> I wonder how many games are impossible to preserve because of the copyright system and apathy on the part of rights-holders.
Pretty much all of them.
Your Steam licenses are forfeit when you die and your games and account are non-transferable. So when a game stops being sold anymore, which can happen for lots of reasons, there is a finite pool of licenses that becomes zero over time.
As are your GOG, App Store, Play Store and everything else digital purchases.
By the end of this century anything that was sold on Steam will be long-gone. Much, much faster for the App Store since they charge $100/year and oblige updating apps periodically regardless of if they are necessary.
Although in GOG's defense they alone have mentioned a workaround for this status quo.
> “In general, your GOG account and GOG content is not transferable,” GOG spokesperson Zuzanna Rybacka tells Ars. “However, if you can obtain a copy of a court order that specifically entitles someone to your GOG personal account, the digital content attached to it, taking into account the EULAs of specific games within it, and that specifically refers to your GOG username or at least email address used to create such an account, we’d do our best to make it happen.”
It helps in preserving the access to the game but if you're not the original license-holder it becomes piracy which isn't really ideal for preserving it long-term.
I believe the Doctrine of First Sale does apply to software (including games), as long as they're not encumbered by DRM. (And the only reason it doesn't apply there is the DMCA, which makes circumventing that DRM illegal.)
(And if anyone's unfamiliar with First Sale, my understanding is that it basically gives you the right to resell or regift property that you own.)
Furthermore, as I had pointed out to me on here just a few weeks ago, Congress has updated the law to recognize that computer software does not need a separate license to be "copied" into memory to run it; therefore, if you have a DRM-free piece of software, and you die, your heirs are 100% entitled to use that software or give it to someone else, for as long as the hardware they have access to can run it.
Is anyone really going to sue you for giving someone a exe for even quake? (or any other old game). Proving damages for a game that's no longer sold must be hard?
Pretty much all of them.
Your Steam licenses are forfeit when you die and your games and account are non-transferable. So when a game stops being sold anymore, which can happen for lots of reasons, there is a finite pool of licenses that becomes zero over time.
As are your GOG, App Store, Play Store and everything else digital purchases.
By the end of this century anything that was sold on Steam will be long-gone. Much, much faster for the App Store since they charge $100/year and oblige updating apps periodically regardless of if they are necessary.
Although in GOG's defense they alone have mentioned a workaround for this status quo.
> “In general, your GOG account and GOG content is not transferable,” GOG spokesperson Zuzanna Rybacka tells Ars. “However, if you can obtain a copy of a court order that specifically entitles someone to your GOG personal account, the digital content attached to it, taking into account the EULAs of specific games within it, and that specifically refers to your GOG username or at least email address used to create such an account, we’d do our best to make it happen.”
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/06/gog-will-transfer-you...