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Damn people are tearing this guy apart, the reddit threads are particularly brutal. It's a video game. The finder has no obligation to risk legal trouble so th
by huehehue 9y ago
Damn people are tearing this guy apart, the reddit threads are particularly brutal. It's a video game.
The finder has no obligation to risk legal trouble so that a game can be modified, played, or even preserved. I'm all for archiving these sorts of things, and agree there's probably no great reason to keep the source private.
But if I have the (likely) stolen property of a large company and they ask for its return, I'm sure as hell not going to go all cowboy to make some enthusiasts happy.
- jpgvm 9y agoIt's actually pretty simple. If you find yourself in the same situation: 1. Rip disk 2. Send to archive.org 3. Mail disk to Blizzard. Blizzard will destroy this copy or at least make sure it never circulates again, by sending it to archive.org you have relieved yourself of the burden of releasing it. They may or may not choose to release it but they will at least keep it archived so that if Blizzard is to be lost then history will not be lost with it.
- scrollaway 9y agoI can't make you a legal guarantee of that, but Blizzard will not destroy the copy. It seems unlikely they'll release it any time soon given SC Remastered, but they're not idiots.
- jpgvm 9y agoRemoving from circulation permanently is basically the same as destruction for the purposes of archival.
- scrollaway 9y agoI highly doubt it's going to be removed from circulation forever. My guess is it'll be archived internally, the disc itself will end up in their campus museum, and at some point legal will sign off on releasing it to the public. SC1 is coming up on its 20th anniversary next year, who knows what they'll do for the occasion.
- acuozzo 9y ago> I highly doubt it's going to be removed from circulation forever. Agreed, but sometimes… Shit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Fox_vault_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Fox_vault_fire Happens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_MGM_vault_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_MGM_vault_fire Preservation requires distribution.
- scrollaway 9y agoOf course, and thankfully I know for a fact Blizzard has redundant backups of all their source control :) The disc would die in a fire certainly, but so would it if it were at the Archive.
- jrimbault 9y agoMore likely imo, someone will be charged with archiving it inside Blizzard and on their internal repos.
- jpgvm 9y agoBlizzard already has the source code, in fact it's actively being extended as part of a HD remaster right now. I have no doubt they are very happy to have the original copy back, it probably means quite a lot of the original developers and I would never dream of keeping it from them had it been up to me. I would definitely hope they keep the hard copy somewhere safe but history hasn't been kind to game source code.
- test1235 9y agoYou'd still get in trouble for making that copy and distributing it.
- seanp2k2 9y agoyou're not distributing it and I'd trust the people at the Internet Archive to keep it anonymous and Do the Right Thing.
- fredoliveira 9y agoDistributing to one entity is still distributing.
- crimsoneer 9y agoYes, and when Blizzard notice that exact same source code you have conveniently appeared on the internet a few months later from an anonymous source, I'm confident they won't inform the police and sue me to fuck.
- wtetzner 9y agoSo send it to Blizzard anonymously as well.
- rejschaap 9y agoI would replace step 3 with framing it nicely and hiding it in in a corner in my attic. A couple centuries from now it will end up in a pawn shop somewhere
- IsmaOlvey 9y agoAnd, importantly, never tell anyone about #2 (at least until you can be completely certain Blizzard won't take action against you).
- Svekax 9y agoYou buy a box of old documents on Ebay. It contains an original manuscript of The Fellowship of the Ring with J. R. R. Tolkien's edits and notes in the margins. Tolkien's estate demands the copy back so they can burn it. You should mail it to them because they own it, right? It's just a book, right? No, you shouldn't. They owners shouldn't be able to destroy it for the same reason we have laws protecting monuments and historical sites. When something has historical or cultural value, the public has a right to preserve it even against the wishes of the owner.
- enraged_camel 9y ago>>They owners shouldn't be able to destroy it for the same reason we have laws protecting monuments and historical sites. Monuments and historical sites require Acts of Congress or Executive Orders to establish. If you care so much about this game's source code, maybe you should write to your congress critter.
- Tactic 9y agoDo they own it? If so, yes. Give it back. What they do with it is on them. Crucify them, not the person doing the right thing. If you don't like Blizzard's stance, deal with them, not criticize someone for not achieving the end you prefer.
- throwaway18917 9y agoLol but watch everyone flip their shit when Apple tells people that they can't modify their software or hardware because "Apple owns it".