this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
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Gaming

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You’ve probably seen the raging debate among gaming enthusiasts: emulation “right or wrong?” This video essay aims to explore, in detail, the morality of emu...

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[–] Peruvian_Skies@kbin.social 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (7 children)

We're not in danger of losing anything. There's no putting the genie back in the bottle. How is passing new laws going to magically detect and erase all the PSX, SNES, MAME, etc ROMs that I play offline from my computer? How is it going to prevent people from torrenting these files through VPNs in countries that don't give a rat's ass or sharing encrypted ROMpacks? Jesus, even archive.org is chock full of retro games. Trying to get rid of ROM sharing at this point is like trying to dry up the ocean with a fistfull of cotton swabs.

Plus, emulation itself is not and cannot be illegal, barring a complete redesign of intellectual property law from its very foundation. Games themselves, BIOSes and encryption keys are protected, but an emulator is, in rough terms, "something that achieves the same result through different means", and if that could be made illegal, then someone could patent the hammer and you'd have to pay a fine for nailing two things together with a rock.

[–] oo1@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

barring a complete redesign of intellectual property law from its very foundation.

lets just hope theres no media empire with a legion of mouse-eared lawyers champing at the bit to do such a thing.

similarly i'd be a bit worried that any new legislation would be more strongly influenced by those rights-holding interest groups rather than consumers.

Imagine someone in 50 years who wants a rom from the 80s. will they be able to get it easily?

It'd be nice if it was as easy as getting hold of a brothers grimm story.

[–] Peruvian_Skies@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You're forgetting that patent law applies to industrial property across every sector of the economy. This is a technology issue that goes far beyond entertainment media.

[–] oo1@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

oh right. i thought it was about copyright

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