It would be a legal issue. But it's not a moral issue, which is why so few people are showing sympathy for Nintendo. They lose nothing if someone gets a copy of the code - there's no victim. They do however have a LONG reputation for weaponizing the legal system by attacking fans with frivolous lawsuits - those DO have a victim, and are therefore a moral issue with Nintendo as the aggressor.

But regardless of context, again don't conflate legality with morality. Ever. History is absolutely stuffed with atrocities that adhere to established law, that doesn't make those atrocities okay. Videogame code is pretty minescule compared to legal attrocities like slavery or the holocost etc, but point remains that the law in-and-of-itself doesn't mean shit.

Also fuck Nintendo.

[–] mightyfoolish@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

@smeg@feddit.uk showed me where I was confused. I thought YOU were calling this a moral issue; I just understood your comment wrong.

I am well aware of how Nintendo treats emulator devs, game modders, organizations that make better games in the same genre, and full blown ROM distribution websites exactly the same even though only one of these groups of people are breaking any laws.