Read by Council Hinder design theft

[Zekester81]

As a basic mechanic IRL, I work on other peoples stuff all the time. I have a couple partners who know lots more than I. I think the auto industry fits the mold here quite well. Most components are easily fixed by anyone who can do the work in this game. The real difficult part of this would be fixing someone elses logic. The logic part alone could be equated to something like fixing a Raptor(depending on the builder), though given enough experience some could probably figure it out. It might be better to think of the logic like an electrical system. You call a mechanic to fix the ship, and an electrician to fix the logic. Having repair only blueprints/designs is a cool idea. A ship mechanic with shipyard could acquire a licensed repair design to work on those ships.

I like the potential for this, but being a game, think that there should be a way to steal peoples work. I mean, it happens in RL all the time, take someones example of the Russian bomber copied from the US bomber. Some just come out better than others. I don't think it should be easy though. I believe that in a game of galactic conquest and exploration, espionage has a place.

 

[Lecic]

As a basic mechanic IRL, I work on other peoples stuff all the time. I have a couple partners who know lots more than I. I think the auto industry fits the mold here quite well. Most components are easily fixed by anyone who can do the work in this game. The real difficult part of this would be fixing someone elses logic. The logic part alone could be equated to something like fixing a Raptor(depending on the builder), though given enough experience some could probably figure it out. It might be better to think of the logic like an electrical system. You call a mechanic to fix the ship, and an electrician to fix the logic. Having repair only blueprints/designs is a cool idea. A ship mechanic with shipyard could acquire a licensed repair design to work on those ships.

I like the potential for this, but being a game, think that there should be a way to steal peoples work. I mean, it happens in RL all the time, take someones example of the Russian bomber copied from the US bomber. Some just come out better than others. I don't think it should be easy though. I believe that in a game of galactic conquest and exploration, espionage has a place.

You can still steal designs, you just need to pick away at it manually and find out how it works to do so.

Also, if you're a member of the owner's faction, you should probably still be able to save it to local, so planting spies for espionage still works.

 

[Jojomo]

I very strongly disagree with this idea. Have you never heard of the recording industry and record labels?

Trying to stop people copying things that have zero marginal cost is ridiculous.

If you want to "protect" yourself as a designer you do in one of these two ways:
1. your reputation is built on your past designs, and any customer who's impressed by them and comes to you finnds you've been working on new designs that aren't in the wild yet. I.e. keep designing to stay ahead of the copycats.
2. Your businuess is not selling a completed ship you designed, it's selling a service: the customer has seen your old designs and likes them, so they come to you and ask you to create a custom design. You design to their specifications, but with your processes and style.

For the record, the industries I've worked in are software development, and now (ocean not space) ship design, and to be successful in either you need to be able to stay ahead despite people copying your work.

 

[Calhoun]

I like the potential for this, but being a game, think that there should be a way to steal peoples work. I mean, it happens in RL all the time, take someones example of the Russian bomber copied from the US bomber. Some just come out better than others. I don't think it should be easy though. I believe that in a game of galactic conquest and exploration, espionage has a place.

Steal, yes. Copy really easily, no. The aforementioned Tupolev Tu-4 was only copied after they managed to get their hands on a couple of B-29s. The Soviets tried to buy some off the US but 'merica wasn't really into it.

Ultimately though, if i'm in a war with someone, I don't want to copy their designs. I'll want to steal their designs to find weaknesses, which is far too easy at the moment. But that's not really what this thread seems to be about.

I very strongly disagree with this idea. Have you never heard of the recording industry and record labels?

Trying to stop people copying things that have zero marginal cost is ridiculous.

You know the saying time is money? If I've sunk even 3 days into a ship you can bet your boots it has value to me.

If you want to "protect" yourself as a designer you do in one of these two ways:
1. your reputation is built on your past designs, and any customer who's impressed by them and comes to you finds you've been working on new designs that aren't in the wild yet. I.e. keep designing to stay ahead of the copycats.
2. Your businuess is not selling a completed ship you designed, it's selling a service: the customer has seen your old designs and likes them, so they come to you and ask you to create a custom design. You design to their specifications, but with your processes and style.

1. Sure, continue designing sounds simple. Let's take Dr. Whammy as an example again. The good Doctor has spent the last month or two on a shiny new Cruiser. He's very proud to offer it up for sale! Problem is, StarWars1981 bought one and then proceeded to copy it a couple of times and starts harassing Whammy's Shipyards and mining operations. So what do we have now? Whammy has sold a single ship, which has immediately been used against him. He's also not getting his usual amount of material to work with. But the biggest thing? He's just wasted 2 months of solid designing. It'll take at least the same amount of time to design a new Cruiser that's better than the old. And in that 2 months, StarWars The Terrible could copy the stolen ship 100 times, and still beat the new one by sheer force of numbers.

2. No. Just... no. Who's to say Dr. Whammy doesn't want to sell completed ships? Ol' Whammy wants to be Starship Manufacturer and Dealer. If someone wants to commission a certain type or class of ship, he might do it. But it's not necessarily his main work.

 

[KillaKrazy]

I very strongly disagree with this idea. Have you never heard of the recording industry and record labels?

Trying to stop people copying things that have zero marginal cost is ridiculous.

If you want to "protect" yourself as a designer you do in one of these two ways:
1. your reputation is built on your past designs, and any customer who's impressed by them and comes to you finnds you've been working on new designs that aren't in the wild yet. I.e. keep designing to stay ahead of the copycats.
2. Your businuess is not selling a completed ship you designed, it's selling a service: the customer has seen your old designs and likes them, so they come to you and ask you to create a custom design. You design to their specifications, but with your processes and style.

For the record, the industries I've worked in are software development, and now (ocean not space) ship design, and to be successful in either you need to be able to stay ahead despite people copying your work.

Yes because the current set-up works amazing and helps push for selling ships. Spend months designing a ship, sell it to one person, watch them copy and endlessly build there own. Yes, I very much love spending months at a time perfecting my builds to make a single sale.

 

[Lecic]

I very strongly disagree with this idea. Have you never heard of the recording industry and record labels?

Trying to stop people copying things that have zero marginal cost is ridiculous.

If you want to "protect" yourself as a designer you do in one of these two ways:
1. your reputation is built on your past designs, and any customer who's impressed by them and comes to you finnds you've been working on new designs that aren't in the wild yet. I.e. keep designing to stay ahead of the copycats.
2. Your businuess is not selling a completed ship you designed, it's selling a service: the customer has seen your old designs and likes them, so they come to you and ask you to create a custom design. You design to their specifications, but with your processes and style.

For the record, the industries I've worked in are software development, and now (ocean not space) ship design, and to be successful in either you need to be able to stay ahead despite people copying your work.

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

No.

Players need a way to manufacture vessels and make sure that people aren't making literal identical copies of it. This isn't like building a boat where people need to dissect your designs to make something that's a close copy, a process that takes time and effort. You can purchase a copy of a ship or steal one from one of their customers and make a PERFECT COPY with absolutely no effort.

 

[Jojomo]

You know the saying time is money? If I've sunk even 3 days into a ship you can bet your boots it has value to me.

For staters, value and cost are entirely different things (I'm sure you can think of free things you value very highly), and second I said MARGINAL cost. That's the cost of producing more after the original.
As you can see with online piracy, people generally don't feel that something with zero (or near zero) marginal cost shouldn't be shared.

1. Sure, continue designing sounds simple. Let's take Dr. Whammy as an example again. The good Doctor has spent the last month or two on a shiny new Cruiser. He's very proud to offer it up for sale! Problem is, StarWars1981 bought one and then proceeded to copy it a couple of times and starts harassing Whammy's Shipyards and mining operations. So what do we have now? Whammy has sold a single ship, which has immediately been used against him. He's also not getting his usual amount of material to work with. But the biggest thing? He's just wasted 2 months of solid designing. It'll take at least the same amount of time to design a new Cruiser that's better than the old. And in that 2 months, StarWars The Terrible could copy the stolen ship 100 times, and still beat the new one by sheer force of numbers.

It's used against him: unless he has stumbled across an incredible design secret that no-one else has, what difference does that make? His enemy certainly had plenty of other fairly similar options.

Not getting his "usual" amount of material: what is usual for him? How much did he get? Does he have a right to never have to mine? I don't understand what the problem is here.

Wasted 2 months of design: why is it wasted? Is any design by anyone that doesn't make enough profit for the designer a waste? I don't think so, and I'd guess the very, very, vast majority of designs fall into this category, no matter how good they are or how long they took to create.

2. No. Just... no. Who's to say Dr. Whammy doesn't want to sell completed ships? Ol' Whammy wants to be Starship Manufacturer and Dealer. If someone wants to commission a certain type or class of ship, he might do it. But it's not necessarily his main work.

Dr Whammy doesn't get to dictate what the marketplace should be to suit his business model. If his goal is to make profit (as opposed to simply design ships) he must suit his business to the marketplace (see my suggestions for how to do so).
[doublepost=1474945399,1474945185][/doublepost]

Yes because the current set-up works amazing and helps push for selling ships. Spend months designing a ship, sell it to one person, watch them copy and endlessly build there own. Yes, I very much love spending months at a time perfecting my builds to make a single sale.

I'm sure that for you as soon as the rewards for building a ship (whether they be profit, enjoyment, satisfaction, prestige, or whatever) are smaller than the costs of building a ship (whether that is time, effort, whatever) you will stop building ships.

If you haven't stopped, and are still building them, your rewards must still be greater than your costs. No further incentive is needed to get you to build ships.
[doublepost=1474945534][/doublepost]

Players need a way to manufacture vessels and make sure that people aren't making literal identical copies of it.

Want, yes (some players).
Need, no.

What makes you think they need it? They're already building ships without it.

 

[KillaKrazy]

For staters, value and cost are entirely different things (I'm sure you can think of free things you value very highly), and second I said MARGINAL cost. That's the cost of producing more after the original.
As you can see with online piracy, people generally don't feel that something with zero (or near zero) marginal cost shouldn't be shared.


It's used against him: unless he has stumbled across an incredible design secret that no-one else has, what difference does that make? His enemy certainly had plenty of other fairly similar options.

Not getting his "usual" amount of material: what is usual for him? How much did he get? Does he have a right to never have to mine? I don't understand what the problem is here.

Wasted 2 months of design: why is it wasted? Is any design by anyone that doesn't make enough profit for the designer a waste? I don't think so, and I'd guess the very, very, vast majority of designs fall into this category, no matter how good they are or how long they took to create.



Dr Whammy doesn't get to dictate what the marketplace should be to suit his business model. If his goal is to make profit (as opposed to simply design ships) he must suit his business to the marketplace (see my suggestions for how to do so).
[doublepost=1474945399,1474945185][/doublepost]

I'm sure that for you as soon as the rewards for building a ship (whether they be profit, enjoyment, satisfaction, prestige, or whatever) are smaller than the costs of building a ship (whether that is time, effort, whatever) you will stop building ships.

If you haven't stopped, and are still building them, your rewards must still be greater than your costs. No further incentive is needed to get you to build ships.
[doublepost=1474945534][/doublepost]

Want, yes (some players).
Need, no.

What makes you think they need it? They're already building ships without it.

You seem to have this weird fascination that online piracy and this are the same thing. Online piracy is a crime in most places. Regardless they are not one in the same. StarMade has a distinct lack of playing styles and things to do. When broken down StarMade only has 3 things: mine, build, fight (if you are into fighting). Having a way to make it so your ships can not be saved as a BP would help create new playing styles and help build a foundation for player trading/interacting. Like building and don't like fighting? Or don't want to join a faction due to the drama that revolves around them? You could actually become a ship builder and it would be worth something. I don't sell ships because it's not worth spending weeks maximizing my builds to make just 1 sale. All they are going to do after buying the 1st blueprint is copy it to build their own. I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

You may be fine with the game as is and the lack of content, but many of us are not.

 

[Lecic]

Want, yes (some players).
Need, no.

What makes you think they need it? They're already building ships without it.

You are aware that is essentially impossible to sell the same ship to someone twice, yes?

 

[Calhoun]

For staters, value and cost are entirely different things (I'm sure you can think of free things you value very highly), and second I said MARGINAL cost. That's the cost of producing more after the original.
As you can see with online piracy, people generally don't feel that something with zero (or near zero) marginal cost shouldn't be shared.

This is literally the worst analogy ever. A ship does have a cost: in-game credits or time spent mining for resources.

Dr Whammy doesn't get to dictate what the marketplace should be to suit his business model. If his goal is to make profit (as opposed to simply design ships) he must suit his business to the marketplace (see my suggestions for how to do so).

Dr. Whammy Certainly does have the right to choose his business. However there is no point currently to the ship building business because you will only ever sell one ship. That's what this thread is about, boosting the Starmade economy by preventing people from outright copying your designs.

Wasted 2 months of design: why is it wasted? Is any design by anyone that doesn't make enough profit for the designer a waste? I don't think so, and I'd guess the very, very, vast majority of designs fall into this category, no matter how good they are or how long they took to create.

It's definitely a waste if he spent that time making a design with the intent to sell it.

Ultimately, this suggestion seems to have been made for two reasons, One: To prevent people design stealing and, Two (With farther reaching effect): To help build a living economy in Starmade. None of your 'suggestions' in this thread have any potential to do either of these.

 

[terra mining corp.]

What we need is a "space ship" dealership you can pick from in stock inventory or special order , and it's built and shipped to you. No blue prints change hands.

 

[Jojomo]

You seem to have this weird fascination that online piracy and this are the same thing. Online piracy is a crime in most places. Regardless they are not one in the same. StarMade has a distinct lack of playing styles and things to do. When broken down StarMade only has 3 things: mine, build, fight (if you are into fighting). Having a way to make it so your ships can not be saved as a BP would help create new playing styles and help build a foundation for player trading/interacting. Like building and don't like fighting? Or don't want to join a faction due to the drama that revolves around them? You could actually become a ship builder and it would be worth something. I don't sell ships because it's not worth spending weeks maximizing my builds to make just 1 sale. All they are going to do after buying the 1st blueprint is copy it to build their own. I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

You may be fine with the game as is and the lack of content, but many of us are not.

DRM on blueprints won't give any new content. It will just stifle the pace of innovation and design evolution.

You don't sell ships, but you do build them presumably, so DRM won't be encouraging any new builds.
[doublepost=1474960159,1474960098][/doublepost]

You are aware that is essentially impossible to sell the same ship to someone twice, yes?

Good? I have no idea what your point is I'm afraid...
[doublepost=1474960976][/doublepost]

This is literally the worst analogy ever. A ship does have a cost: in-game credits or time spent mining for resources.

Either that cost is insignificant, and we can consider marginal cost to be effectively zero, or that cost is significant, and therefore there already exists a barrier to a ship being endlessly copied - people have to work to make a copy already.

Dr. Whammy Certainly does have the right to choose his business. However there is no point currently to the ship building business because you will only ever sell one ship. That's what this thread is about, boosting the Starmade economy by preventing people from outright copying your designs.

Yes, but no-one has the right to choose what business model will be successful in an existing marketplace. It's up to you to create a successful business model to fit the market place (assuming profit is your goal).

As I've already said, DRM will stifle innovation. Designers whose goal is profit won't need to keep creating new designs. Good for them, but not the game/community.

It's definitely a waste if he spent that time making a design with the intent to sell it.

If profit was his only goal, yes.

Presumably to spend two months on something unlikely to make a profit means he must also get enjoyment from building. He also ends up with a design he can play with, and/or a design he can let other people play with. You can't just assume it's a waste.

Ultimately, this suggestion seems to have been made for two reasons, One: To prevent people design stealing and, Two (With farther reaching effect): To help build a living economy in Starmade. None of your 'suggestions' in this thread have any potential to do either of these.

Stealing? You're talking about something you willingly sold to another player. He hasn't stolen anything, and in this system where copying is allowed you can't even claim that the player has done anything wrong - you knew the score when you sold it.

Actually I've made two suggestions that could create a viable business for someone AND encourage innovation and growth.
DRM will stifle innovation.

Take a look at the fashion industry as an example: it's extremely innovative (endless "new season" styles), makes billions of dollars, and it does it all without any IP protection at all.

 

[Lecic]

Good? I have no idea what your point is I'm afraid...

My point is that it's impossible to for someone to go, "I'm a ship manufacturer!" on a server, because it's easier to mine your own resources and make your own PERFECTLY IDENTICAL copy of someone's stolen design than to go and buy a copy from the original person who made it. So no, not good. Bad.

Actually I've made two suggestions that could create a viable business for someone AND encourage innovation and growth.
DRM will stifle innovation.

And those suggestions are? And no, it won't. It'll stifle KNOCKOFFS THAT ARE IDENTICAL TO THE MAIN PRODUCT.

 

[Jojomo]

My point is that it's impossible to for someone to go, "I'm a ship manufacturer!" on a server, ...

No it isn't, it's (probably) impossible to sell large numbers of the same ship on a server.

...because it's easier to mine your own resources and make your own PERFECTLY IDENTICAL copy of someone's stolen design than to go and buy a copy from the original person who made it. So no, not good. Bad.

Then perhaps you should try addressing the cause in that sentence rather than the effect: you might consider mining to be too easy, or the person selling the ships to be doing it at a price that's too high.

And it's not a "stolen" design. It's a bought and paid for design.

And those suggestions are? And no, it won't. It'll stifle KNOCKOFFS THAT ARE IDENTICAL TO THE MAIN PRODUCT.

No need to yell.

You've read them and quoted them earlier.

The business owner has to adapt to the market, not the other way around. He has to offer something that copycats can't (custom designs, new designs before they become widely copied, free future upgrades, other related services, etc). Basically it's his own responsibility to make people want to pay.

People do it successfully in real life. A couple of examples:
- the fashion industry, as I've already said
- the live music industry sells music you can very easily get online for free (so does iTunes, profitably)
- Red Hat is a billion dollar company selling what you can get for free
- Schine are giving away Starmade for free, but people pay anyway.

If blueprints are DRMed it will take about a week before someone releases a tool to extract the blueprints from saved game files with a single click. There's no point.

DRM would remove pressure on designers to stay ahead of the pack and innovate designs to attract new/repeat customers if they can sell the same design many times. Innovation is good, and should be encouraged.

 

[KillaKrazy]

DRM on blueprints won't give any new content. It will just stifle the pace of innovation and design evolution.

You don't sell ships, but you do build them presumably, so DRM won't be encouraging any new builds.
[doublepost=1474960159,1474960098][/doublepost]

Again you completely miss the point behind this idea along with having terrible analogizes to base your opinion off of.

Digital rights management (DRM) is a systematic approach to copyright protection for digital media. The purpose of DRM is to prevent unauthorized redistribution of digital media and restrict the ways consumers can copy content they've purchased.

Not sure why you keep trying to bring up online piracy/DRM as those are separate issues from what we are trying to stop here. You keep talking about how making it so people can't BP ships you sell to them would stifle innovation, but present 0 evidence/justification as to how. Meanwhile, we could go on for days about how the current set up discourages the innovation, building, sharing, and selling of ships. Lecic summed up the current issue pretty well in his previous post.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

My name has been used way too much in the past 48 hours... Time for me to speak up.

Jojomo, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to go to the Boeing HQ, photo copy the schematics for the AH64D Apache helicopter, then build me 5 of them for a private military contract gig I have lined up. You can even let China build them if you want to save a buck. If you can do that for me within a 12 month span, you will receive no further argument from me (or possibly anyone else) on this subject. Otherwise, you need to respect the needs of other players or go make a game called "JojomoMade"

So far, all of your posts suggest that you

a) have no regard for the wishes of designers; the very same people who make this game infinitely more complex than say a bunch of death cubes spewing nukes at each other.

b) are too lazy to build your own ships and thus feel you need to have access to other people's work in addition to the vast assortment of community content builds out there.

c) are a malicious player who delights in seeing the frustration other players exhibit when their work is plagiarized

d) are playing devils advocate against something everyone but you on this thread has expressed interest in because you're bored and simply because you can.

Perhaps you could offer an explanation as to why you feel so entitled to the ability to copy other people's work; people who obviously aren't interested in just giving it away for others to exploit? I'm sure the other posters would like to know as well.

 

[KillaKrazy]

People do it successfully in real life. A couple of examples:
- the fashion industry, as I've already said
- the live music industry sells music you can very easily get online for free (so does iTunes, profitably)
- Red Hat is a billion dollar company selling what you can get for free
- Schine are giving away Starmade for free, but people pay anyway.

Talking to you is about as pointless as talking to a wall. But, lets break this down anyway.

1./2. There are numerous copyright and patent laws that protect the fashion and music industry. In case you haven't noticed, stealing designs or illegally downloading music is illegal. The music industry makes it because there are hefty fines you pay if you get caught downloading.
3. Never heard of Red Hat, but with a quick search and look at their webpage; they aren't selling services that you can find for free.
4. People buy the game because they either like the game, want to help see the game grow, and/or don't want to pay a higher price in the future.

 

[Jojomo]

My name has been used way too much in the past 48 hours... Time for me to speak up.

Jojomo, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to go to the Boeing HQ, photo copy the schematics for the AH64D Apache helicopter, then build me 5 of them for a private military contract gig I have lined up. You can even let China build them if you want to save a buck. If you can do that for me within a 12 month span, you will receive no further argument from me (or possibly anyone else) on this subject. Otherwise, you need to respect the needs of other players or go make a game called "JojomoMade"

No need to get personal. I only ever used your name in replies to content that used your name. I have no idea why your name was used at all.

I'm sure someone here will agree that there are room for opinions that differ from their own.

So far, all of your posts suggest that you

a) have no regard for the wishes of designers; the very same people who make this game infinitely more complex than say a bunch of death cubes spewing nukes at each other.

b) are too lazy to build you own ships and thus feel you need to have access to other people's work in addition to the vast assortment of community content builds out there.

c) are a malicious player who delights in seeing the frustration other players exhibit when their work is plagiarized

d) are playing devils advocate against something everyone but you on this thread has expressed interest in because you're bored and simply because you can.

Very presumptive, and entirely wrong.

a) I'm a designer in real life, and a designer is the most appealing role I can think of in SM for myself.

b) I'm building my own ships and have zero interest in using anyone else's, whether they're free or not.

c) I've had my own work copied and used without permission (not in SM). It can't be entirely avoided, you just have to adapt. I don't enjoy other's frustration, thanks for the insinuation.

d) It's a topic I have a deep and long-standing interest in. DRM of digital content is nearly always a bad idea, this is one of a long history of conversations on the topic for me. There's absolutely no need for anyone to get upset simply because I express an opinion that doesn't match their own.

Perhaps you could offer an explanation as to why you feel so entitled to the ability to copy other people's work; people who obviously aren't interested in just giving it away for others to exploit? I'm sure the other posters would like to know as well.

As I said, I have no interest in using anyone else's ships. I believe DRM is never the best solution to any problem. It isn't going to magically let people design ships and sell large numbers of them. It's going to remove some of the drive for innovation of ship design, and I would be disappointed to see that happen.
[doublepost=1474983037,1474982819][/doublepost]

Talking to you is about as pointless as talking to a wall. But, lets break this down anyway.

1./2. There are numerous copyright and patent laws that protect the fashion and music industry. In case you haven't noticed, stealing designs or illegally downloading music is illegal. The music industry makes it because there are hefty fines you pay if you get caught downloading.
3. Never heard of Red Hat, but with a quick search and look at their webpage; they aren't selling services that you can find for free.
4. People buy the game because they either like the game, want to help see the game grow, and/or don't want to pay a higher price in the future.

1. No there aren't.
2. Yes, but they're so ineffective I could probably download any song in the world in about 30 seconds max. Illegal sources of music are (strong) competition for legal sources.
3. You don't know enough to make this statement. Red Hat is a Linux distribution.
4. Tada! Their business model provides incentives for people to pay for something they could have for free.

 

[KillaKrazy]

Very presumptive, and entirely wrong.

a) I'm a designer in real life, and a designer is the most appealing role I can think of in SM for myself.

b) I'm building my own ships and have zero interest in using anyone else's, whether they're free or not.

c) I've had my own work copied and used without permission (not in SM). It can't be entirely avoided, you just have to adapt. I don't enjoy other's frustration, thanks for the insinuation.

d) It's a topic I have a deep and long-standing interest in. DRM of digital content is nearly always a bad idea, this is one of a long history of conversations on the topic for me. There's absolutely no need for anyone to get upset simply because I express an opinion that doesn't match their own.

I've said my piece. You don't sell your ships in StarMade, thus you have 0 interest and 0 knowledge in what we go through. You are also unable to come up with any reasons as to why we shouldn't allow players to BP every ship they buy in the game that doesn't involve poorly worded/biased real-world examples. Thus, as far as I see you, you have zero standing in regards to this topic. There are very real-world reasons why people don't copy/distribute other peoples work that are not present in the game due to the current mechanics.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

No need to get personal. I only ever used your name in replies to content that used your name. I have no idea why your name was used at all.

I'm sure someone here will agree that there are room for opinions that differ from their own.

I assure you; nothing above has been taken personally... by me, at least. My name was used just enough to compel me to come back and put some words behind that name.

My guess is that reason for my being mentioned so much is because some people like my ship designs and thought I'd be a good example for this discussion. To those members, I say "Thank you". I fully support copy protection measures because, while I'd enjoy selling or even giving away examples of my ships to admirers, I am not willing to give away carte blanche authority to spread the designs all over the universe.

Very presumptive, and entirely wrong.

a) I'm a designer in real life, and a designer is the most appealing role I can think of in SM for myself.

b) I'm building my own ships and have zero interest in using anyone else's, whether they're free or not.

c) I've had my own work copied and used without permission (not in SM). It can't be entirely avoided, you just have to adapt. I don't enjoy other's frustration, thanks for the insinuation.

d) It's a topic I have a deep and long-standing interest in. DRM of digital content is nearly always a bad idea, this is one of a long history of conversations on the topic for me. There's absolutely no need for anyone to get upset simply because I express an opinion that doesn't match their own.

I was merely pointing out some possible reasons behind what you've posted. Since you answered, I'll expand on your responses...

a) If fellow designers are so appealing to you, why put us in such a compromising position when we are working to create a designer-friendly environment?

b) What you do with your work is your own business. Who are you to decide what other players do or do not do with their work?

c) You failed to avoid intellectual property theft in real life. Why do you think that we should be subjected to it in a video game?

d) While the suggestion is similar to digital rights management, your individual dislike of DRM is of little relevance to this thread. Given that (based on your own admissions) if implemented, such a feature would have ZERO effect on how you play the game, why are you so obsessed with affecting how others play?

As I said, I have no interest in using anyone else's ships. I believe DRM is never the best solution to any problem. It isn't going to magically let people design ships and sell large numbers of them. It's going to remove some of the drive for innovation of ship design, and I would be disappointed to see that happen.

I can't speak for anyone else but I will NEVER stop coming up with new ideas; regardless of how many ships I sell. Do you honestly expect us to believe that your support of design theft is based solely on a desire to see people keep designing new ships? Do you really think that poorly of your fellow designers?