Is pirating old games wrong?

Wyatt

Wyatt

CAGiversary!
I'm not asking if I'm gonna get busted by the cops for downloading some old games, but I'm asking personally, do you consider this wrong?

Say there's a game, released in the 80's or 90's, or even early 2000's, and you can't buy a new copy anywhere. You can't physically or digitally purchase a copy of this software that will benefit the publisher or developer or anyone who worked on the game. Sure, there's eBay, Amazon Marketplace, or the CAG trading forums, but none of these are new copies and absolutely no money will go to anyone who had anything to do with the production of the game.

I'm not wondering if it's legal/illegal. Here in Canada I'm not too sure about all of the crazy copyright laws with P2P downloading, but I know it's not legal in the US if the copyright hasn't expired. What I'm wondering is, is it morally wrong for someone to copy an old game if buying a new copy isn't an option?

Personally, I'm a little on the fence with this issue. Overall, I consider piracy bad for the industry, but it makes me a little angry that there's some older games that I never had the chance to play that I won't be able to play unless I buy a used copy, which sometimes isn't even available. I'm not trying to promote piracy or anything, and I think this thread is within the rules of CAG because I'm not posting any links. I just want your guys opinion on this subject.
 
I believe those kinds of software is called a-ware (not the full name but not typing it out so I don't get yelled at) and is considered by some to be legal. However there are a few older titles that are incorrectly labeled as a-ware that can still be bought from and benefit the company.
 
[quote name='Poor2More']a-ware?[/quote]
Abandonware.

Do I consider it wrong? Well, it is, but as you say, some of these games are impossible to find new, and it's not as if purchasing a used copy is doing the developers/publishers any good.

Bottom line is, I'm not losing any sleep over it...
 
Regardless of how old the game is I'm sure it's still considered illegal, but I wouldn't think twice about doing it.
 
I know it's illegal and all... but I don't really about it as long as nobody is profiting from it.

For example, if someone is downloading a NES game from a website to play on their computer... then I don't care though I don't think they should.

But if someone is selling modded DSes which can play NES/SNES/whatever games or those 100-in-one carts, then I think it's wrong and said person should be punished.
 
nah you can find everything on the net these days, I dont feel guilty at all when I download movies, music or games. And if you do think pirating is wrong, then it shouldn't matter what you pirate, its still wrong (if you think pirating is wrong).
 
I always thought if something is given the official title abandonware it is no longer illegal because it means the copyright holder has relinquished their rights.
 
If you pirate the game, you're preventing a sale that might have otherwise happened. If it's not the publisher/developer that's losing money, it's a reseller.
 
[quote name='Chacrana']If you pirate the game, you're preventing a sale that might have otherwise happened. If it's not the publisher/developer that's losing money, it's a reseller.[/quote]

Fair point, but I think that most people that pirate games aren't downloading a game they would pay for otherwise.
 
A lot of older PC games are, unfortunately, near impossible to track down, so I don't have a problem with someone pirating those. If it is available anywhere, though, for a reasonable price, you should buy it and not be a thief.
 
[quote name='Wyatt']Fair point, but I think that most people that pirate games aren't downloading a game they would pay for otherwise.[/quote]

I feel this a fallacy that pirates and supporters of piracy try to use a "defense." A certain percentage of people who pirate stuff would have bought it if piracy was not an option. What percentage? Beats me, but it's fairly common sense to realize that some people would have bought it. So, piracy hurts the gaming industry, because it takes away potential sales.
 
[quote name='Chacrana']If you pirate the game, you're preventing a sale that might have otherwise happened. If it's not the publisher/developer that's losing money, it's a reseller.[/quote]


That's true, but it's probably not an offical reseller, so the publisher/developer still doesn't get any money. While I wouldn't do it personally, since I like to have the offical media. It's sort of a gray area, where your own moral will play a factor in it.
 
If the game is out-of-print, I wouldn't think twice about it. And who cares if some eBay reseller may or may not be losing a sale? eBay (or Amazon or wherever) and the reseller had no part in creating the game and you don't owe them sh*t.
 
[quote name='Chacrana']If you pirate the game, you're preventing a sale that might have otherwise happened. If it's not the publisher/developer that's losing money, it's a reseller.[/quote]


Not sure how this quote is related to the debate; pirating is strictly disparaging to publishers and developers, not people who resell their games, particularly harder to find PC games. I'm not saying F the reseller, but, in a way, I kind of am. One could argue that as a whole, the reselling of games, particularly on a massive scale, ie Gameshit, i mean stop, is hurting the industry more than piracy.
 
I find it really hard to buy from re-sellers sometimes. If the reseller is someone trying to sell a used game they no longer want then to me this is fine and I would not mind buying a game from them. However whenever a reseller buys a great amount of a rare or limited release game just to wait a few months to gauge somebody didn't go within the first few days it makes it hard to buy from them. One example of this is when nocturne had a reprint and some ebay sellers bought them for forty to try to sell for 80 plus. As for the pirating of games personally I have bought all the games I wanted to play in my life except for a few and all of those never got a localization in the US at the time of pirating a la Tales of Phantasia or when the patch is release innocent sin. But when the game is actually released in the US I usually buy it when it comes out, such as Tales of Phantasia. Ohh and personally for me scrathced up games that I already bought when they were new.
 
Really, who cares if a re-seller doesn't make a sale for a long out of print game? And if a publisher doesn't like their game being pirated, then make it available for sale again. I don't pirate games that are still being published. But I have no problem downloading a long lost gem (Lucasarts adventure games for instance).
 
If the developers/publishers are not getting any money out of the game anymore I see nothing wrong with pirating. I don't really care at all if a reseller on eBay or Amazon makes a few bucks and I won't pay $50 for a used copy of System Shock 2 that probably wouldn't even work on my computer off the cd.
 
If it concerns you, "legitimate" abandon-ware sites (the underdogs is a pretty good about this) will actually remove the game from the site if the company, who publishes it, requested it to be taken down. And not only that, some sites will also provide link to buy the game.
 
I wouldn't worry about it these days. Companies are making the mega bucks on the console versions than the pc versions of the game. Abandonware isn't worth a company's time or money to hunt you down with a lawyer and throw your ass in jail because if that same company that produced that old title is still up and running, they could be making so much money with their latest title that they won't give a shit about this.

Even if you get a hold of a copy, XP/Vista may make it difficult to run at all (even with dosbox), so it may not be worth the trouble.
 
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