Running With Scissors Studios gives permission to pirate games

frogman [he/him]@beehaw.org to Gaming@beehaw.org – 649 points –

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image:

screenshot of a Tweet from Running With Scissors reading

"We've been told our games are too expensive in some countries but we've been using Steam's recommended pricing for a while. We trust Valve enough to not change this. If our games are still too expensive for you, you can pirate them until you have enough to support us."

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There's a world of difference between "we don't mind if you bootleg our games if you can't afford them" and "here, have the keys to the castle"

Go on and explain the difference

Releasing the source code would allow anyone to copy AND modify or extend the game as they see fit. Including all the inner logic that is normally compiled away.

Piracy or a compiled release without DRM (like GOG) only allows you to play the game and maybe modify some parts of it through modding after a significant amount of effort.

Releasing the source code would allow anyone to copy AND modify or extend the game as they see fit

So just like when you buy a bicycle irl and you are allowed to customize it and set it up as you want. Are you saying we shouldn't be allowed to modify goods?

The source code is arguably more comparable to the bicycle factory. When I buy a game, I'm thinking of buying the experience, not the underlying mechanisms.

You still can find ways to mod and tinker with the finished product you own (bicycle), but you don't have the info and machinery you'd need to make your own identical bicycle.

Or, if you buy a book, you own the finished book, but you don't automatically also own all the author's notes and rough drafts and file organization that went into making that book.

When I buy a game, I’m thinking of buying the experience, not the underlying mechanisms.

When i buy a bicycle i'm thinking of buying the experience, not the underlying mechanisms

you don’t have the info and machinery you’d need to make your own identical bicycle.

When you pirate the game you are making an identical copy of the game

That is not the correct analogy. Offcourse you can customize it. Just like you can customize or mod the game.

But you won't get the actual designs to the bicycle. You will not get the blueprints to send to a factory to create exact duplicates or with your modifications.