GitHub complies with Nintento DMCA

[Kirthag]

A rather _interesting_ article came across my feeds and I think the UO community would find this also reeeeealy interesting.....
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/...javascript-based-game-boy-emulator-disappear/

Think about that for a moment now.....

 

[Spock's Beard]

I don't see what's so interesting about this. Are you drawing a comparison between this and UO shard emulation? I thought it was common knowledge that legally EA could go after freeshards if it wanted to but just doesn't bother.

 

[Kirthag]

In the past, no one really went after the emmulation (read: open source) communities for they don't charge for their code, after all is open source. They accept donations for hosting, development and such - but the source and code is open source; it is how emmulators have survived all these years and mostly why EA never bothers going after the freeshards.

However, GitHub swaying to a major corporation to shutdown links is really something. It sends a message that even if it is open source, they will go after it. GitHub had been rather lenient to the open source community, and this is a rather hard smack to the bottom.

Typically, if one starts doing this, other major corporations may follow.

 

[MalagAste]

In the past, no one really went after the emmulation (read: open source) communities for they don't charge for their code, after all is open source. They accept donations for hosting, development and such - but the source and code is open source; it is how emmulators have survived all these years and mostly why EA never bothers going after the freeshards.

However, GitHub swaying to a major corporation to shutdown links is really something. It sends a message that even if it is open source, they will go after it. GitHub had been rather lenient to the open source community, and this is a rather hard smack to the bottom.

Typically, if one starts doing this, other major corporations may follow.

At this point it's what been around 17 years probably.... what would be the point? I mean it's not like it wouldn't be something that I would think might be helpful for UO.... but at the same time... I think that when UO finally dies ..... it would suck to not be able to just join a free shard then. Rather hard to stop them now I'd think. Often thought it is long overdue... but at this point it's so ridiculously overdue that I think it would do more harm than good.

I always thought I might enjoy building and doing my own shard. But a friend of mine once told me after he did it that it took all the "fun" out of the game. I just don't want that to happen.

 

[Uvtha]

A rather _interesting_ article came across my feeds and I think the UO community would find this also reeeeealy interesting.....
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/...javascript-based-game-boy-emulator-disappear/

Think about that for a moment now.....

So stupid. This kind of thing really annoys me. 99% of the old games will NEVER be re-released in any way shape or form, the only thing that getting all up in people's **** about it accomplishes is that these games disappear forever. Especially when people aren't even making money off of it! It's just pointless.

 

[Kirthag]

Actually, you can find things over in the web archive site - they are exempt from the DMCA law due to their purpose of archiving and preserving the history of the internet.

 

[Spock's Beard]

Get back to me when Blizzard with their billions manages to shut down any of the WoW freeshards that have been around for years. /shrug

 

[Nexus]

Get back to me when Blizzard with their billions manages to shut down any of the WoW freeshards that have been around for years. /shrug

Blizzard actually has shut down some of them. It's all a matter of if the server is hosted in a country that respects US Copyright Law and IP rights.

Here's a shocking example of what Blizzard can pull off when they have the opportunity http://www.themarysue.com/blizzard-private-server-lawsuit/
And here's an example of one that shut down due to a C&D from Blizzard more recently. http://www.reddit.com/r/rebirthwow/comments/2i0qlx/server_down_update_20141001/

 

[Arcus]

Get back to me when Blizzard with their billions manages to shut down any of the WoW freeshards that have been around for years. /shrug

So Nexus done showed you up. Your move quigly....

 

[Longtooths]

It would be bad for those that play on freeshards but it does beg the question, would those people affected be inclined to resub back to legit servers and what would the influx in revenue mean to broadsword not to mention the community? Afterall, everyone is privy to their feelings but this is a business in the end.

 

[Nexus]

It would be bad for those that play on freeshards but it does beg the question, would those people affected be inclined to resub back to legit servers and what would the influx in revenue mean to broadsword not to mention the community? Afterall, everyone is privy to their feelings but this is a business in the end.

You know that's a good question, a lot of appeal people that play on Free Shards have for them is they are snapshots of UO's history in a way. It's the only way people could still play a T2A, or Pre-AoS version of the game.

Most of us have a time when we thought UO was "Just Right" maybe if EA, had kept a few servers running under different era rule sets people wouldn't have been drawn to the Free Shards to start with. I mean I know that isn't something game companies typically do, but then again most MMO's haven't undergone the level of metamorphosis UO has over the years with it's major expansions, from all Open World PvP, to having Trammel. Then again the introduction of the item properties with Age of Shadows, UO simply isn't the game it was 15, 10, or even 5 years ago.

 

[Spock's Beard]

Blizzard actually has shut down some of them. It's all a matter of if the server is hosted in a country that respects US Copyright Law and IP rights.

Here's a shocking example of what Blizzard can pull off when they have the opportunity http://www.themarysue.com/blizzard-private-server-lawsuit/
And here's an example of one that shut down due to a C&D from Blizzard more recently. http://www.reddit.com/r/rebirthwow/comments/2i0qlx/server_down_update_20141001/

Hey, looks like they do manage to take down some, good for them. All I know is that the one I play on occasionally is 5+ years old with half a dozen individual servers and 15,000 people online.

But let's be serious, EA is never going to do anything meaningful about freeshards. They never bothered to do so back when UO was in its prime, and nowadays they barely even remember that the game exists. I'm not sure what the point of this thread was.

 

[DreadLord Lestat]

Some things that EA implemented came from freeshard ideas. If memory serves me, colored wood, the runic saws and fletching kits, spellweaving, among other things. I often wonder if the devs play on freeshards to test things that were implemented and watch them for new ideas.

 

[Stubentiger]

It is Nintendo they are crazy

They forbid the streaming of their games sometimes and also of youtube playthroughs