• Ever thought it'd be cool to have your art, writing, or challenge runs featured on PokéCommunity? Click here for info - we'd love to spotlight your work!
  • It's time to vote for your favorite Pokémon Battle Revolution protagonist in our new weekly protagonist poll! Click here to cast your vote and let us know which PBR protagonist you like most.
  • Welcome to PokéCommunity! Register now and join one of the best fan communities on the 'net to talk Pokémon and more! We are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company or Nintendo.
    Register

Emulating Games vs Purchasing Games

El Héroe Oscuro

El Héroe Oscuro

IG: elheroeoscuro
    • 7,239
    Posts
    16
    Years
    [PokeCommunity.com] Emulating Games vs Purchasing Games

    There's a thin line between when it's acceptable to emulate games...or rather, that's only a fraction of the gaming community thinks. Some people argue that it allows them to save money, others say it's much more accessible to have all their favorite games in one convenient location, while others believe that it's just a morbid thing to do in not supporting a company by emulating a game. So my question for you is this: where do you stand on emulation? Do you think that it's perfectly okay for a person to emulate a game, or do you think that it's just as much of a crime as stealing a game? If you're against emulating, how do you think it can be stopped? If you are for emulating, how do you think you can convince the opposing side that it's okay to do?

    Feel free to discuss all topics relevant to this down below, including what games you've emulated, what emulators you use, etc. etc.​
     
    I only emulate games if:
    -I owned them some point
    -Want to try them out before buying
    -Can't buy them at all in my country
    -Video game challenges

    I'm against emulation of new games that you don't plan on buying, because it steals money from the company. I don't have anything against trying out games before buying or emulating games that you can't buy (because i do it). I also don't have anything against emulating terrible games that nobody would buy if they knew how terrible they were before buying them.
     
    I think options like the Virtual Console are great if you're concerned. I've picked up a couple of N64 games that way.

    Otherwise, I'm fine with emulation because it's a superior experience to the current legal options. With emulation I can apply filters to make look as if it was played on the original console. With emulation I have more control over the controls XD Maybe I don't like Nintendo's old B-A setup, well I'll map it to Y-B which is more comfortable. And then hacks and bug fixes that can really improve older titles.

    It's a better experience for free, sooo.... ?
     
    There's a few reasons why I emulate, main 2 are ROM hacks/randomisers. But my problem is I own the games, I own the consoles, but I don't have a TV capable of the old outputs, none my my TVs or monitors have component cable holes or scart sockets :(
     
    Last edited:
    Well emulation isn't illegal; downloading a ROM is illegal (even if you have an original version of the game). The only way you can get a legal ROM is by extracting it from your own original copy (and even then you are not allowed to give it to others).

    I'm fine with emulation. Many of the older games are unavaillable because the systems they were made for are outdated, the company who produced the game doesn't exist anymore, or even when there are still copies you can buy, you have to spend so much money that you'd be better off using it to buy a PS4 + a couple of games.
     
    I see it more as "Emulation vs Native", because I can pirate a game and play it on the original console or an emulator, and I can do the same with games I purchase. Deepending on the system.

    Which do I prefer? It depends. If we're talking older games, I take it both ways. Preferably, I want them on the Virtual Console, but I'd also be fine with playing them on the consoles that they were originally created for. Even when it comes to hacks, I prefer them on consoles rather than my PC. I mean, I don't dislike older emulation on my PC, and I even have a gamepad, but graphics stretch and I generally have to play from a window (unless I change resolution). I don't mind too much, though. In fact, when it comes to emulation, for the most part I'm interested in handheld emulation. Apart from just loving handhelds, there's no stretching required and games feel almost native on the systems.

    But when we get to the 3D age, emulation is a WHOOOOOLE other story. I have a Wii and a PS2, but I barely use them anymore. Not because I don't like them, but because emulation just enhances the experience so much more. Graphics can be upscaled to make games look just fantastic, and apart from upscaling you can add Anti-aliasing, Anisotropic Filtering, Graphic Filters...so on and so forth. And modding.

    ...So it depends. For 2D consoles (and the DS and N64), I generally like to play them on handhelds or VC (or VC on handhelds). For 3D consoles, I like to emulate since it enhances the experience.
     
    I'm a supporter of emulation. While I think it might lose a very small amount of money for the game company, there is only a fraction of people who know how to emulate games, and an even smaller fraction of people who actually do it. On top of that, most games are emulated many years after they've been released, so it's not as significant as losing money on the first year or two when the game's revenue is the most important.

    However, I still prefer to shy away from emulation because I just love owning a physical copy of the game. So I'll emulate if:
    - I've owned the game at some point or currently own it and don't want to scratch up the disc/cartridge,
    - it isn't available in my country; e.g., I just beat Terranigma, which was never released in NA,
    - if it's possible to play a handheld game on a TV screen... I like to play a lot of GB, GBC, and GBA games on a console because I have bad eyes (although DS and up is fine) and I'm more of a console gamer anyway,
    - or the game is so rare that it costs a fortune; most PSX, NES, SNES, etc. games are mega-expensive, and some games like .hack Part 4 ($200!!!!!!) are just ridiculous, so I'll choose to emulate them.
     
    I support emulation. But I don't think that Pirating new games is acceptable. Now I'm fine with games that are from the PS 2 era and earlier as it doesn't cause any damage to the company. However I prefer to own physical copies over emulation.
     
    Even when I was more into emulating games - I'm not nearly as much into it now as I used to be, for several reasons - I always followed the creed of "only games that can't easily be found anymore and/or were never released here in the first place." Any older system was fair game to me, any current-gen console was off-limits (and a pain in the rear to set up, so even if I had wanted to try them I would have stopped out of sheer annoyance).

    I'd still rather buy a game if possible, whether through a online download purchase or by purchasing an actual physical copy (that isn't one that's going for like $100+ by now :T ). When it comes to other people, I don't care if they want to emulate an older or hard to find game; I do slightly care if it's a newer game, although mostly what I would do is just try to convince that person to please buy an actual copy of the game. That's about all I can do, really.
     
    Video game emulation and criminal copyright infringement are two different things, though I don't really have a problem with either. Video game emulation itself isn't inherently unethical or illegal, but it often involves criminal copyright infringement, which is illegal.

    Regarding criminal copyright infringement, the original extent of copyright law was 14 years, with the option to renew for another 14 if the author was still alive and wished it. I don't feel any moral obligation to respect copyright past those original limits, but the current letter of the law is pretty clear on the matter.
     
    I'm not into emulating. The only time I emulated a game was to play Mother 3 because there's no other way to play. I'm glad I did do that because it ended up being my favorite game of all-time. But I like to actually purchase and own my game. As a collector, that's...kind of the point, haha.
     
    Jak said:
    I'm not into emulating. The only time I emulated a game was to play Mother 3 because there's no other way to play. I'm glad I did do that because it ended up being my favorite game of all-time. But I like to actually purchase and own my game. As a collector, that's...kind of the point, haha.
    Click to expand...

    I don't blame you for doing that. That's one of the only reasons why I could see myself emulating a game, most specifically Wild Guns for the SNES. Like Mother 3, it goes for around $200 on eBay, so instead of dropping a bountiful of money on a single game I'd rather just take the inexpensive route and just emulate it. Although at some point I'll definitely by it, as it's quite a collector's item.
     
    I discovered this year you can buy the translated ROM of Mother 3 in a GBA cartridge...I'll likely be getting one this year. But the Japanese cartridges don't sell for too much, last I checked. I mean, they're not cheap, but it's feasible if you're into that game. Issue with Mother 3 isn't the price, like the case with Earthbound. Issue is that it wasn't released outside of Japan, haha.
     
    I don't like emulators because emulating a game just doesn't really offer me the genuine gameplay experience by playing the game the way you were supposed to. Plus, I'd feel less inclined to play legitimately on an emulator, because generally speaking cheat codes are so much easier to use on emulators. The only time I'd play on an emulator is if there are no feasible alternatives.

    I got nothing against those who prefer emulators as it's just a matter of preference.
     
    Last edited:
    I don't like emulating, because I usually feel really guilty and terrible when I do emulate. However, that is only when I'm emulating a game I do not already own. I support emulators, but I don't think they should be exploited as much as they are.
     
    I don't have any problem emulating games, as long as they're for a long obsolete system, like the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive or the N64. Trying to come across the consoles/games in good working condition is pretty rare at this point, and I just can't justify wasting my time or money trying to track them down, when they're all readily available to me (though, I'd kill to have a working Genesis with a copy of Sonic 2 right about now). Even then, the majority of games that I emulate are ones that I either owned or played in the past, and going out of my way to find ROMs of games I've never tried before is a pretty rare occurence.

    As for new-ish consoles to current day (PS2, XBox, GameCube, DS, etc.), I just don't bother. Mostly in the past it was because my computer wouldn't be able to run those newer emulators, but even with a more powerful computer now, I'm just as happy going back to play some classics rather than scouring for those games/emulators.
     
    Couple of years ago, I was a big fan of Emulators and playing emulated games. I couldn't imagine better source for playing my favorite games from childhood. Sometimes, when I have time, I'd still play some emulated NES games. I started my Pokemon journey with VBA and Fire Red. Now that I started to earn money, I got my own GBA and NDS, so I don't emulate Pokemon games anymore.
     
    I prefer emulating games over purchasing simply because of the economic aspect to it. If I purchased all of the games I've played on an emulator I would've been out a lot more money. I enjoy playing games on a console more, but I'm also fine with playing them on an emulator too. My favorite is the VisualBoyAdvance.
     
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top