I think the question would be better phrased as:
"If the ONLY way you could play all of the games that MAME emulates were to PAY, how much would you be willing to pay to do so?"
Let's just start with the hypothetical situation where there is no free emulator and nobody is willing to put in the effort to make one. That's not too far of a stretch even for those with challenged imaginations. Now, if you had never been able to play Pac-man, Donkey Kong, Zaxxon, etc, all of the classic games of your youth, how much do you think you would have been willing to pay to play them?
I'm thinking my number would be somewhere around $500, if in this theoretical situation I would go from having no emulation ability whatsoever to full MAME functionality.
To be honest, I'd be willing to pay $500 or more even *now* just to have complete rights to all ROMs that MAME supports, and not have to be a thief to enjoy some nostalgic gameplay.
|