Iane wrote:
Supply and Damand but that's no excuse to get a free copy - if you really want the game go buy it - I've paid 2 x original Retail value for over 15 year old games only because I really wanted them but on the other side I have got a game for 50 cents that's rare as hell and goes for $300 US on ebay.
Meh, nobody wins there. You can't get a reasonably priced game, the developer/publisher doesn't see any of that extra money. I'm not really down with paying more than original price for games when the folks who made it don't get a cut. It's not a tangible thing like a classic car, it's a piece of intellectual property, and I've no beef with them making their fair share off their work, they earned it. There are even rarer games than aforementioned that are nearly impossible to obtain "legally" yet float freely aboust the net. When games go out of print and are so hard or expensive to obtain via purchase well nobody wins, I don't want to see great (or even terrible) games, movies, books, etc... just disappear forever. Legality aside piracy has created a historical archive of content that simply may not have been possible otherwise.
Don't take my views the wrong way, I'd much rather the developer/publisher just do a reprint, get another batch of games out there for purchase, I don't jive with the people that say don't reprint games, you'll devalue my collection. Bubkis I say to them.
I pay for my content, I rarely nab a movie, I use netflix, cable, the local movie store, amazon.com etc.... Music through Itunes and Amazon.
Let me ask the question, what's worse. Pirating an out of print game like Neverwinter Nights and sending the original developer/publisher 50 bucks in the mail or buying it used for 100 bucks and the owners of the IP see none of that. I'd like to think that choice a is a better choice, ethically.
The problem with media is the value is in the IP itself, not the media it's printed on. Personally, I think if publisher/developers aren't going to let you buy something easier than pirating it then they should drop it to freeware or public domain. But if they want to let you buy it, it's their IP keep makin a few bills. I'm an avid user of gametap, lots of access to a bunch of some relatively hard to get games, yea I could pirate the stuff but this way the right people at least see a few pennies out of the deal.
***Edit***
the topic is mostly academic to me anyway, I own Neverwinter nights. I just use it as an example because it's so outrageously overpriced used and for what, the devs don't see that money. It's not like a classic car where you can't make any more physically. This you can make as many as you want, they just won't anymore and you can't "legally" make them for yourself. Quick cover your eyes, it's mii and neverwinter!