The Devils Advocate

by Torger Miltenberger

In response to Mr. Duett's Editorial entitled SD3 and Emulation I'd like to make the following comments.

Mr. Duett made the statement "What's the harm in downloading a game that I can't find or buy? Well, in my opinion, there really is no harm." I'd like to take issue with this statement in two ways.

1)It's not as hard as you think to find originals of these games go to www.eBay.com and watch the listings for a couple of weeks. Chances are that the game you're looking for will come up.

2)There is harm done. Quite simply when one is playing a ROM one is using time that could be spent playing a legitimately purchased game. You are less likely to purchase a game when you haven't got the time to play it. Furthermore there is always the possibility (however slight) that the game may be re-released. A perfect example of this is Final Fantasy V. If emulation were non-existent then the upcoming re-release of Final Fantasy V would sell better. Instead people will look at it and say, "I already beat the ROM." If that doesn't harm squaresoft then I don't know what does.

Mr. Duett also uses the argument that emulators for CD-ROM/DVD based systems are a smart idea because they can (to paraphrase Mr. Duett) reach a portion of the audience that was previously unreachable. I'd also like to take issue with this idea.

The fact that Mr. Duett overlooks is that most emulators can't tell the difference between an original copy and a CDr "Backup". Suddenly Mr. Duett's fictitious Billy obtains a CD Burner and starts selling "Backups" of games for $10 a piece. This would be damaging to video game corporations and if it continues on a great enough scale it will drive up the price of legitimate video games.

So is emulation inherently wrong then? No. Piracy on the other hand is. Thusly I propose the following solution for those of you who wish to play FF2, FF3, FF5, PSG or SD3 in English: own the original of the cartridge. I've beaten the first four of these games using a ROM and an emulator. I also happen to own the originals. It's perfectly legal to keep a backup copy of any software of which you own an original. Thus the only thing I'm doing that's illegal is having modified versions of copyrighted software and if anyone can show me how that harms the video game industry then please drop me a line.