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Visplane Overflow!

Is this really you (Quasar) or some lame-ass imposter?

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Well i was hanging around in Old PC Gaming and found this

 

Well i dont know what triggered this because AFAIK Doom and its family (DII, Pluto, TNT) are abandonware, which from wiki, means any software or program that its copyright issues was discontinued.

 

@Quasar is this really you ( I was 99.9% sure it wasnt you) or some lame-ass imposter?

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22 minutes ago, Visplane Overflow! said:

Well i dont know what triggered this because AFAIK Doom and its family (DII, Pluto, TNT) are abandonware, which from wiki, means any software or program that its copyright issues was discontinued.

I can't comment if that's Quasar or not, but this you should read this before saying the above:

 

Short answer: Doom and its family are not abandonware.

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It's funny that this thing is worth a thread...?

 

Well, at least I learned the definition of abandonware. Of course, Doom is not...

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Um, dude, Doom is not abandonware. "Abandonware" is internet slang used for products, in this case video games, that have long lost any kind of interest from the developer's/publisher's side and are no longer available commercially, with or without the exception of collectors.

 

The old Doom games may no longer receive updates but they're very, very far from that status.

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1 hour ago, Visplane Overflow! said:

Well i dont know what triggered this because AFAIK Doom and its family (DII, Pluto, TNT) are abandonware, which from wiki, means any software or program that its copyright issues was discontinued.

"copyright issues"? There are no issues. Doom is copyrighted, and will remain so until the year 2088 (or 2091 for Final Doom). Abandonware isn't a real legal concept, it's just an excuse to pirate on the premise that a game/software isn't available for sale anymore.

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1 hour ago, Catpho said:

I can't comment if that's Quasar or not, but this you should read this before saying the above:

 

Short answer: Doom and its family are not abandonware.

I've even seen forum arguments about abandonware recently (not Doomworld) and why it indeed is abandonware. On these other piracy neutral forums it suddenly becomes fact on those forums. They offer "proof and evidence" to argue their side such as "the source code was given away for free, therefore the game is now free." Others say, "well this popular Youtuber said there's no way to buy game X, therefore its abandonware and people can just freely download it illegally. Its okay." Its like whomever sounds more convincing with their Internet argument or Youtube video becomes either the winner and or perceived fact.

 

As the son of a lawyer, the ignorance makes me sick.

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2 hours ago, Visplane Overflow! said:

Well i dont know what triggered this because AFAIK Doom and its family (DII, Pluto, TNT) are abandonware, which from wiki, means any software or program that its copyright issues was discontinued.

So, if you read wiki, please read it about how long copyright lasts.

 

The short and sweet reply is that, by the definition you're giving, no software exists in the world that could be abandonware. Computers just aren't old enough for anything written for them to have had its copyright lapsing. Anything younger than Mickey Mouse has not had its copyright lapsed.

 

Specifically, for a work under corporate authorship like Doom, that means its copyright will lapse at the end of the 95th calendar year after publication -- Doom, Doom II, and Final Doom were originally published in 1993,1994, and 1996, so their copyrights will expire* on December 31 of years 2088, 2089, and 2091 respectively.

 

(* baring any further copyright term extension -- Mickey Mouse's copyright lapses in 2023, so expect such an extension to happen in the next few years)

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3 hours ago, Visplane Overflow! said:

AFAIK Doom and its family (DII, Pluto, TNT) are abandonware, which from wiki, means any software or program that its copyright issues was discontinued.

 

If Doom was abandonware, why would it be on sale on Steam and GOG?

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Considering all the Doom games are still for sale, with the exception of the few megawads that I don't think you can buy anymore, then that kind of answers the question really.

 

I was thinking about all the retro consoles that are filled with ROM's, how legal are they technically?

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25 minutes ago, Liberation said:

I was thinking about all the retro consoles that are filled with ROM's, how legal are they technically?

 

If the console manufacturer has sought and obtained the necessary legal permission to include the ROMs, perfectly legal.

 

If they haven't, it isn't. 

 

As mentioned above, abandonware is in no way an actual legal state. It's more simply shorthand for "If you pirate this, it's unlikely anyone will sue you."

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If you want to ask someone a question, just send them a PM. You don't need to make a thread about it, especially if it's just some random thing you saw on Steam.

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