This gets into a grey area (that I think I have already flirted with). What a game is worth is extremely subjective. You could justify every instance of piracy by following this line to its ultimate conclusion.Originally Posted by Old Manus
The reason I find this most suspect is that a non-developer is far from the best person to judge how much the work of countless people is worth.Red Dead Redemption isn't worth $60. I'll pirate it.
Super Meat Boy has old school graphics and isn't worth $15. I'll pirate it.
Where my particular situation specifically departs from this is that I don't think the cost of importing on top of the game's retail price is worth it for me to grab Last Window legitimately. Simultaneously, I feel that I'm punishing a publisher for not putting the game out in my region. I don't want to reward them with my cash if they don't want to release in my region. As someone noted, this is a little more borderline considering the company went under and that's probably largely to blame for the lack of NA localization.
However, to me that essentially moves it into the dead console category. I pirate very old games and games that are very rare without much guilt. I'm not exactly helping the publishers or developers when I spent $80+ on a GBA or DS game simply because it's rare as crap due to a limited production run. Hell, buying second hand doesn't do them any favors either.
I'd love to move more toward digital distribution (as much as I love boxes) simply because I'll be happier giving more to the makers and less to the retailers. It sickens me that a retailer gets roughly 12 bucks from a 60 dollar game.
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