Re: [stella] Piracy

Subject: Re: [stella] Piracy
From: Chris Cracknell <crackers@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 16:06:38 -0500 (EST)
On Friday, January 9th, 98, krishna@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>>On Fri, 9 Jan 1998, Chris Cracknell wrote:
>> then go ahead and distribute it, if you want to make a profit doing it
>> then go for that too. Even though activision and atari claim they have
>
>It would be highly hypocritical of me to go ahead and release a Starpath
>CD without asking for permission, and even worse to take profit from it.
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It's not neccessarily hypocritical to have a change of opinion.

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>Besides, as someone who's gotten written up in Wired magazine and is
>mentioned here and there on the net, I can not "hide between the cracks"
>like those guys burning CD-Rs in their free time.  I'd rather not even
>suffer the finger-pointing that could result from such actions, regardless
>of whether I'd be liable for a lawsuit.
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You're not that famous Glenn. Besides, I pointed out to you a number of ways
you could distribute your CDs and remain quite annonymous.

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>Most of all, though, I don't feel as though I should have to stoop so low
>as to resort to piracy to make a buck.
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The making a buck is mearly the icing on the cake. To me the greater glory
of people making bootleg CD-Rs of discontinuted games or multicarts is
that they are making information available to the general public.

If a company is going to discontinue a product and abandon a market then I
have no moral issues against anyone who is going to distribute the product
and if they make a buck at it, well more power to them.

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>As a 27 year old film grad who is kinda cutting his teeth doing low res
>character animations on the web, I'd like to have more genuine
>accomplishments to be proud of before I formally enter middle-age.  I am
>an opportunitist and someday I hope to wind up in the higher echelons of
>computer animation (for TV or videogames), television production, or the
>emerging web/interactive TV industry.
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I don't think anyone is planning to make the 2600 the sum value of their
life's work. Those of us programming for it now are doing so mostly I 
imagine out of love of the machine and thrill of the challenge, not because
we think they'll be erecting statues of us in the town square or
because it will get us fame, fortune, and women to call our own.

Randy Chrifield and Sean Kelly both have full lives outside the world
of classic video games (and I truly pitty anyone who doesn't). Their
multicarts are something they do on the side for fun.

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>I need to spend my time wisely.  The CD did not play to my creative
>strengths, but the documentary does.
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That's fine and well. If it's a matter of not having the time to engage
in such hobies then don't. Just don't get all pumped up with self
rightiousness over it (especially since you yourself possess bootleg
2600 rom images).

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>[conspiracy proposals deleted]
>
>Let me just say this regarding my stance on this sort of thing.  If I
>start seeing bootleg CD-Rs float around, I'll blame you.  'Nuff said?
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You can blame the sun, moon, and the stars for all I care and for all the
good it will do.  I already mentioned to you that I have no intention
of bootlegging Stella (although I have been freely giving cassette copies
of Supercharger games to people who ask for them as I was long before
Stella came out). I was mearly pointing out to you means by which you
could continue to distribute the Stella CD if ensuring that the public
has access to this discontinued software is more important to you than
your desire for personal fame and glory.

And as I stated before Stella was even released. It is inevitable that
bootleg CD-Rs of the project will be distributed. There is a demand for
the games and that demand isn't going to deminish just because there
is no reasonable, legal means for the distribution of those games.
So it is inevitable that trade in these games will be conducted
illegally. You can stamp your feet and make all the noise about it you
want to but it's not going to change anything.

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>My goal in life is not to supply everyone who wants to play a Supercharger
>game with a copy of the CD, nor do I see piracy as a proper means to that
>noble end.  I distributed a few hundred out there which is in perportion
>to what can be expected from an individual with a busy life.
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Piracy may not be the "proper" means to that noble end, however, it 
does appear to be the only reasonable means to that noble end.

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>Piracy isn't creation, it's exploitation.
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Yeah yeah yeah, tell it to Negativeland.

The matter isn't as black and white as you make it. You didn't write a
single game on the Stella CD, but it was still a very creative work and would
still be a very creative work even if you didn't have the okay of Atari
and Bridgestone to do it. Granted I'm sure that most pirate works will
simply be a CD full of BINs or WAVs, but it doesn't have to be. If one
has the creative desire to put together a project on par with Stella then
I say they shouldn't let corporate bullshit get in their way. The companies
that own the copyrights are not going to lose a penny from any bootleg
distribution of their discontinued products. My moral position on the matter
is that once information is created people have a right to access that
information. If no reasonable legal means exists to access that information
then people have a moral (if not legal) right to access that information
through piracy. Just because something is legal does not mean it is moral
(after all it was perfectly legal for the McCain's corporation to basically
steal land owned by Peruvian peasants but just because they had the blessings
of the government of Peru and the laws thereof it sure as hell didn't make
their actions moral) nor does it mean something is immoral just because it
is illegal (hands up everyone who has performed oral sex in a state where
it is illegal).

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>Maybe you won't make any money off of your game, but you should certainly
>take the task of writing games for the VCS seriously, and not be ashamed
>to devote your free time towards it, because it really is videogaming at
>its purest level. 
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Eh!? If I'm not ashamed to perform oral sex in states where it's illegal
why the hell would I be ashamed to write code for the 2600?

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I don't want to just make a cheap buck on pirate-ware...
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No one says you have to make a cheap buck. 

You want to create a 2600 CD that tops Stella. That's comendable. The
companies that hold the copyrights are standing in your way. I'm saying
if you really wish to create it, then damn it, create it. You can either
piss and moan about how JTS won't let you do what you want or you can
screw up your courage, moon them, and do it anyways.

                                 CRACKERS
         (And how did my private E-mail get on Stella from hell?!!!)

-- 

Accordionist - Wethifl Musician - Atari 2600 Collector | /\/\
*NEW CrAB URL* http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html ***| \^^/
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