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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

#71

Post by jakebasile »

gottam wrote: post #61
jakebasile wrote: post #44

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.

We could of had enthusiastic fans see the inner workings of such a beloved game and tons of articles around the technical details, but instead we protected the intellectual property rights of a billion dollar corporation. Strictly by law, it was "the right thing to do", but it was a real missed historic opportunity.

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.

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

#72

Post by gottam »

spike021 wrote: post #70
gottam wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We could of had enthusiastic fans see the inner workings of such a beloved game and tons of articles around the technical details, but instead we protected the intellectual property rights of a billion dollar corporation. Strictly by law, it was "the right thing to do", but it was a real missed historic opportunity.

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

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

#73

Post by jrimbault »

jpgvm wrote: post #60
scrollaway wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't make you a legal guarantee of that, but Blizzard will not destroy the copy. It seems unlikely they'll release it any time soon given SC Remastered, but they're not idiots.

Removing from circulation permanently is basically the same as destruction for the purposes of archival.

More likely imo, someone will be charged with archiving it inside Blizzard and on their internal repos.

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

#74

Post by scrollaway »

jakebasile wrote: post #68
scrollaway wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's unclear whether it's a legal obligation given that the disc was found, it's even less clear whether it's a moral obligation. If you didn't know anything about Blizzard, what would you speculate? Someone elsewhere in the thread for example is speculating Blizzard would destroy the copy -- if I thought that'd be a possibility, I would personally never send it their way and you could in no world convince me it's mo…

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" will be spent on lawyers arguing what the value is), so maybe it's only good for you because it's simpler for you.

What if your sense of morality is not in line with everyone else's sense, and I'm returning code to someone who will not do "the moral thing" afterwards? Does that make me immoral?

Point is, this is not an easy decision at all. It's not an easy answer at all. I'd be petrified and I believe anyone else who spends time to consider the implications would be too.

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

#75

Post by Kenji »

ricardobeat wrote: post #67
Kenji wrote: post #62

I wouldn't have returned the source code for 10000$, let alone a measly 250$.

Have you considered a career as a kidnapper? Taking it a bit too far but think about the why. The code is proprietary regardless.

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.

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

#76

Post by gottam »

jakebasile wrote: post #71
gottam wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We could of had enthusiastic fans see the inner workings of such a beloved game and tons of articles around the technical details, but instead we protected the intellectual property rights of a billion dollar corporation. Strictly by law, it was "the right thing to do", but it was a real missed historic opportunity.

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.

I'm not going to berate the guy for doing what he thought was right, but reading this news doesn't exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Just mixed feelings.

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

#77

Post by BigJono »

chickenfries wrote: post #29
FullMtlAlcoholc wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Valve basically own a significant fraction of its success to community: CS (based on modder produce) Dota2 (bought from a modder); these 2 are their big revenue sources. I simply do not understand this. Moders created an entirely new genre and basically brought Competitive Gaming to the masses, yet Blz won't allow modding on Overwatch. I've had discussions with people who support this and their rationale basically b…

See, I think there's a huge difference between Activision Blizzard games and either Valve or Bethesda games. Sure, Valve and Bethesda have probably contributed more gaming experiences to the world across their many games and their liberal policy towards modding. There are only a few Blizzard games, but they're better and they make much more money. It's a tightly controlled experience, but the quality control means Bl…

>but they're better

Citation needed.

I've played a ton of AAA multiplayer games over the years. Hearthstone is hands down the worst one that I've given a fair chance to (>20-30 hours of playtime). To say that it's better than Counter-Strike (which many regard as the epitome of competetive FPS gaming and has stood the test of time in that role for almost as long as Starcraft has done the same for RTS) is an absolute joke.

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

#78

Post by scrollaway »

ricardobeat wrote: post #67
Kenji wrote: post #62

I wouldn't have returned the source code for 10000$, let alone a measly 250$.

Have you considered a career as a kidnapper? Taking it a bit too far but think about the why. The code is proprietary regardless.

Overly dramatic comparisons, much?

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

#79

Post by stingraycharles »

Vekz wrote: post #16

Heart breaking relevant reddit threads: https://www.reddit.com/r/gamecollecting/comments/640iem/foun... https://www.reddit.com/r/gamecollecting/comments/68xzxt/star...

It's a very twisted train of thought going on here. I had to dig a bit deeper in that thread to find them, but here is an example:

https://www.reddit.com/r/gamecollecting/comments/68xzxt/star...

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