But that begs the question, when would rental be allowed and when would it not? Should we ban the practice of renting in general? How far does it go?

You can't rent videogames in Japan because of piracy

http://kotaku.com/5914749/why-you-cant-rent-games-in-japan
However, instead of renting original copies of the games, most stores would bypass the copy protection and make their own bootleg copies to rent out—not to mention also selling that cracking software as well. These rental copies, now sans any and all copy protection were then copied ad infinitum by customers.

Thus in 1984, to stop the rampant piracy, game companies along with the Recording Industry Association of Japan and the Compact Disc & Video Rental Commerce Trade Association of Japan successfully lobbied and changed the Japanese Copyright Act. With this revision, video game rental was de-facto banned in Japan.

Legitimate rental businesses buy special versions on the games (those marked not for resale) to rent out which cost a whole lot more than buying the game outright. Ofcourse this can be abused, but it is illegal to rent out retail copies. In the end it is still far less destructive than piracy. You can only rent it out to one person at a time, while one pirated copy can be downloaded by many people from day 1.

Second hand copies are pretty harmless too. They aren't available from day 1, still cost a lot close after release, and provide value for those selling / trading their games in to fund new games. Next to keeping foot traffic going to stores where people can buy other game accessoires and get exposed to new systems and games.

I'm actually asking the OP about the thread questions that have to do with the thread itself, so you can stop derailing the thread. 

Well just like with what happened to DVDs, it might just die out in time due to a shift to digital. Even now renting games and etc. was a much bigger thing years ago than now so we're all aleady within that process.

Game developers could always even one day rent games digitally one day in the future themselves, or like netflix become part of a subscription service.

While emulation certainly seems shady to me in instances where new games are immediately available for emulation or old games are still readily available and for sale, it's true that, legally, emulation is not the same as piracy. That said, the legality of emulation is definitely more of a grey area than many seem to believe, as when it comes to software you're only allowed to copy your own legally owned version of the software.

Playing said legally-acquired software on an emulator is legal and, given that they were built from the ground up, emulators themselves are absolutely legal as well. Thus, combining the two is perfectly fine and not considered piracy. The problem, of course, is that the vast majority of people using emulation utilize it to play illegially acquired ROMs. Thus, while it is definitely true to say that it's possible to play software on an emulator legally, in reality the large majority of people are using it illegally. It's akin to people selling "water pipes" and such strictly for "tobacco" here in the US (which I have nothing against for the record), when everyone and their mother knows these are really mechanisms for the smoking of marijuana for 99% of the people who buy them.

Still, as said above, emulation is not definitively illegal nor directly comparable to piracy. Is it the same in spirit, though? That's subjective, and I think we all have our own lines; I personally think it is for newer games (thankfully emulation tends to take long enough that it's not much of a problem), but at the same time emulation also preserves and makes available old games that no one is profiting from anymore. One example that literally just received a youtube video is from the guys at DidYouKnowGaming? that provided an overview of some old Zelda games that were streamed via a service only in Japan. These games would be entirely lost today were it not for people dumping the ROMs and would be unplayable without emulation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqCJOBwBy_g&t=0s

I think a Pro's and Con's list would help put things in perspectives:

Pro's of Emulators/Emulation
- Preserves games that might otherwise be lost (personally my biggest pro)
- Allows for fan localization of games that never received translations
- Results in fun little compilations of past games in things like the NES Classic and plug-and-plays
- Can allow for backwards compatibility
- Allows for the patching of games that can fix otherwise unpleasant games
- Makes available long-since forgotten games that no one is profiting from to newer generations

Con's of Emulators/Emulation
- Their very nature encourages the piracy of illegally acquired software (very few people would actually use their own legally acquired games)
- When produced quickly enough (such as with Bleem!)  they can make games intended to be exclusive to some current hardware available outside of it
- Using the example of BotW, it can encourage some users who might otherwise buy the intended hardware to simply wait for an emulator to be able to run it. The BotW example is probably about the worst I can think of as a result of its Wii U port, as the emulating community is making hitherto unseen progress on it while it is still in its prime.
- While most games no longer profit their creators and intellectual owners, many are popular enough to continue to be rereleased (think Virtual Console or those Collection games), and so the ease with which emulators allow a person to pirate some software and play them without spending a penny essentially encourages theft.

As the lists might imply, I'm definitely on the fence with it, as I feel there's definitely both room for emulators and a need for emulators. I've certainly taken advantage of ROM dumps and hacks once or twice (such as getting a compatible Mr. Gimmick that never released in NA or getting an awesome Guardians of the Galaxy reskin of Bucky O'Hare lol), I've benefited from things like the DOSBox and fan patches of older PC games from that awkward Windows 95 age that can be hard to get running, and I'm completely in favor of dumping all ROM's and Software for preservation reasons. Likewise, opening all of these old games to younger generations and allowing everyone access to formerly region-locked games is very cool.

Otherwise, I do see the emulation of more recent games or those that are still readily available for sale from the intellectual owners to shady, and in the majority of instances where distributed software is used instead of a legally owned copy it is piracy and theft. Games, after all, are not food, water, shelter, or clothing; while it can suck to have limited access to some games, it's not as if your health is at risk if you don't play them, and so I've always found all attempts to justify the theft of games to be rather weak. For the most part, if a game is available directly from the source to this day and you want to play it, one ought to buy it straight from them. Playing your legally acquired game on an emulator isn't illegal, but as I've said before, that's very much the minority of emulators.

As for moderating the threads, unmoderated it's certainly true that attempting to discuss emulation (especially of newer titles) without mention of piracy is akin to talking about Bongs without mention of marijuana; someone is going to do it, and that's why they post a million "These are Water Pipes for Tobacco, any mention of Bongs or Marijuana will get you thrown out" signs at such stores lol... I think the BotW videos where they show side-by-side examples of the improved graphics and such will justifiably continue to prompt some angry posts and misplaced comparisons to "piracy", but with Nintendo leaving the Wii U behind I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that none of the current gen systems are particularly close to being emulated now. That ought to reduce the piracy posts.

What are your views on emulation?

I'm perfectly fine with it.  I like to keep my gaming hobby a legit one, so yeah, if I'm emulating a game, it's because I own it. I also own the system I'm emulating (with the exception of the PS2, because my backwards compatible PS3 decided to break, long after I sold my original PS2). I emulate games because I like the flexibility it brings.  The flexibility of graphics options, sound options, and control options. I have all of my consoles and my PC plugged into the same TV, so if I have the option of playing one of my legally purchased games on the PC with superior graphics, then you bet your ass I'm going to do it.

What benefits does emulation provide?

Everyone mentions game preservation.  I guess that's true, but personally, it's the fact that I have the option to make a game better through emulation. That's the only reason I do it.

Does it impact game sales?

Emulation itself isn't responsible for any lost game sales.  Maybe some console sales.  Piracy is responsible for lost game sales.  Emulation and piracy are different.

How do game creators feel about this?

I'm not a creator, so I don't know. I'm sure someone like Richard Garriot doesn't care that people can pirate his old Ultima games and play them on DOSBox.  I'm sure EA cares, though.  Or I can buy them on GOG.com and emulate them in DOSBox (which I have done).  Both scenarios are emulation. Only one involves piracy.  Interesting.

What are the legalities and ethics around emulation?

I'll be honest and say legally I don't know.  Emulation seems to exist in a legally grey area. It's legal to use an emulator.  It's legal to dump your own BIOS, but illegal to download a BIOS.  It's "legal" to back up your Wii games, but "illegal" to download a Wii game you already own.  Ethically, emulation is A-OK in my book.  For me it all comes down to whether the creators are paid for their efforts when I play a game.  I'll take the Wii example.  I own a Wii.  I also own a Wii U.  So I own two systems capable of playing Wii games.  Nintendo has my money. Two games I have emulated the most on Dolphin were Xenoblade and Skyward Sword.  I can look to my right and see both of those games sitting on my shelf.  I paid for them. Does it then matter that I had to acquire a Wii BIOS through shady means?  Does it matter that I had to download the Skyward Sword ISO file to play it?  Legally, I have broken the law.  But ethically, I have done nothing wrong.  I am playing a game that I have purchased, for a system that I have purchased.  I just happen to be playing it on another piece of hardware because the results are more pleasing to the eye.  I have since gotten a DVD drive that is capable of ripping Wii ISO files, so Xenoblade was ripped legally.  So, if I were to delete my downloaded Zelda ISO and then rip it using this new drive, does that make everything better?  Legally, I suppose it does.  Ethically, there's no fucking difference. Not one bit. If I were to gain the means to dump my own BIOS and replace my current one with THE EXACT SAME FILE, I'd be OK in the eyes of the law, but otherwise nothing changes.  Nintendo has long since gotten my money.  That amount of money will never have changed no matter how I was able to go about playing these games on my PC. They are unaffected by my actions. If anybody here can tell me a legitimate reason why there is a difference, then maybe I'll change my tune.  Otherwise, we're just arguing semantics. I pay my money to the creators.  I play their game.  End of transaction.

What percentage of those that use emulators are engaged in piracy?

Probably a lot, but I don't pretend to know. The only thing I can do is keep my own actions as legit as possible.

I emulated Xenoblade after paying the inflated price for the Wii version.  It's great that I am not forced to use the classic controller which is annoyingly tethered to the Wii remote.

It often depends on the game.  More stylized games like Dragon Quest 8 or Skyward Sword look absolutely fantastic in HD.  Games that aimed for "realism" always age poorly.

Just because you choose to believe something, doesn't make it so.

Great post!

We are indeed in a transition phase where support for last gen is on its last legs, with cracked consoles and emulators catching up to last gen hardware. So sure, piracy concerns will become fewer when games no longer have last gen support. However many people want generations to last longer with upgraded consoles or even go without clear generations.  What effect does piracy and perhaps also emulators have on hastening the phasing out of previous gen hardware? The WiiU is less than 5 years old. Now even though it's not that far off the Switch in terms of capability, combined with the low user base, it's even less desirable to release software on it. Software that has no guarantees to be kept safe and can effect the sales of the next gen versions.