Why Rip Games That You Own?
 

Somebody asked me why I rip games that I own, but unfortunately that thread was closed before I had a chance to respond. Ripping games that you own has many benefits.

1) Faster performance on emulators.
2) If your medium becomes damaged, then you have a backup copy.
3) If you rip a console game, and use an emulator, you don't have to tie up the television at home.
4) You don't have to worry much about your game getting lost or stolen.

I think those are totally legitimate reasons to rip games, and if I remeber correctly, in nearly all software licences, you are allowed one backup copy per licensed copy, as long as you don't distribute them illegally.

I completely agree with you. If my PS2 was modded, I'd be backing up all my games right now. Unfortunately, that last part isn't quite accurate (even thought hat's how it's supposed to be)

I beg to differ on that whole "unnecessary" thing. Scratches can happen at any time!

I backup the games that I own. That way I can store the original discs and run the backups.

-BD

I also disagree with it being "unnecessary".

I had a friend who loaned out his copy of Final Fantasy Tactics. When it was returned it was so scratched that his generation 1 PSX would no longer play it, so he began playing it on an emulator.

Yeah backups are always nice...plus I rather run a game with a no cd fix than one that requires me to swap cds

No kidding. :)

If I'm playing a PC game quite a bit, I'll rip it to the hard drive. I do the same for my X-Box. It's nice to be able to just select a game and go. Not to mention, it keeps the little ones fingers off my discs when they want to play one of their games.

It sounds to me like they're offering to replace any damaged CDs for free. That's the only scenario I can think of where a back-up copy would be unnecessary. Someone should get a lawyer and challenge them on it.

Actually, it's an interesting question. I know that the "fair use" clause in US copyright law covers back-ups and format conversion for things like music and movies. Does the same law also apply to software?

When I was in college, and didn't have any spare income, I used to get all my games for free - mostly copied from friends or downloaded off Usenet. Now I'm making up for it, by buying any game I like, regardless of whether or not I'll play it (someday I'll get past the second level of Thief III....)

However, I have to say it's a lot easier being a pirate than a legitimate customer. When I want to launch Word or Excel or something, the software doesn't make me put the CD in. I can't believe that people are willing to be treated like that - especially when I know from first-hand experience that the actual pirates are having a better smoother game experience.

I also use a no-CD crack to enable me to play games whenever I feel like it, and not keep a bunch of jewel cases on my already-overloaded desk.

Bingle

Well, I think it does apply to software. The only thing is, the EULA (End User License Agreement) can change all of that. When you buy the game, you agree to their terms. One of which is "Hey, we're pissing on your rights! Tee hee!" You could make an argument against that, seeing how there's no way of seeing that agreement before buying it.

EULA and laws are BS for the most part. I pretty much just ignore them.

If you want to backup your own games for any reason or no reason at all in the privacy of your own home, go for it. It won't hurt anything. No one's magically going to know you did it.

If others don't like it, don't worry bout it. Just ignore them too ;)

I did that with Doom3 and I really enjoyed not having to put the disk in every time I wanted to play the game. From now on I'll be doing that with all my games.

I do the no-cd crack for warcraft 3, diablo 2 (not to mention, it speeds it up when you copy the d2music.mpq file locally.. no "lag" spots when music changes)

i have 3 kids and no matter what i do or how i store them they get used as coasters a few months down the road.. same with my dvd's.. i make one copy of what i own.. its mine and for my private use. I should be able to.

the industries solution of if its broke dont fix it buy another copy dont float with me. sorry

it's your lawfull right to make a backup copy, what nintendo, xbox o PS say, is pure BS