uploading Frederik Pohl's Gateway to the archive?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

According to Home of the Underdogs, Frederik Pohl's Gateway was
released as freeware as a promotion for Gateway 2: Homeworld. Assuming
this is true, is there any reason why Gateway 1 hasn't been uploaded to
the archive?

http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=430

Actually, now that I search on Baf's Guide, it doesn't look like
Infocom's Zork 1, 2, or 3 are in the archive either. These couldn't
have been overlooked, so there must be some reason why they're not in
the archive. What's the reason?

Greg

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Andrew Plotkin wrote:
> Just because you see a game available for free download, doesn't mean
> you have the owner's permission to redistribute it from your own
> server.
>
> We'll host a file at the Archive if we have the owner's permission
to.
> Hosting a file involves certain agreements -- that we can distribute
> the file forever unless specifically told otherwise, that we can
> mirror the file on other servers, that we can collect and distribute
> file metadata, that we can change how we distribute files without
> notice. (I.e., the change from primarily being an FTP server to
> primarily HTTP.) In return the Archive makes agreements: that we
won't
> charge money to distribute the files, or give other people permission
> to do that. See the readme, etc, etc.

Yeah, I might have guessed. Sorry to ask a see-the-readme question.
*shrug*

Greg

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Here, Greg Boettcher <WRITETOgregAT@gregboettcher.com> wrote:
> According to Home of the Underdogs, Frederik Pohl's Gateway was
> released as freeware as a promotion for Gateway 2: Homeworld. Assuming
> this is true, is there any reason why Gateway 1 hasn't been uploaded to
> the archive?
>
> http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=430
>
> Actually, now that I search on Baf's Guide, it doesn't look like
> Infocom's Zork 1, 2, or 3 are in the archive either. These couldn't
> have been overlooked, so there must be some reason why they're not in
> the archive. What's the reason?

Just because you see a game available for free download, doesn't mean
you have the owner's permission to redistribute it from your own
server.

We'll host a file at the Archive if we have the owner's permission to.
Hosting a file involves certain agreements -- that we can distribute
the file forever unless specifically told otherwise, that we can
mirror the file on other servers, that we can collect and distribute
file metadata, that we can change how we distribute files without
notice. (I.e., the change from primarily being an FTP server to
primarily HTTP.) In return the Archive makes agreements: that we won't
charge money to distribute the files, or give other people permission
to do that. See the readme, etc, etc.

In general, only the author (or copyright owner) can make those
agreements.

I try not to be nitpicky about this stuff, because the common
consensus has worked in the past and it continues to work. There are
some Archive files -- old ones -- which were uploaded by third
parties, without the author's permission (as far as we know). We keep
those because "that was a long time ago and besides the grue is dead".
But these days we prefer to work directly with the owner. We *really*
prefer it when the owner is a company (e.g. Activision) which has big
nasty lawyers.

--Z

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
I'm still thinking about what to put in this space.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On 23 Jan 2005 20:25:35 -0800, Greg Boettcher
<WRITETOgregAT@gregboettcher.com> wrote:
>Andrew Plotkin wrote:
>> Just because you see a game available for free download, doesn't mean
>> you have the owner's permission to redistribute it from your own
>> server.
>>
>> We'll host a file at the Archive if we have the owner's permission
>to.
>> Hosting a file involves certain agreements -- that we can distribute
>> the file forever unless specifically told otherwise, that we can
>> mirror the file on other servers, that we can collect and distribute
>> file metadata, that we can change how we distribute files without
>> notice. (I.e., the change from primarily being an FTP server to
>> primarily HTTP.) In return the Archive makes agreements: that we
>won't
>> charge money to distribute the files, or give other people permission
>> to do that. See the readme, etc, etc.
>
>Yeah, I might have guessed. Sorry to ask a see-the-readme question.
>*shrug*
>
>Greg
>

More to the point, I emailed Legend a few years back, and was told
that, as the promotion was over, it was no longer okay by them to
distribute free copies of the game.