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Comment by jordigh | Hacker News Reader

I haven't owned a console in decades, so bear with me: is it currently possible to buy a game and lend it to a friend? I used to borrow my friend's cartridges as a kid. Is that now piracy?

What about second-hand rentals, is that also immoral now?

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Lending cartridges and discs works fine (on all modern consoles) and is not piracy. (Edit: Microsoft proposed changing this with the Xbox one by requiring discs to be activated online, but backed down before ever implementing the plan)

The only piracy Nintendo is worried about is cartridge duplication or downloads that don’t involve paying the retail price in the eshop.

Are you sure about that? The one and only time I've interacted with an xbox one, we picked up a physical game, put it in, and then downloaded the game to the xbox. Afaict, there was nothing on the disk itself except perhaps an identifier and a key; the download was substantial. Probably the stupidest interaction I've had with computers yet.

And if thats still the case, I can't imagine downloading the game to multiple xbox's valid behavior. But I also dont remember if the disk was required to be inserted to actually play (which would make the interaction even more obscene).

I think as long as two systems aren't playing the same copy at the same time, they wouldn't do any banning. So lending and rentals should still be acceptable.

The gaming industry has waged war against reselling games for years. They've been partially successful: most PC games these days come as a Steam code. Any kind of Steam content is DRM protected and cannot be resold. You're also not allowed to play two of the games you own on two computers at once (Steam will immediately log you out). There's family sharing but again your family isn't allowed to play any of your games while you're playing.

On consoles the more expensive physical media is still transferable (BR discs and Switch cardridges). Any kind of digital downloads or DLC addons aren't shareable and you're not allowed to sell them or transfer them.

As others said, physical stuff is still sharable; since only one can use it at a time.

However with app-store (no physical disc) stuff, that can't be shared. Basically the same as on PC when using Steam - you get single account lock-in because it is all software only.

(Steam has implemented limited sharing, but it isn't all that great).

On both Xbox one and ps4 you and a friend can set each other's console as your 'home' console. You can then play their digital purchases as well as your own, but with the caveats:

- you must be signed in online to play your own purchases

- other accounts on the console you own lose access to games purchased by your account

You don't need to reveal your passwordor share accounts, just sign in on the console once and set it as 'home'.

Back on the xbox 360, there was a more involved process to do the same thing. A digital purchase really granted two licenses: one tied to your account and one tied to the specific 360 that downloaded it. My sister and I took advantage of that to share season passes for various Call of Duty games.

Useful trick, although I first discovered it when visiting family, buying a game on my account and then wondering why I couldn't play it offline back on my own console.

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