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I'd like to bring up the topic of pirate games and whether it's a good or bad idea. Really it could be both ,we the public, get cheap games and the piraters make lots of money. But for the producer of games it is a pretty bad idea; they publish a game, it goes out in the shops a pirater will buy a copy, pirate it and sell it to a couple of mates who in turn copy it again and sell it to some of their mates and so on. Everyone is happy, they all have a copy of the game, except of course the producers who see the sales figures and think it's not selling well and look for other ideas or even other types of games, this can be good for us untill they run out of ideas, we then suffer. I, personally think it's alright coz I get good, cheap games but I'm just raising the point that it could affect us in the long run. Lets hope I'm wrong and the piraters keep on pirating.
Thanks for reading
Kev
Thanks for reading
Kev
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In both cases you'd probably get off with a slap on the wrist and a warning.
F.A.C.T. are really on the lookout for the sites that let you download the original software from, or the pirates who have a couple of hundred or so of CD-RW discs next to their PC with PSX games on them that they flog for a tenner.
It's the ORIGINAL ROM that you should be in possession of, but not necessarily on the premises, as long as you can prove you own it then you are in the clear.
F.A.C.T. are really on the lookout for the sites that let you download the original software from, or the pirates who have a couple of hundred or so of CD-RW discs next to their PC with PSX games on them that they flog for a tenner.
It's the ORIGINAL ROM that you should be in possession of, but not necessarily on the premises, as long as you can prove you own it then you are in the clear.
I wouldn't worry about it too much Alex! They're unlikely to come knocking on your door.
I agree with your views on emulating only those systems from days gone by, but personally I've never seen the point of emulating the Gameboy.
meka_dragon PQMS8/00
I agree with your views on emulating only those systems from days gone by, but personally I've never seen the point of emulating the Gameboy.
meka_dragon PQMS8/00
The laws on emulation software and peripherals are quite clear. You may use software and peripherals to emulate a game from one platform to another, as long as you have already bought and are still in posession of the original game. So, say you were using Bleem to emulate a Megadrive game and the Federation Against Copyright Theft came knocking on your door, if you showed them that whilst playing the game on your PC you still had the original cartridge, all would be ok.
The same rules apply to any software from one platform being emulated on another. As long as you own the original software and licence, you are in the clear.
The same rules apply to any software from one platform being emulated on another. As long as you own the original software and licence, you are in the clear.
Piracy hey?
I see this as a bad thing if the developers are loosing out, as they can't put this money back into making better games.
But is emulation piracy?
I use emulators on my PC for the NES, and SMS, and don't see this as piracy as these games are no longer available. I would emulate Megadrive and SNES too, the next time i get the chance to download stuff.
But what about emulating the Playstation? These games are still available, and the system is still on sale and thriving, so iwouldn't do that.
The Saturn is now long dead, and the emulators arestarting to appear, but they're not really of a high enough standard to bother with yet.
The real question mark hangs over whether I should emulate the GameBoy! This has been around for over a decade, but is still selling by the bucketload! I wouldn't use it to emulate new games, maybe just some old ones, that you can't get no more.
Do you see emulation as piracy?
I see this as a bad thing if the developers are loosing out, as they can't put this money back into making better games.
But is emulation piracy?
I use emulators on my PC for the NES, and SMS, and don't see this as piracy as these games are no longer available. I would emulate Megadrive and SNES too, the next time i get the chance to download stuff.
But what about emulating the Playstation? These games are still available, and the system is still on sale and thriving, so iwouldn't do that.
The Saturn is now long dead, and the emulators arestarting to appear, but they're not really of a high enough standard to bother with yet.
The real question mark hangs over whether I should emulate the GameBoy! This has been around for over a decade, but is still selling by the bucketload! I wouldn't use it to emulate new games, maybe just some old ones, that you can't get no more.
Do you see emulation as piracy?
Why are we alking about pirate games?
There's just a small market left in there, anyway you don't need to go out and buy them if you don't want to.
There's just a small market left in there, anyway you don't need to go out and buy them if you don't want to.
Venom said:
> increased taxes to cover the costs of producing software > if needed.
You got my vote, when can you run for office?
I agree with you on shareware, its been around for years and is a good way for newbie programmers to get noticed in the gaming industry.
And they should turn the Millennium Dome into a skateboard park. AND give us our money back.
:-)
> increased taxes to cover the costs of producing software > if needed.
You got my vote, when can you run for office?
I agree with you on shareware, its been around for years and is a good way for newbie programmers to get noticed in the gaming industry.
And they should turn the Millennium Dome into a skateboard park. AND give us our money back.
:-)
OKay, just to clarify, it's non-profit piracy like PC software I'm in favour of.
Anyway, lets suppose for a moment that PC software is given away free. This means that everyone who wants a copy can have one. There would be no problem with tech support lines as all the copies would be legal. Piracy of mauals of course could be a problem. I deem this as hardware, like boxed console games, because it can never be free to copy - hence why I'm not including it in this discussion. This type of piracy I would be seriouasly against.
As for the government funding being better spent elsewhere, I have two words which describe how bad the government is with money - "Millenium dome". I'd be in favour of increased taxes to cover the costs of producing software if needed, provided it was of a high standard. Although many others might disagree.
Finmally, many people involved in the cracking and distribution of this software now won't be doing this. These sort of people are likely to work for the good of the community anyway. Many work on sharewware or open-source products in their spare time.
As for the priacy of instruction manuals - I think it unlikely, as few pirates will have access to the printing presses required, and if they cannot guarantee to sell a large number, they won't be able to mass produce and hence won't be able to make a dignificant profit on them. It's more hassle than it's worth.
Console game piracy is a different matter, it's unlikely any support or explanation would be needed and it's hard to justify extra funding when so many releases are poor. I can't see any way other than games sales that these companies could make profits. Therefore I'm against piracy of console games.
Like I said, if something can be widely distributed for free, it should be.
Anyway, lets suppose for a moment that PC software is given away free. This means that everyone who wants a copy can have one. There would be no problem with tech support lines as all the copies would be legal. Piracy of mauals of course could be a problem. I deem this as hardware, like boxed console games, because it can never be free to copy - hence why I'm not including it in this discussion. This type of piracy I would be seriouasly against.
As for the government funding being better spent elsewhere, I have two words which describe how bad the government is with money - "Millenium dome". I'd be in favour of increased taxes to cover the costs of producing software if needed, provided it was of a high standard. Although many others might disagree.
Finmally, many people involved in the cracking and distribution of this software now won't be doing this. These sort of people are likely to work for the good of the community anyway. Many work on sharewware or open-source products in their spare time.
As for the priacy of instruction manuals - I think it unlikely, as few pirates will have access to the printing presses required, and if they cannot guarantee to sell a large number, they won't be able to mass produce and hence won't be able to make a dignificant profit on them. It's more hassle than it's worth.
Console game piracy is a different matter, it's unlikely any support or explanation would be needed and it's hard to justify extra funding when so many releases are poor. I can't see any way other than games sales that these companies could make profits. Therefore I'm against piracy of console games.
Like I said, if something can be widely distributed for free, it should be.
By the way, that wasn't a personal attack against you, Venom, it's just that I come down hard on any pro-piracy comments, so please don't think that it was aimed at you personally, it wasn't.
:-)
:-)
Venom†† wrote:
I'm in favour of software piracy. If something can be free, it should be. (That goes for all PC software)
Fair enough. I'll quote that to you if you ever decide to start up your own software development company.
Venom†† wrote:
There are plenty of other ways software companies could make for the lack of sales revenue, such as selling manuals,
What if the manuals are pirated, too? And more and more manuals are being incorporated into the games' coding themselves, so nothing left to sell there.
Venom†† wrote:
charging extortionate tech support phone bills and so on.
Ever tried to register for technical support with a pirated copy of a PC game? Not advisable.
Venom†† wrote:
Perhaps even government funding.
OK, so developers are being hit so hard by software pirates that they have to use government funding to support themselves. That comes from taxpayers money, i.e. you and me, which means that money which could be spent nicely on schools, hospitals and other public services would have to be cut back.
Whichever way you look at it, games piracy is a parasitic activity which affects us all. Please avoid it. Or if you do buy pirate games, think about the rest of us who pay the price for it.
I'm in favour of software piracy. If something can be free, it should be. (That goes for all PC software)
Fair enough. I'll quote that to you if you ever decide to start up your own software development company.
Venom†† wrote:
There are plenty of other ways software companies could make for the lack of sales revenue, such as selling manuals,
What if the manuals are pirated, too? And more and more manuals are being incorporated into the games' coding themselves, so nothing left to sell there.
Venom†† wrote:
charging extortionate tech support phone bills and so on.
Ever tried to register for technical support with a pirated copy of a PC game? Not advisable.
Venom†† wrote:
Perhaps even government funding.
OK, so developers are being hit so hard by software pirates that they have to use government funding to support themselves. That comes from taxpayers money, i.e. you and me, which means that money which could be spent nicely on schools, hospitals and other public services would have to be cut back.
Whichever way you look at it, games piracy is a parasitic activity which affects us all. Please avoid it. Or if you do buy pirate games, think about the rest of us who pay the price for it.
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