Oolite for sale on ebay

[Mauiby de Fug]

I'm somewhat surprised that people don't research what they buy. Surely a minute or two on Google or such would have led them to oolite.org, or the bulletin board, where they'd have learned that it could be found for free?

[Commander McLane]

I'm somewhat surprised that people don't research what they buy. Surely a minute or two on Google or such would have led them to oolite.org, or the bulletin board, where they'd have learned that it could be found for free?

Perhaps the buyers are more internet-illiterate people, who can use ebay, but don't feel comfortable with searching for freeware? Or they are afraid of downloading software, and expect that something coming on a CD is inherently more safe, or even better (I assume they won't know that the seller himself only downloaded the software and burned it on CD)?

I am somewhat surprised as well about it, and this is the speculation I came up with.

[JensAyton]

As a thought, perhaps could 1.76 come with a welcome splash screen that only appears on first run, which details the fact that the game is free, available from the net and with details of the license etc?

This would be trivial to add. it would also be trivial to remove. It’s the equivalent of those “FBI WARNING: YOU ARE WATCHING THIS FILM LEGALLY AND THIS IS YOUR PUNISHMENT” signs you get when you pay for films.

As Giles says, we have no basis for action here, at least regarding the core game. As for CC non-commercial licenses, they explicitly permit the use of unmodified works in “collections” (“such as … anthologies” “which, by reason of the selection and arrangement of their contents, constitute intellectual creations”) – as long as the full license is included or linked to – which probably applies here.

My inclination is to ignore it.

[Commander McLane]

My inclination is to ignore it.

I'm inclined to agree.

[Gimi]

This would be trivial to add. it would also be trivial to remove. It’s the equivalent of those “FBI WARNING: YOU ARE WATCHING THIS FILM LEGALLY AND THIS IS YOUR PUNISHMENT” signs you get when you pay for films.

But if it requires editing the source and compiling, it makes it just a little more difficult, and might deter one or two potential resellers. If it causes no harm, I'm for adding it. Tell people it is free, and where they can get it. "Press space to continue".

My inclination is to ignore it.

Agree, and I would go so far as maybe even deleting this thread.

[Smivs]

I'm not sure we should delete this thread. It has been of interest and a similar situation may occur again, in which case we can refer back here.

[Fatleaf]

I was thinking with my page on eBay. It may help to keep Oolite free. As if it is constantly being reposted then any would be seller would be outdone as there would always be a free one available. It could also be good as to show Frontier Development that we are working to keep them happy as well.

What do you think? Should it go or stay and be modified?

And once feedback has been posted it can't be changed.

[drew]

My inclination is to ignore it.

Hmmm. I think ignoring the problem is the same as not dealing with it.

As has been indicated, the GPL legal allows some one to resell the game. OXPs and Fan-Fic are different (depending on license).

Questions in my head.

1. Can we prevent people from doing this? Apparently not.
2. At what price point will this cause us a problem? Right now this chap is selling Oolite for £5.75 and free postage; not a great deal beyond the production costs and the postage. He may make a little profit for his time. Would our reaction be different if he was charging £39.99?
3. How will Frontier Dev. react to profiteering on something that is arguably either their copyright or based on their copyright? Will they go after the ebay trader, or straight here?

All I want is for Oolite to continue unhindered. I fear unless we determine a sensible course of action we run the risk of events dictating to us. We may be able to do practically nothing (I mean that literally), but let's determine that rather than just ignore the issue.

With Oolite becoming ever more noticeable this isn't going to go away. If ebay sellers making money off of Oolite ends up in Oolite being forced off the 'net ... this is bad. We should consider carefully how we can mitigate this possibility.

Cheers,

Drew.

[Fatleaf]

My inclination is to ignore it.

With Oolite becoming ever more noticeable this isn't going to go away. If ebay sellers making money off of Oolite ends up in Oolite being forced off the 'net ... this is bad. We should consider carefully how we can mitigate this possibility.

That is a good point. So what is needed is to make people aware it is available for free. We need to advertise! And when people realize they are paying for stuff they could have gotten for free they get annoyed at the loathsome troll who riped them off.

[Commander McLane]

My inclination is to ignore it.

With Oolite becoming ever more noticeable this isn't going to go away. If ebay sellers making money off of Oolite ends up in Oolite being forced off the 'net ... this is bad. We should consider carefully how we can mitigate this possibility.

That is a good point. So what is needed is to make people aware it is available for free. We need to advertise!

You see, and there we are right in the middle of the dilemma. Because our top priority is for Oolite to stay off the radar of Frontier Development, lest we're not taken down. Therefore the one thing we don't want is to advertise.

[aegidian]

Because our top priority is for Oolite to stay off the radar of Frontier Development, lest we're not taken down.

No. Top priority is to make a good and better game.

It would be silly to assume FD don't know about Oolite. Of course they do.

And it'd be wrong to assume they could take us down like that (*mimes snapping fingers*), they could try, but it's actually more complex than just asking a lawyer to 'sic em!'.

Oolite benefits from publicity and to an extent FD benefits from the same exposure (of Elite, DB & IB's part in history and the continued play Oolite offers).

[Fatleaf]

You see, and there we are right in the middle of the dilemma. Because our top priority is for Oolite to stay off the radar of Frontier Development, lest we're not taken down. Therefore the one thing we don't want is to advertise.

What are the chances of them not knowing about our little community right here. One way to find out how they feel about it is to ask them their position.

[JensAyton]

This would be trivial to add. it would also be trivial to remove. It’s the equivalent of those “FBI WARNING: YOU ARE WATCHING THIS FILM LEGALLY AND THIS IS YOUR PUNISHMENT” signs you get when you pay for films.

But if it requires editing the source and compiling, it makes it just a little more difficult, and might deter one or two potential resellers. If it causes no harm, I'm for adding it. Tell people it is free, and where they can get it. "Press space to continue".

Making the first use experience a message about stuff the player doesn’t care about is harm.

[another_commander]

This would be trivial to add. it would also be trivial to remove. It’s the equivalent of those “FBI WARNING: YOU ARE WATCHING THIS FILM LEGALLY AND THIS IS YOUR PUNISHMENT” signs you get when you pay for films.

But if it requires editing the source and compiling, it makes it just a little more difficult, and might deter one or two potential resellers. If it causes no harm, I'm for adding it. Tell people it is free, and where they can get it. "Press space to continue".

Making the first use experience a message about stuff the player doesn’t care about is harm.

Also note that the splash screen is in plain view inside Images and all one has to do to change it is swap the image there (the 'trivial to remove' part Ahruman mentioned earlier). Oolite is not one of the games that encrypt their resources or bind them in the base executable.

[Thargoid]

I actually meant an "in-game" opening screen rather than the graphical splash screen (just prior to the spinning cobbie on the first ever launch). Or probably even better to have it during the installation process itself rather than as part of the game. For example a modification to the screen at the end which has the option to run the game and/or open the readme.

I know there are ways around this too, but somewhat more complicated or more work to do. And it could even be an advert for the existence of the board and of OXPs, so serving the additional purpose of advertising that there is more to the game than just the vanilla trunk.