The Irony of Emulators
This entry was created by a student in Stanford's Rhetoric of Gaming class. For more about the class and the assignment, click here.
Who could forget sitting down in front of their Super Nintendo, N64, or any other old generation consoles and feeling the rush of playing video games for hours on end? Video game emulators let you relive the thrill and excitement of these days by mounting any game you can find on your computer to be played at any time. People often throw around the phrase “it's so much fun, it should be illegal.” In this case, it really is illegal. No matter how much fun reliving your childhood through the convenience of your computer or how much easier it is to just download the “ROM” (read-only-memory) for the game you want to play than tracking down a copy of the game, it end up hurting the gaming industry and the publishers who originally put out the games we have grown to love.
In “License to Plunder,” Andy Holloway explores just how pervasive the emulation “industry” really is in both its popularity and its impact on the video game makers themselves. He opens the article depicting “Christian” who is “just like other nine-year-old-boys.” He lists all the common things nine-year-olds are interested in and revel in doing (such as football, baseball, and the like). Included in this list is being a “video-game pirate.”
The article goes on to depict emulation as a part of life now a days. Along with being described as something so common it is not surprising that a nine-year-old boy is actively participating in, it is also described as being “relatively cheap and readily accessible” to anyone who is seeking a game to play. Holloway explains how it is not only the classics of the old days being reproduced but also games that haven't even come out yet.
The streamlining of games still in production leads to possible delays in release and steep costs to the companies developing them. In 2003, piracy cost the gaming industry $3.2 billion in US dollars. This number is staggering enough but it stands out even more when it is compared to the value of the gaming industry that year, approximately $6.9 billion in US dollars. The piracy rate of 46.6% is astonishing, particularly when placed along side the 10% piracy rate in the music industry and the less than 5% piracy rate in the movie industry.
If the percentage is so impressionable why is it that the media doesn't focus on this piracy or that game companies crack down on the pirates? For one thing, “arresting kids, the industry's primary demographic, doesn't generate the kind of publicity most companies want.” Furthermore, the media can't report on measures being taken to cut down on the piracy because it is so difficult to crack down on the ones cracking the codes of the games and uploading them to the internet. As Holloway says, “f somebody really wants to crack a game, there's not a whole lot companies can do to stop them.”
The small developing companies couldn't stop them if they tried and the companies with the financial backing to do something about it can only do so much. Not only that, but the money they have to pour into cracking down on these pirates is money they are not putting into their own game development. Thus, for a bit more convenience, the simple act of emulating “just a game or two” can end up hurting the company that users want to enjoy once again. Therein lies the irony of emulators. Maybe with all the money the companies are putting into catching the pirates they could release a new classic, one that pulls you in just as much if not more than the games of old. Just stop and think about that the next time you boot up that Visual Boy Advance and play a bootleg copy of Super Mario World.
Article cited is "Licence to Plunder" by Andy Holloway. It appeared in Canadian Business; 11/23/2003, Vol. 76 Issue 22, p95-95.
Comments
It is really interesting to see the impact of piracy in the gaming industry. I like especially how the article keeps the readers interested with the surprising logos. It would be even much better if you could incorporate some indirect factors associated to piracy in gaming, when why game companies are not as strict on catching the pirates. For example, a game based on a movie will still have its effect of marketing if the person plays the game (although without paying) and likes it. Otherwise, it was interesting that you put spotlight on a topic that many people knew, but never investigated about this topic before.
Posted by: Andrew Jang | April 30, 2009 10:48 AM
This sounds very similar to the controversy with peer to peer downloads of music and videos, and it's interesting how there has been more efforts to crack down on downloaded music and videos rather than on video games. By your blog, it seems that you're getting into the effects of emulating games on the video game companies. Some things you might want to address: is there a type of video game (console, genre, etc.) that is most emulated, why was it so, and how has it affected the company? I think taking this path could lead you to some interesting results for a narrower focus. You could try to focus on a single platform, or genre, etc., that gets a lot of emulattention. Maybe then you can see what causes emulation. Best of luck on the research!
Posted by: John Do | April 30, 2009 01:44 PM
Your topic is so specific, you might try Google Books (http://books.google.com) and search for "video game emulators" or "video game piracy".
You will also find some articles in Academic Search Premiere (listed under Find Articles on your Research Guide) using the same search terms.
Posted by: Chris Bourg | April 30, 2009 05:50 PM
I can see your point, but let us make something clear. The amount in dollars lost to piracy, how was the number came up with? If it was, as I suspect. Then it was created by estimating the total value of pirated titles, and/or emulators. This would be severely flawed thinking. Most emulator users would not have bought the software, or the hardware to play it on. Most users enjoying emulators are playing rather old systems such as the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis and the like. Some are playing N64, and playstation. I have never came across an emulator for Xbox 360, or PS3, and even if there was such the graphical and cpu requirements to emulate THAT hardware would be insane. Hardware emulation through software is far more process intensive than say, hardware functioning as it was built to in the first place..:) There is a large folowing in the emulator circles of rpg games, particularly for the super nintendo system. There were many great games for the system that were never brought to the USA. ROM Code workers have created English translation of the games available online, which have turn have led to many more players getting a chance to play great games, such as Star Ocean, Rudora No Hihou and more...than ever would have before. Also your logic is flawed in my opinion, this in regards to your statement on emualtion severely hurting game makers. As I stated most emulation is of old systems no longer in production. Therefore the money would never be going to them anyway. If I want to buy an old nintendo or super nintendo I would go to eBay or Amazon.com. I would buy them from a seller used, games too. Since its used it has been paid for before, and this new money from money goes to the seller, not the gaming companies. So I ask how this kind of emulation is hurting the gaming industry? ....It is not.
Posted by: Brandon M. | June 9, 2009 02:33 AM
I can see your point, but let us make something clear. The amount in dollars lost to piracy, how was the number came up with? If it was, as I suspect. Then it was created by estimating the total value of pirated titles, and/or emulators. This would be severely flawed thinking. Most emulator users would not have bought the software, or the hardware to play it on. Most users enjoying emulators are playing rather old systems such as the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis and the like. Some are playing N64, and playstation. I have never came across an emulator for Xbox 360, or PS3, and even if there was such the graphical and cpu requirements to emulate THAT hardware would be insane. Hardware emulation through software is far more process intensive than say, hardware functioning as it was built to in the first place..:) There is a large folowing in the emulator circles of rpg games, particularly for the super nintendo system. There were many great games for the system that were never brought to the USA. ROM Code workers have created English translation of the games available online, which have turn have led to many more players getting a chance to play great games, such as Star Ocean, Rudora No Hihou and more...than ever would have before. Also your logic is flawed in my opinion, this in regards to your statement on emualtion severely hurting game makers. As I stated most emulation is of old systems no longer in production. Therefore the money would never be going to them anyway. If I want to buy an old nintendo or super nintendo I would go to eBay or Amazon.com. I would buy them from a seller used, games too. Since its used it has been paid for before, and this new money from money goes to the seller, not the gaming companies. So I ask how this kind of emulation is hurting the gaming industry? ....It is not.
Posted by: Brandon M. | June 9, 2009 02:34 AM
Good points raised, I would have thought that movie piracy was a much higher percentage and that games were a lower percentage.
Posted by: poker shop | June 26, 2009 06:50 AM
I don't understand the mentality of the 'virtual' theif anyway. A theif is a theif, no matter how people try and distance themselves through the internet. Because they're not actually walking in and taking something, it somehow devalues the actual act. I understand the points about the used consoles, but I think that someone who wouldn't ahve an issue with this wouldn't have an issue with outher forms of piracy. There's a massive market hole for retro anyway.
Posted by: Amy | August 2, 2009 02:55 PM
Some game consoles like the PS3 include emutation for their previous consoles. Yes downloading ROMs off the internet that you didn't pay for is illegal, however, playing emulated games is not.
Posted by: Addictive games | September 4, 2009 05:06 PM
of course playing emulated games it not.. maybe yes if we played next generation consoles ROM, but for oldiest? I think we don't have to buy the 1st Nintendo ar SNES :)
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Posted by: krishnaramadia | October 6, 2009 02:56 AM
Dont feel the same when you playing emulators, something missing...oh yeh thats it...the console itself!
Posted by: best toaster | November 20, 2009 05:59 AM