Disturbing Facts

disabled · #1 March 22nd, 2002, 05:12 AM

There is a lot of SE1 & 2 screenshots and stuff at SE.org i think

[ June 14, 2003, 18:35: Message edited by: General Talashar ]

ZeroAdunn · #2 March 22nd, 2002, 10:10 AM

Cynapse,
Don't get me wrong, I'm not condemning him for pirating, I just find a problem with people who like to look down on others when they themselves commit the same crimes. What's even worse is this guy is in the industry.

I would never condemn someone for pirating, I've done my fair share of pirating, and everyone has stolen in some form or another at some time, there's just no denying it. Heck, thats how I got into the SE series.

tesco samoa · #3 March 22nd, 2002, 03:26 PM

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51245,00.html

Nice article....

capnq · #4 March 22nd, 2002, 11:02 PM

The biggest part of the problem is the attitude that it's all right to steal something if you don't have the money to pay for it, especially it you think that the thing you want is overpriced. There's no way to fix that attitude with legislation.

wr8th · #5 March 22nd, 2002, 11:20 PM

Cap,

The point you make is well taken. Morality is not legislatible. But it seems to be almost necessary when what morality that does exist is as malleable as silly putty in order to fit the "perceived needs" of the miscreant.

Whoah, I didn't mean to go off on that tangent. Sorry folks.

Spoo · #6 March 23rd, 2002, 03:01 AM

I think things should stay as they are. Would it really be in our best interests to disable our copying and filesharing technologies? Those people who want to pirate will continue to do so; It might require cracking software protection or modifying hardware, but I'm sure they'll figure it out. If software companies come up with a near unbreakable copy protection, great for them. They should. However, hardware should not be crippled. Suppose all future CD burners refuse to burn CD's half the time. Will I go out and buy one? Nope. I'll use my outdated old one, and it'll be a pain in the ***.

PvK · #7 March 23rd, 2002, 03:29 AM

Well, the SE4 forum does seem like a good place to mention the following concept. Supose you have two civilizations (who don't know of each other). They both develop computer technology like we have today, and both produce lots of useful and entertaining programs and media.

The difference is, that one civilization freely allows sharing all these programs and media. Authorship fraud is not allowed, and authors are rewarded for their work based on the amount of use and praise registered by the customers, through taxes and an official praise registration center.

The other civilization is more like ours. Corporations own and control most development, try to control and enforce duplication and even usage rights, and claim as much of the profits for their stockholders as possible.

Which civilization is going to be more productive and happy? I would say, definitely the first one.

My question is, how to change the basic assumptions. Maybe start with a non-profit organization that would take a membership fee and disburse it to authors whose products were used and praised.

How is this different from a conventional publisher? Well, customers would pay a subscription, and then be able to freely download all of that publisher's products. Electronic duplication and distribution slashes that overhead, and with enough titles, it can become very tempting to Subscribe. In theory, the cost of a subscription could be kept low and affordable, because the multiplied value of being able to use all of the products would mean that many more people would Subscribe than would otherwise buy individual products. The problems are that it probably requires a certain critical mass to succeed, both in terms of amount/quantity of content, and amount of Subscribers.

PvK