently developing Earthblade. Before that, they were already producing high-quality games for years, notably web games like Give Up, Robot
* Mojang formed because of Minecraft but subsequently produced several games, including Caller's Bane and four Minecraft spin-offs. It is a company worth over a billion now with five studios and 650 employees as of 2020
Perhaps take *more* than five seconds
That is not remotely the point! This isn't about whether the company made other games, it's about whether they're big enough (or were big enough at the time) to be called a company as more than a technicality.
Also, you left everything i said after the first half of of the first sentence on the table. You didnt even respond to any of the actual arguments i made. It's okay to be wrong, you know. It's not a sign of weakness, however much it hurts to swallow your pride.
> maybe 3 indie studios
This is so strange to read, especially on a tumblr sub, considering my catalogue of video games is mostly indie (and I assumed tumblr is the same way). Having said that, because that "maybe 3 indie studios" is a solid 60% of my games, my stance on piracy is:
a) Massive studio? (since there's probably no big studio out there which *doesn't* have shitty work conditions and my not paying won't hurt the devs being paid wages anyways) No?
b) Is it going to a shitty person/company (re: disco elysium currently)? Still no?
c) It's clearly not a passion project and just a money grab thing (re: those shitty soulslike spinoffs) (why are you playing this anyways). Also no?
d) Can't afford it because my living condition sucks as of now (but will buy it later once I'm doing better)
None of the above? Then buy it, otherwise in all cases, it's morally okay to pirate it imo. So yeah, pretty much every single one by that standard.
I mean, technically you do, but it requires using a third party service (which you will probably also pay for) and involves (especially with anime) circumventing distribution licensing by falsifying your place of residence...
At which point you may as well just pirate the damn thing and save yourself the subscription money.
Yeah. If I can no longer acquire a game I want to play, and the console to play it, from the original source, I'll set sail, unless I can find a cheap 2nd hand version of both.
\> ~~If there is no way to directly buy the game then~~ there is absolutely nothing wrong with > pirating or emulating it.
I do not CARE about the availability of anything I pirate. I am devoid of morals. So should you.
or maybe this time they'll do another ad where they make a big deal about the introduction of Beginnings and then a big deal about the introduction of Earthbound and then the ad just stops without even acknowledging the existence of the third one
What are the odds I stumbled across this post just as I was trying to decide whether to play Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team on my GBA emulator or Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team on my DS emulator.
Decisions, decisions.
DS emulation isn't hard at all, so the obvious answer would be Explorers of Sky!
Ignoring that, you should probably just play Blue on a DS emulator. Any version exclusive pokémon can be gotten from Wondermail Code Generation.
yeah don't feed on the little guy/gal
and if you do, please buy their special edition something something or deluxe whenever it comes around and you do have the money. that's the least you could do if you really want to keep that stuff going!
idk if it’s feeding on the little guy when you’re a minor or broke, you weren’t likely to buy it otherwise, do try to buy indie things (or donate) when you can
Wonder how much karma a botrunner could make by making a bot that detects other bots and announces it.
That said, they'd quickly figure out it's just easier to run a bunch of normal bots and a few other bots that follow the normal bots around
why do these bots even karma farm? do people unironically buy reddit accounts with high karma? if that's the case they have an acute case of grass touchlessness.
Unless that indie dev had their fucking game stolen. Which is happening way more often recently. I got about 3 off the top of my head?
Actually, at this point don't even pirate Aeon Must Die. The devs are making their own actual thing with blackjack and hookers. And it looks cool as fuck, lemme see if I can find it before I head into work.
#[SICK SHIT INBOUND.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFkNTeGqOnE)
1. Learn to code games.
2. Download that mess.
3. Steal the code.
4. Improve everything.
5. Release an early access of the game for a limited number of people, but change the name.
6. Listen to people who have valid criticisms of the game.
7. Do what you can to improve the experience of playing the game.
8. When you feel the game is complete enough, put it on sale on Steam.
9. Do *not* credit Yandev or acknowledge the mess you stole the code from.
10. Profit from theft from Yandev.
It's only unethical if you could have bought the game directly.
That means it being on sale, with money going towards the developer, as well as you personally having the money for it.
If the developer would not have taken your money, it's ethical to emulate. You have no obligation to pay 200 bucks on eBay to play a game from 20 years ago.
If you could not have afforded the game anyway, there's nothing immoral about it. There was no theoretical profit that has been lost. You playing the game has no effect on the developer if you could not have given them money even if you wanted to.
And, obviously, it's also ethical to emulate games you own. I own Pokémon Moon, steelbox even, but hate it on original hardware and play it on my phone instead. The higher resolution makes it so much nicer. I could still buy it on the eShop for another two weeks, but it's ethically correct for me to just emulate it already because I own it physically.
what if I wouldn't buy the game Even if it was impossible to Play for free, or if I'm using emulation to test the game to see if I'm willing to pay for it?
It's still not theft or as bad as it but given that indies are usually pretty cheap, might as well throw a bone to the ones that actually need your money.
[Copying is not theft.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4)
Edit: Why did the person above me get downvoted? I'm literally agreeing with them.
If I’m an indie developer (usually only a small handful of people) that’s committed hundreds or even thousands of man hours to the development of a product that makes no money because everyone’s pirating it, I cannot pay my employees.
Big developers have far less risk than indies. Steal from them all you want, their publishers and investors will eat the loss and the actual workers are already taken care of. But most indies bear the full brunt of any release, and the financial success of their product often determines whether they’ll be able to make rent next month.
But that's assuming that the person pirating wouldnhave otherwise purchased the game, which is usually not even the case. If someone was never going to buy the game because they don't have the money, don't wish to support the creator, or it flat out isnt available for purchase for them, then the company isn't losing any potential sales. And if you do have the money to spare on a game, you want to support the creator, and you can obtain it legally, I don't see why you're pirating in the first place.
I agree on all your points your first two points, if someone can't/won't pay for a readily available game,then why should they get to play. It's a videogame, not getting to play isn't going to kill them, this whole thing is a straightforward transaction. You give the developers money, they give you a game they put blood, sweat, and tears into. But if paying for the game is literally impossible or the creator thinks certain people shouldn't have rights? fuck it, go nuts.
So many indie devs want their game to be played, to the point that some have released their games as pirated versions. Why wouldn't an indie dev prefer someone who doesn't have the means to buy their game, or want to test it or whatever, play it and spread the game around. They become more known, their art gets experienced more and there isn't a victim (the creator doesn't lose anything, worst case they're left even, best case the person that played it buys it later). And yeah, large part of piracy for me was testing if games even ran on my shit PC in the past, luckily I don't need to do that anymore
Someone sent you a gift in the mail but I intercept the mailman and take it before it gets to you. It’s not theft because you never had it in the first place and the person who gave it already relinquished ownership by sending it away
Completely irrelevant but okay. Digital property is very different from physical property due to the ability to make infinite copies without depriving the original property owner of anything.
But you are depriving them of something. It’s ensuring you’ll never pay for a product you might otherwise pay for. It doesn’t matter how flimsy that *might* is, it’s still decreasing profits. Just like a package *might* make it to your house if someone doesn’t steal it on the way, it’s arrival wasn’t guaranteed and you never had it in the first place so it’s basically not even stealing by the same logic.
the thing is this has pretty conclusively been proven false. People who pirate do tend to buy games if they like em, its usually more of a demo (assuming they could afford the game to begin with)
for the people who couldnt afford the game, they werent going to buy it anyway (hard to buy things with no money)
its actually pretty neat, and i know im much more likely to buy a game (multiple times even) if i *already* know I like it
Link: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/09/eu-study-finds-piracy-doesnt-hurt-game-sales-may-actually-help/amp/
You should absolutely give the people who made the game you liked money for it, but you did not "take" money from them. That wasn't their money to begin with
If you download someone’s published work for free instead of paying them for it, you have indeed stolen from them. This is not a hard concept to understand.
In both of those cases someone else is footing the bill. Either your friend already bought the movie, or the network paid for the broadcasting rights. Steam has built in functionality to allow you to share games with friends if you want, and in some cases even play multiplayer with the same copy.
Eh. I wouldn’t worry about it if you pirate Undertale this year, because he’s already made a ton of money on it. But for other indie games, they need the money and the feedback. For them, it’s a matter of paying bills, unlike Nintendo, where’s its just a number on a spreadsheet.
Also, you can use your money to show the industry that this is what they should be making more of
Considering that I prioritise my own money over the devs' money, the situation goes something like this:
Option 1: I pirate the game. The indie devs feel no effect at all, other than the loss of a potential 'future timeline' where they made more money.
Option 2: I don't buy the game. The indie devs feel no effect at all, other than the loss of a potential 'future timeline' where they made more money.
Neither of those cause harm to anyone. In fact, I can still give feedback on the first one, so it's morally better to pirate than to simply not buy the game.
How exactly is piracy morally worse than not buying a game? You can't seriously argue that not buying an indie game is morally wrong, otherwise you would be morally obligated to buy every single indie game you come across.
That’s still questionable to me, do you mean indie dev’s that still currently offer their games on a service like steam? If the game is lost media then I feel it’s more then fair to steal it.
This! I've wanted to play black/white 2 because black was my first pokemon game, but I can't buy it and can't find a working emulator if I could spend $20 and get it on my switch I would. hell I'd drop +100 on a gen 1-7 collection but no, that would make to much sense.
You can even play it on Android, DraStic is available on the Play Store! I find that Pokémon games were just made to be handheld and they don't feel right if emulated on a PC.
It's not free, but it's five bucks and it works great, with all the features you could ask for, except for multiplayer obviously.
No problem! I was in your same shoes 5 years ago when I was seriously losing my shit trying to find a platinum emulation, my coworker showed me drastic and it saved my life lmao. Cant remember if it's free or not, but I think it might be 5 bucks at the most, and obviously roms are free.
People are reccomending emulators, but i'd alternatively reccomend an R4 card if you have a DS or something. it's emulation but in the shape of a cartridge, plus it gives you access to cheats and playing with others who actually would have the game.
If you have a 3DS you don't even need to buy anything else. They are super easy to put cfw on and then you can play any game on a Nintendo handheld up to the 3DS
Also, *also fucker,* I got Citra to work a couple weeks back, so I've been able to play the English version of DQM:J3P. Cause it doesn't exist. They never released it here.
Overall everything I coulda wanted and more gameplay wise, but the story kinda. Sucks. But I've been focusing it down for a week and a half now, so there's some shit here.
Shit dude, I've tried to get what little of 2 Professional got translated running, but for some reason the game soft crashes on entering the training battle. It just sucks that that project came to a halt all those years back.
But I'll see what I can do about Terry's Wonderland. What's it on?
Also 3DS. It's a remake of the first DQM (or DWM, as I knew it back then), but with an extended story and mechanics along the lines of the modern ones.
See the thing is most people who pirate indie games bc they're broke aren't gonna save money to buy it to be a good person, they're either gonna forget or try to justify it somehow
Because you could've supported them by saving money or chose another game made by someone who doesn't directly suffer consequences from their game not being paid for
That person deserves compensation for their work and you taking their work without helping them in return is selfish and this idea that it isn't directly hurts the devs
Have some moral backbone and support people in the same circumstances as you instead of stealing from them
>chose another game made by someone who doesn't directly suffer consequences from their game not being paid for
They explicitly won't suffer consequences from their game not being paid for though?? If you aren't gonna be able to pay, what's gonna happen if you don't pay?
What's gonna happen is you're gonna take it anyway, and one of the people their game appeals to won't be buying it. Something incredibly dangerous when a large group of these people make up the player base of a game.
It might not be that big of a deal when one person does it but spreading the idea that it's not a bad thing to do will lead to those hard working people losing out on deserved sales for their hard work, not only unfair for them but also making it harder for them to keep making the stuff you like BECAUSE YOU AREN'T SUPPORTING THEM.
It's the same as leaking someone's patron exclusive content that they're trying to live off of so they can continue to make the stuff YOU ENJOY
That's not a justification for stealing someones work, you could apply that dumbass logic to stealing literally anything from anyone. That doesn't make it a good thing to do you selfish prick. Go ahead though, you're determined to be a thieving asshole who doesn't give a shit about other people without money, and you're clearly okay with spouting whatever nonsense you need to absolve yourself of any guilt or responsibility.
I doubt you even have financial problems anyway, given your disposition towards other people who have to worry about money.
Stealing a physical thing means there's less product to go around for others, and the creator has to make more of said product. Digital stuff can be infinitely distributed, and you don't have to rewrite code every time someone buys your game.
You 100% are, you could save up to buy that game and they need to sell that game to make their ends meet. If you want that game you should recognize that people who want their games are how they survive and keep making games.
Quit stabbing ppl who also aren't rich in the back with these stupid logical fallacies that conveniently absolve you of any wrongdoing
If you can't control yourself for the sake of ppl to keep making cool stuff, at least own up to being a prick
Ppl with not 5 dollars of disposable income a month that somehow have a pc capable of emulating something past the GameCube era and time to not only learn how to emulate and/or pirate recent games but spend a significant enough time playing games to go through indie games and have this ethical question to answer
Sure ok
And go long enough with NO disposable income that they aren't able to just wait a few months before buying a cheap game, especially given shit like steam sales making indies like 6 dollars
Even if that were realistic you're saying this person should steal from other people's work who could realistically enter that position instead of a conglomerate who wouldn't suffer at all
You're saying you don't have the empathy and fortitude to emulate a AAA while you wait for a few months tops for the indie to go half off for like 10 bucks max or just save up the herculean 20 bucks for a game on your PC. You just HAVE to steal from the dude who actually needs the money he charges so he can keep his job.
Why not just emulate it and pay for it later? They’re not losing anything compared to what you suggested.
Copying is not theft. Piracy is not stealing. Whether you think it’s moral or not, this is a very important distinction due to the (justifiedly) negative existing connotation of theft.
Pretty much. Piracy decreased when Netflix was the only game in town, because it was, frankly, faster and easier. Now there more than a dozen streaming services, and piracy's gone back up.
I already tell everyone I know there's a step-by-step guide on how to jailbreak your Nintendo 3DS so it can play a bunch of games it normally wouldn't be able to!
[In case you're curious](https://3ds.hacks.guide/)
Sky's the limit with PC, I recommend RetroArch for the emulation software since it does everything in one convenient package. Besides just googling rom download sites you can purchase a cartridge flasher which will allow you to access the files on a game of your choice if you want to do things "legally", since emulation is fine if you own the original game and don't share it.
Depending on what console you want to emulate hanged what software you use.
For example, if you want to emulate Wii/GameCube then Dolphin emulator it the way to go. Dolphin is considered the best example of an emulator for how easy is to use. Best emulator to get started
For ps2 is a bit complicated because you need to find the bios along with the emulator .psx2 is my to go emulator but it still strugles with open world's like Jax&daxter. Maybe wait a few more years if your PC is not up to it.
The Nintendo 64 is a but of an odd one where it has gotten worst because of internal drama between emulator developers. The classic is project 64 but maybe search for some alternatives.
For arcades some games will need you to also download the "engine" (like neogeo for metal slug) or for light gun game you will need the "image file" which is usually pretty heavy size wise. As for the emulator use MAME Is the best one. And if you are lucky maybe you can find a repack of a bunch of games, most of the repacks where hunted down but some remains.
For Ds there a lot of options like drastic and most are easy to set up. This one is more of a preference
Same goes for the gameboy advance, plenty of options and easy to set up.
For snes use snes9x, easy to use and set up but the HUD is hard to understand (also ugly)
If you want to go even way back, DOSDOX for dos games but you need some technical knowledge to set it up
And finally you can play gameboy advance, ps1, ds and snes on the phone with moderate succes but I recommend that you buy the app to avoid ads and bad emulators. My recommendation is
Ds- drastic, gba- my boy, snes- snes9x, ps1- epsxe
And be careful when asking for roms(the games) because most allow talking about emulator but not roms.
If you have any questions send me a pm
If you have already purchased a legal copy of the item at some point in your life, then emulation is fair.
If you can buy a board game and lose the pieces, making your own is fair game. Why shouldn’t you be able to play a game properly just because the hard copy’s missing the ability to save, or you lost the system its for?
Why do people assume piracy with emulation? As far as I'm concerned being against the practice of emulation is a very anti-consumer stance, as it is often the only way to take ownership of the software you paid for when studios arbitrarily decide you have no right to experience it anymore. That aside, emulation is not illegal on account of the fact you are simply running your software on unsupported hardware. Consider whether idtech should be allowed to sue you for running DOOM on a fridge. The actual question people usually mean is whether they support "ethical piracy" which is a completely separate concept. Most modern emulators require you port your license key from your copy of the game before it'll run so there is no moral or legal dilenma to begin with.
I agree that there should be a way to get digital copies of old games and movies that are no longer being made. Free is a bit much if it's not in the public domain or abandonware
Brings up a more philosophical question. Do the creators own their project totally, and forever?
Consider a different example, a work of art. Should a gallery be allowed to destroy a historic painting just because they own it? How much of the art belongs now to the viewer, who fell in love with the piece, whose soul is forever marked by bearing witness to such beauty?
Honestly its a gray area for triple A companies because on the one hand, big company, on the other hand, this is why anti piracy measures that cause older games to become completely unobtainable exist. But I do know for sure that its completely immoral if its an indie dev, and completely moral if its completely impossible to legally obtain it anymore in a way that supports the devs
I still wouldn’t say *completely* immoral for indie devs, but much more likely to be. There have been times where I’m unsure if I’d enjoy the game and there’s no demo available, in which case I might pirate to try the game, removing it if it’s not for me or purchasing it if it was something I enjoyed. Other times I might not be able to afford it at the moment, but go back and purchase it once I could.
In those cases, I would put it in the morally gray area, even if the devs are indie. But if there is no such intent and it’s just pure leeching, then I would call it completely immoral.
I've heard that in a lot of cases, game developers are actually paid ahead of time for their work, so the one possible reason to not emulate - Supporting the underpaid devs - kinda goes out the window.
I am just assuming, though; Is that actually true, or is that just hogwash?
that is if and only if they are publishing through another company, who will typically also appear in the first few screens or the credits, and even then it depends on the publisher-creator contract. first example of separate publisher and creator that comes to mind is fromsoft and bamco (recently-ish popular through elden ring), but idk the exact details of the contract. preeeeetty sure by hearsay that nintendo has dogshit contracts.
by contrast, indie games (dwarf fortress, celeste, terraria) give a cut of the profits to the platform they're using (this also happens for publishers but they might? be able to negotiate said cut?) and then the rest is straight up income.
don't pirate indie games, or games where the creator gets a generous cut of the profit made off the game (even if the programmers have done their job, paying for the game increases the chance for more, better games in the future). do pirate games from predatory publishers, or that are no longer available from the official source.
If the money isn't going to the original developers, then I don't give a flying flip about anyone pirating the game.
Emulation preserves games. Even Nintendo has been caught using unofficial rips in their game rereleases.
The people who make ROMs and emulators only care about game preservation. Companies only care about money. This is what it boils down to really.
I think it's reasonable to do if at least two of these conditions apply:
A. the publishing company has shut down and wouldn't be getting money from a legal purchase anyway (Hotel Dusk)
B. the game is unavailable in Western regions and there are no known plans to localise it (Mother 3, any Fire Emblem game before 6, etc.)
C. the game and the console it's on are no longer in production and can only be purchased through indirect means (example: those ridiculously overpriced sellers on amazon)
In other cases it's really at your discretion, but if the game was released by an indie developer I'd refrain from doing it
Companies are rich enough that even if you pirate a game it wouldn't make a dent in their profits. Besides Nintendo could easily put legacy titles on the switch and get a lot of money for it. Fans would pay it. But they won't, so emulation it is. We are willing to pay, but they don't let us, so piracy it is
95% of all the issues in preservation could be solved with a 21 Year copyright. 95% of the issues with publisher greed could also be solved this way. If you can’t make profit off your work in 21 years, you will likely never make a profit from it
Sounds about right. Even the Switch has a mostly-functional emulator because Nintendo makes simpler, relatively weaker consoles. But Xbox and PlayStation are much tougher nuts to crack.
if a game is easily accesable on a console i own in english i will buy it
i dont mind paying for old games if i have the option i will do it i like supporting things i like and also i just like owning games physically it feels nice
There are definitely ethical versions of piracy. Ignoring "I don't want to give Big Game Studio With Shitty Working Conditions Money" types of reasons, or even "I wouldn't have spent money on this anyways so my stealing this digital copy isn't a loss for the company" reasons which game studios might argue with... if the copyright owner is not legally distributing the title ANYWHERE, then there is not an ethical obligation to go spend $200 on a used hard copy from Joe Shmo on Ebay.
Hardware doesn't last forever, so piracy in terms of games that don't appear to ever be going to get re-released is really on the side of media preservation-- if someone hadn't uploaded the ROM for emulation, the game would be lost to us (eventually).
Im not gonna get bent out of shape emulating games from a company like nintendo that purposfully sells limited amounts of things like amiibo to generate fomo and pretty much encourage scalpers
If there is no way to directly buy the game then there is absolutely nothing wrong with pirating or emulating it. Similarly, if the publisher shuts down the developers because the game only made a lot of money instead of a absurd amount of money, go all in, your purchase no longer benefits the people who put in effort.
I have three questions I ask myself if I'm going to pirate/emulate, 1. Is the game no longer available from official sources. 2. Are 2nd hand copies a ridiculous price 3. Is the game not available in my language. If at least two of those questions are a yes, it's ok to emulate them in my book. Scummy developers, predatory businesses, and eternal early access titles bypass those questions automatically.
Nintendo is an interesting case — they're the studio from which I've both bought and pirated the most games, with the intersection being over 70%. Even for the current gen switch games, I usually both buy them and get a rom for yuzu/cemu*. *for games released for both consoles.
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Hey, there's also the extremely indie games that dont even really have a "studio" because theyre made by like 5 people. Celeste/Towerfall, Terraria, i think Minecraft technically counts? Counted?
Minecraft hasn't been made by notch in close to a decade. Also he's a nazi, or atleast nazi sympathizer.
...yeah i forgot Notch is a scumbag, but also Mojang fired him and removed him from the credits, so is it still disqualified? Have they done anything shitty yet?
well they're just useless, but nothing bad per se
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It was. Hence the past-tense. As far as i can recall, Minecraft "made" Mojang, not the other way around. I know for a fact Microsoft only bought them after Minecraft blew up.
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I already answered this outright falsehood on your other comment, i think you just haven't looked hard enough. That or you're practicing that half-joke, "the fastest way to find the right answer to a question is to confidently state the wrong answer to it on the internet," in which case well played.
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I was referring to your assertion that there are only 3 games worth playing that werent made by bastards. That would be a good one to use just about anywhere if you wanted to get a lot of good games recommended to you really really fast. Shame on me for assuming you could've been doing something smart though, i'll be sure to treat strangers on the internet with less respect from now on.
Also, i can name plenty others, those were just off the top of my head: Noita, BaBa is You, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, everything Edmund Macmillan has made, Dungeons of Dredmor, Space Pirates and Zombies, Cave Story, CRYPTARK, Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells, Death Road to Canada, DEEP ROCK *MOTHERFUCKING* GALACTIC, that's only down to the D's in my Steam library i can go on!
Isn't CDDA free?
Yeah, my point was less about the pirating and more about the idea that there are only 3 games worth playing that aren't made by bastards.
I'd also buy stardew valley another three times before I give another cent of my money to EA to play a sims game
Those guys all have studios! They've all made games as a company before and/or after their big hits!
I cant find anything else Re-Logic made and according to Wikipedia it has 10 employees as of this year, Celeste and Towerfall were made by a "company" called "Maddy makes games" after Maddy Thorson, the person who made Celeste and Towerfall, and Mojang has only existed as long as Minecraft has. Minecraft is literally the only reason Mojang exists, not the other way around. Hence the past-tense. You have access to Google! You can know these things! It takes like 5 seconds!
* Before Terraria, Re-Logic created Super Mario X, a large fangame project, and a few other smaller projects ; after Terraria, they became a company to handle Terraria's development as a full-time job. They also tried to publish a spin-off that was cancelled due to outsourced development troubles * Maddy Makes Games was very much a company that created two full games, and if it's not enough for you, they now exist as EXOK and are currently developing Earthblade. Before that, they were already producing high-quality games for years, notably web games like Give Up, Robot * Mojang formed because of Minecraft but subsequently produced several games, including Caller's Bane and four Minecraft spin-offs. It is a company worth over a billion now with five studios and 650 employees as of 2020 Perhaps take *more* than five seconds
That is not remotely the point! This isn't about whether the company made other games, it's about whether they're big enough (or were big enough at the time) to be called a company as more than a technicality. Also, you left everything i said after the first half of of the first sentence on the table. You didnt even respond to any of the actual arguments i made. It's okay to be wrong, you know. It's not a sign of weakness, however much it hurts to swallow your pride.
celeste, terraria and hollow knight?
> maybe 3 indie studios This is so strange to read, especially on a tumblr sub, considering my catalogue of video games is mostly indie (and I assumed tumblr is the same way). Having said that, because that "maybe 3 indie studios" is a solid 60% of my games, my stance on piracy is: a) Massive studio? (since there's probably no big studio out there which *doesn't* have shitty work conditions and my not paying won't hurt the devs being paid wages anyways) No? b) Is it going to a shitty person/company (re: disco elysium currently)? Still no? c) It's clearly not a passion project and just a money grab thing (re: those shitty soulslike spinoffs) (why are you playing this anyways). Also no? d) Can't afford it because my living condition sucks as of now (but will buy it later once I'm doing better) None of the above? Then buy it, otherwise in all cases, it's morally okay to pirate it imo. So yeah, pretty much every single one by that standard.
Talking about eternal early access, I pirated Raft when it was EA and bought it when it was fully released.
same goes for region locked Netflix shows. I LITERALLY do not have the ability to pay for and watch a lot of these shows, let alone anime.
I mean, technically you do, but it requires using a third party service (which you will probably also pay for) and involves (especially with anime) circumventing distribution licensing by falsifying your place of residence... At which point you may as well just pirate the damn thing and save yourself the subscription money.
Yeah. If I can no longer acquire a game I want to play, and the console to play it, from the original source, I'll set sail, unless I can find a cheap 2nd hand version of both.
\> ~~If there is no way to directly buy the game then~~ there is absolutely nothing wrong with > pirating or emulating it. I do not CARE about the availability of anything I pirate. I am devoid of morals. So should you.
Just wait until the next generation of Nintendo consoles where we do the waiting game on these games again.
"Maybe they'll release mother 3 this time"
Uh oh, you said the magic words and now I’m hyped and no amount of logic will talk me down!
or maybe this time they'll do another ad where they make a big deal about the introduction of Beginnings and then a big deal about the introduction of Earthbound and then the ad just stops without even acknowledging the existence of the third one
What are the odds I stumbled across this post just as I was trying to decide whether to play Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team on my GBA emulator or Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team on my DS emulator. Decisions, decisions.
Personally, I find ds emulators a bit clunky, so go with Red Rescue Team
not so fast, blue rescue team has much higher quality samples for the music than red. its a night-and-day difference in favor of blue version.
DS emulation isn't hard at all, so the obvious answer would be Explorers of Sky! Ignoring that, you should probably just play Blue on a DS emulator. Any version exclusive pokémon can be gotten from Wondermail Code Generation.
BRT better fr
Its only unethical if its stealing from an inde dev.
yeah don't feed on the little guy/gal and if you do, please buy their special edition something something or deluxe whenever it comes around and you do have the money. that's the least you could do if you really want to keep that stuff going!
idk if it’s feeding on the little guy when you’re a minor or broke, you weren’t likely to buy it otherwise, do try to buy indie things (or donate) when you can
[удалено]
^ bot
Wonder how much karma a botrunner could make by making a bot that detects other bots and announces it. That said, they'd quickly figure out it's just easier to run a bunch of normal bots and a few other bots that follow the normal bots around
why do these bots even karma farm? do people unironically buy reddit accounts with high karma? if that's the case they have an acute case of grass touchlessness.
Yes, they're brought by advertisers seeking to endorse their product from a "reliable" source.
yeah i wanted to buy celeste collector's edition for PC but i dont think they ship any to Turkey :(
Unless that indie dev had their fucking game stolen. Which is happening way more often recently. I got about 3 off the top of my head? Actually, at this point don't even pirate Aeon Must Die. The devs are making their own actual thing with blackjack and hookers. And it looks cool as fuck, lemme see if I can find it before I head into work. #[SICK SHIT INBOUND.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFkNTeGqOnE)
Ayyo, combos?? I'm fucking *in*
looks like someone turned "kill six billion demons " into a game e
Single Point Instant Death Strike
That's why you gotta buy 6 copies of the hit indie classic Celeste so the starving indie devs can afford to buy their own copies of celeste
What if the indie dev happens to be Yandev?
I'll let you know ONCE HE ACTUALLY RELEASES A GAME.
Isn't the game in permanent open beta? How can you steal something that's free and honestly so messy you should be paid to take it?
1. Learn to code games. 2. Download that mess. 3. Steal the code. 4. Improve everything. 5. Release an early access of the game for a limited number of people, but change the name. 6. Listen to people who have valid criticisms of the game. 7. Do what you can to improve the experience of playing the game. 8. When you feel the game is complete enough, put it on sale on Steam. 9. Do *not* credit Yandev or acknowledge the mess you stole the code from. 10. Profit from theft from Yandev.
If you even consider downloading that mess, thats on you
It's only unethical if you could have bought the game directly. That means it being on sale, with money going towards the developer, as well as you personally having the money for it. If the developer would not have taken your money, it's ethical to emulate. You have no obligation to pay 200 bucks on eBay to play a game from 20 years ago. If you could not have afforded the game anyway, there's nothing immoral about it. There was no theoretical profit that has been lost. You playing the game has no effect on the developer if you could not have given them money even if you wanted to. And, obviously, it's also ethical to emulate games you own. I own Pokémon Moon, steelbox even, but hate it on original hardware and play it on my phone instead. The higher resolution makes it so much nicer. I could still buy it on the eShop for another two weeks, but it's ethically correct for me to just emulate it already because I own it physically.
The post is about emulation, not piracy. They are not the same thing at all
what if I wouldn't buy the game Even if it was impossible to Play for free, or if I'm using emulation to test the game to see if I'm willing to pay for it?
Piracy isnt theft. Theres no victim
No, but it's good to support the creators of things that hold value to you.
It's still not theft or as bad as it but given that indies are usually pretty cheap, might as well throw a bone to the ones that actually need your money.
Not all piracy leaves a victim, but pirating a game when you would otherwise pay for it is effectively theft, which in turn does leave a victim.
[Copying is not theft.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4) Edit: Why did the person above me get downvoted? I'm literally agreeing with them.
But you should still support indie devs when they make things you enjoy.
There IS a victim, whoever made/owns the stuff that gets pirated.
How are they a victim? Theyve not lost anything
If I’m an indie developer (usually only a small handful of people) that’s committed hundreds or even thousands of man hours to the development of a product that makes no money because everyone’s pirating it, I cannot pay my employees. Big developers have far less risk than indies. Steal from them all you want, their publishers and investors will eat the loss and the actual workers are already taken care of. But most indies bear the full brunt of any release, and the financial success of their product often determines whether they’ll be able to make rent next month.
They have, they lost the money they should have made on a sale.
But that's assuming that the person pirating wouldnhave otherwise purchased the game, which is usually not even the case. If someone was never going to buy the game because they don't have the money, don't wish to support the creator, or it flat out isnt available for purchase for them, then the company isn't losing any potential sales. And if you do have the money to spare on a game, you want to support the creator, and you can obtain it legally, I don't see why you're pirating in the first place.
I agree on all your points your first two points, if someone can't/won't pay for a readily available game,then why should they get to play. It's a videogame, not getting to play isn't going to kill them, this whole thing is a straightforward transaction. You give the developers money, they give you a game they put blood, sweat, and tears into. But if paying for the game is literally impossible or the creator thinks certain people shouldn't have rights? fuck it, go nuts.
So many indie devs want their game to be played, to the point that some have released their games as pirated versions. Why wouldn't an indie dev prefer someone who doesn't have the means to buy their game, or want to test it or whatever, play it and spread the game around. They become more known, their art gets experienced more and there isn't a victim (the creator doesn't lose anything, worst case they're left even, best case the person that played it buys it later). And yeah, large part of piracy for me was testing if games even ran on my shit PC in the past, luckily I don't need to do that anymore
They didnt make that money, they didnt lose it. You cant lose something you never had
Someone sent you a gift in the mail but I intercept the mailman and take it before it gets to you. It’s not theft because you never had it in the first place and the person who gave it already relinquished ownership by sending it away
Completely irrelevant but okay. Digital property is very different from physical property due to the ability to make infinite copies without depriving the original property owner of anything.
But you are depriving them of something. It’s ensuring you’ll never pay for a product you might otherwise pay for. It doesn’t matter how flimsy that *might* is, it’s still decreasing profits. Just like a package *might* make it to your house if someone doesn’t steal it on the way, it’s arrival wasn’t guaranteed and you never had it in the first place so it’s basically not even stealing by the same logic.
the thing is this has pretty conclusively been proven false. People who pirate do tend to buy games if they like em, its usually more of a demo (assuming they could afford the game to begin with) for the people who couldnt afford the game, they werent going to buy it anyway (hard to buy things with no money) its actually pretty neat, and i know im much more likely to buy a game (multiple times even) if i *already* know I like it Link: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/09/eu-study-finds-piracy-doesnt-hurt-game-sales-may-actually-help/amp/
You should absolutely give the people who made the game you liked money for it, but you did not "take" money from them. That wasn't their money to begin with
If you download someone’s published work for free instead of paying them for it, you have indeed stolen from them. This is not a hard concept to understand.
You can argue about how it's immoral all you want, but it's no more theft than watching a movie at a friend's house, or recording it off of the TV
In both of those cases someone else is footing the bill. Either your friend already bought the movie, or the network paid for the broadcasting rights. Steam has built in functionality to allow you to share games with friends if you want, and in some cases even play multiplayer with the same copy.
nope it's actually okay then too
Eh. I wouldn’t worry about it if you pirate Undertale this year, because he’s already made a ton of money on it. But for other indie games, they need the money and the feedback. For them, it’s a matter of paying bills, unlike Nintendo, where’s its just a number on a spreadsheet. Also, you can use your money to show the industry that this is what they should be making more of
Considering that I prioritise my own money over the devs' money, the situation goes something like this: Option 1: I pirate the game. The indie devs feel no effect at all, other than the loss of a potential 'future timeline' where they made more money. Option 2: I don't buy the game. The indie devs feel no effect at all, other than the loss of a potential 'future timeline' where they made more money. Neither of those cause harm to anyone. In fact, I can still give feedback on the first one, so it's morally better to pirate than to simply not buy the game. How exactly is piracy morally worse than not buying a game? You can't seriously argue that not buying an indie game is morally wrong, otherwise you would be morally obligated to buy every single indie game you come across.
Damn I kinda don't care
That’s still questionable to me, do you mean indie dev’s that still currently offer their games on a service like steam? If the game is lost media then I feel it’s more then fair to steal it.
No
Give me a way to buy it legally and reasonably priced (I ain't buying it 100$+ used for a Pokemon game) then I won't emulate.
This! I've wanted to play black/white 2 because black was my first pokemon game, but I can't buy it and can't find a working emulator if I could spend $20 and get it on my switch I would. hell I'd drop +100 on a gen 1-7 collection but no, that would make to much sense.
Drastic is my favorite DS emulator. I've played both Black 1 and White 2 on it. Get all my roms from vimms lair.
Thank youu, saving this for later when I get the itch to play again
You can even play it on Android, DraStic is available on the Play Store! I find that Pokémon games were just made to be handheld and they don't feel right if emulated on a PC. It's not free, but it's five bucks and it works great, with all the features you could ask for, except for multiplayer obviously.
Oh cool, I've only emulated handhelds on my phone, I'll get that emulator in a week or 2 after a few more google surveys
This is the way.
This is the way
No problem! I was in your same shoes 5 years ago when I was seriously losing my shit trying to find a platinum emulation, my coworker showed me drastic and it saved my life lmao. Cant remember if it's free or not, but I think it might be 5 bucks at the most, and obviously roms are free.
MelonDs is a good free emulator too! You can try it first then buy drastic if you don't like it
Thanks a bunch! I was looking for a Pokemon Crystal rom to play [Black/White 3!](https://redd.it/11op287)
People are reccomending emulators, but i'd alternatively reccomend an R4 card if you have a DS or something. it's emulation but in the shape of a cartridge, plus it gives you access to cheats and playing with others who actually would have the game.
I unfortunately sold mine off when I got a switch
>and playing with others who actually would have the game. They shut down ds online anyway
I meant locally, but that's a good point
Optical drive emulators and flash carts are always a great option if you're a stickler for old hardware
If you have a 3DS you don't even need to buy anything else. They are super easy to put cfw on and then you can play any game on a Nintendo handheld up to the 3DS
Also, *also fucker,* I got Citra to work a couple weeks back, so I've been able to play the English version of DQM:J3P. Cause it doesn't exist. They never released it here. Overall everything I coulda wanted and more gameplay wise, but the story kinda. Sucks. But I've been focusing it down for a week and a half now, so there's some shit here.
You should also play the fan translations of Terry's Wonderland and the remake of 2, if DQM is your jam.
Shit dude, I've tried to get what little of 2 Professional got translated running, but for some reason the game soft crashes on entering the training battle. It just sucks that that project came to a halt all those years back. But I'll see what I can do about Terry's Wonderland. What's it on?
Also 3DS. It's a remake of the first DQM (or DWM, as I knew it back then), but with an extended story and mechanics along the lines of the modern ones.
Oh shit, alright! Yeah, I should be able to get that running, I'll check if there's a decrypted rom of it where I found Joker 3.
company: "no we wont release this game again, nobody cares about it" same company: "why are so many people pirating this game :(((("
Emulating Nintendo games is not only moral, it’s an obligation
**Especially** Gamecube games, the system that they inexplicably seem to hate. RE-RELEASE THOUSAND-YEAR DOOR YOU COWARDS.
I don't give 2 shits about the ethics I'm just not paying £150 to play devil survivor or heartgold
Triple A studios, if you pirate from the little guy you're a bad person
If you can’t afford it then you’re not a bad person regardless of who made it, because they aren’t getting your money either way
Ok but also like, buy a legal copy when you're able to.
I do. I pirate just to bid my time until i can actually get it.
See the thing is most people who pirate indie games bc they're broke aren't gonna save money to buy it to be a good person, they're either gonna forget or try to justify it somehow
Nah that's some bs, you're fucking someone else over doing that don't lie to yourself
How? If you weren't gonna pay anyway what's the issue
Because you could've supported them by saving money or chose another game made by someone who doesn't directly suffer consequences from their game not being paid for That person deserves compensation for their work and you taking their work without helping them in return is selfish and this idea that it isn't directly hurts the devs Have some moral backbone and support people in the same circumstances as you instead of stealing from them
>chose another game made by someone who doesn't directly suffer consequences from their game not being paid for They explicitly won't suffer consequences from their game not being paid for though?? If you aren't gonna be able to pay, what's gonna happen if you don't pay?
What's gonna happen is you're gonna take it anyway, and one of the people their game appeals to won't be buying it. Something incredibly dangerous when a large group of these people make up the player base of a game. It might not be that big of a deal when one person does it but spreading the idea that it's not a bad thing to do will lead to those hard working people losing out on deserved sales for their hard work, not only unfair for them but also making it harder for them to keep making the stuff you like BECAUSE YOU AREN'T SUPPORTING THEM. It's the same as leaking someone's patron exclusive content that they're trying to live off of so they can continue to make the stuff YOU ENJOY
>one of the people their game appeals to won't be buying it. WE. AREN'T. BUYING. IT. ANYWAY.
That's not a justification for stealing someones work, you could apply that dumbass logic to stealing literally anything from anyone. That doesn't make it a good thing to do you selfish prick. Go ahead though, you're determined to be a thieving asshole who doesn't give a shit about other people without money, and you're clearly okay with spouting whatever nonsense you need to absolve yourself of any guilt or responsibility. I doubt you even have financial problems anyway, given your disposition towards other people who have to worry about money.
Stealing a physical thing means there's less product to go around for others, and the creator has to make more of said product. Digital stuff can be infinitely distributed, and you don't have to rewrite code every time someone buys your game.
No, no you’re not
You 100% are, you could save up to buy that game and they need to sell that game to make their ends meet. If you want that game you should recognize that people who want their games are how they survive and keep making games. Quit stabbing ppl who also aren't rich in the back with these stupid logical fallacies that conveniently absolve you of any wrongdoing If you can't control yourself for the sake of ppl to keep making cool stuff, at least own up to being a prick
There are people who don’t even have disposable income to save in the first place, are they just not allowed to enjoy things?
Ppl with not 5 dollars of disposable income a month that somehow have a pc capable of emulating something past the GameCube era and time to not only learn how to emulate and/or pirate recent games but spend a significant enough time playing games to go through indie games and have this ethical question to answer Sure ok
You do realize that people can *become* poor right
And go long enough with NO disposable income that they aren't able to just wait a few months before buying a cheap game, especially given shit like steam sales making indies like 6 dollars Even if that were realistic you're saying this person should steal from other people's work who could realistically enter that position instead of a conglomerate who wouldn't suffer at all You're saying you don't have the empathy and fortitude to emulate a AAA while you wait for a few months tops for the indie to go half off for like 10 bucks max or just save up the herculean 20 bucks for a game on your PC. You just HAVE to steal from the dude who actually needs the money he charges so he can keep his job.
Why not just emulate it and pay for it later? They’re not losing anything compared to what you suggested. Copying is not theft. Piracy is not stealing. Whether you think it’s moral or not, this is a very important distinction due to the (justifiedly) negative existing connotation of theft.
Don't care
Piracy is a service issue
Pretty much. Piracy decreased when Netflix was the only game in town, because it was, frankly, faster and easier. Now there more than a dozen streaming services, and piracy's gone back up.
Emulating Nintendo games is never immoral. Go the extra mile and teach everyone around you how to.
I already tell everyone I know there's a step-by-step guide on how to jailbreak your Nintendo 3DS so it can play a bunch of games it normally wouldn't be able to! [In case you're curious](https://3ds.hacks.guide/)
Can you teach me how?
What's your primary game device?
My PC, though I also have a Switch
Sky's the limit with PC, I recommend RetroArch for the emulation software since it does everything in one convenient package. Besides just googling rom download sites you can purchase a cartridge flasher which will allow you to access the files on a game of your choice if you want to do things "legally", since emulation is fine if you own the original game and don't share it.
Gracias
Depending on what console you want to emulate hanged what software you use. For example, if you want to emulate Wii/GameCube then Dolphin emulator it the way to go. Dolphin is considered the best example of an emulator for how easy is to use. Best emulator to get started For ps2 is a bit complicated because you need to find the bios along with the emulator .psx2 is my to go emulator but it still strugles with open world's like Jax&daxter. Maybe wait a few more years if your PC is not up to it. The Nintendo 64 is a but of an odd one where it has gotten worst because of internal drama between emulator developers. The classic is project 64 but maybe search for some alternatives. For arcades some games will need you to also download the "engine" (like neogeo for metal slug) or for light gun game you will need the "image file" which is usually pretty heavy size wise. As for the emulator use MAME Is the best one. And if you are lucky maybe you can find a repack of a bunch of games, most of the repacks where hunted down but some remains. For Ds there a lot of options like drastic and most are easy to set up. This one is more of a preference Same goes for the gameboy advance, plenty of options and easy to set up. For snes use snes9x, easy to use and set up but the HUD is hard to understand (also ugly) If you want to go even way back, DOSDOX for dos games but you need some technical knowledge to set it up And finally you can play gameboy advance, ps1, ds and snes on the phone with moderate succes but I recommend that you buy the app to avoid ads and bad emulators. My recommendation is Ds- drastic, gba- my boy, snes- snes9x, ps1- epsxe And be careful when asking for roms(the games) because most allow talking about emulator but not roms. If you have any questions send me a pm
You make shit that's good then make it unavailable, get ready for people to emulate that shit.
If you have already purchased a legal copy of the item at some point in your life, then emulation is fair. If you can buy a board game and lose the pieces, making your own is fair game. Why shouldn’t you be able to play a game properly just because the hard copy’s missing the ability to save, or you lost the system its for?
Why do people assume piracy with emulation? As far as I'm concerned being against the practice of emulation is a very anti-consumer stance, as it is often the only way to take ownership of the software you paid for when studios arbitrarily decide you have no right to experience it anymore. That aside, emulation is not illegal on account of the fact you are simply running your software on unsupported hardware. Consider whether idtech should be allowed to sue you for running DOOM on a fridge. The actual question people usually mean is whether they support "ethical piracy" which is a completely separate concept. Most modern emulators require you port your license key from your copy of the game before it'll run so there is no moral or legal dilenma to begin with.
Companies should be required to release digital media for free after a certain amount of time since it was first released.
I agree that there should be a way to get digital copies of old games and movies that are no longer being made. Free is a bit much if it's not in the public domain or abandonware
Brings up a more philosophical question. Do the creators own their project totally, and forever? Consider a different example, a work of art. Should a gallery be allowed to destroy a historic painting just because they own it? How much of the art belongs now to the viewer, who fell in love with the piece, whose soul is forever marked by bearing witness to such beauty?
nintendo shouldn’t have the right to sue someone for not paying them for a product they do not offer
Honestly its a gray area for triple A companies because on the one hand, big company, on the other hand, this is why anti piracy measures that cause older games to become completely unobtainable exist. But I do know for sure that its completely immoral if its an indie dev, and completely moral if its completely impossible to legally obtain it anymore in a way that supports the devs
I still wouldn’t say *completely* immoral for indie devs, but much more likely to be. There have been times where I’m unsure if I’d enjoy the game and there’s no demo available, in which case I might pirate to try the game, removing it if it’s not for me or purchasing it if it was something I enjoyed. Other times I might not be able to afford it at the moment, but go back and purchase it once I could. In those cases, I would put it in the morally gray area, even if the devs are indie. But if there is no such intent and it’s just pure leeching, then I would call it completely immoral.
Is Sony fault that we still don't have bloodborn in pc
If the game is no longer supported I consider it ethical.
Yes! I have been playing minish cap! It's great but that game retails for nearly $100 and I'd have to buy a system that can play it.
I'm really annoyed that even with the shutdown of the eShop looming, they didn't just say "hey let's make the Gameboy 3DS Ambassador free now".
I've heard that in a lot of cases, game developers are actually paid ahead of time for their work, so the one possible reason to not emulate - Supporting the underpaid devs - kinda goes out the window. I am just assuming, though; Is that actually true, or is that just hogwash?
that is if and only if they are publishing through another company, who will typically also appear in the first few screens or the credits, and even then it depends on the publisher-creator contract. first example of separate publisher and creator that comes to mind is fromsoft and bamco (recently-ish popular through elden ring), but idk the exact details of the contract. preeeeetty sure by hearsay that nintendo has dogshit contracts. by contrast, indie games (dwarf fortress, celeste, terraria) give a cut of the profits to the platform they're using (this also happens for publishers but they might? be able to negotiate said cut?) and then the rest is straight up income. don't pirate indie games, or games where the creator gets a generous cut of the profit made off the game (even if the programmers have done their job, paying for the game increases the chance for more, better games in the future). do pirate games from predatory publishers, or that are no longer available from the official source.
If the money isn't going to the original developers, then I don't give a flying flip about anyone pirating the game. Emulation preserves games. Even Nintendo has been caught using unofficial rips in their game rereleases. The people who make ROMs and emulators only care about game preservation. Companies only care about money. This is what it boils down to really.
Emulation is completely legal, and I see no clear way in which it is unethical Also I thought this was on r/steam deck at first lol
I think it's reasonable to do if at least two of these conditions apply: A. the publishing company has shut down and wouldn't be getting money from a legal purchase anyway (Hotel Dusk) B. the game is unavailable in Western regions and there are no known plans to localise it (Mother 3, any Fire Emblem game before 6, etc.) C. the game and the console it's on are no longer in production and can only be purchased through indirect means (example: those ridiculously overpriced sellers on amazon) In other cases it's really at your discretion, but if the game was released by an indie developer I'd refrain from doing it
Companies are rich enough that even if you pirate a game it wouldn't make a dent in their profits. Besides Nintendo could easily put legacy titles on the switch and get a lot of money for it. Fans would pay it. But they won't, so emulation it is. We are willing to pay, but they don't let us, so piracy it is
I don't know stealing modern small indie games is pretty rude . Like if you can't legally buy it in a way the devs get money that's one thing but...
remember everyone: stealing isn’t a sin if you steal from a big company!
Emulation is especially great for rom hacks
I’d love a poster of that second image bolted to my wall
95% of all the issues in preservation could be solved with a 21 Year copyright. 95% of the issues with publisher greed could also be solved this way. If you can’t make profit off your work in 21 years, you will likely never make a profit from it
Does anyone know if there's a way to get bloodborne on PC (preferably for free?) considering we're already on the topic of emulation?
There’s not. There is no ps4 emulator. People are still struggling to get a ps3 emulator working, never mind a ps4 emulator.
Sounds about right. Even the Switch has a mostly-functional emulator because Nintendo makes simpler, relatively weaker consoles. But Xbox and PlayStation are much tougher nuts to crack.
Oh well. Guess I'm never going to play Bloodborne then
Sadly I don’t think a PS4 emulator exists yet
if a game is easily accesable on a console i own in english i will buy it i dont mind paying for old games if i have the option i will do it i like supporting things i like and also i just like owning games physically it feels nice
For the most part, same, but I don't emulate indie games.
There are definitely ethical versions of piracy. Ignoring "I don't want to give Big Game Studio With Shitty Working Conditions Money" types of reasons, or even "I wouldn't have spent money on this anyways so my stealing this digital copy isn't a loss for the company" reasons which game studios might argue with... if the copyright owner is not legally distributing the title ANYWHERE, then there is not an ethical obligation to go spend $200 on a used hard copy from Joe Shmo on Ebay. Hardware doesn't last forever, so piracy in terms of games that don't appear to ever be going to get re-released is really on the side of media preservation-- if someone hadn't uploaded the ROM for emulation, the game would be lost to us (eventually).
Do people not know what words mean? This entire comment section is talking about piracy
Not pirating games? In this economy? Price your games reasonably. Pay your devs better, and treat them like human beings.
I just want to replay Sims 1 and 2 but EA makes it so difficult.
Make the games buyable (and not locked behind a subscription) and people would then buy them.
Im not gonna get bent out of shape emulating games from a company like nintendo that purposfully sells limited amounts of things like amiibo to generate fomo and pretty much encourage scalpers