Moved Piracy / Mod Action Discussion

[mystikmind2005]

The post that started this:

Moderator Action: This is a reminder that piracy discussions are not allowed, so don't go there. I think you can legally pay for and download Civ4 from Direct2Drive, but that's it. There is no tolerance for piracy.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

Seems a bit insulting to assume that forum members don't know any better, and feel the need to pre-emptively spout off about no piracy discussions, dissapointing.

 

[Balderstrom]

It's prolly safer for them to preemptively do so... I don't know all the legalities as such, but better to not get "bad-content" google indexed.

It's kinda a sad state of affairs - when I was trying to find where you could Buy Civ IV complete for information I provided in a couple other threads - I found as many or more torrent linkz than valid sites selling or reviewing CIV products.

 

[mystikmind2005]

It's prolly safer for them to preemptively do so... I don't know all the legalities as such, but better to not get "bad-content" google indexed.

It's kinda a sad state of affairs - when I was trying to find where you could Buy Civ IV complete for information I provided in a couple other threads - I found as many or more torrent linkz than valid sites selling or reviewing CIV products.

Personally, i have no time at all for piracy. All i know is that i am getting totally sick and tired of the responses companies develop to combat piracy, inconviniencing and punishing me. It is exactly the same idiot thinking like invading Iraque because their might be weapons of mass distruction there! This is why i find the moderators post insulting.

 

[Crowqueen]

Personally, i have no time at all for piracy. All i know is that i am getting totally sick and tired of the responses companies develop to combat piracy, inconviniencing and punishing me. It is exactly the same idiot thinking like invading Iraque because their might be weapons of mass distruction there! This is why i find the moderators post insulting.

But companies have an interest in protecting themselves from piracy because they make money off the CDs people buy - thus generating money to develop the next product. Sorry, but it's how the world works and comparing it to the "pre-emptive" war in Iraq (pure naked aggression worthy only of a Civilization player!) is rubbish and misses the point entirely. The mods have to warn people asking questions like this that discussions about how to crack CD codes are discussing piracy and therefore banned, to save people getting warned later.

I don't use my CD drive for anything else so BtS is in there permanently. I couldn't buy from Direct2Drive because it needed a credit card and I only have a debit card. It's OK if people do have official no-CD patches which require internet verification at regular intervals and I don't have a problem with this but I don't feel it is rocket science to put in the CD when you want to play the game. It's not "inconveniencing" or "punishing" you, just reasonable common sense.

 

[Padma]

Moderator Action: Please stop discussing GA's reminder. We do that because experience has taught us to.

More directly on-topic, IIRC, Civ3 would not let you run it from a "virtual CD". It went so far as to insist that you have the CD in the same drive you installed from. (And it sometimes forgot where THAT was. ) I would assume Civ4 is set up similarly, although being a different publisher than Civ3's they may have different ideas about such things.

 

[mystikmind2005]

What,,, A gag order now??

 

[Padma]

No, but it has no bearing on the actual point of the thread. That kind of meta-discussion is more appropriate in Site Feedback.

 

[Kesshi]

mystikmind2005,

It's not necessairly a gag order. For example my comment was (I hope) completely on topic and possibly helpful.

mystikmind2005, please understand where I am coming from. I, too, dislike all of the security features they put on games. However as a former illegal software propagator (back in the mid 90s I ran an illegal software BBS) I understand why they are there. I've been clean for more than a decade now, but my experience has given me a lot of insight to why they need to be there, and what is available to get around the security devices. Given that knoweldge I can safely say that Civilization IV has one of the most lax and unintrusive security systems that exists in today's world of computer gaming. I'm sure you or your friends have seen better, but I have not. In my old age I play far fewer games than I did when I was a wee pup . With the hurdles and hoops I've had to jump over or through to play other games, the unintrusive security system put in place on Civilization IV is not something I will take for granted nor be so quick to denounce.

*steps off the soapbox and hands it to the next person* Enjoy.

 

[mystikmind2005]

No, but it has no bearing on the actual point of the thread. That kind of meta-discussion is more appropriate in Site Feedback.

My post was off topic?, yes indeed, a response to another off topic post by Ginger_Ale.

I will emphasise to people that i have not taken any dramatic offence by anything, i just noticed Ginger_Ale was a bit quick to jump in like that.... I am not saying it is not according to procedure or anything like that, however it does not take too much of a stretch of the imagination to draw parralels on the responses against pirating to that of terrorism. Governments and game companies are just a bit quick to take liberties in their just cause to combat pirating/terrorism. It is not a big issue here and now in this forum but If no one ever speaks out about these things when they notice them happen then i dunno where the world is heading?

Mark my words here and now - Small things like this slowly grow into bigger things later on!

 

[Balderstrom]

Dude, arguing w/ Mods in public is bad form. Maybe they were a little quick with the trigger. So send em a PM. You may or may not get a response to it, but at least you'll get your point across to whom it matters. I didn't get a response when I had a beef w/ one of the mods. But at least I got it off ma chest. If I had of discussed it publically in the thread in question, it would have been extremely offtopic.

[EDIT]
Or just go answer my question about Dungeon Siege 2, in that other thread from yesterday or the day before ;-)

 

[mystikmind2005]

Dude, arguing w/ Mods in public is bad form. Maybe they were a little quick with the trigger. So send em a PM. You may or may not get a response to it, but at least you'll get your point across to whom it matters. I didn't get a response when I had a beef w/ one of the mods. But at least I got it off ma chest. If I had of discussed it publically in the thread in question, it would have been extremely offtopic.

[EDIT]
Or just go answer my question about Dungeon Siege 2, in that other thread from yesterday or the day before ;-)

So what your saying is that all dissent should be hidden away from public view?

I don't think you can complain that i am off topic either since Ginger_Ale mentioned it first.

Well i am not arguing with them anyway, i merely noticed something about a moderator post and made comment. It is not a personal gripe to PM a Moderator over, but as an observer, a viewer of somone elses post.

I lost track of those other threads?

 

[mystikmind2005]

Actually, what the problem is, commenting on Ginger_Ale's post... then other people will want to have their say and it grows! So the original post gets hyjacked.

I think next time if i cannot make my point in 1 post without needing follow on posts, i should put it down to a failure on my part to communicate my thought and just shut up!

 

[zyphyr]

It is not a big issue here and now in this forum but If no one ever speaks out about these things when they notice them happen then i dunno where the world is heading?

As was already pointed out, there is a place for such commentary. It isn't even hidden away. Speak out about it there. It's not like this is a new policy, btw.

 

[Padma]

Moderator Action: Moved all this from the original thread to Site Feedback.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Just as a note, I have already sent a PM to mystikmind2005 and will try to continue the conversation regarding at least that specific thread there.

 

[Padma]

No worries, GA. I just wanted to get all this out of that thread. It seemed more appropriate here, although I considered just deleting altogether. But that wold have caused more ruckus than it was worth.

 

[mystikmind2005]

Thats ok Padma, i don't mind this post getting moved. I can see it clearly growing in the wrong direction. You don't need to belittle me while your at it.... Although i can sympathise that some belittling would be tempting if i was in your position!

My problem is that i am too much of a philosopher who want's to save the world, perhaps a bit to enthusiastically!

 

[Balderstrom]

*chuckle* Well I don't have anything insightful. that just made me laugh

 

[azzaman333]

I think that discussing the anti-piracy measures used would be ok, but as soon as you venture into how to bypass the anti-piracy measures you're breaking the rules. From my experience, this line is crossed every time a thread like the parent thread occurs so GA's warning was definately justified.

 

[mystikmind2005]

I think that discussing the anti-piracy measures used would be ok, but as soon as you venture into how to bypass the anti-piracy measures you're breaking the rules. From my experience, this line is crossed every time a thread like the parent thread occurs so GA's warning was definately justified.

Ironically it is past experience that influenced Ginger Ales post and my respons!.

Past experience of Pirating talk as you point out, For Ginger Ale and my past experience of being inconvinienced by all the anti piracy activities. i;m like "you gotta be kidden me, now there attacking piracy where it hasn't even happened yet, i wonder what comes next? I should deffinately say something".

So if it wasn't for past experience, none of this would have happened!