Catch me on the corner selling server.jar out of a long trenchcoat.

Cross-geposted von: https://feddit.org/post/31996415

In a remarkably strange statement at a recent California State Senate hearing over the Protect Our Games Act (AB 1921, California’s Stop Killing Games-endorsed bill to compel publishers to provide ways to keep playing discontinued games), a representative of the Entertainment Software Association declared private servers for the likes of Minecraft and Call of Duty “illegal,” adding that, so far as the ESA is concerned, “we consider it piracy.”

In a statement to PC Gamer, the ESA wrote that, so far as it’s concerned, “Private servers infringe on the intellectual property (IP) rights of game publishers. Publishers reserve the right to exercise their rights against them.”

      • Melobol@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        No, that was after the home taping killed it.
        It is like Schrodinger’s Cat. Both alive and be killed by anything.

        McDonald’s getting killed by home cooked burgers.
        AI is being killed by local models also. So many things are killing so many things!

    • CluckN@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      I had to google ESA multiple times because I kept getting AI summaries for the space agency.

        • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          10 days ago

          So Imma be real with you. I switched to DDG full time on all my devices, mostly out of security concerns and the desire to not feed the monopoly.

          That said, DDG is so much worse at finding what I’m actually looking for than Google ever was. It’s a bit frustrating, I have so many reasons to like DDG, but being a good search engine isn’t one of them.

          But for the record, Google isn’t great at finding what I want anymore either, and with its AI bullshit it’s likely to simply lie to me. Really, 2010 Google search is superior to modern Google search by every metric possible, that was peak web search for me.

          • dangrousperson@feddit.orgEnglish
            0·
            9 days ago

            I know exactly what you mean, felt the same way for me. I’ve started using qwant recently and I feel like it has better results. Still not quite as good as google is at the moment and nowhere as good as google used to be, but at the rate google is enshittifying its only a matter of time until qwant is better.

          • OwOarchist@pawb.socialEnglish
            0·
            10 days ago

            Eh, I really haven’t missed it. Google is still there if I really need it … but chances are that if I can’t find it on DDG, I won’t find it on Google either.

    • Damage@feddit.itEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      For a moment there I was wondering what was happening on the ISS for ESA to make such a statement

  • justdaveisfine@piefed.socialEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    I’m actually going assume they (ESA) meant the Minecraft DRM servers and not the hosting and playing with friends servers, because they refer to ‘counterfeiting and piracy’ lawsuits right afterwards. I mean its easy to say they don’t know the difference but I’d suspect this was a little more malicious.

      • justdaveisfine@piefed.socialEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        When you buy Minecraft, it associates a game license to your Microsoft ID. So when you sign in to the launcher, the DRM server is what it checks with to make sure you own and can play Minecraft before letting you in.

      • gnufuu@lemmy.caEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        They probably meant to say servers that allow pirated clients to connect. The official server config used to have that option - not sure if it still does.

        • DarkSirrush@piefed.caEnglish
          0·
          10 days ago

          Yes, you can still turn off validation, at least on Java edition - you can even host your own validation server via drasl and similar, but that requires the server to have config options set to use your custom auth (and probably skin) server, and your client to have the libauthinjector mod installed.

          Works great as an alternative to whitelisting IP’s to play with friends, and means you can’t have your Minecraft account deleted because you swore on your privately hosted server and a friend hit the report button.

    • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      My thoughts leaned more towards the World of Warcraft private servers; in many ways it’s the same respect, filling in a role that has been taken by the publisher, but they perhaps didn’t intend it to appear so inflammatory in Minecraft’s case, since the main purpose of those servers is just for gameplay, not DRM.

      It’s still a mean sentiment either way, but something tells me they’re not as familiar with the classic, LAN-party, Quake server you’d run.

  • supernicepojo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    Of all the hot takes in the world, that statement is the dumbest thing I have ever heard someone say. Completely out-of-touch with the case, with the subject and with the games referenced. It is literally wronger than Flat Earth and young earth creationism in a single sentence. I would quote Bully Madison but even that wouldnt suffice.

    • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.todayEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      The ESA isn’t stupid, they’re just making the statement to give the politicians in their pockets a cover excuse for making it illegal that the actual dumbasses who support those politicians will buy.

      • Vittelius@feddit.orgOPEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        And they’ve been successful with that strategy (for now)

        Regardless, the Protect Our Games Act did not make it out of this stage of the legislative process. With four aye votes, three noes, and four abstentions, it failed to accrue the majority of ayes necessary to pass. Nevertheless, it has been granted a reconsideration, so it’s not the end.

  • TORFdot0@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    Did they let their members know this before they implemented private matches and server browsers in their games?

  • NONE@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    If they will still call you a pirate even if you buy the game, and even if the game sells well, they’ll eventually lay off the entire development team, why not just pirate the damn thing from the start?

    Screw the ESA and its partners.

  • CosmoNova@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    Game devs: „Here is the code to run our games on a private server. Have fun!“

    Gamers: „Cool, thanks! Will do!“

    ESA: „ISN‘T THERE SOMEONE YOU FORGOT TO ASK???“

  • Danitos@reddthat.comEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    ESA members: https://www.theesa.com/our-members/

    • Amazon
    • Atari
    • Bandai Namco
    • Capcom
    • Disney
    • EA
    • Epic Games
    • Konami
    • Mattel
    • Microsoft
    • Netflix
    • Nintendo
    • Riot Games
    • Roblox
    • Sony Play Station
    • Square Enix
    • Take 2 (owner of Rockstar, 2K and Zynga)
    • Tencent
    • Ubisoft
    • Warner Bros
    • Wizard of the Coast (owner of MtG and DnD’s rights)

    The page also has this quote:

    Shape and influence the largest entertainment industry in America.

    • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      Thank for for this list.

      I was prepared to add to my boycot list, but I guess sometimes the biggest assholes are exactly who we already expected.

      • Aneorthisio@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        Netflix has a studio that publishes games on mobile, one of their most well known product is partnering with Take2/Rockstar to port the Definitive Edition of GTAIII/VC/SA to mobile.

    • Koenig2005@feddit.orgEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      What’s the point in Microsoft shooting against “their own” product? I mean, the option for public or private servers is literally built into the game. Also there is the option for playing together over LAN which you could also argue is a private server.

      • Err(()).unwrap()@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        If you have the facts, you pound the facts. If you have the law, you pound the law. If you have neither, you pound the table. This is the ESA pounding the table, and the goal is to confuse the gerontocracy LARPing as lawmakers.

        • DearOldGrandma@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          10 days ago

          This is why tech has gotten so out of control in the US. In the past 40 years, this industry has had so many revolutionary inventions while our legislators on average get older and less likely to understand the newest technology, thereby making them more susceptible to being misled or misleading others. Combined with our legislators not giving a fuck about actual economics, this is how we have oligopolies everywhere in the US with cartel behavior

          • ripcord@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            10 days ago

            Things have gotten so out of control because people have gotten stupid and lazy and put up with all of this shit.

            • DearOldGrandma@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              10 days ago

              Also true. It doesn’t help that the most successful and influential people in this time-frame have also been widely manipulative by pulling the ladder to success up with them, dismantling education, and increasing the amount of sugar and other unhealthy things in our food

            • 7101334@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              10 days ago

              People have gotten stupid because billionaires have orchestrated the gutting of education and people are too exhausted, not “lazy”, because they’re overworked by billionaires.

              Capitalism is always the problem. Okay, very rarely organized religion or genuine natural disasters, but almost always capitalism.

      • AudaciousArmadillo@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        That’s a left over from the indie days. I highly doubt they’d make that available in a new game. But in this case I think its probably a law person that has no clue about games.

      • Vittelius@feddit.orgOPEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        The way I see it there are two possible reasons:

        1. incompetence: The statement in question was said by ESA’s vice president for state government affairs, in other words a professional lobbyist. Video games are her day job, not her hobby. I don’t know how much she actually plays herself. It may therefore be the case that she wasn’t briefed properly or she got confused. The ESA is currently persuing legal action against certain private servers after all. The article contains specifics on those but in short: Those servers enable piracy, the Minecraft ones don’t.
        2. they are lying: the whole thing was part of a hearing on Stop Killing Games. Private servers are one of the ways to fulfill their demands. It is the industry’s position that implementing those is too complicated. Each instance of private servers existing weakens the argument. So better pretend that those don’t exist. After all gamers won’t even learn about this statement. It’s a random California state senate hearing. They don’t watch those!
      • TotalCourage007@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        Wonder how many of these guys employee lawyer trolls scumbags. looks and finds Nintendo Ninjas only one of the most bs litigous companies.

        • Korhaka@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          0·
          9 days ago

          Not sure if they are lawyers but they are all employing scumbag trolls, that is what ESA is.

      • Vittelius@feddit.orgOPEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        Sort of… It’s a different company that bought the name years ago when the old Atari went bankrupt. Technically it’s a French publisher formerly known as Infogrames.

  • TheStaffmaster@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    you do know that like 85% of TF2 servers (yes there are still TF2 players) are community hosted? I hope this dipshit is ready to deal with the business end of a fully loaded Gaben.

    • nanoSwiss@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      can really recommended beyond all reason, a foss rts game, in the style of supreme commander. running on lua.

  • Daedskin@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    It’s blatantly a bad stance from them; but it doesn’t even touch on games that use internal client/server models even when playing single-player — which includes Minecraft. If their argument were law, would I be breaking it by just playing Minecraft at all? With the way it’s worded, I would think yes.

    That doesn’t even take into account that Minecraft in particular can turn a single-player client/server into a multiplayer with one button press. Would that be illegal? Maybe they’d argue not, because it’s LAN only (which is a flimsy argument as well). But with a little effort, you could open up that LAN server up to whomever you wanted.

    Very obvious they didn’t think it through, they just want you to own nothing.