House of Reps and Obama kill SOPA

[aimeeandbeatles]

I assume Steam would put out a patch that turns off the activation thing. Once the company goes out the patch would probably still be available on all those download sites.

 

[Antilogic]

Gabe went on record to say that if steam ever goes out of business he would personally make sure that you would get all your games.. I am not sure about the logistics of that, but the company is doing so well financially that I don't see it ever folding.

I have 150 games on there and I spent maybe $400 on them, max. That's like $2 a game and I have some big titles. It's convenient, more convenient than piracy (its main appeal, really), more convenient than other game distributors, and they sell the games for SUPER CHEAP.. if you know when to buy

I love these two paragraphs, back-to-back. I was going to post a list of companies that were apparently doing great things and then folded, but I just don't want to ruin it.

 

[Zelig]

Oh, and by the way? You have no idea what a straw man is. In fact, in my last post, a straw man was physically impossible.

I don't think that means what you think it means.

One thing the gaming industry could do if it is so concerned is stop punishing non-pirates. All the DRM, especially the terrible "have to be online to play" garbage simply pushes legit people to pirate.

This is false. There are games which I have purchased because of the DRM, which I would have otherwise pirated.

 

[warpus]

I love these two paragraphs, back-to-back. I was going to post a list of companies that were apparently doing great things and then folded, but I just don't want to ruin it.

If steam folded I would just go back to piracy. I'd get all my games back, and it'd be a bit more annoying.. but right now the only reason I use steam is that it's more convenient than anything else out there (including piracy) and I actually enjoy giving money to companies that treat me with respect

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Awesome! First reason to support Obama since he said he would close Gitmo.

Obama said a lot of things before he was president...

Oh hey, only English Wikipedia is being blacked out. This are some of the advantages of multilingualism.

Global English Wikipedia blackout.

Would it be too much of an effort to block US IPs ? I use the English wikipedia more often than the German one. It's just much more comprehensive.

One thing the gaming industry could do if it is so concerned is stop punishing non-pirates. All the DRM, especially the terrible "have to be online to play" garbage simply pushes legit people to pirate. Same thing with the movie industry which forces advertisements down your throat and forces you to double pay if you want a physical and digital copy.

I've already decided that even if I buy Mass Effect 3 and Diablo 3 I'll need to crack them to get rid of Origin and artificial limitations (10 D3 characters per battlenet account).
The good thing about crappy DRM is that there's always a crack .

I don't have any beef with Steam though. I was annoyed when I had to install it last year for Civ5, but it's user friendly and after the installation it can be ignored thanks to offline mode. Plus, I don't need to change the disc when I want to play another game and if I lose or break the disc I can download the game from Steam. The only downside is that I can't borrow or rent games any more, but that doesn't bother me (it would have bothered me ten years ago when I had less money to spend on games ).

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Global English Wikipedia blackout.

Would it be too much of an effort to block US IPs ? I use the English wikipedia more often than the German one. It's just much more comprehensive.

I was reading the page. The Americans were crying that it was discrimination. Never-mind the fact that the global blackout is basically violating their political neutrality (yes, I oppose SOPA, but couldn't they just put up a banner or a click-through or something?). What can I do as a Canadian? They won't listen to me if I call a politician in the U.S.

Hopefully Google Cache will work....

 

[warpus]

I've already decided that even if I buy Mass Effect 3 and Diablo 3 I'll need to crack them to get rid of Origin and artificial limitations (10 D3 characters per battlenet account).
The good thing about crappy DRM is that there's always a crack .

If people continue to buy games with crappy DRM, the publishers will continue to make them.

 

[Antilogic]

If steam folded I would just go back to piracy. I'd get all my games back, and it'd be a bit more annoying.. but right now the only reason I use steam is that it's more convenient than anything else out there (including piracy) and I actually enjoy giving money to companies that treat me with respect

Heh, I'm not disagreeing with that.

What I was pointing out was the "they are making money hand-over-fist!" followed by the "I only buy at ridiculous discounts! I don't know how they make money!" part. It almost sounds like they aren't being honest about their profit margins.

I don't have any beef with Steam though. I was annoyed when I had to install it last year for Civ5, but it's user friendly and after the installation it can be ignored thanks to offline mode. Plus, I don't need to change the disc when I want to play another game and if I lose or break the disc I can download the game from Steam. The only downside is that I can't borrow or rent games any more, but that doesn't bother me (it would have bothered me ten years ago when I had less money to spend on games ).

Mine keeps resetting to online mode even though I tell it to stay in offline mode, which is annoying. Probably why I don't have anything more than Portal and Empire: Total War on it, and don't play those often anymore.

 

[Incodcito]

Guys... if you want to get around the blackout, go to an other language page and translate it on google.

See, you can still procrastinate, granted, with odd english!

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Guys... if you want to get around the blackout, go to an other language page and translate it on google.

See, you can still procrastinate, granted, with odd english!

Actually not all the languages have every same page.

 

[warpus]

you can just use the wayback machine tomorrow, that should work

 

[Crezth]

They're saying they're against it. Doesn't mean they're actually against it. Any CEO who publicly says he favors SOPA/PIPA it is going to get flamed to a charcoal crisp.

The passing of this bill would literally kill the StarCraft 2 pro-gaming scene in North America. Blizzard is making oodles of cash off of it right now. You really have no idea what you're talking about.

Of course there is. If everybody who has a pirated copy had a legit copy instead, the profit would be higher. Always. I've heard the old saw that "people who pirate were never going to buy it anyway", and that doesn't mean what most people think it does.

What a useless point. You assume that everyone who pirates would buy if they couldn't pirate.

At any rate, piracy is an inevitable issue: it's why companies (like Blizzard) create incentives not to pirate their game, such as the online service that you cannot access without a paid-for account; it's also why video-game companies (like Blizzard) oppose this bill, because they realize that the bill won't curb piracy and will, in fact, cut into their profits. This is especially true of companies that rely on the internet in whole or in part to make their profit.

In short: Blizzard has nothing to gain from supporting this legislation, and a lot to lose. They're sinking millions into developing StarCraft 2 as a spectator sport in North America and legislation that makes it illegal for their fans to stream content would greatly hamper that.

Oh, and by the way? You have no idea what a straw man is. In fact, in my last post, a straw man was physically impossible.

The irony hurts. It's a straw man because you picked a big, well-known media company to demonize in order to support your argument, but failed in that the big media company you selected for this purpose was probably the best example of a company that actively opposes this legislation.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

you can just use the wayback machine tomorrow, that should work

Or Google Cache, so long as it doesnt cache the blackout pages

 

[Crezth]

There's an excellent summary of SOPA and PIPA on the reddit blog, and it spends a considerable amount of time pointing out what, exactly, is considered objectionable about this legislation: http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/technical-examination-of-sopa-and.html

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I hope this site is allowed to post, but this is to bypass the Wikipedia blackout:
http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-access-wikipedia-during-the-blackout-120117/

I still disagree with the blackout. A banner or a click-through is one thing. But blacking it out, especially for international users who have no say over U.S. politics, is wrong. If a smaller English-language country was having these issues, I doubt Wikipedia would blackout for them. Why do [some] Americans feel the need to control everything?

 

[wilycoyote]

If a company wants to black itself out, why not respect that? Using Wikipedia tomorrow is just like pirating media. It is those types of people that give justification to these terrible pieces of legislation.

 

[kramerfan86]

I hope this site is allowed to post, but this is to bypass the Wikipedia blackout:
http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-access-wikipedia-during-the-blackout-120117/

I still disagree with the blackout. A banner or a click-through is one thing. But blacking it out, especially for international users who have no say over U.S. politics, is wrong. If a smaller English-language country was having these issues, I doubt Wikipedia would blackout for them. Why do [some] Americans feel the need to control everything?

Ummm its an american website, created by americans. How in the world can you complain about americans wanting to control an american website?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well it's not a business but a nonprofit. Also they consider themselves an international website even though they're based on U.S. Servers.* This is unfairly punishing non-Americans who have no say in this, and basically implying that non-Americans who use / edit / etc the English Wikipedia have less value.

*Hint: my website is on an American server. Does it make my website American, considering that I am Canadian?

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

Obama finally did something good!

 

[wilycoyote]

Plus, American is a superpower. Of course, America has more influence in the world and thus, is more active in using it. Any country, even Canada, would behave like a jerk, as well, if they could.