This in mind, it is ethical to play most Atari 2600 games from the early 80s. For games that can only be bought used on ebay or at Funcoland, the area is a little more grey-the original company is not making any revenue on Funcoland and ebay sales, so it is probably still ethical, if somewhat less so. Here is where I draw the line: Playing an emulated game is ethical if it is not possible to buy the same game online or at a store.
A confrontational reaction is the reaction of someone who is knowingly doing something against their own set of ethics and values. If you wish to refute this point, please use a logical and not an emotional argument-the kinds of reactions I get when I point this out can be rather emotional and confrontational. Using an emulator to play games one does not own is probably not ethical, though. Even if they did it as "work for hire" and have no legal direct ownership.Īt what point does it become unethical to use one of these emulators?Ĭertainly, using an emulator to play games you already own is ethical. Their future at MEGAGAMECORP depends in large part on how well the game does. Some of the big ones do as well.Įven the giants that don't really do any of that do still have room in the annual salary review for you to say "I was a big part of Jane's F-16, and it sold X copies, so your raise had better be at least Y% or I'll go work for FOOCORP", and yes that X is altered based on exactly how many copies are bought, or not.ĭon't delude yourself, even at MEGAGAMECORP there is a team of real people behind each game, and if the game was any good they worked real hard on it (except for the team slacker - and at least he got the short end of the stick during the nerf fights). A lot of game companies are pretty small, and profit share, or have employee stock ownership.
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Of corse the games tended have all graphics and sound replaced, and a lot of extra debugging, and sometimes game code slapped in by the Microprose folks, but the original author still got a per-box cut.Īnd that ain't the only thing. When I use to work at Microprose (at, not for, I was in the same building, doing CoinOP games for what was in theory some sort of spin off) people still did bring in independently written games and negotiate some of the resale profits for themselves. For other games the author may well not have signed away all rights. The "author's baby" argument is purely emotional, and does not make sense.įor some games. They signed them away when they agreed to perform work for hire. I'm sure I could come up with a few more viewpoints.but I have to eat breakfast, and fire up Hitchhikers on my Z-machine. Maybe it is about the rights of the authors of the program? Didn't they sweet blood? Don't they have the right to say who can play the game, and who should take a hike? On the.hind paw.maybe it isn't about the money. Then clearly your illegal act has made the copyright holder (and 8 middle men) a few cents. Then your wife/mother/girlfriend catches you, and makes you buy it.
On the gripping hand, maybe you never would buy the game, but you illegally copy it. What makes you think you really know what games you will and won't buy if you don't illegally copy them?
Lots of people who think they can quit smoking can't. Lots of people that don't think they can quit drinking can. On the other hand, what if you are wrong? What if only having access to that Playstation game at your friends house finally wears at you, and you go out and buy a playstation (they are cheep now after all!) and the game? I mean a lot of people are wrong about themselves. Who loses anything if I play the game in an emulator?
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Let's say I kinda like playing one Playstation game now and then but would never buy a console plus the game just for that.