Emulation = Prison? NOT promoting piracy just wondering.

[VincentX3]

I like how no one mentions the whole point (For most people in my opinion) of playing games on an emulator is to be able to play them in true HD (or even 4K)

Ah yes. "Free" games isn't the reason, people just want to enhance the games they legally hold.
Just like how all those pirates downloading games are just demoing the game... they're all perfect upstanding folk like that.

If that's what you think, fine. But not everyone does it just for "free" games. Emulators exist for more than that simple and close-minded reason.

 

[laggyteabag]

It seems like "I don't support piracy/emulation but __________" is just a "get out of jail free" card.

Emulation is a pretty grey subject. The general consensus on the matter is that if you already own a copy of the game, and the hardware to play it, then it is considered to be okay to download it, and if you don't own either, then most of the stuff that you can download is abandonware by now, as most of the developers have long since been shut down , so it technically isn't harming anybody by doing it, and even if you do manage to track down a new copy of whatever you are looking for, it can often cost you an arm or a leg in terms of cost. That being said though, downloading a ROM is still considered to be piracy, which is obviously illegal, and even though I doubt that the police are going to track you down and send you to jail for downloading Pokemon Blue or whatever, it is still illegal. So there's that.

 

[Denamic]

If you own the console and game in question, it's perfectly legal. In fact, the PS3 has built-in emulation for PSX games.

 

[Rayce Archer]

It is legal to own Roms in the following ways, without question:
-You have legally purchased the physical media containing the rom, be it a cartridge or a whole arcade cabinet
-You have been legally sold the rom by its license-holder

Really depends on where you live. If I recall correctly, in the EU it depends on the manner obtained if it's legal or not. Ripped your own copy and kept it to yourself for personal use only? Fine. Downloaded/copied it from elsewhere? Illegal.

Yeah, I should have made it clear that I live in the US and am speaking to US law. The EU is much more lenient on backups and such. Although in this case I mean "own the rom" ON that physical media. So if you buy Duck Hunt you now own the Duck Hunt rom, on the Duck Hunt cartridge. If THAT becomes legally debatable, I'm moving to China.

Note that without backups things like arcade cabinet repair become all but impossible so every arcade machine service shop is a little slice of everybody-look-the-other-way too.

 

[Rayce Archer]

It seems like "I don't support piracy/emulation but __________" is just a "get out of jail free" card.

Yes that's the point. It's like saying "I'm not a murderer but how does this state punish murderers?" A perfectly legit curiosity.