- IS DOWNLOADING ABANDONWARE GAMES YOU OWN FAIR USE FULL
- IS DOWNLOADING ABANDONWARE GAMES YOU OWN FAIR USE FREE
If I pay money for a few games, I will certainly play them at some point to get what I paid for. The other reason, and it goes along with just purchasing games in general for myself, is that I want to get my money's worth out of the game I purchased. I should emphasize that not all abandonware sites host these gutted copies, but a decent portion do and still do. It is nice to get a copy of say, Blood for instance and have the CD audio and cutscenes intact from here instead of getting a gutted copy from an abandonware site with the decent, but not as memorable MIDI music.
IS DOWNLOADING ABANDONWARE GAMES YOU OWN FAIR USE FULL
Firstly, with the exception of some sites, most abandonware versions of DOS games are not really the full product, not so much in the game itself but some of the games are uploaded with the music and other larger pieces of media ripped out of the game. There are a few reasons aside from the whole legal thing that I personally will purchase, "abandonware" titles.
IS DOWNLOADING ABANDONWARE GAMES YOU OWN FAIR USE FREE
Why, personally, do you spend money on such old games when you could easily get them free elsewhere, and possibly retain a relatively clear conscience? (Plus it's almost assured the original people that worked on the games will never see any profit, and instead 70% of the money will go to some "greedy" publisher.) That number has probably lessened as GOG has gained a strong reputation, but we can be sure some people still feel that way.īut despite all this, most of us here don't mind paying a few bucks for DOSBox'd titles. Some people believe paying $5.99, a sale price, or even any money for such old games - unimproved graphically (no "HD" re-release) or gameplay-wise (still all the classic bugs), and simply using a free emulator you can get online - is ridiculous. It is piracy and technically illegal, but I think one could argue there is a greater moral law at play here, like preserving history and game heritage, etc. However, I believe at least some of us believe site like Abandonia and even TPB can play an important role in at least preserving games for people to enjoy.
![is downloading abandonware games you own fair-use is downloading abandonware games you own fair-use](http://blog.archive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/vga.png)
Games can appear to have been abandoned by their creators and are no longer being sold anywhere (other than maybe Amazon/eBay), but downloading them without the appropriate people's permission is still technically, letter-of-the-law illegal and piracy. various 20-year-old titles)įirst off, I've been here long enough to have learned that "abandonware" is not a recognized legal state. (sort of brought on by this week's sale, feat.