What are your thoughts on amiibo spoofing?

[Deleted member 16908]

This has been around for a while, but if you're unfamiliar, here's an explanation:

Using an NFC-capable phone, a specific app, and a specific kind of NFC tag, you can write the NFC data of an amiibo to the tag and then use it like an amiibo to access amiibo-exclusive content in Nintendo games.

These NFC tags are orders of magnitude cheaper than amiibo, especially the rare ones that scalpers like to buy out and sell at enormous profit margins.

Since the in-game content provided by amiibo is usually pretty insignificant, and a large part of the appeal of amiibo is the collecting of the figures themselves, this isn't really a huge issue for Nintendo, which is fortunate for them because with the way NFC works, there is essentially no way to differentiate between an official NFC chip and a user-made one.

How do you feel about this? Do you consider it piracy? Is it something you would pursue if you were after a certain piece of content and you couldn't afford the real thing?

 

[molnizzle]

Until Nintendo gives me the option to buy the Amiibo content in game, I'll continue to do it.

Junky little plastic toys have no place in my house.

 

[TrickyAssist]

I don't really care. I'd actually prefer this when they lock things behind amiibo that shouldn't ever be locked behind them(Modes in Metroid, levels in Splatoon 1, and so on.)

 

[ASaiyan]

It's piracy, friend. Whether you wanna try and make a "moral justification" for it is one thing. But piracy is not an allowed topic of discussion here.

 

[Mario_Bones]

It's a weird grey area of piracy. Generally I don't condone it but with how ridiculously rare some of these figures are I don't blame people for doing it. I'm pretty sure data can't be rewritten to the spoofed tags which means they're missing out on some of the more substantial and interesting functionalities anyway

 

[neufel]

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but it IS piracy. There are no personal considerations here. It's about taking Nintendo code and putting it on blank media. That's literally piracy.

It's just too bad Nintendo doesn't sell those cards themselves.

The number of amiibos in general is too large to collect IMO, and I'm not even talking about the ones you just can't find.

 

[Rickenslacker]

My only interest in amiibo is for their function, so I only have an inkling girl one for the item set it provides in Splatoon 2. I considered the wedding Bowser amiibo while playing Odyssey for its purple coin assisting function, but at something like $30 in the places I found it that was highway robbery. So no, I don't really have an issue with it. My recollection is that there was an intent by Nintendo to release card packs that gave you amiibo functions without the cost of a toy, but I don't think they ever really went further with that than some Animal Crossing packs.

 

[Serif]

It's piracy but I don't consider it as 'immoral' as pirating an entire game, unless the content was already available digitally. I'd happily buy a $10 pack for BotW amiibo clothing - it'd actually be a lot more convenient then getting cards from Etsy - but they haven't offered it, so no qualms with buying the cards and save scumming.

 

[LewieP]

Fine by me, plenty of people don't want to collect plastic toys, but still want to access content in games that they have bought that is locked behind an amiibo gate.

It's piracy, friend. Whether you wanna have a "moral argument" about it is one thing. But it's not something we can talk about here.

Click to shrink...

Not it's not. it's unlocking stuff already included in games that people have bought. I don't even think Amiibo come with a user license agreement forbidding this.

 

[Stiler]

I have 0 issue with it, locking content to things and then specifically under-producing them so the prices go sky high for some of them is bs.

The fact you can't even buy the content digitally through the nintendo store is also annoying, they are basically forcing you to pay a lot more then normal prices for dlc that most people would normally not pay anywhere near that for.

 

[Ereineon]

no, its not piracy, the main issue of the amiibos as you said yourself is the figure itself, but regarding the games they work with, spoofing is exactly the same as using a cheat code in the games. no more no less

you could compare it with unlocking pokemon in the games without waiting for the event/giveaway for example

 

[Deleted member 36578]

It's definitely a form of piracy, however I'm not honestly not bothered by it. I personally wouldn't spoof any myself though.

 

[Pablo Mesa]

dont care, 90% of the content is irrelevant, I like the figures

 

[Black_Red]

Its piracy, I hate amiibos and I think they're anti-consumer, but like pirating battlefront II, its still piracy.

 

[Deleted member 3758]

No problem with it.

 

[Software Update]

This is absolutely not piracy. Piracy involves copyright infringement.

 

[Kudo]

I don't do it myself, but have no issue with people who do, can't see it as piracy myself. More of a cheat or hack.

Locking content behind plastic toys with super limited stock goes beyond the problem of game preservation.

 

[Black_Red]

This is absolutely not piracy. Piracy involves copyright infringement.

Click to shrink...

I mean legally? it isnt piracy, but morally its the same thing.
Its a similar scenario with abusing pricing errors.

 

[Deleted member 16908]

I don't see how it's piracy personally. As far as I am aware the NFC data is just a specific code that the reader in the system recognizes and responds by accessing some part of the game that cannot be accessed otherwise.

On top of that, you have to own the game already to use a technique like this, so it's hard for me to understand equating this to pirating an entire product.

 

[Sniffynose]

Well considering you can't even buy most of them if you wanted to, thanks to asshole scalpers expecting $100+ for them I don't give a rat's if people spoofed a few they got screwed out of missing. Nintendo could at very least offer cards of each one but nope it's either be lucky, pay a scalpers or nothing.

I have tons of amiibo in a display but it pisses me off so much when I think of the neat ones I am missing because Nintendo can't be bothered to stock them and the few that do sell get marked up instantly.

Back on gaf I helped even with some rarer ones people were missing but with crap like Amazon prime being a paygate to even attempt to pre-order I haven't had any luck.

When people try all valid avenues to get something and still end up with nothing that's not money lost for Nintendo if they decide to make a few amiibo tags.

 

[ColdSun]

As this seems to easily be crossing over into piracy, this thread is locked.