FMs to be distributed exclusively through Eidos? (LOOK OUT! IT'S A PRANK!)

driver on 1/4/2005 at 17:01

Quote Posted by ZylonBane

TTLG's prank this year nailed the "extreme enough" bit, but tanks on plausibility, and went over the line on the subject matter.

That's good comming from someone who fell for it... :rolleyes:

:edit:

Curse you fingernail! *shakes fist*

And what do you mean 'momentarily', ZB? It took someone else to point it out before you caught on.

Macsen on 1/4/2005 at 17:10

Kudos to the admins, this was better than my crap Imperium prank. They obviously put some thought into it. :D

ataricom on 1/4/2005 at 18:05

Ugh my brain hurts now. Lemme sit down so I can regain my balance......

Ok, I don't know who to blame for all this, so
GBM, I hate you for 15 seconds
and Eidos, I'll always hate you (always have BTW)

:eww:

Gingerbread Man on 1/4/2005 at 18:21

I actually spoke to the dude on the phone about a half hour ago (lol nabbed him at 10 am on a Friday, I am MEAN to him). Basically, I explained what people have already said here:

I pointed out that at the very least TTLG members shouldn't have to pay to download a thing they created... Nver mind the fact that -- even in a best case scenario -- beta builds etc would be flying around like mad anyway, which is tantamount to having them for free regardless. I also said that we could so easily circumvent this entire plan if we wanted to, but that on the whole we probably would decide that it wasn't too cool to be jerks about it -- which I'm pretty sure is true. We don't want this to happen AT ALL, and if there's a way to stop it that would be much better for everyone than us going all rogue or something equally juvenile.

He seemed pretty cool, but explained that Eidos owns any FMs anyway, and it's sort of a "Grace of God" situation that free distribution happens -- except he said it without sounding like a dick. He did promise to bring it up with whoever he brings things up with (this dude is in Legal, I don't know whether they handle all of this stuff or what), but that if such a system was going to happen we'd have to figure out a way to do it.

And me not having a clue how to do it, I said I'd do what I could. Because I'm stupid like that.

Anyone know how we could implement a sort of Validation Code or something that would allow their system to recognise a TTLG download? Best I could think of was a secret password, but remember I don't know what the hell I'm talking about and obviously passwords are only secret if no one tells people what they are.

Anything to do with forum-based info is right out, even I can see that... It would just require people to register on the forums, find out the code or whatever it is, and then bugger off to download things. This is one of the reasons I can't see this plan working very well at all.

So... erm... anyone with any idea about secure validation systems or whatever it is, drop me a PM or something. I hate having no idea how to tackle a problem, and this one -- even though it's just a small step -- seems like something we could at least find a concrete solution to. And like I say, at least WE'D be out of this whole "lol u have 2 pay" shenaniganry.

Because seriously... Why the hell would we pay to download something one of us made? That's just stupidness.

Griffin on 1/4/2005 at 18:24

I guess I feel that even if it is real...let's just pretend that it is a joke and ignore it.

Ignorance..it IS so blissfull!

SneaksieDave on 1/4/2005 at 18:35

Shit, even if it wasn't a prank, it makes no real difference.

There isn't a court of law in the world that abides by "Whoops! We screwed up, give it back!" clauses. It's ours now. :p

:thumb: (turn the hand sideways and make the thumb point upward, in the middle, and you'll get the idea)

Of course, none of that is in earnest anyway, because it's poppycock.

ataricom on 1/4/2005 at 18:41

The thing that really gets me is this:

Quote:

High-quality submissions will
be released exclusively through Eidos as part of a series of
annual expansion packs which will be available for download
through our website for a nominal fee.

That means that, even if everyone at TTLG gets off for free, it's still limited to new things only once a year?? wtf :confused:

Gingerbread Man on 1/4/2005 at 18:45

Quote Posted by SneaksieDave

There isn't a court of law in the world that abides by "Whoops! We screwed up, give it back!" clauses. It's ours now. :p

No, obviously. They're quite resigned to the fact that it IS out there and they CAN'T take it back. Or, if they tried, they can't possibly guarantee that everything came back. So they want to do something else, namely control the flow of FM distribution on an ANNUAL (yes) basis.

Obviously my first thought was "This is going to more or less shitcan 90% of what TTLG is"

Dark Arrow on 1/4/2005 at 18:46

So this is NOT a joke?!?

When they released the Thief 3 editor, I thought: "Great so thief 3 isn't totally dead". Now they want us to pay for downloading FM's or sending FM's to Eidos to make sure they are up to their standards.

If this is the case and it stays that way, then Thief 3 and its editor can rot in the &#%¤!#@ grave!!!. Anyway, all my Thief 3 plans are on hold until this thing is cleared up. :mad:

ZylonBane on 1/4/2005 at 18:56

I find it extremely unlikely that Eidos would be interested enough in TDS to sell FM collections, but not interested enough to patch it.