Well, ROMs in general are a grey area. Are they legal, are they illegal... My real point being that near everyone here has, at some point in their lives, owned an illegal ROM or a hack, or even an ISO. We really can't deny it. Personally, I have used ROMs in the past to check out a game a bit before I go and buy it. Playing Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 before I dished out the cash made me run to the store, pick up the game, pick up the strategy guide, and ultimately ended up buying a 3DS to play the games better. I dont look at ROMs as illegal games. I look at them as restricted demos. Why restricted? Because some games dont run at full speed, they are usually very buggy, and you must play them on your computer. IT gives me incentive to buy the games I like normally so that I can play them how they were meant to be played.
I understand that some people see it differently than I do, but that is how I feel about ROMs. And the subject of Modding or Hacking is something I have strong feelings about. Not everyone wants their game Modded or Hacked, but I think that it is a good thing when the idea is embraced. Look at Bethesda. They make modding tools for their own games. Lord, New Vegas got a tool that was almost as easy to use as RPG Maker, in terms of making new content. Sure it took a while to make maps, but hell... we couldn't have asked for a better tool for the situation. Then you have my "ever so favorite" game company (sarcasm) Square Enix, who likes to pass out Cease and Desist orders like candy on Halloween ("Here you go kids, make sure everyone gets one now!). I mean, how power and money hungry can a company actually get? I personally am all up for fan created content. I think it makes a game grow overall.
On this same subject, but with pokemon now. Pokemon has created this amazing universe, but we have never really gotten a chance to play other roles in it other than the kid who wants to get 8 badges and be the champion (Why is it when you get the badges, nobody refers to you as the champion? Ever. They still refer to the old champion). Allowing people to mod a pokemon game allows them to view the universe through their own eyes. I think it is a great thing. I have seen such a wide range of mods, ranging from simple changes to where wild pokemon are, all the way to a complete Zombie Apocalypse conversion (you dont know fear til you stare down a zombie Salamence). And one argument I hear alot is "You just hacked a game, you didnt make a game of your own". Stop that. Stop it right now. It is every bit as difficult (sometimes even more) to completely convert a already made game into something else as it would be to make your own game. With your own game, you are given the chance to know how everything works and where everything is. With a hack, you must learn the preexisting game inside and out, and then know how to change it to work differently. I used to mod games, I know how hard major modding can be.
Anyways, sorry for that little rant there at the end. Back to the topic. I have a question for Touchfuzzy. Is this conversation even allowed? I know ROMs are really allowed here, so I dont want to let this topic go on if we would be able to get in trouble.
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