You guys are assuming there isn’t one on the dumpster with no evidence of that. You’re creating your own realities based on bias.

Yes I fully understand some people have genuine mental health issues and believe a profile picture being rooted in a form of media someone else personally enjoys somehow invalidates their opinion. The people who truly hold this perception, themselves, often don’t understand or hate from the outside.

Those who don’t understand something will often degrade or disregard it in an attempt to maintain credibility with others who share the same warped views. This is tribalism mixed with counter culture.

There is no foundation for a good faith discussion. To what end would telling an idiot they’re an idiot grant either of us?

I think it’s good to be able to empathize with fiction, to naturally resist the choice that hurts people or things, even if it’s fake.

But yes yeeting a fictional child over a building can still be hilarious to watch.

Brother it’s a picture. I’m not giving the internet my real face. I’m not uploading a picture of my lifted truck nor my hellcat. Some of yall are just haters projecting. It ain’t that deep.

“You pass a law that states cars can’t have greenhouse gasses by 2035”

Apples and oranges. Demanding cars transition to clean fuel alternatives is not the same as demanding game manufacturers design and implement systems that must be fully functional in an offline state. This would be akin to demanding nuclear reactors be retrofitted to use fusion by 2035. Despite it not being sustainable or commercially possible.

“Release server binaries”

How do you enforce that? Legally compel a company to publish the server binaries with every copy of the game? Are developers expected to eat the cost when copies are pirated and use third party servers? I love things like FiveM or private servers for dead MMORPGs but those are usually created as a niche for specific communities. Is every game expected to have third party servers? Sounds magical but under capitalism, that’s an insane demand.

“The ability to patch games has been around since forever”

I’m not talking about the ability because yes it’s always technically been possible, I’m talking in 9/10 cases you’d get a physical copy of a game and that was it. Unchanging. It shipped and it’s done. You owned the disk, the data on that disk, and had full control over it aside from redistribution for profit. Actual updates that were delivered over the internet came around the same time as Steam and DRM programs.

I genuinely don’t see how we can fully own our games while developers retain the legal ability to modify them. The law as it exists gives the consumer protections around owned property like that.

“You’re arguing with strawmen”

I am deriving statements from insinuations you yourself are making. Consumer protections prevent companies from altering things they sell you. It’s your property after the sale. It’s possible you’re unaware of that but it’s an extremely strong reason why the industry made the switch. It wasn’t just for giggles or greed.

“That server software can run on any computer just as well”

Okay explain to me what happens when Final Fantasy XI reaches end of life and all services that authenticate and host player data shut down? Who hosts that? Are developers who want massive open worlds going to be expected, by law, to program a world that plays itself? Bots for NPCs, taking the roles of players, pushing events automatically? I am begging for answers because it keeps feeling like I’m the only one trying to figure out what’s going to happen to the games I play regularly.

Most online only games are online only because they focus on players interacting with other players on a grand scale. They’re a social experience. Demands that it be playable offline defeats the purpose of it existing and we went over the server binaries thing. Nobody is going to jump at the chance to reset their progress for most of these games just for the shot to play it for however long this specific server is alive.

I hope I’m wrong but this entire thing seems like a well intentioned, misguided bomb intent to be dropped in the middle of the industry.

“Yes that’s how laws work”

No. That’s not how laws work. Laws provide detailed steps and instructions that must be followed in specific scenarios. They’re designed like that to avoid loopholes.

“At the point they stop providing service”

Great. So the company shuts down the same day, declares bankruptcy, and is immune to further legislation because it’s dead. You can’t sue the company, it doesn’t exist anymore. Is this the first time you’ve tried to hold a corporation liable?

“I’ve provided plenty of alternatives”

Cite one. You can’t “make guardrails” and expect companies to just figure it out you oaf. That’s like proposing a law that nobody can walk to work because it’s unsafe. How? Who cares! Figure it out everyone!

“GOG can still sell games without DRM”

What the fuck does that have to do with anything? DRM as of right now is how companies can legally allow you to play their game while still retaining the right to modify and alter it after the point of sale. Traditionally, you’d get a game - then nothing. No update. No bug fixes. No dlc. THAT IS WHAT YOU’RE ADVOCATING FOR.

“Games have been patched since forever!”

My brother in Christ, I’ve been playing since before games had online anything. Internet matchmaking in general was a free service included with certain titles. It can’t be provided perpetually and you expecting them to basically open source their net code is absurd.

We have games that cannot work on a LAN model but you’re intent on forcing that model on every game, even if it means killing those games or forcing them to not be made in the first place. That’s what happens when you don’t clearly outline legislation.

That’s the critique. That your well intentions are just unstructured bullshit that can’t be actioned on. You’re just pissed Pirate Software called you out for not having a plan like he does every idiot. Condescendingly.

“Games used to have it but I’m going to ignore why they don’t now and demand it be like it used to be”

You’re bitching about the evolution of games, demanding they return to suit your preference without explaining how.

Congrats, you’re old and out of touch. Or just dumb. I don’t give a shit which, just stop spewing misinformation.

“The initiative doesn’t care”

Right. There is no clear solution to the problem, only a demand for a solution.

“They could release sources/server binaries”

At what point? When is a game legally considered dead and a company legally obligated to provide that? What happens if they just shut down prior to fulfilling it?

“They could patch out their servers and leave local multiplayer or something”

Or something? This is what PS drilled into this initiative for. You don’t actually grasp what you’re asking for or understand what legal measures even exist to enforce them. You have a deep desire to go back to the early 2000s where your data wasn’t really hosted on servers, it was just arena shooter and LAN parties.

Games today are not able to curtail to these absurd demands. Not because they refuse to but because the complexity of what they offer is not easily designed to be replaced.

You don’t like the current model but fail to provide an alternative that can replace it. That’s the critique. It’s beyond childish to look at a problem, offer nothing, then get pissed when someone tells you that you don’t know what you’re talking about.

I don’t like that I only own a license to play a game either, but what’s the alternative? If you own the game, they can’t release a patch to fix bugs or it would be a violation of the law for modifying your property. That’s bad.

Lol you not understanding why that can’t happen is what’s sending me. There are so many issues with just the PREMISE of this that you don’t even address.

At what point is a game considered dead? When is a company obligated to provide access? Will the company be legally obligated to release character profiles? If yes, how does one stop third parties from modifying it/cheating prior to hosting? If no, it’s everyone expected to restart ion company death? How will this access be granted or hosted? How long will this need to be available for? Who pays to keep this information hosted for that duration?

There are so many fucking questions unanswered because you seem to think you can just throw fucking LAN ports on a game and it just work. Your brain is stuck in 2004 where all you needed was an IP address and port number. Games aren’t that simple anymore and the ones that are, already fucking have it.

Oh okay then just make private servers for “dead” games. It’s just that easy. What’s your problem then?

You keep contradicting yourself and it’s embarrassing

Maybe instead of being the condescending dickhead you and yours project onto Pirate Software, you could instead point out specifics since you’re advocating for it. I’m confident you can’t though since I’m sure you haven’t read shit, just listened to people slobber all over it.

Lol so just kill all MMORPGs. Got it. You’re so smart.

Upon reading the UK version over again you’re right - it’s even worse. It states that companies no longer be allowed to ‘disable’ games which they often don’t do. They just stop maintaining them until the infrastructure for it disappears.

I expected at the very least gamers would have understood the problem they’re complaining about but I got ahead of myself. The only thing SKG might accomplish legally is to allow third parties to host servers at End of Life but the counter argument to that is cheaters using their own servers.

None of this is thought out. You’re demanding a solution be created AND implemented. This will go nowhere. Pirate Software was right and it’s stunning.

I tried to use Proton for steam games, baked right in, shouldn’t have many issues right? I’d still encounter games that just didn’t work or had catastrophic bugs. Games that use kernals level anticheat are just not possible without emulation, I couldn’t find low latency emulation, it was… A trial in futility for me. The more I tried to make Linux work the more I had to ask myself why I couldn’t just rip out the windows bloat and use it instead. I thought I was a Windows power user and it would translate to Linux, I was mistaken. I’ve taken for granted how universal Windows is and I have a respect for people willing to beat Linux into submission.

And if a company refuses? They’re dead anyway. This is not well thought out and PS called it out. You have no actionable solution but are calling for one to just appear.

People are sitting on PS for giving a completely correct take. I’ve read SKG and even listened to what the petition owners have said. I’ve stayed in the loop which is why it’s so frustrating to watch people with noble intentions cannibalize people for telling you it’s not only misguided but impossible.

Legislation will not compel a dying company to release code that will let any random person breathe life back into it on their own whim. Period.

I finally tried Linux. Tried three different Distros meant for beginners and it couldn’t do the one thing I do most better than Windows. Gaming. Too many programs or overlay tools are Windows only. Compatibility programs rarely worked. Wine laughed in my face. Some Linux tools were also only compatible with other kernals.

I made the switch to have more control and felt like I left one series of cages for another.

I can’t wait for this to effectively do nothing oe alternatively kill games that have an online only capability that refuse to devote work to force a single player model/release their netcode.

This is the stupidest, well intentioned movement I’ve seen in awhile and the fervor behind it is a waste. You know what you want but refuse to understand why it can’t happen. You chase the past not realizing you can never go back.

This is most republican shit I’ve ever seen. “Make games great again!” Jesus.

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Still in disbelief people think SKG is going to work. The premise fucking genocides the MMORPG genre. You kill games by implementing this horrible understanding of how games work.

I have never seen more people support games who have no fucking idea how games work and it’s the most frustrating shit ever. Pirate Software is right. It’s not even a debate.