3 ms·
Legally they might be within their right, but cases like this really demonstrate to me that there ought to be some legal concept of abandonware when a product i
by Omniusaspirer 11y ago
Legally they might be within their right, but cases like this really demonstrate to me that there ought to be some legal concept of abandonware when a product is substantially modified from its original state.
What precedent does it set that you have no legal right to retain access to software in the form that you've paid for it? If Gabe Newell went insane tomorrow and fired all employees then shipped patches making all Valve titles unplayable is there really no legal recourse for the people who bought those games? This is a case of the law being behind the technological realities in my opinion.
(and yes I know there's probably some EULA cop-out about how you don't own the client and merely paid for a temporary license to it or blah blah blah)
- mjrpes 11y agoLibrary of Congress did change DCMA rules last year to allow consumers to modify an abandon-ware game to bypass authentication servers that no longer exist. However, they specifically excluded MMO-like games, only covering "video games that can be played by users without accessing or reproducing copyrightable content stored or previously stored on an external computer server". Still, it's at least acknowledgement that abandon-ware is a legitimate form of media that rightfully deserves preservation. http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-10/28/dmca-game-preservation-exemptions-abandoned-games http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-10/28/dmca-game-pre...
- Omniusaspirer 11y agoIt also doesn't allow for copying of games beyond personal use as I understand it, so it's really hitting MMO emulation from two directions as it's currently defined. How many of your potential players still retain the original install disks, especially after 12+ years? I can't imagine very many.