I’m a filthy fucking socialist.

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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 27th, 2023

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    1. You are buying a license. That’s the legal action you are taking. Even when you buy a physical copy, that’s not ownership of the game. You can’t duplicate and sell the copies. You can’t duplicate and give them away. Both are copyright infringement.

    Sure you can sell an older physical copy second hand, because there’s no one there to stop you, which is why companies have moved to largely digital: the communications infrastructure makes it easier (like you said). But also it allowed companies to keep a tighter hold on their property.

    I agree that if they wish to end support for a game, it should have a countdown timer to then be in the “public domain” so to speak.

    But that’s the uphill battle I spoke of, because you’d need to rewrite a precedent that currently allows for 90+ years of copyright.


  • And thus is the issue.

    No, you don’t own the software in your car. The companies who disabled your car do, and by acquiring that car, you are subject to their whims. Because by signing that contract when buying that car, I bet you didn’t amend it to make you owner of that software.

    Instead of continuing to maintain a car-centric culture with software that we don’t own or control, we could incorporate more walking and biking infrastructure, and better more reliable public transit options.

    Don’t settle for one thing just because that’s what you know and has been in existence most of your life. Find and build better options.


  • 1: You’ve never owned a video game in your life, unless you were the owner of the copyright, you possessed a licensed copy (including physical copies). That has to change before any other real concrete changes can occur.

    2: Online video games are a totally different beast over single player games. Besides direct competition with themselves, there has to be a sustained effort to maintain those servers, while also staying beholden to the copyright holders.

    • Look at Project 1999 EverQuest (a “classic” server for a 26+ year game). It almost never reaches 2000 concurrent players, and that requires permission from Daybreak to run as intended. The Hero’s Journey is a different EQ project that is in litigation with Daybreak right now. Project Quarm has been reticent about keeping its servers running during the THJ legal proceedings.

    As much as we might want to keep games alive for posterity, we have to figure out a process for online games, and that seems like it’s gonna be a massive uphill battle.