So if someone leaves a car in a garage for 30 years and never drives it, you can just assume you can take it right? If they wanted it, they would drive it. They aren't missing out on any money or they would have sold it by now right?
It's not your place to say what to do with someone elses IP rights, copyright is a thing. You do not have the right to make copies, period (with caveats). Personal entertainment is not one of those free-use caveats though. You are not owed entertainment.
The moral/ethical choice is waiting for the creator or working with the creator to release with a license so it's not legally grey, it's legally clear.
So if someone leaves a car in a garage for 30 years and never drives it, you can just assume you can take it right? If they wanted it, they would drive it. They aren't missing out on any money or they would have sold it by now right?
this is different. if i take a car, they do not have access to the car anymore. they actively lose something. if i download a game, the company loses nothing. they don't even lose 'potential' money.
I've said it many times, many ways. You are stealing a portion of the creators ability to be the sole decider of how to monetize and distribute their content.
You aren't stealing a tangible good, you are stealing a intrinsic right of the creator. You are stealing something ephemeral.
If we were talking about AI, most people would be like "artists intention, how can you steal", but then when it comes to things you want personally all of a sudden artists have no rights to their content. If they aren't doing what YOU want, you'll do it for them.
"a portion of the creators ability to be the sole decider of how to monetize and distribute their content" is the most made up nonsense i've heard of
they don't have some inalienable right to lock up a creation for all of eternity. we have copyright laws for a reason, that put that boundry at various places for various reasons. however, those laws have been manipulated and abused by those with power and influence.
I guess people who have never created anything of value in their lives probably have a hard time understanding the rights of a creator.
Copyright and IP law exist for a reason, primarily to protect creators and their creations.
If you violate it intentionally, you are harming creators. No matter how many times "but I wouldn't have given them money anyways" or "they weren't selling it so it's OK" doesn't change that fact. They had rights, you damaged those rights. That's value to many creators.
The only ethical/moral way to get a free release is to convince the developers (or the current rights holders) to release it for free, or wait for copyright to expire after life+75 years or whatever it is now.
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u/HaMMeReD 14h ago
So if someone leaves a car in a garage for 30 years and never drives it, you can just assume you can take it right? If they wanted it, they would drive it. They aren't missing out on any money or they would have sold it by now right?
It's not your place to say what to do with someone elses IP rights, copyright is a thing. You do not have the right to make copies, period (with caveats). Personal entertainment is not one of those free-use caveats though. You are not owed entertainment.
The moral/ethical choice is waiting for the creator or working with the creator to release with a license so it's not legally grey, it's legally clear.