Re: preparation regarding copyright
That's true too. We have done so. Because if we want to be taken seriously as a community - and I'd argue that we do - we cannot be represented by the mindset that we're entitled to free stuff just because we want it.
If I was a mainstream dev, showed up here and saw the vault thread, I'd be appalled. The first thing that would go through my mind is "okay, so if I charge thirty bucks for my game and these people want it for free, they're obviously going to crack it or find ways around it, and the community supports this. Uh, no thanks. Not going to do that". This is simply not a healthy mindset.
Now, are we huge? Do we have an enormous footprint? God no. But if we ever want this footprint to grow - and we do, we absolutely do - then we simply must be better about such blatant stealing.
So yes. This is partially legal (i.e., we're trying to avoid legal tangles) but it's also moral on a community level. I'll own that without a second thought.
And hell, never mind mainstream devs. What about smaller-time devs who actually may be from within our own community? Again, I'd be seriously questioning a desire to help this community if one of the things that makes it upset is being told that it can't steal and get away with it in public anymore.
So just remember this. Every time you yowl, every time you act like we're the mean people taking one of your toys away, you're actually making the situation worse, not better. Your outrage just makes you look more entitled. I hate to up the emotional stakes this way, but I think this is where we're at. You want to go on torrenting and having access to stuff? Fine, we can't stop you. But stop infesting the forum with it. And all your yelling is just making it worse, just making it even less likely that people will develop for us, trust us, take us seriously. It will be seen pretty simply and starkly: admins decided to make a move that will hopefully make devs and people in general feel a bit safer, both morally and legally. The community responded with public outcry that they could no longer steal things and talk so openly about it on the forum. Oh, the horror!
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