Profile for Aluion
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Aluion |
| Member number | 5431 |
| Title | Apprentice |
| Postcount | 22 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
Recent posts
| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Illegal distribution on the BoAC in Blades of Avernum | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Friday, February 18 2005 16:13
Profile
Edit: A bit late on the submit button I guess... quote:Can you post your interpretation of the law? As far as I can tell, Spiderweb Software is the only one who has the right to distribute scenarios without author's approval. Also, where does it say that everyone has the non-exclusive right to distribute scenarios? I see no evidence to suggest that non-exclusive holds a definition in the liscence agreement besides the one it already holds in "legalese". The only way you'd be legally in the right to distribute the scenarios after Kelandon has requested that you take it down is if you had a prior agreement with Kelandon that your distribution right was irrevokable. I have not seen any evidence suggesting this. I think that this is the passage you are speaking of: quote:If you read the beginning of the liscence agreement, it defines Contributor as someone who distributes the Program and Recipient as someone who recieves the Program, and Program to refer to the Contributons and Contributions to refer to the source code, and any changes or additions to the source code. (I'm going by memory here, bear with me if I get one of the terms wrong. Definitions should be right, though.). What it is talking about here is not the scenarios made by the Program, but the other programs that may derivate from the editation of or additions to the source code of said Program, as well as the Program itself. In other words, you have the right to distribute The Blades of Avernum Editor, and it is implied that you can distribute any derivations therefrom (Such as the 3D editor). I can see where you could get confused here if you didn't read the definitions section. Also, I'd like to add that Squarespace likely suspended, not deleted, your account. This is usually done by hosting providers to perserve evidence or overturn a desision if nessesary. You may even still have access to your files through FTP (or whatever transfer method you use). A personal response to Dastal: I did say that 1: I was half-asleep when I wrote that, 2: You shouldn't take legal advice from people over the internet anyway. and 3: I was doing everything from memory, and not looking up anything. I think that sufficently disclaims me from any liability charges without having to put "DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY: ALUION MAY OR MAY NOT BE INTOXICATED RIGHT NOW. YOU SHOULD NOT TAKE ANY PORTION OF THIS AS SANE LEGAL ADVICE." at the bottom of every post in bold-faced print. The only way to really get accurate legal advice with a guarantee of any sort is to pay someone to give it to you. I admit, there were probably parts that were wrong. I haven't really had the time to wade back through everything, but, I also trust most of the members of the community are smart enough to not take advice without a pinch of reservation. I don't feel that I am acting as an attorney here for anyone, just giving my opinion on the entire thing, based on my knowledge and interpretations, and therfore I don't think I have any fiduciary duties to anyone here. In fact, that would be the opposite of my intentions. Of course, according to Murphy's Laws, I will now be proven wrong. [ Friday, February 18, 2005 17:04: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Illegal distribution on the BoAC in Blades of Avernum | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Thursday, February 17 2005 14:17
Profile
quote:I'm quite aware of that. I suppose you failed to notice that I was replying to a post from Thuryl about how BoE scenarios were lost to the community when various sites went down, and replied only to show that this wouldn't happen with BoA, considering that everything is located redundantly at spidweb.com, minus custom graphics. quote:In other words, the discussors (you now say that you were one of the discussors) were aware of the option at that time, and you did not have to come to the boards to find that option, as stated here: quote:For clarity, by "before", I meant "before you took it to the boards". quote:I had noticed that error upon rereading and edited out the comment, only to find this one. A bit too late, I guess... To quote myself: quote:How come after that post, all I have done, and have been forced to do, was to defend what I said about Overwhelming? Is it because you'd rather me jump to my feet and scream "BURN THE OUTCAST!"? So far, Overwhelming has not done anything against me, personally. I can not say the same about you, however. Being tactless to someone who wishes to remain neutral isn't exactly the best way to gain their support. Let me recapitulate: I did not intend for my first comments to be offensive, if they were taken that way. I only intended to promote fairness, rather than joining the bandwagon and attacking Overwhelming, so he doesn't feel that he's being attacked here (and would therefore be more likely to comply). I felt that all these comments against him was just provoking him, and was actually lessening the chances of this ordeal being sorted out peacefully, which was against(?) your intent. quote:Too late for that. quote:Indeed.... [ Thursday, February 17, 2005 14:24: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Team America: World Police in General | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Thursday, February 17 2005 10:41
Profile
quote:It is legit, and it is legal, but it is still a Matrix Scheme, which is only different from the illegal pyramid schemes in that it uses items instead of money. Matrix schemes should probably be declared illegal as well. I fail to see the difference. quote:It is currently a Monday! No credit for you! quote:I believe you are a fraud because...oh wait, I don't have to tell you, but I'm still suspending your account! quote:...Do I even need to comment on this one? [ Thursday, February 17, 2005 10:54: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Illegal distribution on the BoAC in Blades of Avernum | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Thursday, February 17 2005 10:27
Profile
quote:I figured as much. Will have to search for more later. quote:All you have do do is not use it and not support it. Without permission to distribute any scenarios, the site has no chance of really competing with the current setup. Kelandon did give him permission, however, as well as the other scenario authors, save one. quote:All that did was make him more defensive, and less compliant. quote:Had Overwhelming, or anyone for that matter, reported that/these posts, do you really think it would have mattered? A reverse of what you just said, I guess, is that members who are generally not known and not liked by the community have no protection when it comes to the CoC. quote:Did you read the Terms of Service before installing Blades of Avernum? Jeff Vogel has the right to put any and all scenarios on spidweb.com, WITHOUT the author's consent. Mariann already stated that she was working on a utilities page as well. That clause is meant to solve problems like the ones you've mentioned, so even if a scenario is only available on one website, it will still be redundantly located at spidweb. If Kelandon's site went down, what do you think would happen to the High Level Party Maker, if there was no such redundancy? I, myself, found the High Level Party Maker via Overwhelming's website after a google search. Kelandon's didn't turn up. The only place I knew of (at that time)that mentioned Kelandon's site was his signature. quote:I stated it as more of an off-topic thing too. I must admit, the Stella Liebeck vs. Mcdonalds case isn't really the best example. I do admit that Mcdonalds should have been more cautious with their temperature settings. Is it really nessesary, though, to warn consumers that "coffee may be hot" and "jumping off bridges may cause injury"? quote:That's the way it comes off to me. Personal opinion, nothing more. You still did ask for Overwhelming to be declared a persona non grata. In other words, you asked him to be declared fully unacceptable by the community for (as far as I could tell at the time) one incident between him and yourself. You intended, or seemed to intend, to destroy his reputation in order to get him to comply and remove your scripts/scenarios. Obviously, Overwhelming did not really help his side much, being that he both refuses to defend himself, and refuses to even consider that he plays a part within this ordeal. I did not know anything about Overwhelming until this topic, and I must admit I feel malice towards him after reading it. I just prefer not to jump and defend one side immediately without considering both. However, I tire of defending someone who will not defend themselves. quote:Thryl has already said that a group of people had discussed this option on AIM prior to going public. I don't know if you were involved in this discussion, but someone had brought it up before as a means to handle things. quote:Mea culpa. I didn't really intend to treat you so roughly, but I figured it was only fair after the assault I gave Overwhelming, and I wasn't trying to side with any particular person on this instance without giving Overwhelming a final chance to come to his own defense before Exiling him. quote:But will this really be the end? What is to stop Overwhelming from making a new site elsewhere? [ Thursday, February 17, 2005 13:49: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Illegal distribution on the BoAC in Blades of Avernum | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Wednesday, February 16 2005 22:43
Profile
IAAL (though I don't recommend turning to someone online for legal advice, anyway, so I see no point in this abbreviation), and I've been watching this post for awhile, so I figured it's about time for me to comment here, considering I'm not really biased about the whole thing. Note that I am sleep-deprived and relying on memory for all these citations, so forgive me if I am a bit off and/or this post is incoherent. I'll correct it later on. I wouldn't advise quoting any of this yet, as it's likely to be changed 80 different times tommorow, but anyway... All scenarios made with the Blades of Avernum editor are subject to the creator's copyright. The right to place the scenario for distribution on spidweb.com and the right to sale scenarios made with the editor are the only rights reserved by Spiderweb for created scenarios. I interpret the portion of the agreement in which it says "YOU MAY: - Freely distribute scenarios you create using the Blades of Avernum Scenario Editor" to mean that you have copyright over your work, with the stipulation that Jeff Vogel has the distribution rights stated above, and that you can not sell anything made with the scenario editor. Whether scenarios are distributed on other sites or not is therefore the author's desision. Note that custom made scripts by themselves are NOT made by the scenario editor nor are they included as part of a scenario; they are made by Jedit/notepad/your favorite script editor. Therefore, none of this applies to them. Therefore, Kelandon has the right to ask Overwhelming to remove his work, on the basis that he did not give Overwhelming an irrevocable right to distribute his work, and can therefore revoke Overwhelming's rights as a distributor. He is not legally bound to provide any reason at all for doing this. In fact, he could decide that because Mercury is currently Retrograde, your rights to distribute the work are removed, and that would be legally satisfactory. Overwhelming's passage in which he adds boldface typing to the word non-exclusive holds no merit if this agreement was not made between Kelandon and Overwhelming, as the replies suggest. The term "non-exclusive" typically means that if you give someone a right to distribute in one place, you also allow them to distribute it in another place. So if spiderweb.com changes it's URL to SW.net, it still has the right to distribute the scenario. It does not mean that it can be distributed everywhere, no matter who is running the site. Overwhelming, I've noticed that you don't live in U.S, so I'd like to add a little something about U.S laws. Even if you have the legal right to distribute it in your country, your service provider squarespace resides in the U.S and is therefore subject to U.S laws. Kelandon could file a complaint against Squarespace, and they would be forced to remove it. In an effort to save themselves from legal battle, Squarespace would probably rather delete your user account than hire a legal force to battle something you caused. Overwhelming, you still haven't really provided anything in your posts. You say that he gave you other reasons; state them. I HAVE read the laws well, and you say that the laws are in your favor; cite them. You say that you had a reason for not removing them other than the one he suggested; share it. You say that you should know both sides of the story before making a desision; where is your side? No one can know your side of the story if you don't tell it. Kelandon has gone public with this issue, therefore so should you. quote:That is the most arrogant and foolish comment I have heard on these forums. If you would not even defend yourself from a serious threat, then you deserve everything you get from that threat. A few words in Overwhelming's defense, since he won't defend himself, and I'm trying to approach this as unbiased as possible: Kelandon's post to me comes off as outright disparaging of Overwhelming. Communication intended to humiliate a fellow member is a violation of the CoC on this board, and I'm suprised the moderators have not mentioned this yet, considering it's their responsibility to be neutral and fair and to uphold the CoC and to warn members about infractions they commit. I've seen sarcastic comments against other members in jest (and am the victim and distributor of an equal amount of said comments), but those aren't really intended to demean the victim, whereas Kelandon's obviously is. I think a call to declare someone a persona non grata is about as humilating as one can get. This situation would have likely been better handled if Kelandon just went directly to Overwhelming's service provider and complained to them. It would also have been solved rather quickly. I'm not saying that I agree with what Overwhelming did, or that the public should not be informed, I am saying that you could have, and should have, handled it better. The CoC seems to be pretty much tossed out in this case, and it calls the effectiveness of the CoC into question, and the powers of the executive force behind the CoC. Do they have the right to nullification of the CoC in special cases such as this one, much like a jury has the right to nullify a law and refuse to uphold it? A little note about the compromise offered: I can see Overwhelming's reasons for not wishing to go into such a compromise. (Actually, Overwhelming didn't mention it, so I don't think he noticed that he was offered a compromise, but anyway...) Kelandon could simply change the download's URL and then Overwhelming would be left with a broken link. Even worse, Kelandon could change the content to something that is damaging to Overwhelming's repuation. The only compromise I know of that would be fair to boths sides would be if Overwhelming gave Kelandon an FTP account that he could update his items on, and then Overwhelming would be able to control the FTP account if Kelandon posted something offensive. This way, Overwhelming still has control over the content, and Kelandon has the ability to update the content in real time. I have more to say on the subject, and I'll probably add some later, but I'm tired, and this post is long, so I think I'll just leave it at that for now. Footnote: It's been about 48 hours and the scripts remain. Any word from the host? Footnote2: Though I use it, U.S law is irritating to me, and it's about as clear as...I don't know...something opaque. I think I'll move back to...Osaka...anywhere that resturants can't be sued over having hot coffee or trivial things such as that. -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Scripting Questions in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Wednesday, February 16 2005 19:40
Profile
Memory cell values are persistant if you save and load a game while in the town. If you leave the town and then return, then memory cells will reset. If you are using basicnpc for your monster, or some other common script, you don't have to make a new script entirely. Just edit basicnpc (or whatever script you are using). In DEAD_STATE, add an if-then statement which checks an unused memory cell. If the memory cell is 0, no item should be placed. When the memory cell is set to 1, then place the item. If you have more than one creature that you need to drop an item, you can just add a different memory cell value for the item. This way, you don't have to have 20 different scripts if you have 20 monsters that need to drop 20 different items. Couple this with other scripts and you can have the monster drop a different item based on stuff-done flags, just by setting a different memory cell, provided that you call the script within the same town and before the fight begins. Of course, if you're using a custom script for the monster anyway, it's best to just take Thuryl's suggestion. -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Scripting Questions in Blades of Avernum | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Wednesday, February 16 2005 19:40
Profile
Memory cell values are persistant if you save and load a game while in the town. If you leave the town and then return, then memory cells will reset. If you are using basicnpc for your monster, or some other common script, you don't have to make a new script entirely. Just edit basicnpc (or whatever script you are using). In DEAD_STATE, add an if-then statement which checks an unused memory cell. If the memory cell is 0, no item should be placed. When the memory cell is set to 1, then place the item. If you have more than one creature that you need to drop an item, you can just add a different memory cell value for the item. This way, you don't have to have 20 different scripts if you have 20 monsters that need to drop 20 different items. Couple this with other scripts and you can have the monster drop a different item based on stuff-done flags, just by setting a different memory cell, provided that you call the script within the same town and before the fight begins. Of course, if you're using a custom script for the monster anyway, it's best to just take Thuryl's suggestion. -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Team America: World Police in General | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Wednesday, February 16 2005 19:00
Profile
quote:Oh, no, it really does work and it is perfectly legal and it is not a matrix scheme at all and they do not have a disclaimer saying that they reserve the right to not send you an Ipod even if you complete the offers and I got my free Ipod yesterday and it works great and if you want to try it you can go to my referal link and get sucked into the scheme yourself. By the way, I happen to be from Nigeria, and I need your help transfering some funds....just give me all your bank information so I can do so. Blaspheme: He SPAMMED, and he resurrected a dead topic in the same post! Murder is a lesser crime! Killing's too good for him! Don't feel too bad for Spartan. Spartan is just a throwaway account that he made for the sake of advertisement, I'm willing to bet. I doubt there will be any desirable posts from it, if he ever posts again. So, who wants to email Gratis and dash Spartan's hopes of ever getting an Ipod for free? Apperantly he didn't read the terms of service on their site, which states that mass-posting and posting referals where they aren't welcome results in account suspension...a part of the terms of service which I really enjoy using, maybe even more than outwars policy. [ Wednesday, February 16, 2005 19:03: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| A thing of interest... in General | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Wednesday, February 16 2005 13:50
Profile
In light of your comment, one must wonder if movie violence will eventually have to compete with real life violence. Too many times this year, I've heard a newscaster compare a real-life situation to something that seems like it would be "out of a movie". How are you supposed to feel sympathy for a few people who die in a movie when your own country is suffering thousands of deaths from gangs/disease/poison/radiation/religious fanatics/terrorists/nuclear weapons/divine intervention/the sun exploding/insert favorite world-ending scenario here? [ Wednesday, February 16, 2005 13:50: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Single/limited character choice? in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Thursday, February 3 2005 05:44
Profile
quote:I'm quite certain it says that in the docs. In fact, I'm looking at it in the appendix right now. I just like testing things to check for and absolve possible workarounds. Plus, I have no work today, and I have nothing better to do with my energy or time. [ Thursday, February 03, 2005 05:44: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Single/limited character choice? in Blades of Avernum | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Thursday, February 3 2005 05:44
Profile
quote:I'm quite certain it says that in the docs. In fact, I'm looking at it in the appendix right now. I just like testing things to check for and absolve possible workarounds. Plus, I have no work today, and I have nothing better to do with my energy or time. [ Thursday, February 03, 2005 05:44: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Single/limited character choice? in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Wednesday, February 2 2005 23:29
Profile
I've just tested it out in Blades of Avernum. Anytime a player leaves the current town with the party split, an error occurs and the party is reunited automagically with the split character. It does not seem to matter how the character left the current town, whether through a special node or by crossing the town's boundaries. -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Single/limited character choice? in Blades of Avernum | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Wednesday, February 2 2005 23:29
Profile
I've just tested it out in Blades of Avernum. Anytime a player leaves the current town with the party split, an error occurs and the party is reunited automagically with the split character. It does not seem to matter how the character left the current town, whether through a special node or by crossing the town's boundaries. -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Single/limited character choice? in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Wednesday, February 2 2005 22:14
Profile
Assuming you are familiar with the ins-and-outs of Avernum's scripting language.. You could (and this is a somewhat vile solution) check the amount of characters in group 0 (which is the group that contains the PCs). If it is greater than 2 (or one, if you want a singleton), then popup a window telling them to delete some characters and then end the scenario or block the space until they do. If it is less than 3 (2 for singleton), then do nothing. This is quite simple to do via a special node or terrain script. I have some code which does this (though mine inflicts a Dread Curse on players rather than making them delete their party members. It's easily adapted to do either.). The benefit of this is that you do not use pre-fabricated characters, and therefore it allows the player much more freedom in character creation. By the way, the split party calls only work in the current town, as far as I recall (it was that way in Blades of Exile, at least). Therefore, it would not last for the duration of an entire scenario, unless the scenario consisted only of one town, of course. A little warning: If you do this, make sure you do not have any towns in which you can create characters, as then they could simply create a new party member after they passed the special node. Of course, some clever players may come up with ways to bypass this limitation, but no technique is flawless. Also note that this forces their characters to be deleted. It doesn't leave them in Limbo. All of their items will/should be dropped on the ground when they are deleted, but the characters themselves can not be recovered at the end of the scenario. Players who have more characters than the set limit would have to make a new save file, or they would lose their party members eternally. They could not take their party into other scenarios once they completed yours, as they would not have their full party, and all the experience gained in your scenario would be for naught if they use their other party (the one with all their members) in other scenarios. [ Wednesday, February 02, 2005 22:43: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Single/limited character choice? in Blades of Avernum | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Wednesday, February 2 2005 22:14
Profile
Assuming you are familiar with the ins-and-outs of Avernum's scripting language.. You could (and this is a somewhat vile solution) check the amount of characters in group 0 (which is the group that contains the PCs). If it is greater than 2 (or one, if you want a singleton), then popup a window telling them to delete some characters and then end the scenario or block the space until they do. If it is less than 3 (2 for singleton), then do nothing. This is quite simple to do via a special node or terrain script. I have some code which does this (though mine inflicts a Dread Curse on players rather than making them delete their party members. It's easily adapted to do either.). The benefit of this is that you do not use pre-fabricated characters, and therefore it allows the player much more freedom in character creation. By the way, the split party calls only work in the current town, as far as I recall (it was that way in Blades of Exile, at least). Therefore, it would not last for the duration of an entire scenario, unless the scenario consisted only of one town, of course. A little warning: If you do this, make sure you do not have any towns in which you can create characters, as then they could simply create a new party member after they passed the special node. Of course, some clever players may come up with ways to bypass this limitation, but no technique is flawless. Also note that this forces their characters to be deleted. It doesn't leave them in Limbo. All of their items will/should be dropped on the ground when they are deleted, but the characters themselves can not be recovered at the end of the scenario. Players who have more characters than the set limit would have to make a new save file, or they would lose their party members eternally. They could not take their party into other scenarios once they completed yours, as they would not have their full party, and all the experience gained in your scenario would be for naught if they use their other party (the one with all their members) in other scenarios. [ Wednesday, February 02, 2005 22:43: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Cant Download Exile Games in Tech Support | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Thursday, January 27 2005 00:05
Profile
I just scanned my harddrive and turned up the EXE installations for Exile 2 and Exile 3, so here they are, along with the Exile 1 ZIP file I linked to above, all on my webhost now. If you get an errror when trying to download the ZIP file, right click and click "save target as", or your browser's equivilent. It should then download. Exile I (v 2.0; zipped) Exile II (v 2.0.1; executable) Exile III (v 1.0; executable) Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |
| Cant Download Exile Games in Tech Support | |
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Apprentice
Member # 5431
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written Tuesday, January 25 2005 19:40
Profile
This web site has all versions of Exile available for download VIA HTTP. I have checked to make sure they are the shareware versions. If this website goes down, let me know. My current hosting provider gives me more bandwidth in a month than I ever use in a year (or decade, for that matter), so I really don't mind mirroring a few files. Unnessesary, offtopic, addendum: Oh, wow. There's forums here. When did this happen? [ Wednesday, January 26, 2005 23:23: Message edited by: Aluion ] -------------------- People with signature fixation will not know who this is. Posts: 22 | Registered: Tuesday, January 25 2005 08:00 |