The Island of Lost FS Mods
Yesterday’s rant may have been a bit extreme, but, really, you tell me.
You tell me.
Is it REALLY possible that some guy, we’ll call him “Dr. Evil”– will gather up all the MSFS mods that are freely available, and then strip them of all evidence of their origin and take out any reference to their creator, and then put HIS name on them, and put them on a special website, and claim “Here is my work, I did this, and I want to make a good living from the donations and advertising that will be here due to my fantastic collection of MSFS add-ons that I, Dr. Evil, made.”
Really? Really? Do you think that is going to happen? What is it that makes the MSFS people want to put a fence around intellectual property? It’s not money. No, they want more than that…
Here’s what I think.
There are no basement-dwelling dweebs screaming for a lawyer when their precious is abducted and given away under false pretenses.
Oh no.
I think the whole damn thing– the entire phenomena of grown men acting like pissy little children and putting a “cease and desist” order in the readme.txt of every mod they make is NOT the result of simple human weakness. Oh no. It’s due to some kind of filthy plot to make this evil idea of “thought ownership” into something mainstream.
And the only reason Microsoft is back in the flying business is that they were tempted to take up this matter again. They are, for whatever reason, going to continue to push the “thought theft” agenda.
Clear your brain meadows, oh peoples. Is that thought you’re having mine? Can you prove you had it while leaving the truckstop in Barstow? You’re under arrest for thought theft.
Tell it to the judge.
A Penny for your thoughts.
There’s a game called Skyrim where you roleplay as a fantasy viking. It has a big modding community and it’s like how you describe the situation with FS. I think many mod creators just have massive egos.
As long as there is a fantasy Viking with ripped-off hair (“I can even see where I corrected my mistakes!”) we will have to live with the fact that human beings are selfish and grabby. Hence, my suggestion that we, as a space-faring race, go grabby early.
Mind probe every alien species we encounter to find “our” ideas lurking in their alien brain matter. “Proof Aliens Looted Our Minds!” — New York Times headline, June 2, 2501. “It’s true, SOME ideas may be universal– BUT I CAN EVEN SEE WHERE I CORRECTED MY MISTAKES!!” Prof Alan Dipshitz, Columbia University.