LogFAQs > #960597051

Gobstoppers12 posted...

Morally, you're not justified in stealing somebody else's idea or depriving them of their rights as the creator, either. It's more likely to be morally in the wrong than legally in the wrong.

I mean - here's the thing - works like games are, whether you like it or not, largely out of the hands of their creators once published. This is the basis of something like modding, and preserving titles that publishers refuse to resell is an extension of that. There is a moral argument for theft in regards to a recent release, but you are getting abstract when you bring up digital licenses for things that don't even physically exist.

You even say 1 disk equals one license, but the digitization of games effectively makes even THAT idea obsolete, increasingly so. Copyright law must adjust to the fact that the digital frontier will only expand in the ease of copying existing games and it must understand that concepts like the public domain exist for a reason; no work, of any kind, is eternal to its original maker. If they de-facto abandon it, it's not their prerogative to care what people do with abstract digital licenses. If they cared, they'd be profiting.

Like I've said, though, this really just applies to the concept of game preservation rather than new titles, which have immediate links to theft if pirated. It should absolutely never be up to the company as to whether or not a game is preserved, and beyond that, it literally isn't due to things like piracy.

---

Enjoy movies and television? Check out my blog! I do reviews and analyses.
http://fictionrantreview.wordpress.com/ (The Force Awakens spoiler review up!)