Is this ethical? Or even legal? I'm using an emulator to play old nintendo64 games on my computer. i would assume it's ok, as the console and games aren't sold anymore, but am I still harming the company's bottom line? what do you think?
2007-04-27 16:15:22 · 4 answers · asked by rokenbok94 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Ethics are not about the conclusions you came to, but the reasons you came to it. Thus, no one can define if it is ethical or not. Legality, though, is totally answerable: emulators are one hundred percent legal; ROMS are not, EVEN IF YOU OWN THE GAME! Nintendo is of the position that no one should use emulators, unless they bought them from Nintendo ( the Wii has an emulator). But no claim against an emulator has ever stood up in court. ROMS are almost always considered illegal, unless the company who made it has specifically released the game to the public domain. Nintendo will probably NEVER release a game to the public domain. However, as consoles age and become unavailable, many claim that the games are "abandoned", thus they can be used in any way, including in an emulator. This is known as "abandonware".
More to the point, no one really cares that much about older ROMS. CoolROM.com, for instance, is based in the United States, and could easily be shut down if anyone actually cared about them distributing them. DGEmu.com, however, is based in Europe, which has less strict copyright laws, and thus "gets away" with distributing newer ROMS. Its all about whether the company who owns the game really wants to spend money on prosecuting a case of piracy. In most cases
with older games the answer will be no; the company would have nothing to gain if it doesn't make any money off the game anymore.
2007-04-30 13:24:48 · answer #1 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is legal if you own an n64 and the game you are playing.
I would consider it ethical since nintendo 64s are hard to come by and the controllers break easy. So over the years if you want to continue playing the games it will become increasing difficult to find working controllers.
I use a nintendo 64 emulator legally. I have a broken n64 and a small collect of games sitting in the attic.
2007-04-27 16:25:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well..I really don't know, but I'm gonna take a stab at it. I don't think the emulator itself is illegal/unethical but the games that you are playing...that's a different story. How did you get the games? Did you pay for them? I think the illegal or unethical part would come into play on whether or not you actually purchased the games, or signed up somewhere to get access to them. If you aren't paying somewhere, then it's probably not ok.
2007-04-27 16:21:40 · answer #3 · answered by pinkluxe 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
technically it is piracy if you dont follow the terms of use listed with it. you are only supposed to use the game for 24 hrs
2007-04-27 16:20:27 · answer #4 · answered by illusionaryr 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋