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[Girlinhat]

Not games about pirates.  But when someone steals a game.  Also applicable to music, I suppose.  And I know this isn't really the intent of this forum but it's more fitting here than elsewhere.

A long, long time ago, I was a young black boy (and some of you are wondering if I actually was) and I had this game.  Legend of Legaia for the original Playstation.  At the time I was niave, and I allowed the disk to become damaged and forfeit the ending of the game.  Now, I've found the old disk, and I've found that the PS3 will play it.  But it's still damaged, and when I enter one of the first scenes it hangs up on the load screen and plays background music while it doesn't load the new zone.  This is the same problem I had years ago, but on a different area.

So I swiped an ISO of it and an emulator.  Why do I justify this?
1: I already bought the game (or my mother did for Christmas or something), so it's not as if I'm playing without paying.
2: Even if I wanted a new copy, it's nearly impossible to find anyways.
3: Even if I did find a copy, I wouldn't be supporting Contrail/Sony.  They've released the game and sold and shut it down.  If I bought a copy now, I'd be support Joe Schmoe Ebay by buying a used version.  Even if I DID buy it again, the developing company wouldn't get any profit off it.
4: This game is of such age and such popularity that it's basically abandonware.  Roller Coaster Tycoon or Sim City 2000 are similarly aged, but are still of such a franchise that they could still turn a profit.  Legend of Legaia is a tad less popular and wouldn't even show up on GoG.com.

Is this justified, and when is it 'ok to pirate'?

Apologies to Toady for when he has to lock this thread because it's discussing illegal activities.
And apologies to any black people for my earlier comment.  Also apologies to any boys or any young.  Just cover all the bases.

[ukulele]

Looks like you are explaining your actions. My point of view: if YOU think its ok to do it do it, if not dont.
I myself dont see too much harm on pirating but maybe thats becouse im from a 3rd world country and basically its the only option, a legal game costing more than 1/10 of a salary its kind of crazy.

[MrWillsauce]

I sense a locked thread in the near future.

[Cassandra]

Well, I personally see no problem in downloading certain games. If the game is no longer produced, and you already owned it, but the disc was damaged... Doesn't seem like piracy to me. But yeah, this thread will be locked soon.

[lordcooper]

Acceptable reasons to pirate a game IMO:

1. Faulty/broken/lost discs.  You paid for it (or someone paid for it on your behalf), you should be able to play it.
2. Being genuinely unable to find anywhere that sells the game first hand.  If you literally can't find a way to pay for it then it's fair game.
3. To check out a game with no demo.  It should be deleted after an hour or so of play.  If you want more, pay for it.
4. Always online (or otherwise highly intrusive) DRM.  It should still be purchased, but I see nothing wrong with pirating a game you already own if makes things easier for yourself.
5. If you are in dire financial straits and in a position where you definitely cannot afford to pay for the game without going hungry/skipping rent or bills.  Possibly a little controversial, but I wouldn't begrudge someone for being unable (not simply unwilling) to pay.  It isn't a lost sale if it wasn't a potential sale to begin with.
6. Games for consoles/devices you do not and will never own.  As above, you were never a potential sale in the first place.
7. Games that are unavailable in your region for whatever stupid fucking reason.
8. It was made by EA.

[Labs]

I torrent, but I always buy indie games. Not to prevent karmic backlash or anything, I just don't feel as if the larger companies lose much if I don't pay for a copy.

[Girlinhat]

3. To check out a game with no demo.  It should be deleted after an hour or so of play.  If you want more, pay for it.

On a similar note: To check if your computer can run it!  I've got a couple games on Steam that are waiting for a new graphics card.  That's why I love demos.  It shows you gameplay AND more reliable system requirements.  Often what's listed as "minimum" and "suggested" are way off base from what really works.  I've seen some games where "minimum" means "the game will load the intro screen but you get .5 FPS" and others where it lists high requirements but doesn't mention "you can drop the resolution and run it 50 FPS easy."

[Kaitol]

Acceptable reasons to pirate a game IMO:

1. Faulty/broken/lost discs.  You paid for it (or someone paid for it on your behalf), you should be able to play it.
2. Being genuinely unable to find anywhere that sells the game first hand.  If you literally can't find a way to pay for it then it's fair game.
3. To check out a game with no demo.  It should be deleted after an hour or so of play.  If you want more, pay for it.
4. Always online (or otherwise highly intrusive) DRM.  It should still be purchased, but I see nothing wrong with pirating a game you already own if makes things easier for yourself.
5. If you are in dire financial straits and in a position where you definitely cannot afford to pay for the game without going hungry/skipping rent or bills.  Possibly a little controversial, but I wouldn't begrudge someone for being unable (not simply unwilling) to pay.  It isn't a lost sale if it wasn't a potential sale to begin with.
6. Games for consoles/devices you do not and will never own.  As above, you were never a potential sale in the first place.
7. Games that are unavailable in your region for whatever stupid fucking reason.
8. It was made by EA.

^^ this is pretty much my entire opinion as well. Although I don't think it's even legally pirating if you actually owned the game and system. You bought the rights to play the game, the physical copy is just a courtesy way to access it. Not sure though, I'm no legal consultant.

3. To check out a game with no demo.  It should be deleted after an hour or so of play.  If you want more, pay for it.

On a similar note: To check if your computer can run it!  I've got a couple games on Steam that are waiting for a new graphics card.  That's why I love demos.  It shows you gameplay AND more reliable system requirements.  Often what's listed as "minimum" and "suggested" are way off base from what really works.  I've seen some games where "minimum" means "the game will load the intro screen but you get .5 FPS" and others where it lists high requirements but doesn't mention "you can drop the resolution and run it 50 FPS easy."

Also this.

[Dunamisdeos]

I pretty regularly torrent things to try out before me and my friends buy it. It almost feels shady to buy a game without trying it.

Usually, the method is:

1: Game came out! I heard Game is really good. I don't have 60$ to blow on a chance, though.
2: It's Bob Everyman's turn. Hey Bob, torrent Game and report back.
3: Bob says Game is good, or maybe bad, let's make a purchasing decision.

Nobody loses.

[ukulele]

Nobody loses.

Except crappy super hyped games, wich are basically most of them

[Girlinhat]

Yeah, but you know that Skyrim was never hurting for money.  The hyped games are always gonna sell big because there's always gonna be a market of people who pay attention to marketing.  The marketing demographic is labeled "people who believe marketing" and the sales pitch is "We're gonna make an outrageous claim and back it up with a cutscene video."

[rutsber]

I torrent, but I always buy indie games. Not to prevent karmic backlash or anything, I just don't feel as if the larger companies lose much if I don't pay for a copy.

This. That's basically mine and my friends one rule of pirating. As for music, I don't see much of a problem with it, because if you wanted you could just go and listen to it on Youtube or a similar source. It gives you a chance to demo it, kind of like games. Of course, some people won't see a point to later buying the music because there aren't things like updates for it that justify buying it. I also agree with the list made by lordcooper, I see nothing wrong with any of those.

[Dunamisdeos]

    Nobody loses.

Except crappy super hyped games, wich are basically most of them

I'm not sure about most of them, but basically this. I remember Age of Conan.

I will never, ever forget Conan.

[Telgin]

I'd say that I'm pretty inflexible when it comes to this sort of thing, but I would consider this a valid reason to pirate the game.  If I've paid for a game but am no longer able to play it due to the media being damaged (or lost), I'll consider it.  It's technically still illegal, but it doesn't really matter in my opinion.

I'd consider pirating a game if it was not available for my region and there were no plans to port it to my region, but honestly the game would probably not be enjoyable anyway since it would likely be in a language I couldn't understand to begin with.

I don't consider pirating a game fair just because I don't have the hardware to play it (such as with a console emulator).  Nor would I really consider it fair to pirate a game just to test it.  Fortunately most games have demos for that, but I know not all do.  If it was me, I might have the will power to force myself to pay for it if it did turn out to work, but in general it juts wouldn't feel right to me.

So in summary: I only really consider pirating if I already own it, and only then because it's not really stealing.

[lordcooper]

I don't consider pirating a game fair just because I don't have the hardware to play it (such as with a console emulator).

Why?  I don't own a gameboy and never will, therefore I am never going to buy a gameboy game.  If I was to go and pirate a load of gameboy games for the purpose of emulation nobody loses out, because there was no chance of me buying a game I'm unable to play in the first place.  On the other hand, I have a PS2 and still buy games for it from time to time.  If I pirate a PS2 game the developer has lost a sale, this doesn't apply for gameboys.

Nor would I really consider it fair to pirate a game just to test it.

Why?  I wouldn't buy an album without hearing a few tracks first, a book without scanning through a couple of pages, a car without taking it on a test drive or a sofa without sitting on it.  I'd actually say it's kinda foolish to do otherwise.