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Pirating games you own?
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this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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Is it piracy to do that? I'd argue no.
Is it illegal? Possibly, but it's a grey area and it all depends on your country whether it breaks the law.
(I am not a lawyer so take this as an armchair opinion at most) In Canada, you are allowed to do "format conversion" of media for personal and archival use. So even if on the label it says "Copying this tape is a crime", making a copy to replace an older tape nearing the end of its life (implying you don't intend to use it), converting it to CD or digital file format is allowed in order to play the media in respective devices built for the formats. So it's arguable that conversions/changes to be compatible with Linux or a low-disk space computer could fall under this, for a game which you have a license/genuine copy.
The caveat is that in Canada breaking or circumventing "digital locks" is strictly against the law. The overall definition of what constitutes a digital lock is (to me) very broad and vague. So DRM-removal would arguably fall under digital lock circumvention, but other cases would be less clear.
Legislation is in the House of Commons right now (Bill C-244) to better define in what cases circumvention of locks would be permitted for fair and reasonable use of a product.
If I'm not mistaken with digital download games you are paying to lease them rather than buying them outright. So technically you don't own the game, you are just borrowing it. This would make pirating the same game you bought more of an illegal act.
(Again I'm not an expert) With the Steam Subscriber Agreement it's effectively a purchase of a perpetual/indefinite license to non-commercial use of a game. But purchasing a DVD is, arguably, the same thing, you are given indefinite license to view the video non-commercially in a home setting. What difference does it make between a game on your hard drive and a movie on a disc?
By my moral standard, games with Steamworks bypassed by something like Goldberg is functionally equivalent to DVD decryption. It's my opinion that the continued access to social and internet connected features like Friends list, Workshop, Matchmaking, Redownloading games, Cloud Save Backups is contingent on accepting and adhering to your agreement with Valve and/or the server hosting the matchmacking service. That's why I'm very much against always online type of DRMs for single player games.
Imagine having a pool in your backyard, but the pool installers have to permit and supervise you while you use it. For a public pool it would make sense to be supervised for everyone's safety to ensure no one's messing around, but for your own pool it doesn't.