1. When its easier to hook up your pc than having 12 plus retro consoles connected to a tv,
2.) when its faster to download music than rip your cd collection,
3, when you liked the pokeman games but damn them rom hacks are good
4, final point its always okay if you don't get caught

I have an issue with Sony. They released a faulty firmware 3.56 which caused my console to be bricked when shortly after the hdd failed and couldn't be replaced due to the faulty firmware. I didn't buy the ps3 new and it was out of warranty but Sony's actions directly caused it to be unusable. Here in the UK customer support is behind a paywall phone line and often you can be kept on hold for upto an hour costing many pounds. When you get through the people are clueless and un-helpful.

I feel a strong sense of injustice about Sony and have absolutely no issue watching Sony pirated movies and will probably never pay for a sony movie now. I feel I have a moral license to not pay for Sony movies. I would do the same for games except its more difficult to do.

Generally though I pay for my games. I have a huge steam library with hundreds of games and have two large shelving units full of games, dvds and blu-rays.

Technically, the owner of a game can produce a digital back up to protect him or herself in the event that the physical copy is destroyed. But that digital copy must stay in the possession of the individual. It cannot be distributed across the internet.

So, even if you own game X it's still illegal to download a ROM of game X.

@OP: under no circumstances is it permissible, in my opinion.

Never. Piracy is theft. Simple as that, no matter how anyone wants to justify it. Need proof? I am implore anyone to put themselves in a position where you are the one spending your time , money and talent to make something that cost you a lot to make, then tell me under which circumstances you would be OK with people just copying and sharing your hard work.

Having said that, like most people here, I'm a thief. I don't pirate games though, cause I feel their actual sale is the only way they make their money.

When the non pirated one are way overpriced. Seriously, PS2 games here cost as much as PS4 games! Don't get me started on the Gameboy Color games, they still sell for as much as 3DS games!

Only time piracy is ok: when it is the only way to obtain the item. Some songs I like are remixes I can only get on Youtube.

Absolutely none. No one is entitled to get everything they want. If a product that people worked on and is selling for money is not directly available for you, tough luck. There is no excuse for claiming something you have not paid for as your own.

The justification of some people in this thread is mind boggling. So much criminal energy.

Personally, and I realize a lot of people won't agree with me, but if you don't have the means (money) to purchase a game and thus would have never gotten it to play, then I don't see that as a lost sale for the publisher/developer because you were never going to purchase it in the first place.

If you have the means to buy a game, but you still choose to pirate it simply because you're cheap or whatever reason, then that I have a problem with.

This guy makes a good case for both sides ...

for gaming, when
- youre too poor to afford every game new or even used.
- its too expensive like some of the retro and vintage stuff for over 100€
- its too big to maintain like the arcade machines and arcade boards
- you already owning the game
- it isnt released in your country or region
- youre not liking the company's decision like releasing it only as digital version or drm retail version