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I use vintage camera lenses a lot and hate collectors. They drive prices up so they can keep their perfect lenses in a room somewhere like this guy and his “do

I use vintage camera lenses a lot and hate collectors. They drive prices up so they can keep their perfect lenses in a room somewhere like this guy and his “do not upload” folder. To me it’s perverse. Thoses games could be being enjoyed by people but this guy has to squirrel them away. I understand that it's their right to do whatever they want to with their "treasures" but the point of a lens is to take photos, the point of a game is to be played, the point of music is to be listened to.

admax88q 8y ago
These are digital assets though. Him "squirreling" them away doesn't deprive anyone else from having their own copy to play. Maybe you're complaining that he didn't distribute copies for others to enjoy, but copyright law would make him a criminal for doing that, why should he take that risk? It's funny that this guy would is considered a criminal for making copies of these games, but once they are old enough and lost forever by the original copyright holders he's suddenly a hero for having these old copies. Copyright law is fucked.
- eropple 8y ago
  Copyright law is a mess, but there are archival services, like the Internet Archive, that can effectively advise someone on how they can, in a way that does not cause one to risk legal liability (a problem much more real to the average person than generally-theoretical and mostly-breathless chances of criminal charges) to them, preserve those artifacts for the future.
- matheusmoreira 8y ago
  Collectors prevent prototype hardware emulators from being created too, and those are legal.
- pavel_lishin 8y ago
  > These are digital assets though. Him "squirreling" them away doesn't deprive anyone else from having their own copy to play. But the collector in question very specifically didn't want other copies to exist, and threatened to never upload rare games again if it were shared outside the small, private community: > According to a screenshot uploaded by Saint, the private collector threatened to pull the entire folder of content from the directory and stop uploading games altogether if anyone leaked Labyrinthe He very, very specifically wanted to deprive others.
  - segmondy 8y ago
    So? What if it was a short story or a poem? Do we have the right to read it? If someone doesn't wish to share their work, that's their own prerogative.
    - 3131s 8y ago
      It's not his work, at least not in the sense of him creating it.
jib 8y ago
I’m not sure I agree. We recently had a magic the gathering old cards discussion internally. People were showing off their collections, many of which were in the mid five digits price range (full beta power etc). People keep those things in bank vaults. If they play for fun they just use proxies. The odd time they go to a real tournament they take out the cards and use them. To me the desire to collect these things doesn’t take away anything. It is still a game, but it is also something to collect and enjoy just owning something rare for some, and that rare thing happens to also have other utility. The point of a thing can be multifaceted, and collection is as valid as any other point is, to me at least.
lb1lf 8y ago
I sympathize with you a lot (owning a number of vintage lenses for several systems myself, though I have to admit I rather heretically mostly prefer the new-ish stuff!) I guess, however, the collectors can just as validly suggest that they hate photographers who USE (and, hence, run the risk of scratching, chipping, breaking, whatever a classic lens which really, really belonged in a collection!) the lenses they'd rather collect... Besides, if it wasn't for those pesky photographers ooohing and aaahing about how lens such-and-such was fantastic, prices would be oh-so-much-lower for those true lovers of vintage optics, the collectors... :)

admax88q 8y ago

These are digital assets though. Him "squirreling" them away doesn't deprive anyone else from having their own copy to play. Maybe you're complaining that he didn't distribute copies for others to enjoy, but copyright law would make him a criminal for doing that, why should he take that risk? It's funny that this guy would is considered a criminal for making copies of these games, but once they are old enough and lost forever by the original copyright holders he's suddenly a hero for having these old copies. Copyright law is fucked.

eropple 8y ago
Copyright law is a mess, but there are archival services, like the Internet Archive, that can effectively advise someone on how they can, in a way that does not cause one to risk legal liability (a problem much more real to the average person than generally-theoretical and mostly-breathless chances of criminal charges) to them, preserve those artifacts for the future.
matheusmoreira 8y ago
Collectors prevent prototype hardware emulators from being created too, and those are legal.
pavel_lishin 8y ago
> These are digital assets though. Him "squirreling" them away doesn't deprive anyone else from having their own copy to play. But the collector in question very specifically didn't want other copies to exist, and threatened to never upload rare games again if it were shared outside the small, private community: > According to a screenshot uploaded by Saint, the private collector threatened to pull the entire folder of content from the directory and stop uploading games altogether if anyone leaked Labyrinthe He very, very specifically wanted to deprive others.
- segmondy 8y ago
  So? What if it was a short story or a poem? Do we have the right to read it? If someone doesn't wish to share their work, that's their own prerogative.
  - 3131s 8y ago
    It's not his work, at least not in the sense of him creating it.

jib 8y ago

I’m not sure I agree. We recently had a magic the gathering old cards discussion internally. People were showing off their collections, many of which were in the mid five digits price range (full beta power etc). People keep those things in bank vaults. If they play for fun they just use proxies. The odd time they go to a real tournament they take out the cards and use them. To me the desire to collect these things doesn’t take away anything. It is still a game, but it is also something to collect and enjoy just owning something rare for some, and that rare thing happens to also have other utility. The point of a thing can be multifaceted, and collection is as valid as any other point is, to me at least.

lb1lf 8y ago

I sympathize with you a lot (owning a number of vintage lenses for several systems myself, though I have to admit I rather heretically mostly prefer the new-ish stuff!) I guess, however, the collectors can just as validly suggest that they hate photographers who USE (and, hence, run the risk of scratching, chipping, breaking, whatever a classic lens which really, really belonged in a collection!) the lenses they'd rather collect... Besides, if it wasn't for those pesky photographers ooohing and aaahing about how lens such-and-such was fantastic, prices would be oh-so-much-lower for those true lovers of vintage optics, the collectors... :)