Hmmm, If everyone would think like that, nobody would be able to attend marp tournaments. Nobody has all the boards for mame. Look at the leaderboard top 10...(posted 9059 days ago)Is that ok to "betatest" a romset for a day, or is it only possible (legally) to test mame with a romset you own. Hisa, you would brake 15000 points in about 5 games propably. But you most likely would not own other roms to be played at later stages of tournament.
I have a Hotrod, and it gives me legal rights for some Capcom games (that I don't play). I have no boards for any of the games I play/submit. I've put my fair share(or little more than that) of coins in to those games though, in the past. If I really wanted to do it "legally", I would have to buy those games from USA/ebay. Shipment costs would be vast. Or I could buy those boards that are found at ebay, even though wouldn't have the machines ;) There are allmost none 80's games left in Europe.
People at mamenet board think that it's ok to add any game into mame, as long as it's not commercially in use anymore. I don't think Midway gives a shit about me playing Atari's Marble using mame, since they don't make any money from it anymore.
Ok, arrest me, TJT