Moral Quandary - Should it be OK to pirate Discontinued or De-listed software?

Should it be OK to pirate Discontinued or De-listed software?

  • Total voters
    177
yep GIF
 
No doubt about that. If there is no legal way to consume a digital product... a 'illegal' way cannot be considered illegal, for God's sake (dont pretend im not talking with you, 3ds and WiiU stores!)
 
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Also I "pirate" games I have bought dozens of times

Example: SMB3
Owned it on every nintendo system that ever had it and bought it on VC for Wii, Wii U etc

So yeah I will throw it on my little retro handhelds and feel fine on that
 
If I close my store because I can't or simply choose not to keep selling, and someone hands you a key to the back door, does that give you the right to walk in and take whatever you want?
 
Remember games weren't mentioned.

If BullshitCAM goes out of business and you still use BullshitCAM in your business and use to pay $50,000.00 a year for BullshitCAM is it "ok" to now pirate BullshitCAM since it can no longer be legally purchased?

I think yes. Illegal(or perhaps not depending) but morally ok.
 
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I'd prefer to buy used if possible, but realistically the devs and content holders don't earn anything from it. I don't see piracy more harmful in that case than, say, pay some random ebayer 80+€ for a used copy of HeartGold/SoulSilver.
 
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near said:
If I close my store because I can't or simply choose not to keep selling, and someone hands you a key to the back door, does that give you the right to walk in and take whatever you want?
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If your store sold machines making a certain type of product, do you have to throw the machine and product away when the store closes?
 
Kacho said:
Jokes aside, didn't you make a thread where some guy was saying remasters were akshually hard because of money or something? I couldn't find it.

To me if that is the reality then fuck 'em. If a game people want to play isn't up for sale then do what you have to do.
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@Draugoth made that one, but that point is a bit different I think. Since remakes are sold at full price while remasters are often $19.99 etc, so it makes sense that remakes get more money.

However you're also putting a lot more money in the project in the first place.
 
Devil's advocate position:

Any alternative to official copies infringes upon and undermines copyrights (and is likely to violate the existing license terms, though this will vary on a case-by-case basis). Additionally, emulated variants disrupt a nascent market that may or may not be subject to strategic priming to increase profitability; deprivation, while unpopular among consumers, is within the discretion of rights holders.
 
If an artist would pull his CD from store shelves you'd still consider it theft to just take it from some warehouse where the leftovers are stored. The mere fact of missing availability on the market doesn't somehow magically make it not theft when you steal it.
 
It's a question which only you can answer. Your opinion is as valid as anyone elses, even the Pope himself can't invalidate it.
Mine would be yes of course.
 
notseqi said:
If your store sold machines making a certain type of product, do you have to throw the machine and product away when the store closes?
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My analogy is about whether other people gain the right to access and take what I own after I stop selling it. Your question is about what I do with my own property.
 
I don't understand how this is even a question. Do we really want some games and software to just disappear without any way to recover them? I still play DOS games out of nostalgia, some of which were on floppy disks, part of them are no longer even readable. For retro gaming and preserving old games, this is the only way. And yes, GOG is trying, and I give them credit for their work, but their sheer effort alone is clearly not enough.
 
Is this about ROM files for emulators? Like old MAME files etc
Or fairly new but delisted games due to expired licenses? Like Forza Horizon 4 and Forza 7?

And what if a new version pops up of a previous discontinued game?
Like old C64 The Last Ninja, which is coming out again in The Last Ninja Collection.
 
Yes.

It's exactly why the term "abandonware" exists. In a world where a person still loves the software, but it isn't possible to purchase it and support it in any way, shape, or form, they should still be allowed to enjoy it. When the demand exists, it should be supplied. Especially in a world where people are more than happy to purchase and support it. I feel that way about too many titles and IPs, it sucks.
 
near said:
My analogy is about whether other people gain the right to access and take what I own after I stop selling it. Your question is about what I do with my own property.
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I would view this more like a patent issue (20 year expiration, at least in the US) rather than a creative property (like a book or song, currently an obnoxious 95 years after the death of the creator or somesuch) as video games are, IMHO, more of a commercial product than a creative one. Particularly when the issue discussed is EMULATION of the video game, virtually intact from how it played originally, rather than taking characters or story and making a new game riding on the fame of the original (making Halo games with a new engine but utilizing the lore and visuals, for example).

If the rights holder can't be arsed to present a reasonable modern way to play old games, then let the community do it (basically for free). Of course a commercially sold version should go through the licensing process, but for home use I think it's perfectly reasonable and free of moral guilt.
 
HerjansEagleFeeder said:
If an artist would pull his CD from store shelves you'd still consider it theft to just take it from some warehouse where the leftovers are stored. The mere fact of missing availability on the market doesn't somehow magically make it not theft when you steal it.
Click to expand...
But in that scenario you're breaking into a place and physically taking property that doesn't belong to you.

Downloading a ROM of Haunting Ground isn't taking anything away from Capcom because its not for sale anywhere. Capcom doesn't see a dime when you buy a copy on ebay for $200.
 
If I buy something once, that gives me a license to download it free for life. Even newer versions. Just like when I used to buy CDs, after they become scratched and skip all the time, I can download MP3s or MP4s or whatever they are, for free from now on.
 
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