MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin

> I love that tired argument.
>
> "Copying software illegally its like stealing a car in real life, if you want a
> Ferrari you get to pay", it's not. When you steal you private someone else from
> owning something they already brought, we all know that doesn't happen unless you
> also took the license. Contrary to popular belief, when you duplicate software
> illegally you private yourself from owning benefits people who buy have (support,
> online features, updates, etc.).

How is it a tired old argument? We can whitewash it and split hairs all we like. We are getting something for nothing that has a value and the owner does not want to give it away.

I like the car argument too. But think about it for a min. If you could perfectly clone a car? Would you? Most people would. 'why not it is not hurting anyone'. Who wouldnt like to cruse around in a mid 60s corvette? Those mid 60s corevettes are expensive because the good ones are rare. So now if say everyone had one would it be worth as much or be as cool to cruse around in? So the guy who spent say 100k on a rare car would suddenly have a car worth its weight in scrap.

You can see the same sorts of things in MAME. The rare boards are worth a bunch. The common boards are worth very little. I would be willing to bet games that are in MAME detract from the value of the real boards. You probably even see people hording them for that very reason.

Value is derived from scarcity and demand. That is econ 101 stuff. People try to play with the definitions of value, scarcity, and demand to justify what they are doing. Such as 'you are buying support'. Which is semi bogus. I buy software to use it not for support. Most of the time software is Caveat emptor anyway. For example with windows, a fairly common bit of software. You want support from MS for that 300 dollar ultimate edition you bought? 1-2 support tickets for free then 250 a pop. Support may be a factor in why I buy something. However, it is rarely the reason I buy something.

Another good example of scarcity. I bought a copy of the movie "They Live" on DVD when it first came out on DVD. 20 bucks from best buy. 3 years later it was going for 150 a pop on ebay. Why? It was rare. The movie is pure cheese. But it was fairly scarce and out of print so had a high second hand market price. Then the reissue came out. 10 bucks today on ebay same dvd and arguably the worse copy. If I had bought that thing at 150 I would be rather cheesed off...

Btw that dudes site is a blast tons of stuff on there I had totally forgotten about.