On 7/9/01 6:36 pm LexyBitch wrote:

Why should I need their permission to view content I've already purchased??

You haven't purchased the content. Read the licensing agreement for any of the things you've mentioned, it explains exactly what you've purchased. If you don't agree with that, don't purchase it.

You're absolutely right, it's one of many reasons why I don't own a DVD player. I think it's not unreasonable to expect that when I purchase something on digital media, whether it's a CD, software, DVD, whatever, I should own that copy of whatever it is, and have the freedom to with it whatever I please. This includes making my own personal backup copies, so long as I don't distribute them to other people, for profit or not.

If you don't like the way other people manage their movies/games/music, make your own.

I do, although none of them are very good (except maybe for a laugh). But really, I do that stuff for my own enjoyment, not because I'm so unhappy about the industry that I'm some boycott-happy nutcase. Yes, I hate throwing money at greedy record and studio executives, but the bottom line is whether the product is worth the money they charge in my eyes. In many cases, I think $15 is perfectly reasonable for a good CD. I can copy it, MP3 it, etc to my heart's content. I can't do that with a DVD now, so I don't think the prices they charge are worth what I get for it (essentially the right to view it on one of their licensed and approved players).

When you buy tickets to go to Disney World, do you claim that your purchase of a ticket entitles you to go through the Employee's Only doors? Or jump to the head of the line in a popular ride? (It does if you have one of those FastPass tickets, or whatever they call them. But if that's the case, you've bought more priveliges than the average person.)

Nope. However, if my ticket only entitled me to go on half the rides, or only once per ride, or only once a year, or any restriction like that, I wouldn't buy one. If any product or service isn't what I expect it should be for the price, I won't buy it, period. Unfortunately, most of the consuming public are absolute sheep and will buy whatever they're told they like this week, so the MPAA and the like get away with ridiculous restrictions and licensing that only serve to make them more money, not to please the customer.

Do all the assorted Associations you've mentioned need all this money? Of course not. No one needs money. We could all go and eat grubs in Jobe's commune, if we wanted to. But if we make something, we're entitled to decide for ourselves how much we want to ask in exchange for what portion of the thing we've made. All those greedy companies might as well ask, do you need 1 copy of a video game, let alone 2?

I agree. And I'm entitled to say their terms are ridiculous and not buy their products. And I encourage other people to do the same, if they want.

Don't get me wrong - there are a lot of wackos out there who think that a complete boycott of the MPAA - watching no movies in any format except those they already own - is going to make a difference. Yeah right. I go out to the movies pretty often because I enjoy the entertainment, but I think the whole DVD thing just stinks.

Even though I don't ever intend on kicking anyone out of LexyMUD (I'm not saying everyone will be welcome... but anyone who does leave will leave voluntarily. :) ), I certainly reserve the right to kick anyone out I want. I will set the terms for what is and isn't fair use of my product, and anyone who disagrees is welcome to make their own game. If Bill Gates came into my game, I'd expect him to abide by my rules... so if I use his software, I'll extend him the same courtesy.

That's great. I haven't personally purchased a copy of Microsoft software in 7 years (Win3.11 came with a new PC), and the only copy of Windows I use is licensed on a machine purchased by my employer. I don't really like Bill's licensing terms either - thank goodness his software sucks anyway! ;-)

For that matter, adding a surcharge to blank media to offset piracy is no more labeling everyone a crook than when a restaurant or store has to raise its prices in order to offset shoplifters and people who run out on bills.

Actually, it is a little different. Your analogy is like raising the price of music CDs and tapes to offset theft in the stores. The margins on CDs are already so high that they more than account for any piracy that goes on. The flaw in this sort of anti piracy tactic is that is that it targets a legitimate, indirectly related product (blank media) that happens to be useful to pirates. In reality, it's just a scheme to get more profit to the record companies.

Of course, blank media manufacturers are more than welcome to raise prices as much as they like, for any reason - as long as the market will bear it. The real problem I have is that the record companies have gotten legislation passed mandating these extra charges on media they didn't even make! How cool is that, they make a profit on something they didn't even spend any money on (except of course for the lobbyists in congress). I'm all for a free market, letting the sellers set any terms they want if the buyers will agree to it and spend the money, but they got an unfair advantage with the government on their side. And they're going for much more - it's pretty easy to see that.

It's like the restaurants getting legislation requiring surcharges on all food you buy at the grocery because you just might have sneaked into their kitchen, stolen their recipes, and cooked the food at home. Ok, maybe that analogy has a hole or two, but here's another: what if a store decided that a certain ethnic group of people is more likely to steal, therefore those people must pay higher prices than everyone else? And what if they got the government to pass legislation requiring the higher prices for <insert ethnic group>? That's where it really stinks in my book. Or how about banks requiring automobile and facemask makers to add a "bank robbery tax" on those items since they are often used to rob banks? It just plain ridiculous, borderline discrimination and fair use rights infringment, and the consuming public by and large just rolls over and willingly takes it in the <insert favorite orifice here>.

That's all I'm saying. ;-)

(in other words, Babble, Babble, Babble)

How friendly are New Zealanders to US immigrants? :)

How friendly are New Zealanders to US immigrants? :)

Last time I heard, the Afro-american are still complaining about racism. :)

Aside from copyright issues, there's a very good reason not to allow the warranty after you've altered the machine in any way. A warranty from Sony is a guarantee that they put together the machine right, that everything's in good working order when you receive your machine. If this isn't true... i.e., the machine doesn't work, or breaks down in an unreasonable amount of time... because they guaranteed their work, they will replace or repair it.

Once you've opened up the PS's casing and fiddled around with the components, who's to say what condition you received it in? In order to protect themselves from false claims and the stupidity of others, most every company on the face of the earth refuses to warranty anything that's been messed with.

Telling you that you can copy your games isn't condoning modifications to the console. This is where we get into the area of kids playing lawyers again.

Though not a ROM, it is still copying a CD,

I'm not even going to go into the definition of what a ROM is (technically, those NES games you download aren't ROMs... they're writable copies of ROMs. A PS game, on the other hand, is unwritable, so is a ROM... a CD-ROM, in fact. Ha, I lied. I did go into it.)

On 7/9/01 8:06 am LexyBitch wrote:

Aside from copyright issues, there's a very good reason not to allow the warranty after you've altered the machine in any way. A warranty from Sony is a guarantee that they put together the machine right, that everything's in good working order when you receive your machine. If this isn't true... i.e., the machine doesn't work, or breaks down in an unreasonable amount of time... because they guaranteed their work, they will replace or repair it.

Once you've opened up the PS's casing and fiddled around with the components, who's to say what condition you received it in? In order to protect themselves from false claims and the stupidity of others, most every company on the face of the earth refuses to warranty anything that's been messed with.

Telling you that you can copy your games isn't condoning modifications to the console. This is where we get into the area of kids playing lawyers again.

Though not a ROM, it is still copying a CD,

I'm not even going to go into the definition of what a ROM is (technically, those NES games you download aren't ROMs... they're writable copies of ROMs. A PS game, on the other hand, is unwritable, so is a ROM... a CD-ROM, in fact. Ha, I lied. I did go into it.)

i hate to be the one to tell you *Jobe preparis for battle* but your wrong... *Jobe jumps back to watch lexy's rection from afar*

playstation games ARE writeable.. they cannot be written in a computer, but they CAN be written with a playdstation.. Jack once game me a "Cheat" for my playstion that works with some games, you can go into the game and permenently change things if you wish, i know becase i added 50 bombs to one level and messed with the AI so it said "Im broken, dont kill me" in text(on one of my copies.)

so after the first time of playing this game.. i figured it might be stored on the playstation and not on the game(i dont use memory cards). so i took it over to a friends house.. and Yep, it was messed up still..

A|| y0ur wr1t4bl3 S0ny CD's 4r3 b3l0ng t0 m3.

Three: im 27.

Oh, I'm sorry... when I said adolescent, I was basing that on previous posts where you said something like people dismiss you for being a kid. Now that I know you're older than I am, I'll treat your BS with even more contempt than I previously have... up until this point, I've been operating under the assumption that you might one day grow to be a productive member of society. In fact, posts of yours that I've passed up replying to, I did so because I thought, "Come on Lexy, you thought things like this when you were a kid."

What sort of "Cheat"? Give me some details here... did you enter a code inside the game, are you using some sort of Game Shark-like device that would be saving your "cheats" after they're entered? Did you take your memory card along with you when you tried this cheat on another PS? Because, although I'm not an expert on PSes, I highly doubt they have a built in CD burner.

no, i dont have anything to alter a game with (includeing the memory card)

the "cheat" is a number of buttons pressed when the game is not in or the top is open, from there you may alter the game as you wish.