Preserving Older Games Is "Hacking" and Illegal

[Deep Blue]

daggerfall>morrowind>oblivion------------------------------------------------------------------------------------>baldurs gate dark alliance>some shitty rpg------------------------>skyrim (as much as I want to include arena I just can't)

[Mugi]

I should be surprised

But i'm not. These guys get a 10 for douchebaggery 

[Funyarinpa]

I want to do a sarcastic slow clap and a facepalm at the same time, so I'll just slowly, excruciatingly slap myself on the face repeatedly.

[Yeah Way]

The stupidity in that article hurts.

It's not stupidity. I wish! It's just greed, as always. Pure, disgusting greed. Hopefully, the eff succeeds in working past that terribly written copyright bill.

[Abyssal Monkey]

Ahahahahahaha, I can see the argument for server side games to a certain extent.  Sure, when you decided to play a game on someone else's server, the data that is created is their data, not yours, and for all intents and purposes, you are licensing the right to use their servers.  However, it stops there.  These lawyers are trying to turn goods into services and fucking everything up in the process.

 

On this example, I will give one everybody might be able to recognize: World of Warcraft.  World of Warcraft comes with the game files, not the server files.  They did this because they are only selling you the game client to connect to their servers, not the server files to run the game as well. That makes the game itself a good, and the server a service. People created addons for the client of WoW, and Blizzard couldn't say anything about it because the client was their good now. 

Now onto a different example.  Minecraft gives you both the server files and the game files, that means both the server and the game are goods, not services, and because of it, you can modify them all you damn well please, and is one of the primary reasons minecraft still thrives to this day. 

 

Like Eclipsed said, if I have a knife, and the company doesn't make it anymore, doesn't make it any less my knife.  I can do whatever the hell I so please with it.  In the same way, I download/purchase a piece of content, it is now mine, and I can do whatever I so please with it as long as it stays mine and only mine (ie. no resale of copied goods.  You know, that FBI warning you always see at the beginning of movies?).  If I have a game cartridge, that is a good, and all the data contained on it is a good.  I can do what I please with it, and therefore I can dump it and allow it to run on Windows 7 if I so damn please, BECAUSE its a GOOD.  Seriously, this is economics 101.  

 

This is also the reason why I hate Steam.  As I clearly stated in another thread, Steam attempts to license you the right to play the game, so when Steam inevitably dies, so do your thousands of dollars spent in games.

[Funyarinpa]

 

This is also the reason why I hate Steam.  As I clearly stated in another thread, Steam attempts to license you the right to play the game, so when Steam inevitably dies, so do your thousands of dollars spent in games.

 

IIRC Valve stated that if they ever went bankrupt they would just release a DRM removal tool.

[Abyssal Monkey]

So while I was arguing aloud with myself, something I do quite frequently, I came up with an even better example displaying how retarded the idea of not being allowed to preserve a game is:

 

Say I take my old VCR copy of Transformers: The Movie (Shameless plug, I love this movie.) and play it on my TV and record it into the mkv format.  They are basically saying that what I have just done is illegal.  Try and stop me, bitches.

I'm now gonna parse out the original post and reply more properly than I did last time.

If you're still playing an old game that you bought and that the publisher doesn't support anymore, you are doing something illegal and ruining the gaming industry, according to ESA.

 

Needless to say ESA along with other associates vehemently opposed this practice and say it is hacking, related to piracy, and ruining the gaming industry.

Uhhh, I still play my Golden Sun copy on my GBA, I haven't been arrested yet.  While you're at it, might as well go round up and arrest everybody who is still playing Halo original on their Xbox and Final Fantasy 7 on their PlayStation.  See how much positive PR you get from that one... _{Fucking morons.}

 

to allow people to legally circumvent server shut downs... which are made unplayable once servers are taken down 

I can fully see the legal reason to not legally allow this, as they never sold the server software in the first place.  This would be fully up to the discretion of the original developer and copyright holder.

 

 

legally circumvent DRM... because that specific type of DRM is no longer supported.

I'll say it again, you sold me the game with the DRM in the game, and therefore it is a part of the goods package you sold me.  It is my right as a consumer to modify any good that I own.  Legally, as long as I don't commit theft I can do whatever the hell I want with it, be it destroy it or hack it.

 

Fun fact, piracy on the internet is just another word for larceny, I give an open welcome to all criminals.

 

PS: as a note, I should mention I haven't even bothered to read the article, I just replied to the topic Nosebleed set forth.  I am one lazy bastard.

[Deep Blue]

I'll say it again, you sold me the game with the DRM in the game, and therefore it is a part of the goods package you sold me.  It is my right as a consumer to modify any good that I own.  Legally, as long as I don't commit theft I can do whatever the hell I want with it, be it destroy it or hack it.

 

Fun fact, piracy on the internet is just another word for larceny, I give an open welcome to all criminals.

 

PS: as a note, I should mention I haven't even bothered to read the article, I just replied to the topic Nosebleed set forth.  I am one lazy bastard.

No it is not, it should be yeah, but it's not! It doesn't have anything to do with theft, as long as the software is not open sourced you are not allowed to touch it or modify it in any way

 

Read the EULA or TOS in any game, you will see this:

LICENSE CONDITIONS

You agree not to:

1. reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, display, perform, prepare derivative works based on, or otherwise modify the Software, in whole or in part;

And that's just a tiny part on what you are agreeing on with, again want it or not!

[Abyssal Monkey]

LICENSE CONDITIONS

This is what they are trying to do, they want to license the game to you.  A disk with data on it for example, is not a license, it is a good you bought.

 

This also is protecting them from scummers who do modify the software from them providing any support because of your modifications.  Its basically saying "you modified the game, you broke the TOS and EULS, we don't have to provide support anymore".  You will also see this on any warranty for a smartphone.  Again, in this case, they don't have to provide support because if you modified it, it is not their product anymore, and they don't have to provide support.

 

I would love to see a company take someone to court for modifying a program legally bought, for personal use.

[Bolverk]

If you follow EFF for a while you become aware this kind of retardation gets paraded on regular basis...

 

The DMCA obviously has loads of issues. It's not made for the currently century. Companies will gladly use it if they so feel it's a gain for them.