Calling people children for taking offense (Gaming)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Friday, December 11, 2020, 13:00 (1229 days ago) @ Claude Errera

I'm firmly of the belief that if I create something, what I do with it is my prerogative. It might be stolen from me, it might grow and gain new life based on the actions of others (against my will, even)... but if I want to destroy it, I can. It's mine to destroy.

Not if it becomes a significant part of culture. At that point preservation is the imperative. This is ostensibly why things are supposed to enter the public domain after a time.

If that's your argument, the other side is true as well. BEFORE a piece enters the public domain, its existence is the purview of its creator, not the public. (Lucas clears that bar with the original Star Wars. And Sam and Max does too.)

Whether one can and whether one should are two different things, and Lucas's destruction of the original Star Wars is widely regarded as a travesty, regardless of whether he could. And one should recognize the reasons why it's a travesty, even if you're the creator. Ridley Scott does. George Lucas does not.

Again, I feel like you're telling me (as an ostensible creator) what I'm allowed to do or not do with my creation, and I'm gonna push back really hard on that. You do NOT have that right.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but it's not what I'm telling you. BTW, I do have the right to tell you what's allowed, but because I'm not a copyright attorney, I'd probably be wrong.

You can be unhappy with what I do - I was as unhappy as you were with what Lucas did to the original trilogy. But you STILL don't have the right to say he can't do it.

Fortunately, I never said he can't do it. (Let's not confuse it by saying what I have to right to say. I have the right to say George Lucas can't do a lot of things, but my words have no legal authority.)

I'm not sure the rest of the argument matters to me. Yes, I understand the difference between what I'm allowed to do, and what society thinks I SHOULD do, and I understand that in many cases, I choose to do what society wants me to do, even though I'm ALLOWED to do something else, because I live in that society, and their opinion matters to me. But that's 100% completely separate from you being able to TELL me what to do, if the accepted (legal) rules differ from your desire. I get that you're arguing the 'should' and I'm arguing the 'can' - but that's not going to change.

I agree with you about the can. If you get that I'm arguing the should, what is the issue? I haven't said anything against artist's legal rights to their work. I haven't said that an artist has to do anything simply because it's what I think I they should do. Cody's post was about how what devs choose to do with their work makes preservation of original versions more difficult (in the case of video games), and I agree with him. Society actually seems to take the other view, so I don't understand your rhetoric around what you assume is my presumptuous authority. I've shared my opinions, not royal edicts.