Why Not Digitial Distribution?

[Gandalf Parker]

Actually I lock the doors to keep out the multitude that would walk easily in without locks. Some of which would do so without realizing that they werent supposed to. Thats how I look at copy protections also.

Ive also known quite a few kids who would not cross the line and go to a pirate site for something that foiled them at casually copying it.

And I wouldnt say "no chance of detection". Im a netcop and forensic consultant. Ive had my fair share of involvement in busting hackers, crackers, s-kiddies, wardialers, wardrivers, unlockers, and pirates. And the sites that go with them.

[Soyweiser]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

And I wouldnt say "no chance of detection". Im a netcop and forensic consultant. Ive had my fair share of involvement in busting hackers, crackers, s-kiddies, wardialers, wardrivers, unlockers, and pirates. And the sites that go with them.

Yeah, but that is distribution. That doesn't stop a cracker from destroying the cp. Those tactics also stop hackers/etc from distributing programs without cp.

I disagree with you about the casual copying stuff, and the locking stuff remembers people that they break the law argument. As my experience totally differs, people that I know in the middle of nowhere hardly lock their doors. But I have no other experience than personal experience. And in the grand scheme of things, that doesn't count. So I'll let that part stand, and stop discussing it.

(Perhaps I don't have problems with downloading cracks, as I have a lot of games for which I had to download a crack to play the game I legally bought. I also have had games which shipped without a manual. Somehow, most support people don't believe you when you say the game hasn't shipped with a manual, and it takes ages to even get a reply. (Not to mention that the turnover rate of game companies is rather high). So for me the line of illegality of going to a crack site doesn't exist).

And downloading a game from the internet is not illegal in some countries. Offering it for download is. The problem with downloading is a moral one, not a legal one. (Yet). It is of course still a issue. But a totally different one.

Originally Posted by lch

As long as the game manual hasn't been made available for free download, other sites won't be able to offer it for free, too, and will refrain from doing so. Making it available then will be no less illegal than it is now.

Good point, it remains illegal. But as soon as a pdf file is offered as documentation by illwinter it will be in a moral grey area. It is clear that is illegal and immoral to give away the code to the game. But it will feel less immoral to only give away the documentation. "It is not the game right?". "I'm only sharing the documentation, which is useless without the game. So it isn't a problem, right?". Right now the position of illwinter/shrapnel is very clear. Sharing the manual is illegal, and they don't want it. A pdf manual would be useless in comparison with a irl manual. So that is why the manual is not provided in pdf. Seems pretty clear right? When they now start to offer the manual as a pdf, it will be a less clear statement.

Personally I doubt that a pdf manual would be useful. It is way easier to search in a normal book. I love my manual, I doubt the pdf one will feel just as great. And if you really want to have a pdf manual with your hardcopy one. You could always download one of a pirate site. In most places it isn't illegal to download stuff you already own.

[thejeff]

Originally Posted by Soyweiser

Personally I doubt that a pdf manual would be useful. It is way easier to search in a normal book. I love my manual, I doubt the pdf one will feel just as great.

I like the hardcopy manual too, but it's much easier to search in a pdf. I've paged through the manual many times looking for things that a quick Find command would have found in seconds.

[Soyweiser]

Originally Posted by thejeff

I like the hardcopy manual too, but it's much easier to search in a pdf. I've paged through the manual many times looking for things that a quick Find command would have found in seconds.

I found the multiple indexes in the manual rather easy to use actually.