Off topic: How are games failing you?

[Agema]

Originally Posted by Endoperez

Abandonware is not legal.

Abandonware can be legal: some authors/publishers release the copyright and make stuff freeware in the belief no-one would pay for old stuff but may as well still be able to play it. It could be argued that software which the copyright owner does not enforce is effectively legal, although "effectively" certainly does not mean "is". Nevertheless, I'd agree it's inappropriate to link to such sites unless it clearly states the software it holds is there legally.

[Aezeal]

considering how the pplz here keep publishing their games long and at full prices I think they'd sooner have the sort of Lucas art point of view

[Endoperez]

Originally Posted by Agema

It could be argued that software which the copyright owner does not enforce is effectively legal, although "effectively" certainly does not mean "is".

It could be argued that a copyright crime isn't effectively crime unless you get caught.

Any way, this isn't the forum for this discussion.

[sector24]

Sorry, I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I'll just slink back into the shadows now.

[Tifone]

While we can agree that this might not be the best play to give each other links of torrents I'd give just a personal opinion.

I'm totally for supporting the devs who made a good game (and even better if they support it really well, I'm lookin at ya, guys ). And the company that made the game available to you. All of that, really.
But when the devs stop earning profit from the game itself, and possibly when the company itself stops putting it on sale, I start wondering.

We can't deny that games are an artistic experience. The tenth art, I'd say. Still, the art of creating games, and the artistic experience of playing them, is still an underdog. Often the so-called "media", for the pleasure of the masses, use this or that game as scapegoat for a shooting among teenagers or whatever. And while some philosophers and writers are making the artistic value of games more obvious to the masses, there aren't libraries or galleries for games, where everybody can live the artistic experience - nor we can expect them, for a long time. But shouldn't the artistic experiences, sons of the best intellect mankind, be available freely even to who doesn't have the means? Should the sharing of ideas be limited to books and paintings?
I think that pirating a game which is on sale is purely dishonest, because people worked hard on it and live on it, and whole companies depend on those sales. But when those people and companies stop offering the game, and thus stop expecting returns from that, shouldn't the artistic experience be available to those who didn't have the means to buy it?

Sorry for the long rant - random thoughts. Comments or death threats are welcome...

[rdonj]

I would highly suggest if someone wants to continue this discussion that a new thread be made, this thread is wandering far off-course and I kind of liked it before it started wandering into legal territory.

[Annette]

Rdojn is right, Please keep your posts on topic. Unauthorized distribution of copyrighted intellectual property is illegal, even if you feel the copyright holder should release their property into public domain. Discussion of piracy and the promotion of illegal activity is prohibited on our forums.

[Tifone]

I'm sorry, mine was just a post on some ideals (fortunately, the high intelligence of the players of this game and members of this forum often permits very nice discussions ) and as I stated I was not advocating piracy at all.

Well, back on topic so!

[JimMorrison]

Just to make sure this ship sails back onto course -

I can't remember if this was mentioned earlier in the thread (I like to mention it a lot), but if you can handle REALLY old school RPGs, and you loved the feel and world of Fallout, then Wasteland was in fact the predecessor of Fallout, and will always remain one of my favorite games of all time. May be -very- hard to find. Here is an interesting site to get more info, and may help lead you towards legal avenues of enjoying this great old work.

Ranger HQ

[Akela]

Wasteland absolutely rocked! I remember loving Fallout so much because it was a new and improved Wasteland. I remember being in college and playing D&D in the living room while my brother's girlfriend sat in the next room playing Wasteland for hours on my 386 with a VGA monitor. A girl playing computer games!? Not such a big deal now but unheard of in 1988. She is the only person that I know personally who has finished the game. By pure (and weird) coincidence my brother told me the other day that he is playing it again. He's married to that girl now, do you think she's giving him hints?