SGL versions for preservation

Well, I would appreciate if people shared these tools, I just don't understand the reason for not sharing them...

Jolly

 

I'm sure there could be many....

• Still working for company with NDA with Sega - don't want to jeopardize job
• Received from industry contact who requested it wasn't released
• Paid money for it - worried that it might affect the value (technically, it would - as we've established, it's more a collector's item than a useful tool)
• Stupid people thinking they have a right to acquire this copyrighted software that was only to be distributed to Sega partners for free... and bitching when they don't get it (not saying you - it happens, though)

Lots of people praised Antime for "releasing" so much software and information. All he did was copy documents and tools off the Sega DTS website, which Sega left open to all at one point. Yes, it's cool that he made an archive... but he's not the only one. He then demanded that I rip and release all my software which I paid a hell of a lot of money for, hounded me about it, got nasty when I didn't release it... and when I told him that I had more important things to worry about, like my Grandmother being on her death bed, he said he didn't care about her, just give him the files. That was well over 10 years ago. I have not forgotten. From my point of view, one selfish prick is a big part of why I don't share my stuff.

As for the devaluing argument, I don't want to open that can of worms again - but perhaps it applies even moreso here. Yes, you'll have a few people who really want the original CD and would pay good money for it. However, if you release the CD for free, the chances are that most of the people (yourself included, probably... going by your meticulousness picking up hardware) who would have paid for it just to have the files decreases. Like yourself, they may well be happy to just have the files. They're probably not usable, but there's a curiosity in them - or a Pokemon effect. Whether or not it would really devalue the item... well, who knows? Some crazy Pokemon-style collector might still pay a lot. The fear is there, though - that's the thing to understand. In short, people are afraid of repercussions and devaluation... or just tired of idiots demanding stuff for free.

 

All very fair points, by all means. I understand very well that pretty much anything involved in games development has a "collector item aura" to it, which is probably fair too.

As value is concerned, I also understand that releasing something for free increases the chance that someone else may get pissed off, someone who perhaps went to great lengths to obtain a certain item. Perhaps though there are more and less "valuable" items, and in this case I doubt anybody would be actually prepared to pay to get a copy of SGL 2.0 or similar but you are right, maybe original CDs with those files do have some tangible value and people who have them (Druid II perhaps?) want to preserve it.

In the end I don't really care too much whether these things get released or not, so I will never bitch
I too have a fair amount of software items that are not available publicly, and that I am not releasing, perhaps for the very same reasons.
I guess I don't attach a monetary value to these items, and as you say it is more of a Pokemon effect, where people can "brag" about having something that most other people don't, although I don't disclose the items that I have and that I won't release (besides the ones for which there is a specific reason for not releasing), so I don't brag.

Jolly