Regarding the thread 'Info for those who want to run WO...'

[funzo]

It's unfortunate that this thread was locked, rather than edited or delt with cordially. I'm sure many people could benefit from a discussion of running Wipeout/PC on NT-based systems.

As for 'piracy talk', the administrators seem to have an ambiguous stance on this issue. In some threads, such discussions are not only tolerated but encouraged; in others, they're lambasted. In fact, one of the board's moderators is responsible for posting the URL to Hybrid's release of WO. I adhered to the standards of conduct thus exemplified. What's more, I searched for hours, unsuccessfully, for a copy of Wipeout/PC for sale anywhere, new or aftermarket, before resorting to the inferior, problematic Hybrid release. Wipeout may not be abandonware in the literal sense, but given the scant distribution, from the consumers' perspective it may as well be.

What's more, I think it's worth noting that new sales of this game rely heavily on consumers' ability to play it on contemporary systems.

I can certainly understand not wishing the site to be associated with piracy. However, the forum archives make a poor case of it, and this rather overzealous moderation seems to be an extreme response to that fact.

[AmishRobot]

A quick search on ebay shows four copies of the pc version currently available for sale. In a previous thread, I personally make mention of a local store in my city that has several packaged copies for sale, and offered to purchase copies on WipeoutZone members' behalf. With the exception of a couple versions of some games, (Japanese versions, WOSE) finding copies may be inconvenient, but isn't difficult.

The forum guidelines are very clear on discussion of pirated media. Just because that may have been spottily enforced is no reason to go ahead and do it. When infoxicated says this site has a strong connection to Sony, he isn't kidding. He works for them. He owns, runs, and pays for this site, and if he doesn't want to piss them off, the rest of us respect that.

If you want to discuss how to get the game running under NT, it's just a matter of posting another thread and omitting the fact that it's a pirated copy or where you got it. You're still welcome to do so. There's no need to post another thread complaining about being corrected for violating the guidelines.

[Lance]

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James: nice moderating. :)

funzo: the system administrator created, hosted, and paid for this site since before he was ever associated with Sony, and remains its prime financial supporter even now, and is still the driving force in keeping it alive. it is one of those little odd event sequences in life that he later came to be associated with the very studio that works on the WipEout series. some of our forum members are in fact on the team that developed Fusion. [some other members are the original creators of the first games in the series, though they are no longer working on the series or for its owner.] as a result of his association, Sony most particularly wishes to be assured that this site does not do anything to damage Sony's financial interests, which of course the world's courts legally support. even aside from the question of each of us as individuals breaking or not breaking the law, we should be sensitive to infoxicated's relationship to his employer.

you were completely insensitive to that relationship. i personally might have been a little less abrupt in my reply, BUT it wasn't my job and security that was being threatened. had it been, i would most likely have been quite forceful in my response. editing of your post would have consisted of deleting it altogether. in view of the fact that the very same issue had come up in the immediately previous post, there would on the surface seem to be no excuse for you not having read the guidelines and acting accordingly.

as to the variability of the enforcement of the guidelines, the moderators are just as human as you are. we aren't here all the time, and when we are, we are not perfect, nor always perfectly alert to infractions. sidestepping the guidelines still will sooner or later result in a response. the thread was locked without further discussion and reasoning with you personally because you clearly violated the guidelines. those guidelines were not going to be changed as a result of such a discussion because the conditions that make the guidelines right and proper would still be the same. i would imagine that as a result of this incidence of its violation, enforcement of that particular rule will be more intense and less variable. you are certainly free to choose whether or not to abide by this guideline and continue to participate in the forums.

we would prefer to have you here as a valued member. abide by the guidelines, please. if you question their validity relative to what you want to post, please before posting the material in question, either ask about the issue in a public post or send a private message to a moderator about your concerns.

this forum is not owned by Sony, nor controlled by them; we freely criticise their products, and say what they ought to have done. the one and only thing we don't do here is to deliberately promote the breaking of the anti-piracy laws.

___lance
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[AmishRobot]

I could've been a mod, if my participation weren't so sporadic. ;) Though I should have mentioned that the site isn't part of the Borg^H^H^H^H^Sony. Thanks for making that clearer.

Oh well. I'm off to do a clean re-install of everything on my machine (damn you, Microsoft!). See you next year. :evil: