As companies see their profits dwindling, they suddenly decide that they would rather compromise and do what the consumers want than see the company fold. The major issue that hinders boycotts is support. Convincing people to no longer buy something that they enjoy using can be difficult, especially when companies retaliate with insanely better products. Getting the word out, too, is difficult because of expense and disdain from could be promoters. Despite all this, boycotts serve as the best method for consumers to make their dissatisfaction heard.
Boycotts are also powerful because they pull on the strength of the community.
Although loosely formed, the emulation community is strong both in numbers and in willingness of its members to voice their opinions. For instance, when developers of an emulator decide to abandon it, almost immediately someone else will swoop down to rescue the project from the jaws of frozen development. Also, the number of mirrors for almost any emulator is unimaginable. If the IDSA decided that the developers of an emulator were violating the law, it would be almost impossible to silence their work because of the shear number of copies available Online. Just as in Conway's Game of Life, each person involved in emulation may be doing their own thing, but the total work of all these individuals combined forms a strong Internet community.