Why does emulation garner so much hate?

[VideoGameCritic]

Not only is classic game collecting comparable to those other hobbies, but I would suspect it's a much better investment.

[Sut]

I fully expect to play my games into my advanced years. Isn't that what retirement is for? You need to have some kind of hobby!

I hope so ! Love the thought of playing games in my 70's and 80's not sure if reflexes would be good enough for a good bout of Shinobi though !
Perhaps I would have to move into different genre styles.

[scotland]

A timely arstechnica article on the industry's sour view on emulation http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/how-the-demonization-of-emulation-devalues-gamings-heritage has this when discussing how the industry ignores its back catalog.

In fact, all of the top-grossing films of 1989 are available in modern formats, but the same can't be said for any of Wikipedia's most notable games from the same year (save for Mega Man 2, thanks in part to Cifaldi's efforts). "These movies have always been in print," Cifaldi said. "Games could have been the same way, except we demonized emulation, and devalued our heritage. We've relegated a majority of our past to piracy."

The author dislikes ports and remakes as altered and derivative. Another comment was that half of all movies made before 1950 are lost. Most were probably silent or B flicks, but no one ever gave a thought to preserving them. Thats a loss. Shouldn't we try to keep the games playable and available all the time. Not just the Megaman 2 classics, but also B flick games too, like edutainment games.

Emulation, piracy, property, profits and other things are entwined together, and people and businesses have different interests. Yet preservation is part of the discussion too. If the original game is no longer available, then emulation and piracy become even more important to society's interest in preserving.

[jon]

Those are some fascinating points. I'm in my 30's and there are a ton of games that I'm extremely interested in playing. I'd assume I'd at least keep playing video games into my 50's at the very least. Between console games I haven't played and a smorgasbord of computer games, there's a lot to look forward to playing.

[VideoGameCritic]

Actually there's no reason you would EVER need to stop playing games.
Video games are for all ages. That's part of their appeal.
And so what if your reflexes aren't as good when you're 90? The games could still be fun.
Plus I'd actually have time to knock out some of these RPGs! LOL

[Paul Campbell]

I had a client in Oregon who was 78 and played Halo online for a few hours a day. And he was a very classy old guy, too. He wore golfing clothes alot because he spent alot if time golfing, he drove a classic Cadillac, he had a nice house with the usual old-person mix of antiques and fancy furniture. At first glance you'd assume he would scoff at the very idea of even a game of Pong. Be he loved his Halo, and I think he played the occasion Call of Duty. He said he really enjoyed it and it helped keep his mind and reflexes sharp. It would be hard to argue if you saw and spoke to him. He was a fast thinker and a fast talker. That's all I need to see to make it a point to play games until I croak.

[VideoGameCritic]

This year I while skiing I found myself on the ski lift with a guy who was 92 years old.
He had been skiing forever and he was still great at it.

Likewise I think we continued to play games I think it can help keep our reflexes sharp.
In fact, I've actually seen studies encouraging the use of video games to help keep people "young".

Yes, it may turn out that video games are good for your health after all!

[Herschie]

I don't hate emulamation, you do what you gotta do, but I really do prefer the original consoles and the orignal controllers on an old 4:3 CRT standard-def TV. I just don't get the same nostalgic feeling with emulamators (I drive people nuts because I always say "edumacation"). I want to play BS Zelda, but I'm waiting until I get the money for an SNES flash-cart so that I can play it the way that it's supposed to be played.

[Robotrek]

I'll chip in my 2 cents. I've played emulators. I've heard a lot about their quality. Their picture quality when tweaked right, is just beautiful. But as a PVM owner, I'm sorry, no emulator can even TOUCH the look of RGB being displayed on a PVM. The sharp edges, bright colors, and pixel uniformity just screams quality.

[crimefighter]

I doubt there's any real hatred of emulation - a lotta times playing a game on an emulator is the only way you will get the chance to play it at all considering how rare particular games have gotten. In some cases, a physical machine or cart is one of a kind and thus you won't get to possess one.