skunk3 wrote:After starting this thread I have done some reading here in the forums and it appears than many of the people here are 'collectors,' meaning that they cherish owning original games, preferably factory sealed and all of that. Long boxes, etc. While I know that it's different strokes for different folks, I just don't see the logic in that. I don't see investing in 3DO games or systems as being a particularly wise financial investment unless there are a lot more people out there than I am aware of who are willing to pay big bucks for games and accessories for a system that was more or less a flop. In my life I've only met maybe 5 other people in person aside from myself who actually owned a 3DO at the time they were still being manufactured.
The way I see it, 3DO games are totally abandonware and I think that the odds of getting into *any* sort of real legal trouble are extremely slim to none, because let's face it -- NOBODY CARES. I'd be willing to bet that Trip Hawkins himself would just laugh at the idea and encourage people to share in his vision by sharing the games for his long since defunct system. Like I mentioned before, there's still a bunch of stuff on eBay for sale, but the prices are quite frankly absurd for games AND accessories. There's no way in hell that I'd start a collection if I had to pay eBay prices... I couldn't! I'd go broke trying to do so, and possibly lose my mind.
In short all I'm saying is that I'm not a collector in the sense that I care about boxes and manuals and all of that frivolous crap. I just want to be able to experience all of the games that I never had a chance to play, as well as revisit some of my old favorites. CD-R's are dirt cheap these days... there's no reason why the people on this board shouldn't help their fellow 3DO nerds out and share the love.
This was a good start.
Assessing the community in one fell swoop as 'collectors' (in quotation marks), mocking said collectors by suggesting that they buy original 3DO games as investments and that, indeed, said games are not a wise investment. Not to mention, the majority of these games - in complete condition being suggested as being 'frivolous crap'. Also, rather ignorantly, suggesting that just because no one you know has really ever heard of 3DO and has no inclination to collect for it *gasp Ebay prices!* that no one else in the world will. Well, apparently, NOBODY CARES and Trip Hawkins has the legal rights to just allow anyone and everyone pirate 20 year old copyrighted works to CDR's willy-nilly...?
skunk3 wrote:
I really don't mean any offense here, but I think that's dumb.
I realize that some people have spent years and loads of money amassing their collections, but that's primarily because you're a 'collector,' meaning that for you, only the originals will do. However, I'm not a 'collector' in that sense, so spending absurd amounts of money and going through that much effort simply does not make sense for me when it comes to acquiring games for a system with absolutely NO copy protection. With other systems mod chips are typically required to play copied games, but with the 3DO all you have to do is clone the disc. Moreover, computers and cd burners are much, much faster than they were in the mid-90's, so it's even less of a chore than ever before.
I've already received my slap on the wrist warning from a mod about asking for copied games, so I'm not going to do that anymore. However, I just don't see the logic in having to track down an original copy of a rare game (or games) and overpay simply to play it, especially when it's abandonware for a long-since-dead video game console and anyone with a copy could easily clone it and share with everyone. The hardcore collectors would still seek out originals, but those who merely want to play would be sated. Because of this totally irrational and selfish attitude, there are many 3DO enthusiasts who will likely NEVER get their hands on certain games... this could be due to rarity or simply not having enough money to buy them all, but suffice it to say that I think that this attitude is annoying and a little disturbing.
By you sharing your games with others, it's not like the time and effort that you put in to amassing your collection would be in vain. Those who could share those rare titles and help people flesh out their collections would be heroes, not to mention you'd still have the privilege of owning originals rather than CD-Rs. What I'm getting from you is this, more or less: "I spent a lot of time and money amassing my 3DO game collection, so even though the system features no copy protection whatsoever and sharing games would be as simple as can be, I'm not going to do so because I feel as though everyone else should have to go through as much effort as me to obtain them." Sorry, but that attitude/viewpoint is totally childish in my humble opinion. Do you download anything? Do you download mp3s, get torrented movies, cracked games or software, etc? Pretty much everyone does these days, and sales are still through the roof. Furthermore, sharing/bootlegging 3DO games would have absolutely NO IMPACT on the gaming community at all. It's not like all these kids with their Playstation 4s are going to stop buying games and subscribing to their MMO accounts because 3DO bootlegs are more readily available online, lol.
Like I've mentioned already, 3DO is a dusty and largely untraveled corridor of video gaming history, one most people have never cared about or will ever care about. By making it so elitist/exclusive, all you and anyone else who is opposed to sharing games is doing is intentionally keeping the community small. Look at the ridiculous asking prices that people are asking for 3DO games these days... there's no way in hell that someone like me (who used to own about 50-60 games when they were full price) could possibly afford to come even close to having every single game, even if I was prepared to spend that much money. It's cool that you and other people have awesome collections (I saw Bitrate's and that's just insane), but there's no good reason (in my mind) why you people shouldn't help others out aside from childish indignation, or simple laziness.
Anyway, that's how I personally feel about this subject, and I know that others probably disagree, but I suspect that a lot of people probably agree with me. Good day.
So, you realise that PPL have invested a lot of time and money into acquiring many of the rare and obscure 3DO games available today? So although you can't fathom it, I will simply state, that quite obviously, not everyone is particularly happy with the idea of handing out all their costly software for FREE, simply because you demand it. Please be aware, that if you are wanting to be this flashing beacon of piracy-based heroism in the 3DO community, then feel free to go ahead and acquire all the games you want at whatever prices and then copy them, host them , and even offer a burning service for the cost of the CD-R's themselves. I'm sure there are some other depraved, piracy mongering shitbags out there, gagging for all those expensive 3DO ROMS for free? After all, based on your sub-texts here, it's not like your new to the actions of piracy instead of paying for other PPL's work - current or not. Luckily for you though, it's a bit less of a chore for you to make and sell BluRay rips by the list-load per office workplace, than it was doing CD's and then DVD's in the 90's... eh?
Incidentally, I'm one of those annoying fucks who doesn't download or pirate illegally. I pay for everything I own - whether new or 2nd hand. Whether it be music, films or games. As it happens, I don't agree with this throwaway bullshit 'Digital' culture we've all been pushed towards, paying for digital content, just because physical media was so ripe for piracy and redistribution vs the digital model we're forced towards today.
skunk3 wrote:I've already articulated my case well. In my mind there's a difference between ROMs and CD-R clones, but for all intents and purposes I'll just assume that you mean any talk of non-original games
at all is prohibited. If that's the case, derp derp. You guys can have your irrational, exclusive, elitist group. (I don't mean that to be insulting, so if you take it as an insult, that's on you, not me.) I think that it's simply idiotic to be ideologically opposed to cloning games for a system that hasn't been in production for nearly 20 years, especially given the fact that nearly *
everyone* downloads 'illegal' stuff these days and the possibility of ever coming into any sort of legal trouble for this sort of thing is probably .0001%, especially given the fact that NOBODY GIVES A CRAP ABOUT 3DO! In other words, there's basically no risk involved whatsoever. The only thing stopping the 3DO community from growing and sharing is childish attitudes and irrational paranoia. Why on earth would I go through the time, expense, and effort of buying original games for this system when it's incredibly outdated and making a copy is something an 10 year-old child can do?
I know that I am coming off like a jerk here and I assure you that I'm not a jerk in person... I just find this frustrating. This is the second 3DO community I've joined in my attempt to search for like-minded people and I more or less received the exact same response last time. (This was about 4-5 years ago.) I just DON'T GET IT.
Listen, I know that I'm not going to get any CD-Rs from anyone on this list, but I would like further elucidation as to why people seem to be so ideologically opposed to the idea of sharing 3DO games aside from: "I paid for them, so you should too!" In my mind there should be 3DO torrents up everywhere with at least one person constantly seeding so that others can do the same. I can understand being opposed to pirating games for a current system that is still selling / producing games, but the 3DO? Come on...
Here you go again, about everyone downloading illegal stuff nowadays! Sorry to disappoint, but no; not everyone feels the need to help themselves to other peoples works for free, illegally out of pure, selfish, self-entitlement. Also, attempting to self-deflect insults by claiming that any reaction is purely an instance of our own doing vs it being YOU who has actually written such words, backed by aforementioned disclaimer, is you venting your frustration and passive aggression at out lack of cooperation with your jolly roger piracy bay ways. Sorry about that.
The only person being childish and not being able to let things go vs the lovely warm response you've had to your comments and requests is... you've guessed it!: Yourself. You've walked into a retro gaming community enthusiastic about the 3DO and all it's software and hardware and, basically, have started stamping your feet, calling individuals you have never met before stupid, dumb, lazy, childish etc whilst exhibiting those exact qualities all by yourself, without any help from any of us here.
You're used to pirating everything you need and never paying for anything. Ever. You sit at a PC surrounded by spindles and spindles... folder and folders of discs that you collectively burn but seldom ever use. Just because you can.
Seems you've hit a wall here though. Eh? Because we're all dumb and it's like you talking to a brick wall, talking to us, huh?
You know what? If YOU want to go ahead and copy/burn or whatever 3DO games for your own personal use at no expense to yourself... then fine. Go for it. But, please realise, it's not something that we condone and we certainly don't support it. We certainly won't be supplying the games you so desire on this forum.
All the best and good luck Skunk. You have a cool backstory. It's a shame that most of us here will never share your same ideology regarding the open piracy and distribution of software - even for 'abandoned' platforms.
Maybe in the future, we can be discussing the merits and drawbacks of the actual games as opposed to how you plan to go about 'acquiring' them...