Are NO-CD cracks for games illegal?

[child of Thor]

Software by its nature is very easy to copy and move around the world - its just 0+1's going over a telephone line or sat link. Its very convieniant for just that reason, and also why its a completely different situation to the 'car' or other comparisons.

look at it this way - you've had an idea. You spend a few years making you idea into a piece of software. how many man hours do you spend on it? Alot. and you want to ensure you can get something back for this effort, knowing just how vunerable your creation is. So you try to reduce the ease of getting and running illegal(non paid for) versions of your software.

If we lived in a truely honest world we would not have copy protection, or G.Bush, or Terrorists or all the other bad stuff

oh and no i dont think CD cracks are illegal as such, just using them might be, depending on the software agreement etc. But i'm not a copyright lawyer - so that opinion might not save me from jail.......if i ever used one that is

[Kaak]

Hey ming...I seem to recall something about "innocent until proven guilty" in our country. I think it is wrong for any body, be it a company, or other entity, to work on a presumption of guilt

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
honestly.. sometimes the CD requirements make it harder to play the game

in particular if there is crappy software, or if you have a crappy CD drive (Both have happened to me)

Alpha Centauri had stopped working on my computer, completely ignoring the CD in the drive. After applying a no-CD crack it started working again.

The more components are there in the system the easier it is to bork.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Kaak
Hey ming...I seem to recall something about "innocent until proven guilty" in our country. I think it is wrong for any body, be it a company, or other entity, to work on a presumption of guilt

It's not a matter of presumption of guilt... it's a matter of protection. You lock your house and car... right

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Ming
It's not a matter of presumption of guilt... it's a matter of protection. You lock your house and car... right

Um, it's somebody else who's locking my house and car. Further, I can't change the locks to my own...

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
I suppose I'm not the only one here who's bought a game legally only to end up playing a pirated version just to get rid of the damnable CD check. CD checks are basically a punishment for honesty.

Indeed. You know there is something wrong with an industry when a pirated version is considered by many to be superior to a legal copy. I too have used pirate copies despite having the legal cd right next to me. At least the box looks nice.

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
When did anyone ever buy a game because they couldn't get it illegally?

I would probably 'try before you buy' with many games, except my connection is beyond sucky.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
Indeed. You know there is something wrong with an industry when a pirated version is considered by many to be superior to a legal copy. I too have used pirate copies despite having the legal cd right next to me. At least the box looks nice.

I do this all the time, if I can't play the game without the cd/dvd then it's not worth playing... it's simply too risky to buy it, because of the high chance it wont run

[VetLegion]

By the way, how come a guy making a memory leak patch/fix for Civ4 isn't illegal?

[Last Conformist]

It probably is illegal - they just don't chose to persecute it.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Snotty
Its like banning photocopiers

Don't laugh, it could happen

[Provost Harrison]

The draconian anti-piracy tactics being used today are just a sign of impending defeat in the face of the inevitable...alas the media industry is going to change beyond recognition and there isn't a thing anyone can do to stop it...

[Ming]

You are correct... change is coming, because the industry really does have no choice. But, will the change be for the better??????

Companies are going to have figure out new revenue models... because people aren't going to produce stuff that they don't have a chance of making money on.

It could mean even more draconian anti-piracy tactics, or it could mean that people will stop producing leading edge stuff because there will be no money in it.

[Last Conformist]

When it comes to FPS games et sim., selling accounts at gaming servers may work.

[vee4473]

Originally posted by Ming
Modifing your car doesn't create a "second" free car. Doing so with a game does just that

Perhaps a better analogy would be in making it illegal for a car owner to make copies of the car keys to give to his kids etc. so they can share the car.

if game companies want to charge every person for using a game, (hence making a no-cd crack illegal), then logic could follow that car companies should make duplicate keys illegal, since the 2nd driver never paid for the car...