There is probably no shortage of enterprising folks who would be perfectly happy to burn a disc, print a manual, and sell it for a modest profit.
Where there is a market ... there will be someone who will take the opportunity to cater to that market. IMHO, that's basic human history.
Back in the 80's there were plenty of market stalls with bootlegged copies of home computer games on tapes and discs ... right next to the bootlegged music tapes.
Publishers used to send people around to spot the sellers and get the police to confiscate the counterfeit copies.
Those sellers just moved somewhere else for a while, then came back in a few weeks.
The only things that have changed over the years are the products, and the venue ... the sellers and their customers are still the same.
Call me crazy, but I think we should contact Tobias and tell him preemptively that we don't want him to make a bootleg of Zeroigar. Naturally, that won't necessarily mean he won't do it, but it does mean that he would tarnish his reputation further if he went through with it.
That seems worth doing, as he does seem to have been putting in a fair bit of effort to gain a good reputation with his target market (who don't know/care about the source of his "memories").
I think that no matter what we provide, most people either aren't going to be able to put together a nice-looking home-made game, or they aren't going to want to try. That is exactly where a bootlegger could say "Hey there! Scared to try this on your own? Check out what I made! Yours for ($$$)."
Agreed, there will be lots of people like that ... and there always will be ... and if there are enough of them that want something enough to pay for it, then someone will appear to sell it to them.
We can't stop that, in the same way that companies haven't been able to stop bootlegged music, counterfeit perfume, watches, jeans, etc.
But we can do something for those people that
are willing to make some effort, but don't have the talent to make it look nice by themselves.
Making bootlegging uncool is definitely the key, but I think the most effective way to do this would be to adopt an unwavering and vocal stance against it.
Hahaha ... that strategy hasn't proved to be particularly effective against drugs, teen smoking, teen sex, speeding on the highways, cheating on taxes, etc!
But you're absolutely right ... the stance does need to be taken.
I love this community, and I would be happy for anyone who would like a pretty disc and manual to have one. However, it seems a very slippery slope. If we make and sell a CD, then who are we to say that someone else shouldn't? I don't think that talking about profit margins would convince bootleggers that we aren't hypocrites.
Hahaha ... I think that we've already both got a foot on that slippery slope, and that the ground is already shaking somewhat in regards to hypocrisy ... when it's clear from the nature of the questions in our posts that neither of us owns an original copy of Zeroigar!
But your basic point is absolutely right, and I actually lost sleep thinking about this some more ... there's a line here that I personally don't want to cross.
I don't want to have any sales of the translated Zeroigar CD that uses my code that doesn't have the agreement of
all the parties that are involved, specifically including the original copyright holders ... that goes against the nature of what we've tried to do here.
Printing and selling our own discs, even if only at-cost, on the other hand, I fear would have the reverse effect of what we want.
Agreed, you're right. I was wrong to suggest it as a possibility. Take it as a momentary lapse in judgement. :oops:
For a little perspective, you might enjoy looking through this thread and the other threads linked within it.
http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,17617.0.html
Thank you, that's an interesting thread!
I think that the one post that stood out to me was from tomaitheous (aka Bonknuts, here) ...
Did a lot of work to get Megaman up and running on the PCE. A ~lot~ of hours went into that. Of course, I never intended to sell any of them; I don't own the rights to the material that is Capcom's. But it did suck, knowing someone else was making money off my work. I was offered money (share) or if I wanted it removed. I declined the money; there's no way I could take it even if I wanted to.
I think that that's exactly how we both feel about the Zeroigar translation.
One could easily make a case/manual/cart - but leave the cart shell empty. Let the people that want the translated game, in a nice fancy case, buy a flash card and put it in the new cart themselves.
I think that the closest that we're likely to get is to actually make the files for the manual/inserts/etc available, and know that we've given people a way to produce a great version for themselves if they're willing to put in the minimal effort.
It
does make it easier for Joe SixPack to just burn/print a few copies and sell them on eBay ... but if we have a nice PDF manual with a page or two on the issues of for-profit-bootlegging in it, then I think that we're doing as much as we can to educate the fraction of end-users that will accept the message.
At the end of the day, I'd like people to be able to put together a professional-looking package of the game that really showcases for English-only speakers what it is that the original developers created, and all the hard work that we've put into translating it.
I hope that we can focus more on those good people who will appreciate and enjoy the contribution of
everyone who was involved in making the game, rather than aim our focus on those selfish folks who will take advantage of the situation for their own profit.
