Forums > MobyGames > The Plus/4 Scene? (C16 ports)
Simon Carless (1835) on 12/23/2013 6:11 PM · Permalink · Report
I allowed those because the submitter implied they were legit conversions - however I'm aware: "It is commercial property distributed without the knowledge or consent of the owner, and we won't track such releases.."
So Rola, if you can confirm they are bootlegs then we'll remove 'em. (They were part of the long-ago backlog.)
Patrick Bregger (300001) on 12/23/2013 6:29 PM · Permalink · Report
I think we usually allow unofficial ports, e.g.this (I also remember an impressive unofficial Prince of Persia port we discussed this topic on some time ago). I don't think we ever came to a conclusion were to draw the line, though.
Simon Carless (1835) on 12/23/2013 6:34 PM · Permalink · Report
It seems like these were commercial bootlegs and so I've removed them and queried the submitter - they were released back in 1991 so it's a bit tricky to work out but it's a fair comment overall :P
Игги Друге (46653) on 12/23/2013 11:57 PM · Permalink · Report
Too bad, then I can't tell what we're talking about.
What were the games ported from? From the C64? In that case, it's a non-trivial port, and should fit in. We have never had a rule against illegitimate ports, only illegitimate copies. We even have a game group for games which were deemed illegal in court.
Sciere (930479) on 12/24/2013 12:05 AM · Permalink · Report
This was the website linked as a source for one of the four, but it no longer works: www.plus4world.powweb.com/software/Karateka
Игги Друге (46653) on 12/24/2013 1:57 AM · Permalink · Report
It's up now.
What I think we don't do is to clump unathorised ports together with bonafide ports, although a few such cases have crept into the system over the years.
Indra was here (20756) on 12/24/2013 1:31 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Patrick Bregger wrote--]I think we usually allow unofficial ports, e.g. this (I also remember an impressive unofficial Prince of Persia port we discussed this topic on some time ago). I don't think we ever came to a conclusion were to draw the line, though. [/Q --end Patrick Bregger wrote--] It's not official, but it's legal. Though only in South Korea it seems, due to sovereignty. See: Zemina Co.. That legality part perhaps should be noted in the game group and each game. It's still illegal outside of South Korea.
Anyways, here's my policy proposal to clarify things up:
Default rule is that no unofficial ports are allowed, unless:
- The port obtained consent from the copyright holder.
- Copyright protection has exceeded its time limit in accordance to a country's national law.
- Other exclusions include political conflicts between countries where intellectual property rights of a country may be nullified by another country (see also: Game License agreements).
Cavalary (11445) on 12/23/2013 6:34 PM · Permalink · Report
No idea what this particular case is about other than what the name implies, but I'll say that if a game is playable on a platform without requiring an emulator, we should have it listed for that platform as well, regardless of how legal it is. Just my 2 cents, regardless of standards.
Rola (8483) on 12/23/2013 6:44 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
If we are to allow for this, then we need a way to clearly mark those hacked ports.
Right now our rules are so strict we can't even add a port if it didn't have stand-alone release but was only lumped in a compilation.
For the time being, I'd say a note in trivia is enough (and that's how we dealt with it thus far).
Trypticon (11024) on 12/24/2013 2:18 PM · Permalink · Report
Yeah, ideally I'd like to see some kind of additional option in the browser so they can be filtered if needed. Only marking them as "freeware" wouldn't be so great. And before, the bug I mentioned here pertaining to Plus/4
http://www.mobygames.com/forums/dga,2/dgb,4/dgm,166753/
should be fixed!