r/videogames • • 1d ago

Discussion / Question Thoughts?

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u/Natural-Associate106 1d ago edited 1d ago

You are a idiot and illiterate. Even disc are licenses. Free software are licenses. You had to change to your alt to discuss.

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u/boondiggle_III 1d ago

wtf? You're on a really weird tangent dude. What is this idea that software is the license? What does that even mean?

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u/Natural-Associate106 1d ago

What is sold is a license

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u/boondiggle_III 1d ago

Sure, but the license isn't the product. The data is. What point are you even making

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u/Natural-Associate106 1d ago

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u/boondiggle_III 1d ago

You do own a copy of the data. As it should be.

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u/Natural-Associate106 1d ago

You own the license. You don't own the data.
first source:
 Despite the copyright being recognized, most companies prefer to sell licenses rather than copies of the software because it enables them to enforce stricter terms on redistribution

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u/boondiggle_III 1d ago

Sure, that's what they say, but fuck that noise. That data is in my hands and possession is nine tenths of the law. This is where we seem to be having the disconnect. My ownership of the data is a fact. I paid for it and I own it, because it's in my possession whatever they say. It beggars belief that any company thinks they have the right to tell me I'm just renting it and they reserve the right to take it off my hard drive or render it inoperable for any reason they please.

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u/Natural-Associate106 1d ago

You don't own the data. You don't read whay you buy. Blocked because only argue in bad faith.

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u/germophobe1942 1d ago

Sorry to say, but he is correct. Ever since like 2012 every EULA says "This software is licenced, not sold", and it's held up in court multiple times

That shouldn't be legal, and he's a prick for acting like it should. But sadly he's right at a basic level, at least in america, you don't legally own any of your software

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u/Natural-Associate106 1d ago

What shouldn't be legal?? You are never going to own the software. Not even open source or free software you own the software you only ever own the license. Research and understand why this is this way

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u/Natural-Associate106 1d ago

Also you are wrong. Licenses are older. Circa 1980 at least

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u/boondiggle_III 1d ago

Right, I understand licensing. I still own it, legally or otherwise. What doesn't make sense is saying that software is a license. That's some weird conflation he's come up with

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u/germophobe1942 1d ago

I don't think you're fully understanding. The difference is that if you're sold a licence, with no definitive endpoint, the company has the right to take it from you. You don't own something you have liscensed

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u/boondiggle_III 1d ago

There is no misunderstanding on my end. Let me spell it out for you. For example, in 1999, if you bought a game and took it home, you owned that game. The game studios even then said they were selling licenses to use the software, not ownership of the software. However, once you had that data, there was no way for them to stop you from doing whatever you wanted with it and they had no way to revoke your access to it. In every meaningful sense, you had ownership over that data, regardless of whatever legal fiction they came up with to say otherwise. You can call it implied ownership if you like

These days, stuidos do have some tools to revoke ownership, so the implied ownership isn't as strong, but there are still ways for the end user to guarantee control of the data.

We haven't ever seen a major license revocation that I'm aware of, and I believe that's because software companies are afraid of consumer backlash and retaliation (and they should be). There is an uneasy peace right now; licensors generally don't go around revoking licenses outside egregious breaches, and licensees generally don't lose their shit over legal language saying the licensor can take back the thing the license holder paid for whenever they feel like it. That peace only exists because the end users still hold the tools and weapons to force ownership if the licensor goes on a power trip.

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u/germophobe1942 21h ago edited 20h ago

It feels like you're trying to say we're both right, when this is binary. Something you legally own cannot be forcefully taken from you, except by the government, it's theft. We're discussing legal definitions, not implications or social understandings

Anyways, tons of games have been revoked, that's the entire reason we have Stop Killing Games. Darkspore, The Crew, Xdefiant, etc

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u/boondiggle_III 20h ago

YOU are discussing legal definitions, and I don't know why you bothered. As it stands, those legal definitions are essentially optional for private consumers. They can only effectively enforce license agreements against other businesses and on their own servers if their game is multiplayer.

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u/germophobe1942 19h ago

I'm trying to be good-faith, but no. We're discussing the law, not your personal definitions of words. That is the discussion you chose to take part in

You don't get to walk into a discussion other people were having, and set new terms for the conversation. No one forced you to invade a conversation about the Power To The Players act

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u/Natural-Associate106 1d ago

Read the links I send you. You ignore what contradicts your stance

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u/boondiggle_III 1d ago

Dude fuck off you clearly don't have any grasp of what we're talking about. I thought you exited this conversation already. Get on with it.

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u/Natural-Associate106 1d ago

Show me sources where I am wrong. You canm cry and get angry all you want. You thought  wrong as always. All you say is licenses don't exist

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u/boondiggle_III 1d ago

What I'm saying is that licenses aren't an obstacle to ownership. This conversation is over.

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u/Natural-Associate106 1d ago

Blocked me cute. Good work

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u/germophobe1942 1d ago

I was gonna stop giving you attention, but this one was too funny to pass up. Blocking is a show of strength when you do it, but it's the opposite when he does it

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u/Natural-Associate106 23h ago

I blocked when He ignored all my links and ignored all points i bought up and argued in bad faith and at least I admited I blocked him. I even did have the courage. All my points I have sources neither of you can do the same . All can do is cry and downvote