Still own a stolen/destroyed game?

TL;DR.

It's not illegal to have a digital backup copy of games/software, so long you have a legally purchased serial/box, etc. If your serial key is unique and valid, I don't see any harm, even to "No DVD" the game. Copyright isn't an issue unless you reverse engineer the game yourself. Some licence agreements with the software however can forbid it.

Much like some claims from crackers: Download pirated game to reacquire what you once legally own but can't no longer due to some inconvenient things.

In my opinion it is a legit reason to do so and also a warning to game developers/game publisher to be more aware of protecting end user ownership.

Thus now we have a way to store our game on cloud computing, external hardware, DRM and etc.

I now pirate game that can't no longer be found on the market or old console, handheld (NES, SNES, N64, GBA)

In the U.S. the only thing you are legally allowed to do is make a backup (for personal use only) from your copy of the game. Not download.

In that situation I wouldn't tell you what to do though.

gotta build your home with security shit around that collection

Technically, you own a license for that one exact copy of the game, but really, no one is gonna go after you for that.

It should be ok. After all, you're just getting a usable copy for the license which you already own.
Btw, get rat poison and traps. Also, get a security system, a good one.

Regardless of whether that is a valid reason the problem would be in proving it.

Destroyed by your own carelessness, letting mice eat it? Your fault. No legal right to another copy.

Stolen by some unknown force? Not your fault, but still no legal right to another copy. You do have the right to collect a replacement from the thief, if he is identified. Not even a prison term can nullify your right to collect from him what he owes to you. And where the law fails, there are extrajudicial means of extracting justice from someone if you're creative.

Stolen from a storage facility? Look into what the facility's security policy is toward this. They may be required to replace any stolen merchandise up to a certain monetary limit, though I have known places where this is only true if you pay extra and declare any items which are to be insured in this way.

A physical copy of a game is a physical copy, where the license to play the game is tied to the physical copy. Many companies even today will replace a damaged copy if you contact them and follow their instructions. For companies which no longer exist, or games which are no longer replaceable (or not made anymore) at a reasonable price, I would suggest piracy. As long as you still possess that horribly damaged copy, you still possess your license to play that game, even a copy you got from someone else.

For games where you buy a physical copy, but you enter your key om Steam and obtain the ability to download your game rather than install from the disc and then update through Steam, you have either transferred your license to the Steam service, or the license is tied to Steam already and the disc is intended for people who wish to save bandwidth.

I had a copy of Ultima 7 which got damaged in the store, and Origin Systems (pre-EA) replaced the disc for me, free of charge. I was not required to send them my disc. I was not required to send them shipping money. They even printed and sent me every tip/guide/faq they had in-house on the game. Good Guy Origin Systems. (NOT RELATED TO ORIGIN DOWNLOAD SERVICE)

I had a physical copy of Diablo II. The Play disc was damaged, the disc which needed to be in the drive in order to play. It wasn't able to be identified by my computer. This was before you could register them to a battle.net ID and download the games from Blizzard. Blizzard sent me a new copy of Diablo II and Lord of Destruction, complete with keys. This cost me no money. Good Guy Blizzard.

I had a copy of Final Fantasy 8 on PS1. Disc 2 wouldn't read. Squaresoft USA requested that I send them the damaged disc, and promised to send me a replacement copy of Final Fantasy 8. I learned that it was just my system getting old, since my friend's system could read it fine. I learned my PS1 could read the disc if I turned the system upside-down (IT WORKS!) and let Squaresoft know that I wouldn't need a replacement after all. Good Guy Squaresoft.

I loved playing Operation: Inner Space, an old Windows 3.1 game that still works today. Problem is, it only comes on 3.25" floppy disks. In 2008, someone at Software Dynamics e-mailed me a copy of the game, with all the extras (today called DLC) after I identified myself and gave them the approximate date of purchase. I keep a copy of it in my Dropbox. Good Guy Software Dynamics.

No insurance policy at either location?

Anyways, if you own an original copy then it's legal to download a backup as you are a license holder of the software. Storage media is just a delivery format. However, if it came down to a legal matter, you may need to prove you once owned it (receipt, broken media, etc). Unless we are just talking morals and not legalities; if that's the case then pirate away :P

Thanks for the replies all. You've given me a bit to think about.

"If I were to download the games which I had purchased back then, but the physical medium was destroyed/stolen, is that illegal? "
Depends in what country you are, or so I've been told.

Anywho here in the US if you don't have your own personal backup and uses someone's backup it's illegal.

In Italy you can make a Backup copy of the software you bought.

I never lost any games, however I think a bigger issue is what would happen to the games when the consoles aren't supported and there is no backwards compatibility. Thus either having the game fade into history or repurchasing the same exact game over and over again. That's why I like how digital distribution is set up, the games are linked to an account and i never need to worry about buying the same game more than once (excluding bundles.)

This also leads to the question of what happens when the person who invested money into the games dies. Who owns the games then?

Bad Rats