Poll: Moral Question about downloading...
- Thread starter JamesStone
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Its not that simple. Not all games that are on steam have the option to input your CD-Key. For example, I bought the Dawn of War Platinum Edition in stores, but only the vanilla game and Winter assault worked, while Dark Crusade wouldn't install due to a faulty disk. I tried to put in the Dark Crusade CD Key on steam, only to find out that its CD Key format was not supportedJadak said:
I seem to remember my copy of Medieval 2 not allowing me to install it more than once anyway. I don't know if this is some sort of DRM or a problem specific to my copy, but I was massively annoyed and considered downloading it from the web. In the end, I didn't, but I don't see any problems with downloading a game you have already payed for.
Warez is the new backup copy, eh? :-D
Well, if there were no torrents, you'd have no choice than to buy it again, so thinking about it like this, it actually is theft (or to be more exact, fraud, as TotalBiscuit states).
For me, it's not (morally wrong) though, but i'd probably buy it again anyways - there are just those game you WANT to be sitting on your shelf on CD, and I wouldn't have a good feeling playing the downloaded copy, just because it's not the Only Specific Original One I buyed and installed from The Original CD, even if I still had and used my original CD key (yes, i know that content-wise they're identical), it's just about the feeling.
Well, if there were no torrents, you'd have no choice than to buy it again, so thinking about it like this, it actually is theft (or to be more exact, fraud, as TotalBiscuit states).
For me, it's not (morally wrong) though, but i'd probably buy it again anyways - there are just those game you WANT to be sitting on your shelf on CD, and I wouldn't have a good feeling playing the downloaded copy, just because it's not the Only Specific Original One I buyed and installed from The Original CD, even if I still had and used my original CD key (yes, i know that content-wise they're identical), it's just about the feeling.
The short answer is yes, it's wrong.
but hear me out. Pirating a game will never be right, and you can NEVER justify it. but you can have a good reason. and with the right reason you can at least explain yourself without seeming like a complete twazzuck.
Evil for a non-evil reason, as it were
but hear me out. Pirating a game will never be right, and you can NEVER justify it. but you can have a good reason. and with the right reason you can at least explain yourself without seeming like a complete twazzuck.
Evil for a non-evil reason, as it were
More often than not, legality and morality are congruent with one another - but this is not always the case. Just because something is a law does not make it morally correct.
I believe that it is most certainly morally wrong for a game developer to keep you from playing a game that you have already paid for. If a law happens to disagree with this, then the law itself is corrupt and void.
Then again, if you have a CD key, or any other proof that you bought the game (receipts, original packaging, etc), then you could email the developer and request a CD. This happened to me in reverse - I had the CD's for a game, but lost the CD key. When I provided a sufficiently high-res photo of the game manual, my receipt, both CD's, and the original case the game came in, they were kind enough to provide a replacement CD key.
However, if they had refused, I would most certainly have downloaded the game from less-than-legal channels.
I do not, however, condone the illegal downloading of games which have not been paid for. If you're too impatient to wait a few weeks to see the user reviews, or too lazy to use Google and find out if you are going to like the game (without illegally downloading it to try it out), then you deserve to throw away sixty dollars on a POS game.
It's tempting to subject developers to the trial by fire of "Let me play your game, and if you impress me, I'll pay you for a copy", by first obtaining an illegal copy of the game - but at that point, you're either willfully downloading a crappy game just to punish the developer (a waste of time and hard drive space), or being overly cautious about possibly spending money on a bad game (in which case, you should merely be more patient, do more research, and read more user reviews). This is why illegal downloading to 'try' a game before buying is fundamentally wrong.
I believe that it is most certainly morally wrong for a game developer to keep you from playing a game that you have already paid for. If a law happens to disagree with this, then the law itself is corrupt and void.
Then again, if you have a CD key, or any other proof that you bought the game (receipts, original packaging, etc), then you could email the developer and request a CD. This happened to me in reverse - I had the CD's for a game, but lost the CD key. When I provided a sufficiently high-res photo of the game manual, my receipt, both CD's, and the original case the game came in, they were kind enough to provide a replacement CD key.
However, if they had refused, I would most certainly have downloaded the game from less-than-legal channels.
I do not, however, condone the illegal downloading of games which have not been paid for. If you're too impatient to wait a few weeks to see the user reviews, or too lazy to use Google and find out if you are going to like the game (without illegally downloading it to try it out), then you deserve to throw away sixty dollars on a POS game.
It's tempting to subject developers to the trial by fire of "Let me play your game, and if you impress me, I'll pay you for a copy", by first obtaining an illegal copy of the game - but at that point, you're either willfully downloading a crappy game just to punish the developer (a waste of time and hard drive space), or being overly cautious about possibly spending money on a bad game (in which case, you should merely be more patient, do more research, and read more user reviews). This is why illegal downloading to 'try' a game before buying is fundamentally wrong.
I really wouldn't worry about it.
"Right" and "Wrong" are just words that we ascribe things to and if your definition of right and wrong says you can do this, DOn't do IT.
It's illegal, sure, but that hasn't stopped many people.
"Right" and "Wrong" are just words that we ascribe things to and if your definition of right and wrong says you can do this, DOn't do IT.
It's illegal, sure, but that hasn't stopped many people.
Interestingly this moral issue depends on which country you reside in. In some countries it is legal to download or copy a disc in order to have a back up of an already owned game. This does come with small print though, you are not allowed to distribute it to others unless they already own the said content themselves.
Implications:
Torrent downloading can only be used if the other seeds/peers own the content already. Since this is hard to guarrantee in a public seed then torrents are probably off the list as this involves uploading it to people who don't own or are in a country that does not allow such.
The copy of the disc must be kept with the original copy. if the original copy of the disc is scratched/broken then it must still be kept to prove ownership.
Note: Check your country's laws first, don't think what I have said applies fully to you.
Implications:
Torrent downloading can only be used if the other seeds/peers own the content already. Since this is hard to guarrantee in a public seed then torrents are probably off the list as this involves uploading it to people who don't own or are in a country that does not allow such.
The copy of the disc must be kept with the original copy. if the original copy of the disc is scratched/broken then it must still be kept to prove ownership.
Note: Check your country's laws first, don't think what I have said applies fully to you.
you bought it, it's yours, you are allowed to have as many (PERSONAL-ONLY) copies you want legally. say you bought the original SMB cartridge, but now your NES died, you are legally allowed to download a ROM of SMB and play on your PC, so long as you do not distribute it or break any of the game's personal TOS.
I'ts not piracy if you own it.
(i had to do the same thing for Sims 1, and when amnesia decided that because i updated, my key was no longer valid....)
I'ts not piracy if you own it.
(i had to do the same thing for Sims 1, and when amnesia decided that because i updated, my key was no longer valid....)
I say no, but only to a version that is an ISO of the original game installation disc. That way, it would still be exactly the same. You would install it the same, with your original CD key and all. Also, if you burned the ISO onto a disc, I doubt there would be anyone who could tell whether this copy of the disc came from your specific original copy or not. I'm pretty sure all of the discs are identical, so no one could prove you didn't just make the backup yourself.
Also, as many others have said, check to see if there's a way to input your CD to Steam, or if the publisher has digital copies. Then, you're definitely in the clear.
Also, as many others have said, check to see if there's a way to input your CD to Steam, or if the publisher has digital copies. Then, you're definitely in the clear.
Same thing happened to me (sort of). I love Deus Ex and I played it on my old Win 2000 machine. Recently I got a netbook for university but it doesn't have a disk drive. So I downloaded Deus Ex and transferred all the mods I used and I can play one of my favourite games again on the go!
Morally wrong? Nope, and I don't think many people would say it is. It is technically still illegal in most places, however, so you might want to try an official route if you have some kind of proof of ownership.