[DarthWang]

I lost my Descent II Infinite Abyss cds a long time ago, and I recently found a link to download a pirated copy of the game - would this be wrong?

I mean, I already paid for the game - I just lost it

[captain-custard]

ethics are a thing personal to each individual, if you can live with yourself doing this and your actions do not harm physically or mentaly another individual then its your choice

[karajorma]

I've always considered pirating a game you already own to be fair use. It's the same as copying a CD from a friend cause the copy you bought has a scratch.

[Flipside]

I've always been of the opinion that, since many companies get snotty about the fact that you bought a 'license to play the game', not the game itself, then by that same reckoning, the license is still your property and you have a right to replace/repair data that is lost or damaged in order to continue using that license as long as that license was paid for in the first place.

The whole 'license to play' thing bites in both direction as far as I'm concerned.

[BloodEagle]

Immoral? No. Illegal? Yes.

You already bought the game, so I'm of the opinion that it's your right to secure a copy.

----

ethics are a thing personal to each individual

Morals are personal, whereas ethics are a moral code that is agreed upon by a group of people. E.g., Religious ethics, humanitarian ethics, cannibal ethics, etc.

[Flipside]

Immoral? No. Illegal? Yes.

You already bought the game, so I'm of the opinion that it's your right to secure a copy.

----

Actually, to be honest, I'm not certain I've ever seen a case taken to court with those particular criteria, so I'm not sure whether it's illegal in the eyes of the law or not. Certainly, software companies would like you to think you had to buy the game all over again, but I have a suspicion that the courts may not necessarily agree with them.

Obviously, it's not something anyone would want to put to the test, however.

[BloodEagle]

IIRC, you're allowed (under the DMCA) to make one backup copy of a product. But he's talking about downloading a pirated version of something. So....

[Flipside]

No-ones ever been found guilty of downloading a pirated copy of a game to be honest, the successful cases are usually involved with the making available of pirated goods.

[kalnaren]

Immoral? No. Illegal? Yes.

You already bought the game, so I'm of the opinion that it's your right to secure a copy.

----

ethics are a thing personal to each individual

Morals are personal, whereas ethics are a moral code that is agreed upon by a group of people. E.g., Religious ethics, humanitarian ethics, cannibal ethics, etc.

Well, in Canada what's illegal is the unlicensed use of the software. Technically here you can download as much software as you want for archival purposes -as long as you don't use any of it. I don't know about the US, but I suspect that, even if someone tried to sue for it, it would not hold up in court. The plantiff would have to prove harm which is absent in this case.

Morally, if it's a game I own, I don't have an issue with it. I lost my Age of Empires II CD quite a while ago and downloaded the game. :shrug: CD Copy Protection makes it a pain in the ass to make a legally entitled backup copy, so screw 'em.

[eliex]

Mainly the thing that the distributors care about is your cd key if the game has one. As long as I've got that, I feel fine if I download a pirated copy but enter my paid-for cd key.

[Nuke]

i wouldnt even touch ethics. as a matter of practicality that game is ancient and is probibly no longer in print. you might be able to score a cheap copy at a garage sale or off of ebay. but you have no idea if that copy is legit or not. i like to think that once a company stops supporting their product all bets are off. it is then a matter of historical preservation.

[Davros]

you didnt buy the game, you bought a lifetime license to use that code
no doubt publishers dont like it, serves them right for wanting their cake and eating it
donwnload it your allowed

[CP5670]

i wouldnt even touch ethics. as a matter of practicality that game is ancient and is probibly no longer in print. you might be able to score a cheap copy at a garage sale or off of ebay. but you have no idea if that copy is legit or not. i like to think that once a company stops supporting their product all bets are off. it is then a matter of historical preservation.

I have the same opinion on this. Even if you do find it for sale in some obscure place, it's not supported at all and a game that old may not work on modern hardware. Descent 2 was a late DOS era game and you will probably have no sound out of the box. There was a native Windows version released in a patch later on, although that reportedly doesn't work anymore on modern computers. For this particular game though, D2X-XL provides a great option.

Speaking of which, has anyone here used D2X-XL lately? The current version crashes frequently for me and has various other issues. The new lighting system looks great when it works, but it's only compatible with some maps and reverting to the old system makes everything look way too dark. I still have a few old builds, but those are almost two years out of date now.

[Nuke]

d2xxl has always been kinda buggy. i really havent bothered with it lately.