From: kw@doc.ic.ac.uk (K. Wong)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
Subject: Re: Renting Games? (Was Re: B-17 Flying Fortress)
Date: 8 Oct 1992 16:17:53 +0100
Organization: Department of Computing, Imperial College, University of London, UK.
NNTP-Posting-Host: oak8.doc.ic.ac.uk

>In a previous article, mckinney@cs.utexas.edu (Durwood Y. McKinney) says:
>
>Videotape: how many times do you watch a movie? How many times do you play
>a game? Is there a difference between these figures?

	Hmm... Well.. I finished UltimaIV (all right, a bit dated, but as an
example) In about 5 days of maybe 6-8 hours or so. That comes to less than
40 hrs. I haven't played it since. Now, maybe I'm wierd, but I musta seen
Aliens about 40+ times or so. That comes to 80+ hours. And I still watch it
every so often. So, in answer to your question, no, not really. Some movies
I will watch over and over again if it is good, just like a good game, and the
same with pieces of junk.

>
>>I think a library of computer games would serve a public need.  After all,
>>most people only play a game for a month or so and then it sits on their
>>shelf forever (at least that's how it is for me).  Hell, I may start a
>>community software library in my neighborhood someday.  That is, if libraries
>>aren't illegal by then 8).  A library card will let you check out a computer
>>game on CD-ROM, due back in a month, with a 25 cent per day late fee.

	I couldn't agree with you more. How many people out there play the
same game for a year over and over again?

>Go for it. I mean it. If someone started a software library near me, I'd
>use it. But I would like to know where you plan on finding the money to
>stock this hypothetical library. Public libraries serve a purpose:
>entertainment and recreation. A software library would be mostly used for
>recreation, since it would not be really feasable to borrow WordPerfect
>every time you wanted to write a letter. Especially if the copy was already
>taken out.

	How does the average run-of-the-mill library find the money to stock
books? All right, the community funds it, (thru taxes and such.) In the same
way, if software libraries were legal, they could easily be funded.

>>>When you copy a videotape, you see a LOT of performance degradation. When
>>>you copy a program, there is none. That's really the only difference. Oh --
>>>and you can copy a disk with only one drive (swap disks), but you need two
>>>VCRs to copy a tape. Generation loss is the main reason no one worries
>>>about video piracy, though.

	Ahh... but manufacturers do worry about it. That's why they always
have those silly holo-labels and ads saying "dont rent/watch/buy this tape
if it doesn't have this label on it." (or some-such) 

>>The same holds true for the documentation the computer program comes with.
>>If you copy it, your copy is not as clear as the original (though technology
>>will probably remove this distinction soon).
>
>Documentation != program.
>
>> I think this whole issue is just another example of our democratic process
>>being subverted by big business.  I'm just glad that the Software Publishing
>>Association wasn't around when the printing press was invented.

	What are you trying to say here? What differance would it have made?

>Tell me, do you think that the Freemasons killed JFK?

	Couldn't care less...  Who are the Freemasons? B->

==============================================================================
" There is no right, there is only POWER! "
				- Ashen-Shugar,A Darkness at Sethenon

Hadoken! -Ken
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games