Games@lemmy.worldbyVittelius@feddit.org
1 day

ESA bafflingly declares private Minecraft servers 'illegal'

www.pcgamer.com English

Cross-geposted von: https://feddit.org/post/31996415

In a remarkably strange statement at a recent California State Senate hearing over the Protect Our Games Act (AB 1921, California’s Stop Killing Games-endorsed bill to compel publishers to provide ways to keep playing discontinued games), a representative of the Entertainment Software Association declared private servers for the likes of Minecraft and Call of Duty “illegal,” adding that, so far as the ESA is concerned, “we consider it piracy.”

In a statement to PC Gamer, the ESA wrote that, so far as it’s concerned, “Private servers infringe on the intellectual property (IP) rights of game publishers. Publishers reserve the right to exercise their rights against them.”

105
    Catch me on the corner selling server.jar out of a long trenchcoat.
    • Daedskin@lemmy.zipEnglish
      8 hours

      It’s blatantly a bad stance from them; but it doesn’t even touch on games that use internal client/server models even when playing single-player — which includes Minecraft. If their argument were law, would I be breaking it by just playing Minecraft at all? With the way it’s worded, I would think yes.

      That doesn’t even take into account that Minecraft in particular can turn a single-player client/server into a multiplayer with one button press. Would that be illegal? Maybe they’d argue not, because it’s LAN only (which is a flimsy argument as well). But with a little effort, you could open up that LAN server up to whomever you wanted.

      Very obvious they didn’t think it through, they just want you to own nothing.

    • Aneorthisio@lemmy.mlEnglish
      9 hours

      All I heard from the ESA representative is : “If buying isn’t owning, pirating isn’t stealing.” 🦜

    • timestatic@feddit.org
      English
      10 hours

      Yeah obviously since these games don’t want private servers they provided the exact files to host your own server. Do they really believe the courts are that stupid?

    • MrMakabar@slrpnk.netEnglish
      11 hours

      I was like what the hell is the European Space Agency doing with Minecraft in California…

      • Baggie@lemmy.zipEnglish
        9 hours

        Exploring the vacuum between the ears of these people apparently

    • Mwa@thelemmy.clubEnglish
      9 hours

      so all tf2 servers (non casual or comp) is illegal now?

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14 hours

      We reached out to all gamers everywhere and a spokesman for the group responded with the following statement:

      Lol wut?

      Fucking noobs…

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 @pawb.socialEnglish
      19 hours

      So it’s piracy to use the software that comes with the game? The Java version of the game, at least, has always come with the software to run your own server without needing to rent one directly from any specific vendor.

      The ESA can go fuck itself.

      • Rekorse@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        17 hours

        The java version authenticates with Microsoft and Mojang to prove valid ownership and to make sure parental controls are applied to accounts. I believe they are talking about unauthenticated servers that allow pirated accounts to join. Its similar to private MMO servers that are setup in a similar way. Same files, used unsupervised.

        Generally this type of thing only matters with games that kids play, because people tend to try to protect kids. Games explicitly for adults seem to be able to be more free with what they allow.

        • reev@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          12 hours

          Tell me you’ve never hosted a Minecraft server without telling me you’ve never hosted a Minecraft server.

        • black0ut@pawb.socialEnglish
          14 hours

          Microsoft’s official server binary, distributed by Microsoft themselves, has the option to not authenticate with Mojang’s servers. You don’t even need to modify it. I wouldn’t call that one piracy.

          • Rekorse@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            55 minutes

            Sure, and WoW ships with a file that directs you to the official servers, that you can change to any IP address.

            Besides all that I’m simply explaining the companies position. If you want to pirate the game feel free. If you want to allow “offline” accounts to join your server, feel free to do that too.

          • Axolotl@feddit.itEnglish
            13 hours

            The official minecraft client jar has an option to disable authentication with mojang servers too btw

            • Rekorse@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              53 minutes

              Sure, but theres a wide range of usage for an unnoficial minecraft server. Some servers make quite a lot of money via gambling mechanics.

              The main reason Mojang or Minecraft care is because they need to protect the games image as a safe thing for kids to play. If it was a mature rated game, none of this would even matter.

    • Kairos@lemmy.todayEnglish
      18 hours

      Gibbons cut in: “They’re illegal. They are not in any way affiliated with Microsoft. Microsoft, for Minecraft, has gotten a lot of criticism because of those community servers not employing the same safety standards that Microsoft does on their Minecraft servers.”

      Oh this bullshit with the EULA

      • Axolotl@feddit.itEnglish
        13 hours

        I didn’t know mojang had any official servers aside from the bedrock one that was used for the mob vote

        Huh

        • Kairos@lemmy.todayEnglish
          12 hours

          They don’t. There’s realms. What I’m referring to is the EULA for running those servers. Mojang blocks IPs all the time.