When is Piracy Acceptable

Piracy is an age old debate in the gaming universe, with legions of people condemning the practice and swarms of others recommending the action. When one commits to learning about each side of the argument, topics such as overpriced games or support the developers come into the fray. But surely there is a safe zone in the battlefield that would be a point of truce, or maybe even a temporary cease-fire of onslaughts. I believe our saviour is the Emulation scene.

How much time must be given before piracy is acceptable though? Now I'm not talking about downloading the latest Call Of Duty or Resident Evil edition. Certainly not. These games are still running their retail life-cycle, but games which have ceased production, games like “Joe & Mac” and “The Lost Vikings” for the SNES. Even all the way up to the PSX/N64 era with classics like Conkers Bad Fur Day. These games which are next to impossible to come across, let alone find a good condition console to play them on. I remember spending my pre-teen years playing some of these games and even now yearning to play them again almost as much as I want to play say, “The Witcher 2” etc.

Due to the lack of demand and inaccessibility put forward by progress, these games are not stocked in retail outlets any more and you can forget about renting them in that case. As the supply and demand rule of thumb, the rarer the item, the more it costs. Which is understandable, however I do not want to have to buy a collectors edition of a game 20 years old worth say $60 just for the re-experience. If, like many of the younger generation, I had never played the game before I'm even less likely to pay for it, which is a shame. Many classic, ground breaking games may lose their shine and become forgotten in years to come due to these very limitations.

On the flip side the ease and access of the Emulator scene is growing in leaps and bounds, with talented developers taking time out of their life to create freeware programs which run these earlier games. This hobby makes it possible for a new gamer to experience games like, as an example, The Legend of Zelda or any of the Final Fantasy's, broadening their gaming expertise.

The downside to these great advancements is, unfortunately, that it is illegal to have the game files on your computer after 24 hours unless you already own a retail version of the game. Past the 24 hour mark you are considered a pirate, just the same as average Joe who modded their PS3 and downloaded Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3.

The fact of the matter is that after the retail cycle of a game has run its course, or at least the console it was on, the limitations of accessibility to these games must be lifted for others gain the experience frequently talked about in online forums for themselves. At this point in time if I download my all time favourite (as a child) game “ The Lost Vikings” for the SNES, which isn't available, I would be considered a pirate and treated as such by the authorities.

If there are no means of accessing these games and companies aren't trying to re-release them, I don't see why we shouldn't be allowed to download and play the classics for free.