Hello list, On behalf of the list moderators I would like to request that everyone stop sharing game roms immediately. This is not strictly speaking completely legal. When it comes down to the issue of game roms and game emulation it is a huge gray area as far as the law is concerned. Most companies, and I'm saying most but certainly not all, have a policy where by a rom can only be shared if, and only if, two basic requirements are met. One, the person owns the original game media such as disc, cartrage, etc. Two, if the person physically owns the original console the game was intended for. If these two requirements are not met sharing the rom in question is an act of software piracy. As it is hard to tell who is legally able to download the rom or not undoubtedly a certain amount of illegal software piracy will transpire by sharing this content on list. Since we actively discurrage all forms of software piracy on Audyssey we can not, and will not, allow you to share the roms here on list.
So to clarify what you can and can not share here its fine to share the game emulators themselves. Most of these like Snes9x etc are open source emulators so are intended to be freely and openly shared anyway. Giving people suggestions what websites to visit is probably ok as it is up to the person to choose weather he/she is going to download a rom for a game they actually own or not. However, bundling up a bunch of game roms, slapping them on Dropbox for mass download, etc isn't strictly the most legal thing to do since you have no idea who is legally allowed to download those roms or not. Plus some of the games for the PSX, for example, can usually be purchased online for a small amount of cash and played on a PSX or PS2 console. If you are sharing a pirated rom chances are most of the people playing it via an emulator is doing so for piracy reasons rather than legal backup or emulation reasons. Its just one of those cases of knowing people are pirating the game, but can't prove it without turning it over to the legal authorities in your country. Something none of us wants to happen right? So, please, let's all just stop sharing the game roms etc. Some of you may be legally sharing them among yourselves, and I'm certain some of you don't own the games inquestion and are downloading the roms for the soul purpose of pirating them illegally. The best thing to do is take the rom sharing and game pirating elsewhere. Thanks. Sincerely, Thomas Ward Co-Moderator of the Audyssey Mailing List gamers-ow...@audyssey.org --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
