It's a slippery slope. Certainly an important first step is for it to be ethically justified by you, the individual. I know I certainly justify things like ROMs and my MAME machine with that same kind of "abandonware" mindset. Still, it's far easier to access legal archives of other media than it is videogame-related stuff.
I'm very impressed with what Hulu has done--lots of free content with only minimal commercial interruptions. Of course, if this model starts to gain momentum, I'm sure they'll eventually have just as many commercials (if not more) than regular TV. So, really, at that point "piracy" will not be about getting stuff for free, but rather getting stuff without being forced to watch all the commercials. I sort of see that as the future of all distribution, actually. The distributors want to sell their audiences to the advertisers, and the audiences want to avoid the ads.
For instance, I have "adblock plus" firefox add-on that blocks tons and tons of ads on websites. I'm sure that is just as unethical or illegal as downloading a movie from Pirate Bay instead of watching it on Hulu because I want to skip the commercials. If you really think about it, it's the same difference. I'm in effect "ripping off" the websites I visit because the ads aren't getting through, yet I'm still accessing their information. Maybe I should get rid of ad block and force myself to look at all the ads, etc., as a "payment" for accessing the material I want to see.
It's a slippery slope. Certainly an important first step is for it to be ethically justified by you, the individual. I know I certainly justify things like ROMs and my MAME machine with that same kind of "abandonware" mindset. Still, it's far easier to access legal archives of other media than it is videogame-related stuff.
I'm very impressed with what Hulu has done--lots of free content with only minimal commercial interruptions. Of course, if this model starts to gain momentum, I'm sure they'll eventually have just as many commercials (if not more) than regular TV. So, really, at that point "piracy" will not be about getting stuff for free, but rather getting stuff without being forced to watch all the commercials. I sort of see that as the future of all distribution, actually. The distributors want to sell their audiences to the advertisers, and the audiences want to avoid the ads.
For instance, I have "adblock plus" firefox add-on that blocks tons and tons of ads on websites. I'm sure that is just as unethical or illegal as downloading a movie from Pirate Bay instead of watching it on Hulu because I want to skip the commercials. If you really think about it, it's the same difference. I'm in effect "ripping off" the websites I visit because the ads aren't getting through, yet I'm still accessing their information. Maybe I should get rid of ad block and force myself to look at all the ads, etc., as a "payment" for accessing the material I want to see.
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com