Bart: Uh, say, are you guys crooks?
Fat Tony: Bart, is it wrong to steal a loaf of bread to feed your starving family?
Bart: No.
Fat Tony: Well, suppose you got a large starving family. Is it wrong to steal a truckload of bread to feed them?
Bart: Uh uh.
Fat Tony: And, what if your family don't like bread? They like... video games?
Bart: I guess that's okay.

The way your post was written implies eBay somehow helps the industry. I think we agree it really doesn't if you're buying used games.

You could have bought System Shock 2 or FF7 digitally. Your used copies did nothing for the industry.

If you can buy a game digitally and you really care about the that company, then buy digitally. Buying a used game and pirating has about the same impact on the publisher/developer, no clear impact.

You mean physically? Like physically "Pirate - steal" someone’s games?

No, it's not. Saying that, I used to download pirated games like crazy when I was younger and jobless. In my defence, most of them I played no more than 1 hour or so. If I didn't like it, i deleted it, and if did like it, I bought it. Let's say I treated them like free demos. Nevertheless, it's still illegal, regardless our opinions about it. I think last game I pirated was fallout 3, which copy I own, I just couldn't find it (it's somewhere in the attic) and I'm pretty sure in that case it's legal.

I would have brought digital however 1999 wasnt exactly booming for digital games.

Heh, your post implies your eBay purchases were somewhat recent. Because in 1999 it should have been fairly easy to find FFVII and System Shock 2 at retail or brand new somewhere on the internet.

And again, some of us are arguing pirating old games isn't a big deal ESPECIALLY if the publisher isn't selling it. In 1999 the games you're discussing were still easy to find, whether it be online or retail.

I could not find FF7 anywhere in 1999.. System Shock 2 was the same story however i picked that up afew years later so probably early 2000s. Games in stores back in those days were very limited.

I now own both games digitally thanks to Steam.

Well if you were guaranteed to not be caught then there shouldn't be anything you wouldn't steal. That's not the real world though

Just pick a position and stick with it 

It’s never acceptable to pirate a game no matter how you try to justify your crime. At the end of the day, playing a games is not a necessity of life and you should just not play it if you don’t want to buy it. Most older games are very easy to get and sale for a low price.

The excuse of pirating old game that are not redibly available doesn’t old up anymore with steam and large digital library. If you own a hard copy and get a rom of it on computer that the only acceptable loop hole since it’s not piracy since you own the product.

We should punish publisher that try to nick and dime consumers and try to abuse gamers with micro transaction and block everything behind an unacceptable pay wall. But, there way to many people that want every for free, enjoying content without ever supporting the content creator. If every one were to pirate their content there would be no more content or quality will take a heavy hit. I’m glad to see the end of second hand sales and can’t wait for GameStop, EB games & used game store all seize to operate. They are leashes of the gaming industry that doesn’t support initial content creators.