Gaming Is it okay to "Pirate" games you already own?

[DarkShadows500]

I know this board probably has had to answer this question a million times. Sorry if i posted this to the wrong board i literally just signed up 5 minutes ago. So i just downloaded CEMU and have been having a field day with it. Ive only been playing games that i own since the game that i own are the only wii u games that i have an interest in. But alot of people say that you should RIP your games from the disc, i know how to do that, but it just takes too long, When i rip from a disc it takes Hours and Hours, but why would i waste my time when i can simply just download an already ripped WAD in no less the 2 minutes? Its confusing because this is a product i already own, and Ripping is technically creating copies, which is legal, Downloading something you already own and still have, Its still a copy, just like a ripped WAD, just without the hassle. Well i hope someone answers this because ive been told multiple times that its still illegal to download games you already own, which still doesnt make sense to me. Ive been using Dolphin for years, I have a big Gamecube and wii collection so basically anything i download is already in my collection. I do Torrent, but not Games, not even PC games. When it comes to games ive always been a good sport, ive only torrented gamess that i was unsure about buying, but then i ended up buying after.

 

[CeeDee]

Sure. No one's gonna come after you unless you're uploading leaked games and the like. Piracy isn't much of a big deal.

 

[Supster131]

I think this more of a moral question than a legal question.
Is it legal? Yes. You already own the content. As long as you don't sell it or give it away and keep the pirated version, you're fine.
As for the morality of it, it depends on person to person. Some may argue that no, it is not ok and you should dump your copy.
In my opinion, I think it's fine. You own a copy, I don't really care how you get the game running on an emulator. Whether you dumped it or downloaded it is the same to me.

 

[DarkFlare69]

Do it if you want, your ISP won't care usually

 

[petethepug]

Well you have to keep in mind it's still a big deal (You should "use" it responsibly.) As long as you own the Physical Copy it's legal as long as you don't share it with others, or use it at the same time on multiple devices (Something like the Wii U, and PC at the same time, so your friend is playing on your PC while your playing on Wii U as an example.) (You're allowed to do it on multiple devices.)

Again perfectly legal as long as you own the game (AND STILL OWN IT).

 

[gameboy]

except i doubt you own a lot of those games....

 

[petethepug]

except i doubt you own a lot of those games....

Or I could just show you them in real life, or with screenshots... Don't see a problem there.

 

[gameboy]

Or I could just show you them in real life, or with screenshots... Don't see a problem there.

not you, the original postee, there really is no reason to use CEMU if he actually has a wiiu because the compatibility for it is not great while the minimum requirements is ridiculously high. the only reason to have cemu is if he didnt have a capture card and he wanted to record hi def gameplay really

 

[grossaffe]

Legally that will depend on where you live. In the United States, it is not legal to pirate something just because you own it, but it is perfectly legal to make your own backup from your own copy. Things start to get murky when dealing with encrypted content since you have the legal right to create a backup, but breaking encryption is illegal.

From a moral stand point, I find it a-okay as long as you don't plan on keeping said pirated copy after you sell your legally owned copy.

 

[laudern]

Why do people even make threads like this? Honestly who cares? Do whatever you want. No one is going to come busting down your door if you are making copies of your game. Even if you are handing out copies of your game no one will care. Someone prove me wrong.

If you start up a business selling your copies, yeah that's pushing it but you're an idiot if you do that and tfb if you get ratted out.

 

[sion_zaphod]

Backups for archival purposes are allowed. Sale of backups is not.

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-digital.html#backup

 

[YuseiFD]

Here is how it works, if it is legal, then kudos, if not, the owner would have to pursue millions and millions of people, i'd say billions, and EVEN if we caught them all, sentences would go from a couple lifetimes to infinity (??? well that's my case, i never bought a legit cd/game/software in my entire life), there are not enough prisons to hold up everyone.

 

[WeedZ]

Legally you can backup any media or software that you've purchased.

 

[zekepliskin]

not you, the original postee, there really is no reason to use CEMU if he actually has a wiiu because the compatibility for it is not great while the minimum requirements is ridiculously high. the only reason to have cemu is if he didnt have a capture card and he wanted to record hi def gameplay really

Or use something like a Happauge DVR, or output the original Wii U to a PC based capture card... stuff like this is used for making Twitch feeds.

My personal stance is, try before you buy. If you like it, buy it. It's a good way of sifting through crap. For example I have a PS Plus membership and if I'd been able to try before I bought most of the games that end up as monthly freebies I wouldn't have bothered taking out a membership. And a lot of the stuff I have copies of I owned physical or digital legal versions at points and don't like paying more than once or twice for software. It's like format wars with music where record companies lazily shovel stuff they'd already released and were bought new on vinyl, then cassette, then CD and by the time the MP3 revolution rolls around you think "feck it, I've paid for this three times I think I'll take a freebie on this".

In game world, people can rattle on about developer royalties, but that only really applies to purchasing new or in some (not all) cases if you buy it digitally. You buy a game used from a video game outlet, there's no money winging it's way back to the developers/publishers of that game, it's already been made.

 

[Depravo]

http://gbatemp.net/threads/piracy-common-myths.344858/

 

[ShadowOne333]

The thing here is the following:

The only way in which you can fall into a totally green-light legal ground is that you backup your own copy of the game to use it in any other medium you want it to, like emulators or backup CD/DVD/Blu Ray discs of the content.
But be sure that it is only completely legal if you do the backup yourself of your own copy.
This also includes not redistributing the content from your backup copy, that is considered illegal too.

Downloading a copy online even when you already have the content in a physical/paid way, is still falling into grey legal grounds.

I'm not really that fond of that rule.
Discs and so are quite an easy thing to backup, but when it comes to cartridges the problem really starts to deepen itself.
This is why I backup my own discs, but I get cartridges ROMs online. I can't afford myself the hardware and setup required to backup all of my Nintendo library.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Depends How paranoid are you?

 

[The Catboy]

I actually hack my systems to back up my own games. Mostly because I don't want to ruin any system with moving parts, so I would rather play my games off some form of storage that isn't disk. And for portable systems, because I hate carrying around all of my games that I am playing.
It's not really illegal to back up your own games, so long as you aren't sharing them.

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

If you're really obsessed over it then don't do it. I do it and don't care.

 

[xdarkmario]

well i follow the "grey area" terms, if i own it ill download it/rip it because one thing about me is that i HATE to constantly switch out disk/carts whenever i want to play a new game but i dont trust going full digital and buying digital copies for 2 reasons.
A. your system fails or gets stolen that stuff is gone and.
B. If your banned everything your brought is GONE FOREVER (i can never return to Sony gaming because they screwed me over and i hate them forever as much as they hate me)
sometimes im a bit of a scumbag though lol ill buy a game and go download it so that i dont have to open mine XD