Fairly straight forward question

When if ever do you find it okay to start pirating and emulating a game?

Are you a never type of person, maybe when its no longer available new from the publisher or if you cant afford the game its always ok.

If the system is no longer being supported or the game is rare enough there's no way to get it other than buying it used for a high price.

Morally if there is no demo available. These days that means prettty much always.

I'll pirate a game to see if it's good and if it is I'll buy it.
I like supporting devs but if the game is total crap they're not getting my money.

Yes, a lot of the times loll. I mostly do it whenever I am not sure about a game and/or I think the publisher is trying to hide something or just there isn't enough info about it or the game is just unplayable with the DRM in place... If I do end up liking it, I will buy the game (like I have on steam for example) but if I don't like it, I won't pay for it. I generally know if I will like a game within an hour or so and if I don't like it, then I wont play past that hour

The other thing is that when they pull off shit like MGS V: GZ where the game is enjoyable but the whole game is only an hour long... And the $30 asking price no way justifies that purchase...

Like its hard for me to go and blindly buy a game these days just cause of how missleading the publishers/developers are unless of course its highly recommended by friends

I guess in a way, paying for something becomes more valuable in that sense when you have the freedom to play all the games for free but oh well, I do pay for mediocre games from time to time provided there in one condition, they are anime!!!

I think so long as there is no way to purchase the game in a way that supports the developer, than it's ok. So arcade games are one way, mobile games that aren't available anymore, or older and more obscure games that don't show up on any of the current consoles arcade/virtual console selections.

Just for personal opinion, I don't think any games from the current or past generation should be emulated since those consoles are still in play and if a massive amount of people didn't buy the games even if it was just off the secondary markets, it would have an impact on the developers and the people that buy games new and sell them after they beat them.

The only emulator I am using at the moment is MAME which allows me to play many awesome arcade games! That emulator is a Godsend!

3 Generations

If the publisher is being scumbaggish.

It's always wrong to emulate a game. You are never entitled to play a game for free regardless of what the publisher does, how available the game is, or so on.

That being said, I'll download a game if it is not readily available for purhcase without a major hassle. It's not right, but I'll still do it.