Is emulating acceptable?

[VGPolyglot]

SvennoJ said:

VGPolyglot said:
Legally, the emulators are legal, but downloading the ROMs aren't. You have to use the actual copy of the game or rip it yourself and not distribute online. Morally, though? I don't see anything wrong with it, especially for retro games, as they make as much money from sales of a used copy as they do from downloading an illegal copy.

That's only true in the first order. Part of the money paid for a used copy went back to the original buyer which most likely resulted in facilitating another game purchase, money returned into the game industry. Only internet providers and maybe advertisers make money from downloading.

A lot of games are out of print, though in the first place, so there is no way to pay for it in a way that the publisher gets the money.