So a post of mine back in May just got responded to by a Tobias-defending shill today. That was the result of when this all got started and we were informing a few of the Youtube video channel guys who Tobias was.
If you couldn't persuade them on just the issue of taking the fan translation work, you at least had Tobias' past to inform them of, that is, the fact that he is a lying, criminal fraudster who started his bootleg operation with Sapphire CDs and tricked the public into believing that they were real by using a forged HudsonSoft document to bolster his claims...
So Jimmy did come here and indicate he wouldn't promote Tobias bootlegs in the future, but yeah, one of my posts to Jimmy just got responded to by this guy.
It's the usual, "STFU, or make your own repros. Don't like it, don't criticize it! I had my work repro'ed, I don't care, therefore NOBODY ELSE SHOULD CARE TOO! FEEL AS I SAY, BOY!" I believe toymachine uttered the same attitude earlier in this thread or I think it was another one, but basically it's a way to shut down criticism, much like how resellers are defended, "Don't like the price, just don't buy it, The End AKA STFU!"
Anyway, thought I'd add this clown to the thread. I'm suspicious of his claims, I almost wanna look up his name to see if he actually did mod work that was repro'd, or was he just a troll making the false claim just for the sake of argument to persuade me to "feel" the same way when it comes to hundreds or thousands of
my f--king work hours...
+Kyle Pittman Here's my problem with that, and there are many.
1) I don't need reminders that I have no legal rights or on legality here and even if I had a translation license, it's not like it would be respected all that much by you and others that think like this... Nothing must stand in the way of your pretty piece of "collectible" plastic, after all! You're simply exploiting technical facts and making false equivalency comparisons (no legal ownership of the game, no licensing, pirating=fan translating, etc.) to excuse his disgusting moral behavior.
If it's the product of my work hours, if it had something to do with me, and he violated my [moral] terms-of-use (which were in the ReadMe), I CAN and WILL say something about it! The world is not gonna work according to Kyle where only positive or supportive comments are allowed because he wants his pretty piece of plastic... Sorry!
2) Just as you shared your opinion in defense of a known lying, criminal, bootlegging eBay fraudster, I too will share/advance my opinion on his actions at a moral or ethical level, most especially if it had something to do with me... I expand on the details of this in point (5).
3) Your demands for conformity are useless, unconvincing and self-serving obviously. Just because you did fan hacks that got repro'ed without your permission and YOU don't care, doesn't mean I shouldn't care also and never criticize it which is what you're demanding! How silly! In other words, just because YOU feel that way, doesn't mean I and everybody else should *feel* that way! "HEY MAN, I don't care, therefore YOU shouldn't care either!!! RAWWWRRR!!! Feel as I say!!!!" It's not your work hours, brah! You don't have a say on how I am gonna feel about it, positive or negative! And if I only had positive things to say, you'd welcome it!!
4) You say, if you don't like it, do it yourself or never release the work to the Internet. You didn't finish your sentence though, what you're really saying in the end is STFU! That's almost the same technique greedy resellers use to shut down negative comments or criticism: Don't like the price, don't buy it, otherwise STFU! Don't like your work being repro'd, don't release it, STFU, OR, make your own repro! Blah blah blah!
No, I'll choose another option which is protest: I will inform the public that he's a lying, criminal sneak cheat that snuck around, put my work hours on his pressed CD releases so he could make them more valuable, and that he contacted nobody so that he could pocket every last penny for himself 100%!!! People SHOULD know who they're doing business with despite defenders like yourself that would try to protect, defend, obfuscate, basically tell parties whose work he took to, "STFU, look the other way, too bad, it's the Internet, get over it! It's GONNA happen, so don't bother criticizing it, ever!"
5) Seriously, before you get in the tank to defend somebody, you might want to get your facts straight. Tobias/PCEWorks perpetrated fraud against the public and cost people hundreds of dollars when he started his repro/bootleg operations... He did this by 2 ways: a) He pressed CD-ROMs of a game called Sapphire designed to look as close to the original as possible and claimed they were authentic, b) He forged a document purported to be by Hudson Soft to bolster his claims they were real, the notion that they were some last official batch that was made, but wasn't released because of slight quality issues (his CD pressing company/plant screwed them up in reality).
Having created bootlegs and selling them on eBay, he evaded anti-counterfeit policies for a time and hundreds of people bought his copies under the belief that they were real! Just recently, somebody paid $600 or so for a sealed copy of Sapphire that he thought was real, only to open it and find out it was one of Tobias'/PCEWorks fakes! Both sellers and buyers were tricked and honest buyers had to sell them at a loss when realizing what had happened by choosing to tell the truth!
So, Tobias/PCEWorks made out like a bandit, hundreds of people got screwed, both sellers/stores and buyers alike, and Tobias got away with it, only to come back stronger than ever, continue bootlegging other games, minus the lying since he was eventually caught! Many people are still angry and wanna see him fall!
This man should've had a something of a class action lawsuit brought against him for fraud by all his victims: These were honest people doing business on eBay looking to a buy a real copy of Sapphire, but were defrauded by him... Now we see him promoted on Youtube channels like it was all hunky dory as if it never happened... That is a problem and to the extent I can speak and remind people of his past doings, I can and shall, so DEAL WITH IT!
6) Instead of defending him and other repro makers, gosh golly, I dunno, maybe levying criticism that sneaking around and taking other people's work and using it against their terms isn't the best way to do things, maybe telling people like Tobias that contacting the parties involved is the better route to go, instead of telling the fan groups to just shut up, let the people have their pretty plastic at his greedy premium pricing structure when he escaped licensing fees from NEC, the game publisher, as well as leaving the fan group out of any % cut he's making from his profiteering... What a novel idea, to actually criticize him, the bootlegger, instead of the fan group!
7) I hate to break it to you, but some fan translators are boycotting in protest and ceasing to release work because of bootleggers like Tobias, so the community then pays a price because of him, less free fan translations, but yeah, at least you got your pretty piece of plastic, right ?? Yaaaaay!!!!!
Now, for the record, I'm not one of those fan credo anti-profit type ideologues. Some are well meaning in that mindset, but there are the fanatical types and it is what it is. Some of it could be bluffing threats, some serious, but it is a position a % are taking!
I myself would love to do an Ys I-IV set, if I could get consent with my team, but it's a hard thing to do when you try to do it the right way, or at the very least, the better way... If everyone in your team agreed to press a CD from the very beginning, that's the best point to have talked business. Much harder later on or if you never considered the idea to being with.
Conclusion: You can get in the tank for a lying, criminal, sneak cheat fraudster like Tobias/PCEWorks, but don't expect me to respect your opinion or you... You have revealed your character as someone who supports/defends these guys sneaking around and taking other people's work without any kind of inclusion, contact, permission, etc. And that's the same thing that happened to me with my former criminal translators (Jeff Nussbaum and Thomas Lipschultz) and a company called +XSEED Games! People like that are disgusting and so are those who get in the tank for them as far as I'm concerned!
