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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

#251

It looks like someone found a copy of Blizzard's copyrighted source code, returned it to Blizzard, and got a reward. Why are people upset about this? It seems like the right thing to do to my mind. If someone found a copy of my own source laying in the street I'd be very happy if they returned it instead of releasing it on the net.

> Why are people upset about this? It seems like the right thing to do to my mind. Shit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Fox_vault_fire Happens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_MGM_vault_fire If something is culturally significant then it should be preserved and these two hyperlinks should easily make the case that preservation requires distribution.

You keep posting this as if it's relevant. Shit does happen, but it doesn't change the facts that Blizzard owns that code. Also, many in this thread are acting as if Starcraft itself is going to be destroyed thanks to this guy returning the code. You can download Starcraft for free from Blizzard [1] and they're releasing a remastered version soon [2]. It isn't going anywhere, so even by your own assertion there is no moral right to preserve the source, which isn't needed to enjoy the cultural artifact it creates.

People make mods for tons of games without source code. People are making up excuses and flimsy reasons to get what they want.

[1]: https://starcraft.com/en-us/articles/20674424

[2]: https://starcraft.com/en-us/

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

#252
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll agree it's an unfortunate thing that Blizzard hasn't released the code. Personally I'd love to get at Diablo 1's code too. Maybe they will one day, but that right is theirs even though they are a huge corporation. Copyright law doesn't care about that detail. This thread has a lot of people wanting the guy to go vigilante, which I just can't get behind.

When, in 20 years, we're hearing that this disc got lost again sometime in the bankruptcy chain of Activision Blizzard, we'll see whether corporate archiving or vigilante illegal archiving is more effective.

Is there any risk that the compiled binaries, on millions of computers and available for free and legal download from Blizzard, will disappear in 20 years?

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

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Methinks you're a Blizzard fanboy.Diablo 3 was a critical and personal dissapointment. Starcraft 2 and Heroes of the Storm aren't exactly in my list of top PC games either. And they make more money? I haven't seen exact figures, but you are severly underestimating how much cheddar people drop on stuff like Team Fortress 2 items. As for the diversity in types of games, you're suffering from recency bias. Until basical…

> Methinks you're a Blizzard fanboy. I like their games. I like Valve and Bethesda games too. > I haven't seen exact figures, but you are severly underestimating how much cheddar people drop on stuff like Team Fortress 2 items. I don't have exact figures either, but whatever people spend on hats cannot possibly approach what people have spent on WoW subscriptions... According to Wikipedia, Valve's total equity is $2.…

> According to Wikipedia, Valve's total equity is $2.5 billion while Activision Blizzard's is $8.068 billion.

It's not just Blizzard. You're forgetting about the huge juggernaut that is the Call of Duty franchise.

>I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that WoW and WC3 are similar games. One is an RTS and the other is an MMORPG.

Obviously, WoW has an army of creatives making content and developing an immersive world, but WoW is using the Warcraft engine. You can have diverse experiences using the same engine. I was just stating that Blizzard didn't begin to branch out until a couple of years ago.

>But you know how much money I've spent on Counter Strike over the years? Probably much less than I've spent on Overwatch loot boxes plus the game, and that game only came out last year.

Anecdotal data not withstanding, Coutnerstrike still gets roughly 1.7x the viewers on Twitch

> As someone who is a 1x MOBA player, I like HOTS. I find the way that experience is combined makes games a little bit more competitive but also less toxic (No all chat helps too :)).

Different strokes for different folks I guess. The other major sport with 5 players (basketball) is superstar driven. Teamwork is cool, but I just find spectating a singular talent who turns the tide of a game by him/herself more fun and entertaining.

> They have a story-mode coop now, Overwatch Origins.

And it's over!!!!! Grrrr

>Yes, I do think they regretted not capturing the value created by Dota. I don't think Blizzard games are perfect, I just think their strategy is obvious.

Valve may be smaller, but they seem to have a lot more freedom and a lot more diverse business interests...hardware company, the defacto online pc game store, sometimes game developer

>Blizzard is going to approach modding with the same care and caution that Nintendo approaches mobile games.

Sigh, don't get me started. The Switch was such a massive dissapointment to me. Of course it's going to have top quality games, but I find their decision to not include a $5 gps chip a huge missed opportunity. It's dissapointing that Nintendo won't be the trailblazer for AR, location based, or VR games. MArio 64 and Zelda 64 basically set the standarrd for how to develop 3D games while no one on the PS had figured it out at that point.

I could also go on for days about how much of a letdown AR Pokemon became. It captured the attention of the dev community like no other game has. I marvel at what the game could've become if Niantic had allowed this completely self-organizing group of disparate devs to continue hacking away...it could've been a transformative moment that forever changed how games are created and revolutionized the social aspect of it. Sure, the bots were a pain but let's be real. The gameplay was absolutely terrible, the UI even worse. I've seen better core gameplay scrapped together in a 24 hour code jam. Single devs made improvements over the base game, and it took them only a couple of days to redo certain features I was praying for Nintendo to step in as consultants after the game spread like wildfire...

Then again that could have been disastrous too. Nintendo still has not figured out online multiplayer gaming

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

#254
right, so now you're back to the whole "we should respect property rights... except in this one case, but I'm totally not going to just tell you it's because I prefer it that way! nosirreeeeeeeee! It's because after lots of hand waving morals and 20 years and coOOoooooOOOoode.".

The 20 years is irrelevant to this discussion. Blizzard owns the IP to the software and since ownership itself is a fairly central idea in our legal system the rest doesn't matter anywhere except in your head.

People should be allowed to own things, and they are allowed to own things, and they are allowed to protect themselves from people like you who think your rights and wants as an individual should outweigh their rights and wants as an individual.

Furthermore, just because you make a claim such as "there's no purpose to it being against the law" doesn't make it so.

IP rights go all the way back to the days of Rome, and you'll be hard pressed to find a society who doesn't have a system of laws surrounding IP. That's pretty fucking consistent for something that you claim "has no purpose".

Or maybe it does have a purpose and you're being purposefully obtuse because you want to put your grubby fucking hands on something that isn't yours.

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

#255
post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a joke for what that CD was worth in sheer value to the community of hackers and gamers and modders worldwide for years to come. Once he made that reddit post he sealed his fate. Should hsve just silently torrented it from a coffee shop over Tor. Silly kid.

> what that CD was worth in sheer value to the community of hackers and gamers and modders $0?

Value isn't always pricable. This was priceless.

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

#256
post #254

right, so now you're back to the whole "we should respect property rights... except in this one case, but I'm totally not going to just tell you it's because I prefer it that way! nosirreeeeeeeee! It's because after lots of hand waving morals and 20 years and coOOoooooOOOoode.". The 20 years is irrelevant to this discussion. Blizzard owns the IP to the software and since ownership itself is a fairly central idea in o…

I'm not arguing against the existence of all IP rights. I just think some of the inclusions and durations are wrong. I don't know why you're trying to strawman me into being anti-property and making this so personal. Would you be this rude if I was insisting on 28 years, the original limit? You act like the current copyright lengths are objectively correct, and anyone who disagrees is deluding themselves. Why? And for the record I actually don't want these starcraft files, if that information can let you see past the strawman you've made of me.

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

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But in this case, that's Blizzard's right. They own it whether you like it or not. Just because something is important doesn't mean they should lose property rights to it. Abandonware is a thing and I remember there being some legal headway made recently in that respect, but Starcraft isn't abandoned. They just released a compatibility patch and made it free to download.

corporate shill

Please stop.

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

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I think the $250 and a game was reward enough. The rest was what felt gratuitous. Are they, though? Some of the ones on reddit seem like animals.

Please post civilly and substantively on HN or not at all.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#259
post #254

right, so now you're back to the whole "we should respect property rights... except in this one case, but I'm totally not going to just tell you it's because I prefer it that way! nosirreeeeeeeee! It's because after lots of hand waving morals and 20 years and coOOoooooOOOoode.". The 20 years is irrelevant to this discussion. Blizzard owns the IP to the software and since ownership itself is a fairly central idea in o…

I'm not arguing against the existence of all IP rights. I just think some of the inclusions and durations are wrong. I don't know why you're trying to strawman me into being anti-property and making this so personal. Would you be this rude if I was insisting on 28 years, the original limit? You act like the current copyright lengths are objectively correct, and anyone who disagrees is deluding themselves. Why? And fo…

> 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. - FooBarWidget

> That degrades property rights, so it's bad for the many. - Dylan16807

Straight out of the horses mouth, that's not a strawman, it's literally what you said.

We shouldn't take money from the rich and give to the poor because property rights, but we should take source code from Blizzard and make it public even though Blizzard has property rights to said code because ... it's 20 year old code.

Which has nothing to do with anything, it's their property, they can do with it as they please.

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

#260
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> It's still their property. IMO non-Blizzard individuals have no right to post it. It's not their property, it's copyrighted. He indeed had no right to publish the contents but also no obvious obligation to return it. IMO he did a lame thing, the only worse option being uploading it anywhere before the © expires and getting into legal trouble.

I didn't say anything giving it back, though. As you say, the issue here in particular has to do with him posting or not posting it.
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