Current Events > "Not being able to locate a copy doesn't then entitle you to piracy."

(+) Yeah! (+)

Do you believe that? Is it something you abide by?

If you bought the product, you should be able to download it.

Not that I'm suggesting anyone download anything...

no, why not

It's one of those things where I really couldn't care less on what's technically true or not. It doesn't bother me when people do that whether it's legal or not

Personally, morally, ethically, if there is no feasible way for you to pay the creator money for their work and then receive that work, then I do not have any issue with you resorting to other means to experience that work.

I absolutely don't believe it. Especially if you're in some country like China that censors or bans media. I would encourage people in those situations to pirate stuff so they can actually see what's happening in the rest of the world.

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I would

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Someday I'll be able to 3D print a chassis and a motor to the exact specs of a real vehicle.

Then I'll get sued by Ford.

But Viz is still licensing Sailor Moon and only releasing episodes very slowly in Blu-Ray bundles. Fuck that, I want everything RIGHT NOW.

if the game developer/publisher wont even sell the damn game, they aren't entitled to complain about piracy. their desire not to sell it is equivalent to them getting on their knees and begging people to pirate it instead

if something is no longer in print, they're not making money on it anyway so why do they care?

I dont mind piracy, what bugs me is the justifications people come up with.

Probably the only way to justify piracy

My stance is as follows.

Is there a listed version of the game on an active storefront that gives the developers/publishers money? Prioritise that.

Is the game unavailable on all active storefronts, to the point that whether you bought a legitimate copy or not, neither the developers or publishers would ever see a cent of that transaction? I'm not going to complain if someone decides to download an illegal copy of the game. Literally no matter what you do, the institutions who own that game will never see your money again unless they release an updated version on an active storefront.

There's also the issue of archival. I bought Dragon Quest 1 on Switch - but it's a pretty shoddily thrown together phone port with subpar graphics and music. One day, people will want to go back to the NES, GBC or even MSX versions to see how they looked and sounded. I'm certainly curious about the different versions and their differences.

Those systems won't last forever, and as they get older people will get priced out of those versions of the game or won't have the means to run the hardware. Those versions should be preserved in some way so that comparison is possible.

Measures are in place to preserve the game in video form, but it's easy to preserve the actual game data for future players to experience. Those unique ports of the game are worth preserving and documenting for anyone who's interested in them - maybe you don't believe in preserving the actual game data due to issues of legality, but it's the best way to preserve it and allow it to function years into the future after it would otherwise fall into obsoletion.

Since the Switch port is currently live, compatible with modern technology and achievable to find in the wild? Prioritise the Switch port. Or shit, buy it on mobile. It's the same game. Interested in the history? There should be resources available for you to compare and contrast, whether it's images or videos. And one day? The NES, GBC and MSX ROMs should fall into the public domain, and they should be preserved for anyone to check out.

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It turns out, given the chance, I would download a car.

And I did.

At the first available opportunity.

When the US copy of Chrono Trigger was going for hundreds of dollars I just got the Japanese copy for 20 or so bucks on Amazon, same with Super Mario RPG, the Japanese carts are a lot cheaper than the English ones.

Cheater87 posted...

When the US copy of Chrono Trigger was going for hundreds of dollars I just got the Japanese copy for 20 or so bucks on Amazon, same with Super Mario RPG, the Japanese carts are a lot cheaper than the English ones.

And...presumably in Japanese...how does that help?

Solid Sonic posted...

And...presumably in Japanese...how does that help?

I got a Retron 5 and can patch the games to English.

If a company doesn't want to furnish the ability to continue to buy their product, they have no rationale to then get mad about a 'lost' sale they wouldn't/couldn't have made

MachineJaipur posted...

If a company doesn't want to furnish the ability to continue to buy their product, they have no rationale to then get mad about a 'lost' sale they wouldn't/couldn't have made

what if they are creating demand by waiting for a set period with the intention of selling the product later. pirating cuts down on this demand/the benefit of going into that project, which will perhaps prevent the project from being released, hurting customers who don't pirate.

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This exactly. Nothing entitles piracy, but it's a situation in which I'd understand doing it anyway.

Cheater87 posted...

I got a Retron 5 and can patch the games to English.

Oh, that's right, I forgot certain emulation consoles can pipe in patches on the fly.

Fair point.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

if the game developer/publisher wont even sell the damn game, they aren't entitled to complain about piracy.

What in the world leads you to believe that the creator of something shouldnt get to decide if its distributed or not?

Tenlaar posted...

What in the world leads you to believe that the creator of something shouldnt get to decide if its distributed or not?

If someone wants to experience a piece of content that used to be available and no longer isnt, thats their choice and nobody elses. The developer only gets a choice in whether they make any money or not

I think people make too big a deal about individual piracy, but on a collective level, it definitely has impact that I would find questionable.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

If someone wants to experience a piece of content that used to be available and no longer isnt, thats their choice and nobody elses. The developer only gets a choice in whether they make any money or not

You just repeated your position, you didnt explain it. Why do you believe that somebody who created a piece of work should have no say in whether its distributed or not?

Fam_Fam posted...

what if they are creating demand by waiting for a set period with the intention of selling the product later. pirating cuts down on this demand/the benefit of going into that project, which will perhaps prevent the project from being released, hurting customers who don't pirate.

Then they can announce the development of a project and generate hype/interest.

If your IP has laid dead in the water for decades, and you have no active ways to furnish new copies or abilities to legally access it, then you can't get mad when people access the content in a not so strictly legal manner

is it even considered piracy if it's not available in any way

Guerrilla Soldier posted...

is it even considered piracy if it's not available in any way

That's usually referred to as abandonware.

There's certainly no moral argument that can be made outside of ultra strict, religious adherence to the law.

ThyCorndog posted...

It's one of those things where I really couldn't care less on what's technically true or not. It doesn't bother me when people do that whether it's legal or not

This. Of course legally it's not true, but I couldn't care less if people do it. If companies don't want to make their stuff easily available that's on them.

Tenlaar posted...

You just repeated your position, you didnt explain it. Why do you believe that somebody who created a piece of work should have no say in whether its distributed or not?

Because if it was previously distributed and they want to pull it from the market, all that does is exclude people which is a negative. There's no reason someone shouldn't be allowed to watch LOTR for example just because the publisher decides its too hard or expensive to distribute it. That doesn't help anyone and especially not the viewer. It's a piece of history they have no right to erase.

You shouldn't do anything that violates copyright law. If you owned a product you wouldn't want everyone stealing it. So you should extend that to others.

Billyionaire posted...

You shouldn't do anything that violates copyright law. If you owned a product you wouldn't want everyone stealing it. So you should extend that to others.

If I owned a product I'd make sure to keep furnishing it as long as it was profitable to do so.

Once it stops being profitable, I'll stop caring

Billyionaire posted...

You shouldn't do anything that violates copyright law. If you owned a product you wouldn't want everyone stealing it. So you should extend that to others.

What if my retail disc broke? Is it probably better to buy a new copy, even if it is missing a few songs? I should have made a backup but Im not if that's legal?

Solid Sonic posted...

Someday I'll be able to 3D print a chassis and a motor to the exact specs of a real vehicle.

Then I'll get sued by Ford.

Don't download a Ford. Download a car that's not been made in decades, such as a... Talbot!
Yes!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/8/2/AAAURGAADQd6.jpg

CyricZ posted...

Personally, morally, ethically, if there is no feasible way for you to pay the creator money for their work and then receive that work, then I do not have any issue with you resorting to other means to experience that work.

This hell I'm not one big on using emulators but I have. There have been a few times I have. Later found a way to buy the game from the company itself and did just that.

Final fantasy 3 comes to mind. Found a fan translated emulation. Played it beat it. Later they did the 3d remake. Bought it but never beat it. Not my favorite final fantasy but I did play the original version to completion so I made sure when I saw the remake they got some money out of me for it. I've done it with same version of games too but can't think of exact titles off my head at the moment.

Billyionaire posted...

You shouldn't do anything that violates copyright law. If you owned a product you wouldn't want everyone stealing it. So you should extend that to others.

Companies only respect copyright law so long as it generates profit for them. You always hear about game devs stealing ad revenue from reviewers on youtube or streamers in direct contradiction with fair use. If companies don't respect copyright of others, they have implicitly stated through their actions they don't care for their own copyrights.

Company ethics have truly questioned my previous negative sentiment towards piracy.

I view everything on a case-to-case basis.

The topic title is true. It's just nobody cares.

Laws are worthless past the extent they can be enforced.

Do you lose respect for your ISP if they try to come down on you for your activities?

I agree with the sentiment, I don't abide by it.

No. I dont believe that. If somethings not out there to buy then you have every right to hunt it down however you can. Theres a couple of shows that will NEVER be released due to copyright issues (Kidd Video, Muppet Babies.) Those shows would disappear off the earth forever if it wasnt for piracy.