Stupid Ways the Government is Trying to Screw the Internet

[Axeldeath]

I bought the Collector's Edition of the game, too bad it looked nothing like the original videos of it. Was fairly disappointed that the Cell stage was the best stage yet it was only about 20 minutes long.

 

Animal Stage - Bad

Tribal - Okay

Civilization stage - Bad

Space Stage - At first awesome but quickly becomes tedious and boring.

[Doom Shepherd]

I wanted to see how long it would take to conquer / expand over the entire galaxy. Most people just beeline for the center asap, from what I've heard.

 

But I have some pretty odd (and sometimes tedious) ideas of what constitutes "fun."

[Axeldeath]

Most people just beeline for the center asap, from what I've heard.

 

That and find Earth. Unless you're like me and bought the Galactic Adventures expansion.

[alphabetagamma]

All of spore was tedious and boring. A few of the stages were kind enough to end quickly though, so it's not all bad. Most of the stages felt like flash games, indie games or simpler versions of other games. I really dislike the lack of originality and realism. Especially the realism. I mean, spice coming out of the ground and being the only resource in the whole game? And the civilisation stage, god that was sad, it was just about collecting spice and spamming planes in a oversimplified version of Sid Meier's Civilization.

 

I still enjoyed it though, not a bad game, just not a very good one.

 

On the topic of piracy, I won't deny opposing them for their intended purpose rather than a fear of censorship and weakened security. I use FOSS when I can, but sometimes it's just not possible. For instance, I was trying to make and edit a .DDS file in GIMP, but the plugin was either incomprehensibly complicated or didn't work. That's why I have photoshop. It's only CS v8, I don't need CS5, I just need to use one plugin. I'm not making any money off it, and I'm certainly not paying $400. I'm also not going to walk into a store and buy a DVD of My Little Pony, I don't think I could do that. iTunes is a possibility, but I still doubt I would pay for it when there's a free copy on Youtube. A lot of companies do own legitimate rights to the music/movie/software that gets pirated thousands of times, I just don't want to act like a responsible member of society about it.

[Pinkie Pie]

I'm also not going to walk into a store and buy a DVD of My Little Pony, I don't think I could do that.

If I could find a DVD for season 1 of FiM you bet your sweet ass I'd do it.

[Mr Green]

ACTA

http://verydemotivational.memebase.com/2012/01/27/demotivational-posters-acta/

[Michael Archer]

Look at you guys: some of you are taking pride in the fact that you are pirating. It's people like you that makes people want to pass this bill. BTGBullseye, I'd like to know where you got those statistics on pirates.

[Axeldeath]

It's people like you that makes people want to pass this bill.

 

Because this'll really stop pirates. Ha.

 

BTGBullseye, I'd like to know where you got those statistics on pirates.

 

Out of his arse.

Edited February 18, 2012 by Guest (see edit history)

[Kirkreng]

While I still agree that pirating is not necessarily something you should be proud of this pass wont stop it for a second.

[Ross Scott]

I've pirated things (mostly RPG sourcebooks) that simply aren't available any other way. For instance, the old FASA Star Trek game modules went out of print decades ago, and cannot be found in stores for reasonable prices.

 

Also, remember Spore? Spore had really intrusive DRM anti-piracy software, "intended" to keep the purchaser of the game from re-installing it more than a couple of times (buy a new computer? Have a HD crash? Screw you, the game company said). That would actually DAMAGE your computer if you tried to remove it. (Even if you got rid of the game entirely, it stayed in your registry like a virus)

 

So many people were so pissed about the DRM that Spore became the most-pirated game in history.

Yeah this is really at the core as to why I think some piracy is necessary. I saw a comment about this on slashdot:

 

"

">Also, there are lots of things that are out of print, but copyright still covers that.

This is what the real problem is with current copyright law. Stuff that would go to the public domain is simply locked up, never to be seen again.There is no balance anymore between the right to culture and the right to earn a living. The right to culture has been obliterated. Indeed, the Supreme Court has ruled that yes, Congress *can* pass copyright laws that rip culture out of the public domain.The powers that be are now stealing from the public, far more so than they are losing to "piracy."

"

 

I consider laws to allow media that at least some people are interested in to willingly die to be immoral. I think these are most at risk by bills like this because the more obscure something is, the more likely there is to be only one remaining source of it. And as others have said, for mainstream piracy, this may as well be called the "Stop Napster" bill.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Most games and movies nowadays can usually be found cheap on sales and such, so I don't see much reason to pirate mainstream stuff. Even TV shows are being released direct to DVD and BD and you can find those in bargains.

 

But yeah, I definitely agree that for a lot of abandonware, there simply is no other solution, especially for obscure titles. A lot of movies from the 80's are near impossible to find on DVD or BD, and in some cases, the pirate versions are actually of better quality because the companies mess up the product.

 

In the case of music, does anyone remember when they put in copy-protection on CD's? Some players couldn't read the discs, on PC you were left with shitty audio quality, and it really messed up the albums that YOU paid for and that YOU might want to listen to on your mp3 player. it basically has lead to more and more companies refusing to use copy protection nowadays because they realized that it just caused more piracy because people got fed up with it and stopped buying CD's. If anything contributed to the decline of CD sales, copy protection is to blame, not the advent of digital sales really.

 

The basic lesson here is that honest consumers are being treated like criminals, in the worst cases I would say anti-piracy measures create more pirates than they stop. Besides, this is not a new thing. When VHS recorders became affordable, people started copying VHS tapes, and when audio cassettes became available, people recorded music off the radio or their own records and shared and it became a trend to make mixtapes.

 

People will always find ways to pirate stuff, but PUNISHING CONSUMERS for buying your product is NOT helping.

[Michael Archer]

It's people like you that makes people want to pass this bill.

 

Because this'll really stop pirates. Ha.

 

This is my point. Pirates are the cause of congress over-reacting.

[Vapymid]

Look at you guys: some of you are taking pride in the fact that you are pirating. It's people like you that makes people want to pass this bill.

 

I have a suspicion that you are just trolling in this and a couple of other recent threads, Michael. You *must* know that piracy is natural market response to unnatural anti-competitive restrictions imposed on it by a group of manipulators. You do like capitalism - you must be able to see that the way the Western IP laws are structured, they are rather more like an extreme form of feudalism.

 

You should also be able to see that the recent onslaught of bills to "protect" the IP industry has nothing to do with eliminating "piracy" but is directed at consolidating control over the use of information (any information) in the hands of a small oligarchy.

 

Regards

[The Hamburglar]

Wow you are throwing so many accusations at Michael even though he just stated that pirating is the reason for this bill.

opinion = trolling

[Vapymid]

I was not accusing, I was *responding* to an accusation or, rather, to an attack on character - as "some of you" casts shadow on everyone, except the accuser. Even then it was only half-serious as I qualified it by "suspicion" and "just".

 

Regards

[BTGBullseye]

Look at you guys: some of you are taking pride in the fact that you are pirating. It's people like you that makes people want to pass this bill. BTGBullseye, I'd like to know where you got those statistics on pirates.

Of course I take pride in not paying for overpriced shit. Why wouldn't I?

 

As far as those statistics, they are common knowledge to most companies, but those same companies do virtually anything to keep the public from seeing them. No specific location I can point you to on the internet; the last 6 sites that had them were taken down through law suits for 'revealing company secrets'.

[Axeldeath]

Of course I take pride in not paying for overpriced shit. Why wouldn't I?

 

You are the cancer that is killing the game industry. Not COD, not consolites. You.

 

As far as those statistics, they are common knowledge to most companies, but those same companies do virtually anything to keep the public from seeing them. No specific location I can point you to on the internet; the last 6 sites that had them were taken down through law suits for 'revealing company secrets'

 

[BTGBullseye]

And yet you have provided no evidence to contradict my statements.

[Axeldeath]

And yet you have provided no evidence to contradict my statements.

 

Can't do that when you don't provide any evidence at fucking all.

[BTGBullseye]

You don't provide any to contradict my claims, I don't need to show evidence simply because you say I'm wrong.