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Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

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Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#111

Post by scrollaway »

BigJono wrote: post #107
scrollaway wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To compare a turn based CCG to a competitive FPS is an absolute joke. To generalize your dislike of a CCG, one of Blizzard's multiple games, into an argument against GP is a joke. Whether modders would make as positive an impact in HS as they did in Valve games is very unclear, and I say that as the author of a Hearthstone simulator and founder of a community and company heavily involved in Hearthstone modding, rever…

GP outright stated that Blizzard's games are better than Valve's and Bethesda's because of their strict control over quality/lack of community content. My point is that Hearthstone is an objectively worse game than Counter-Strike is, in the same way tic-tac-toe is inferior to Chess in almost all respects. I'm not denying Hearthstone is fun, and makes a metric ton of money. I play it a reasonable amount and have spent…

Overwatch is a far, far better game than TF2 (also a far better comparison) and I would definitely say that one of the drivers for that is Blizzard's quality control.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#112

Post by ilugaslifg »

gottam wrote: post #72
spike021 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still their property. IMO non-Blizzard individuals have no right to post it.

Like I said, from a black and white legal standpoint it was the right move. But so much was lost from not simply uploading it somewhere from an internet cafe. It enters the same ethical flexibility as things like wikileaks in my opinion

Liberating proprietary software is a moral good. Full stop.

The number of hopeless herbs on here who have so thoroughly internalized "legal == moral" is depressing.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#113

Post by peferron »

peterwwillis wrote: post #87

So, instead of giving back to their community, or giving some underprivileged kid an opportunity to have an amazing experience, or donating to Child's Play, or something for someone who might need some help, Blizzard instead pays for the expensive flight, hotel, con, and drinks for a 32 year old white male computer nerd who accidentally found a CD in a storage unit and then agonized over returning it until being thre…

Wait, is the "32 year old white male computer nerd" just a drive-by stereotype, or did you actually research the real life information of this person just to be able to post this? I'm not sure which is worse.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#114

Post by FooBarWidget »

scrollaway wrote: post #74
jakebasile wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably isn't strictly a legal obligation to return the physical disc barring stolen property stuff, but it would definitely be illegal to redistribute copyrighted code without a license to do so. Maybe you could claim some type of fair use but it wouldn't be transformative so I can't see how. As for morality, I apply the golden rule: if someone found the code I wrote for a groundbreaking piece of software, and I…

> I apply the golden rule: if someone found the code I wrote for a groundbreaking piece of software, and I didn't want to open source it, I'd really like for them to respect my wishes and return it. Is that really the golden rule? What about "the good of the many"? Returning it to Blizzard directly is good for Blizzard . Returning your code is good for you . Realistically, it has little monetary value (all the "value…

> What about "the good of the many"?

That's like saying that robbing Bill Gates and distributing the money to millions of poor people is morally good because it's good for many people.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#115

Post by la_oveja »

peterwwillis wrote: post #109
gottam wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like I said, from a black and white legal standpoint it was the right move. But so much was lost from not simply uploading it somewhere from an internet cafe. It enters the same ethical flexibility as things like wikileaks in my opinion

> It enters the same ethical flexibility as things like wikileaks in my opinion I agree with you, it is completely unethical and totally self-serving.

Your ethic smells bad.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#116

Post by Dylan16807 »

jakebasile wrote: post #105
Dylan16807 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go ahead and disagree with that train of thought, but I don't see how it's 'twisted' to call him selfish. You can call the venom in those posts twisted, but that is a very different thing from saying the actual reasoning behind the posts is twisted.

Selfish for following the law and respecting the wishes of the authors of a work? Jesus, people are really performing some mental gymnastics to justify the hypothetical theft of property in this case in order to arrive at the conclusion that the finder is somehow being selfish.

Sometimes, not most of the time but sometimes, the wishes of an author are bad for the public. In a hypothetical scenario where an author wants to destroy all traces of their work, it's a bad thing to help them.

And this is about the data, and possible copyright violations, not the theft of property. Him returning the physical disk is perfectly fine. So throw out that argument.

It's really very straightforward. No gymnastics.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#117

Post by TeMPOraL »

peterwwillis wrote: post #87

So, instead of giving back to their community, or giving some underprivileged kid an opportunity to have an amazing experience, or donating to Child's Play, or something for someone who might need some help, Blizzard instead pays for the expensive flight, hotel, con, and drinks for a 32 year old white male computer nerd who accidentally found a CD in a storage unit and then agonized over returning it until being thre…

> Blizzard instead pays for the expensive flight, hotel, con, and drinks for a 32 year old white male computer nerd who accidentally found a CD in a storage unit

I'm all for charity, but wait, so rewarding a person _actually involved_ and who actually did the good (for the company) deed is somehow bad these days?

Also, white male computer nerds are people too, you know.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#118

Post by gottam »

ilugaslifg wrote: post #112
gottam wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like I said, from a black and white legal standpoint it was the right move. But so much was lost from not simply uploading it somewhere from an internet cafe. It enters the same ethical flexibility as things like wikileaks in my opinion

Liberating proprietary software is a moral good. Full stop. The number of hopeless herbs on here who have so thoroughly internalized "legal == moral" is depressing.

You're the one who is making that connection, not me. I never implied it.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#119

Post by Dylan16807 »

ricardobeat wrote: post #102
Kenji wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Giving back the source code is like burying an ancient Egyptian mummy you just found. Of course the Pharaohs would protest you taking away the mummy but who cares? It is about preserving culture and making its intricate details visible to everyone.

Not like that at all. The source is Blizzard's intellectual property, doesn't matter where you found it (not to mention you're overestimating the cultural value of the source files). If culture is to be preserved I'm sure some of the original developers would make so. On the other hand, we could definitely do with shorter IP rights like 20-30 years, so that devs could legally release it within their lifetimes.

>The source is Blizzard's intellectual property

The tomb and its contents are the property of the Pharaoh in it.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#120

Post by blkhawk »

FrozenVoid wrote: post #101

Thats C++ source from v1.00 pre-expansion, an early version that is quite not the polished game that v1.07/v1.08 was, written on pre-c++98 MSVC code by inexpirienced and overworked programmers, when win95 was the mainstream OS and 128mB of ram was plenty and 3D cards were luxury products(most used motherboard graphics). https://www.codeofhonor.com/blog/tough-times-on-the-road-to-...

When Windows 95 was the Mainstream OS 32 MB was what most people had and 64mb was plenty. Most people used PCI or VLB 2D graphics cards. There was simply not enough memory on the board for IGU. Most PCs had not even got USB by that point.
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