If your friend illegally downloaded video games and you copy and play with those games are you also consided to be involved in illegal downloading
Yes, you are involved. You are bypassing the legal method of obtaining and using the software. That costs the company that holds the copyright money.
Yes because you have a "bootleg" copy, so the merchant never received payment/credit for the purchase, so in some cases, if a law enforcement official catches you with the unofficial copy, you can be fined up to $1,000, this happeneed to my friend and he was sent to jail with a bond of i think $1,500
AnswerYou are not involved downloading the games. But, having a copy of illegal games is illegal. You will be charged for a crime, but not of illegal downloading, something like having a copy of an illegal game. By the way, if this happened to you, tell the police, because they will find out, if you fess up, you will be in less trouble.
It depends on what kind of games you have copies of, I suppose. The copying and redistribution of newer games will probably be penalized about as badly as with DVD piracy.
If you're talking about older games (NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, etc.) played on downloaded emulators as ROMS, though, then the legality is basically null;
technically it's illegal to play them, but there's sort of a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding them. Nobody really goes around looking to arrest people for playing on emulators, so there's no real need to worry about legalities there. In all seriousness, the most any cop would do if they found out you had an emulator and roms on your computer is make you delete them and tell you not to do it again. It's a slap-on-the-wrist thing, really.
But if you ARE talking about newer games, though, yeah, I'd be a little cautious there, because even if you weren't the one who copied and redistributed it, you're still in possession of an illegal copy... you
and your friend would be penalized for that.
Better just to buy/rent the game for yourself, lest you somehow get caught.
