Your human and civil rights as a gamer and as a developer

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  • "Human right", a.k.a. natural, moral or inalienable right, is your right to a good, necessary or natural thing via human nature, which it would be moral to uphold, and which cannot be denied, changed or else violated anymore than your humanity can be. I.e., if you're human, you are consubstantial with and equal to other human beings, and therefore, have the same human rights. An incomplete list of human rights include: the right to life, limbs, love, respect, private property, ownership, the truth, education, just wages, fruits of labors, contribute to society, help others, receive help from others, and equal treatment under the law. Lastly, because these rights are part of human nature, and so denying them is the denial of human nature (and therefore the denial of empirical evidence of your humanity: DNA, gametes, chromosomes, face, skin, behavior, weaknesses, parents, blood types, etc.), you have these rights from the moment of your life, i.e., at the very moment of human conception, since the human zygote is a new organism, which, since human beings naturally produce human beings, is a new human person. Just as you are your brain, so your personhood is your nature. In short, man is man and has, by being a man, his rights as a man.

    "Civil right", a.k.a. legal, citizen or state right, is your right to that which is legal, as a citizen, in your state. Not all laws are good - some deny human rights, for example - so you might not have certain civil rights that others do, but you do have the same human rights. Laws change, people vote, nations grow, politics arise, and other factors contribute to your civil rights. Americans, for example, have certain civil rights that protect certain human rights: the civil right to freedom of expression protects Americans' human right to freedom of expression, for example. Americans are free to make hate speech, but not free to act upon that hatred, because free expression is not absolute. So far, the only civil right considered absolute by the Supreme Court is freedom of belief.

    Under American law, you can patent video game parts and mechanics. The D-Pad and double jumping can be patented, for example. But there are four things to consider:

    1) patenting does not mean the government protects your patent - instead, you yourself must protect it, including by keeping tabs on what people do with your patent and by taking legal action.

    2) patenting does not mean you can patent anything - you cannot patent a mechanic someone else has already invented or used before the patent is submitted, since they didn't know better.

    3) patenting does not mean you own a patent just by submitting it to the USPTO - it has to be paid for (which, just like legal action, isn't cheap), approved of, and renewed every few years.

    4) patenting does not mean you can sue anyone - you cannot sue someone over a false claim of owning a patent or over a mechanic invented and used before you submitted your patent.

    A company cannot sue you for creating and owning a game that they patented for themselves (sometimes, without your knowledge). The case would be thrown out of court, but some companies have the malice and money to keep suing other companies until - exhausted of time and money - they submit: handing over their games, mechanics, etc. Electronic Arts (EA) is notorious for doing this, as well as hostile takeovers of game studios.

    Now, let's move on to your human rights as a gamer. You have the human right to entertainment - and therefore, to enjoy media: books, movies, Internet, video games, etc. You have the right to buy and play video games however you want. No one can prevent you from killing people in GTA or being nice to everyone in Postal 2 and no one can hamper your rights via DRM, scams or other anti-consumer practices. You also have the right to the truth: no one can deceive you with false promises and advertising: companies that promise but do not deliver on X, Y and Z and companies that falsely advertise their consoles or accessories can do A, B and C violate the right to the truth. You are not entitled for wanting your rights respected - rather, you are entitled to your rights. Likewise, you have the right to respect. Journalists respect you by giving honest reviews, news and opinions. Journalists disrespect you when they give dishonest reviews (due to not finishing the game, for the game not pandering to them, etc.), spread rumors instead of news ("yellow journalism", it's called), or demonize you for being a gamer ("gamers are violent, sexist, racist, anti-conservative, anti-liberal, anti-American, etc.").

    Consumers' rights - like all civil rights - are based on human rights, which are part of who you are, since you're a person. Your civil rights are meant to protect your humanity, not the other way around. You are neither expendable nor superhuman. You are consubstantial with and equal to everyone else. Getting rid of stairs for ramps to support those in wheelchairs is demeaning - those who can walk and those who can't are both human, and both stairs and ramps are useful for people. By the same token, getting rid of game mechanics to support minority gamers is demeaning - instead, either make a game specifically for a minority, with mechanics to that end, or come up with a creative way to widen your audience. For example, making the boss flash colors and make a sound when it is hit not only appeals to kids, who love colors and sounds, but also appeals to the deaf and to the blind.

  • Awesome. I might try a Sonic the hedgehog clone

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  • Awesome. I might try a Sonic the hedgehog clone

    i was thinking to clone need for speed underground2, and resell it under N4SU2 name hahahah hahaha EA will rape me ))

  • > Awesome. I might try a Sonic the hedgehog clone

    >

    i was thinking to clone need for speed underground2, and resell it under N4SU2 name hahahah hahaha EA will rape me ))

    You would get a buggy as hell live streaming court case that tends to lag at important parts. Every case update fixes some things but breaks more than it fixes. You start off with a copyright infringement charge: by sentencing time, you end up with Redistributing Copyright Material while producing content to encourage and promote child related speed accidents and violence. Oh and a hate crime, if your white and there's at least 1 smart black guy on the original N4SU2 team who can get ahold of Rev. Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. Then your really screwed. And this forum would be "under fire" for promoting your "dastardly ways".

    Would then go to a jail, where food and commodities are downloadable content.

  • >

    > > Awesome. I might try a Sonic the hedgehog clone

    > >

    > i was thinking to clone need for speed underground2, and resell it under N4SU2 name hahahah hahaha EA will rape me ))

    >

    You would get a buggy as hell live streaming court case that tends to lag at important parts. Every case update fixes some things but breaks more than it fixes. You start off with a copyright infringement charge: by sentencing time, you end up with Redistributing Copyright Material while producing content to encourage and promote child related speed accidents and violence. Oh and a hate crime, if your white and there's at least 1 smart black guy on the original N4SU2 team who can get ahold of Rev. Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. Then your really screwed. And this forum would be "under fire" for promoting your dastardly ways.

    Would then go to a jail, where food and commodities are downloadable content.

    lol was kidding ))

  • I know, I had to pick on ya as well. Gave a combined reference to how EA games handles their releases, as well as how a person can get really screwed over. But I better put quotes around "dastardly ways" before somebody here takes me too seriously though.

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