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General discussion (archive)Copyright out of control (again)(62 posts)(62 posts)
(62 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 29, 2011
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orcishgamer: Oh gee, what on earth could you be speaking about.... http://www.ultimaaiera.com/blog/an-ultima-4-development-challenge/

Who cares if it's even on a touchscreen, honestly.

Ultima IV was released in 1985, over 25 years ago. It's taught in history of video game courses. It's one of the most well known games of that era. This is my point about where culture and copyright clash, this is the point where copyright steals from the public domain. This is the point where creativity and derivative works are crushed. This is where pure enjoyment of culture is crushed. All this in favor of eking a few more dollars out of the work.

This is the part where the copyright holder has broken its contract with the public to enrich the public domain in exchange for a limited time monopoly.

This is why I posted this. And fuck EA.
I won't argue with that stance.

Except to note that the challenge from Mythic is actually a separate -- though still ongoing -- thing.

But there is something else in the works, too.
Posted March 29, 2011
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orcishgamer: Oh gee, what on earth could you be speaking about.... http://www.ultimaaiera.com/blog/an-ultima-4-development-challenge/

Who cares if it's even on a touchscreen, honestly.

Ultima IV was released in 1985, over 25 years ago. It's taught in history of video game courses. It's one of the most well known games of that era. This is my point about where culture and copyright clash, this is the point where copyright steals from the public domain. This is the point where creativity and derivative works are crushed. This is where pure enjoyment of culture is crushed. All this in favor of eking a few more dollars out of the work.

This is the part where the copyright holder has broken its contract with the public to enrich the public domain in exchange for a limited time monopoly.

This is why I posted this. And fuck EA.
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kennethkully: I won't argue with that stance.

Except to note that the challenge from Mythic is actually a separate -- though still ongoing -- thing.

But there is something else in the works, too.
Well, best of luck, and I hope you profit from your efforts, I don't have a problem with people making money off works like this, for what its worth. Your new contributions and changes are worthy of copyright and compensation should you wish it. I just have a problem that no one else is free to tinker with it as well.

Now I'm marginally curious what you're working on, I thought it was the Mythic thing for sure. Oh well, you're under NDA so don't sweat it.
Posted March 29, 2011
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Wishbone: No, they did not.
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Navagon: Yup. Even if you release something for free you may retain a clause that it must only be made available from your website, for instance. That's one of the reasons why, back in the day, some stuff never made it onto magazine CDs.
In this case it was never released as freeware. At least not in terms of what people usually mean by freeware. Origin permitted a small number of people to offer it for free download, however those that downloaded it were not permitted to redistribute it and were not granted ownership over that copy. So, they can store a copy for their personal use, but not redistribute it.

As far as I can tell from the article and the linked sites that hasn't changed, but EA is taking a more active stance in enforcing the previously agreed to terms.
Posted March 29, 2011
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Navagon: Yup. Even if you release something for free you may retain a clause that it must only be made available from your website, for instance. That's one of the reasons why, back in the day, some stuff never made it onto magazine CDs.
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hedwards: In this case it was never released as freeware. At least not in terms of what people usually mean by freeware. Origin permitted a small number of people to offer it for free download, however those that downloaded it were not permitted to redistribute it and were not granted ownership over that copy. So, they can store a copy for their personal use, but not redistribute it.

As far as I can tell from the article and the linked sites that hasn't changed, but EA is taking a more active stance in enforcing the previously agreed to terms.
Freeware is a very broad term, some use it to mean any software that is availible at no cost, some use it to mean programs that are released under a "free" license, some use it to mean something that is public domain, etc...
Posted March 29, 2011
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orcishgamer: Well, best of luck, and I hope you profit from your efforts, I don't have a problem with people making money off works like this, for what its worth. Your new contributions and changes are worthy of copyright and compensation should you wish it. I just have a problem that no one else is free to tinker with it as well.

Now I'm marginally curious what you're working on, I thought it was the Mythic thing for sure. Oh well, you're under NDA so don't sweat it.
I think you misread me somewhat; I'm not working on anything myself. I run the Ultima Aiera website, and I have had some contact with Mythic regarding the development challenge that you linked to and the project(s) they are working on.

But yeah, I probably shouldn't talk about it too darn much. I'm not currently under NDA, but they've been pretty forthright with me, and I don't particularly feel like squandering that trust.

But I don't personally have anything in the works, at least not that relates to this.
Posted March 29, 2011
Well, that sucks. But it's OK because I still have the copies of 1 through 7 I snagged off eBay for cheap.
Posted March 29, 2011
I dont think ultima iv was not under public domain at all, its was only free to distribute. Nothing made like after 1923 is public domain.
Posted March 29, 2011
Copyright laws are ****ed

deal with it
Post edited March 29, 2011 by sturryz
Posted March 29, 2011
Anything before Ultima VII doesn't look good enough for me to waste my time with and I've got a physical copy of VII + Expansion and owned VIII and Ascension at one point.

So if they want to try and sell IV again - gOoOooOd luuuuuuck.
Posted March 29, 2011
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carnival73: Anything before Ultima VII doesn't look good enough for me to waste my time with and I've got a physical copy of VII + Expansion and owned VIII and Ascension at one point.

So if they want to try and sell IV again - gOoOooOd luuuuuuck.
You're missing out, because 4 and under were the best ones.
Posted March 29, 2011
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carnival73: Anything before Ultima VII doesn't look good enough for me to waste my time with and I've got a physical copy of VII + Expansion and owned VIII and Ascension at one point.

So if they want to try and sell IV again - gOoOooOd luuuuuuck.
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orcishgamer: You're missing out, because 4 and under were the best ones.
I told myself that I would never stoop to letting graphics get to me and enjoying games for game play itself - but that idealism didn't hold.

I can go back as far as PSOne when it comes to visuals.

I think it's silly that they insist payment for anything before VII and even then VII would be like a GoG $5.99. However a compilation of early Ultimas might be worth $5.99.


Ha! I've decided to take your advice and give a try so i just snagged it before those copy characters get their grubby lil' mitts all over it. =D
Post edited March 29, 2011 by carnival73
Posted March 29, 2011
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orcishgamer: You're missing out, because 4 and under were the best ones.
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carnival73: I told myself that I would never stoop to letting graphics get to me and enjoying games for game play itself - but that idealism didn't hold.

I can go back as far as PSOne when it comes to visuals.

I think it's silly that they insist payment for anything before VII and even then VII would be like a GoG $5.99. However a compilation of early Ultimas might be worth $5.99.
If you can get the NES version of Ultima III (it might just be called Ultima, not sure) it looks loads better than the original. It's nearly identical, the same items are even hidden in the same locations, it's just NES era graphics. You might be able to get Ultima IV this way (or on SNES?) too, but I'm not sure.

Those are both pre PlayStaion, but they don't look that bad.
Posted March 29, 2011
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carnival73: I told myself that I would never stoop to letting graphics get to me and enjoying games for game play itself - but that idealism didn't hold.

I can go back as far as PSOne when it comes to visuals.

I think it's silly that they insist payment for anything before VII and even then VII would be like a GoG $5.99. However a compilation of early Ultimas might be worth $5.99.
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orcishgamer: If you can get the NES version of Ultima III (it might just be called Ultima, not sure) it looks loads better than the original. It's nearly identical, the same items are even hidden in the same locations, it's just NES era graphics. You might be able to get Ultima IV this way (or on SNES?) too, but I'm not sure.

Those are both pre PlayStaion, but they don't look that bad.
I took your advice and just grabbed IV

and yeah, about ten years ago I was scouring ebay looking for a decent price on the NES release of Ultima III.
Posted March 29, 2011
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carnival73: Anything before Ultima VII doesn't look good enough for me to waste my time with and I've got a physical copy of VII + Expansion and owned VIII and Ascension at one point.

So if they want to try and sell IV again - gOoOooOd luuuuuuck.
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orcishgamer: You're missing out, because 4 and under were the best ones.
Eww no, 1-3 are the worst ones, 5-7 are the best ones.
Posted March 29, 2011
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orcishgamer: Ultima IV was released in 1985, over 25 years ago. It's taught in history of video game courses. It's one of the most well known games of that era. This is my point about where culture and copyright clash, this is the point where copyright steals from the public domain. This is the point where creativity and derivative works are crushed. This is where pure enjoyment of culture is crushed. All this in favor of eking a few more dollars out of the work.

This is the part where the copyright holder has broken its contract with the public to enrich the public domain in exchange for a limited time monopoly.

This is why I posted this. And fuck EA.
I, also, am a disciple of Lawrence Lessig... But in this case, none of that culture crushing stuff is happening. I mean, I just downloaded the game 5 minutes ago, legally, for free.

They are simply asserting that while it is now free, it isn't a free-for-all in terms of distribution. They have granted permission to specific parties to distribute it, and not anyone else, and wish to enforce that. Why? No clue... but they aren't squelching the modding community, the NWN thing, or unofficial patches or even the authorized free distribution, so the game's place as a historical and cultural artifact is secure.

"I think" they (and everyone else) should just release back-catalog material into the wild as a matter of course once it reaches a certain age... but that's me, not the copyright holder.

On a tangential point... thanks to those Nazi sympathizing muther f*ckers at Disney, copyright is too damned powerful now... but you know... that's another thing.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Copyright out of control (again)(62 posts)(62 posts)
(62 posts)