this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2025
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Gaming

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Just in case you thought reviving dead games seemed easy enough, GOG had to hire a private investigator to find an IP holder living off the grid for its preservation program (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 23 hours ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/gaming@beehaw.org
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[โ€“] ICastFist@programming.dev 10 points 14 hours ago

Marcin Paczynski told The Game Business he could "write a book"

Please do

He didn't even know that he owned the rights because this was just a package with his inheritance โ€ฆ we have a lot of stories like that.

Wow, no wonder the dude wasn't aware. "Oh, just a box with papers. Meh"

stories like developers whose physical documentation of IP ownership was torched in a fire

It's always interesting to know which games' rights might seem "completely lost", just so we can ๐Ÿดโ€โ˜ ๏ธ in peace. Say, wasn't this strategy something GOG did originally? Just sell and see if the current rights-holder shows up?

[โ€“] atro_city@fedia.io 26 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I don't understand how these guys did not support Stop Killing Games. I seemed right up their alley and they didn't say a word about it.

[โ€“] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 20 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Not only that. They were actually working up to support it, together with their preservation program but then just dropped it for unknown reasons.

[โ€“] Dave@lemmy.nz 18 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Is it possible they got an ultimatum by an important company they work with?

E.g. imagine the damage Bethesda could do to GOG by refusing to allow their games on GOG any more.

[โ€“] hamsterkill@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Bethesda

That's Microsoft now. And they've never seemed gung ho about GOG (I can't think of any MS game that GOG listed while MS had control over it). Considering their "Dreamlist" thing and the status of Freelancer on it, I'm sure GOG has been lobbying hard with Microsoft to work with them, though.

[โ€“] Dave@lemmy.nz 6 points 14 hours ago

Oh shit it is, and is owned by a Microsoft subsidiary that owns all sorts of games on GOG. Elder scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Quake, Dishonored, and more. GOG would be screwed if they pissed them off enough to get all those series taken off!

[โ€“] Rokin@leminal.space 47 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

GOG is doing god's work.

[โ€“] majestic_flamingo23@lemmy.zip 30 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

I agree for the most part, now if they would only support linux natively...

[โ€“] monogram@feddit.nl 12 points 21 hours ago

Heroic Games Launcher FTW

[โ€“] miguel@fedia.io 10 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Linux support trails, mac support is nonexistant.

[โ€“] atro_city@fedia.io 3 points 20 hours ago

If the boot sellers didn't behave like utter pricks, one might nearly be inclined to feel sorry for them.

[โ€“] UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk 22 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

That reminds me of that old first person shooter, The Operative: No One Lives Forever.

This is a game that had a following and people have asked for a remaster or even just a GOG release.

The problem is, no one actually knows who owns it today. It's a bit of a legal mess.

[โ€“] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 29 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

The upshot is that since nobody knows whether they own it or not there is nobody bothering to actively enforce copyright, so you can just download the games for free if you want on NOLFrevival.

[โ€“] DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 2 points 14 hours ago

Worst case scenario, we quickly find out who owns it when someone pops up trying to claim their money.

[โ€“] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 4 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Such a fun game too.

There also was a free add-on/extension (something) called Jack that was a short game.

[โ€“] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 6 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

Both NOLF 1&2 and Contract JACK are available on the website above, patched and fixed to work on modern machines.

YMMV but when I tried NOLF 1 for the first time earlier this year I sadly found the gameplay so poorly aged I wasn't having enough fun to make myself finish it - despite the setting, theme and writing being quite fun.

I might give it another shot at some point though, it was a critic's darling back in the day and I'd like to be able to say I have played it.

[โ€“] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 2 points 2 hours ago

Yea, the visuals and style of game play are great, but the mechanics are a little bland today.

But as I think about it, the mechanics were a bit bland at the time - my 8 year old niece loved it.

[โ€“] Wrufieotnak@feddit.org 2 points 11 hours ago

Same here, I watched the rest of the game on YouTube and the creativity is astounding. Next to try is NOLF 2, hopefully that one is better aged.

[โ€“] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 2 points 20 hours ago

You look like you need a monkey!

[โ€“] UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk 4 points 21 hours ago

I had no idea about this, thank you.

[โ€“] SweetCitrusBuzz@beehaw.org 18 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

That's a good question though. What happens if a right's holder dies and doesn't transfer the rights to others? Are the rights then public domain or what?

[โ€“] miguel@fedia.io 16 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

After a set period of time, they expire. Life +50 to Life +90 or so, depending on country.

[โ€“] vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

unless you own mickey mouse, of course

[โ€“] Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 hours ago

In particular including the mouse. The reason why the age is so long is because Disney keeps lobbying to get it extended. It used to be a much shorter period of time.

[โ€“] meldrik@lemmy.wtf 16 points 23 hours ago

I guess that depends on where you are in the world, but Iโ€™d imagine that the rights would be inherited by the closest family member? If not, it would probably go to the public domain.

[โ€“] Kissaki@beehaw.org 9 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

It may depend on the country and state, but with a lack of heirs, it likely goes to the state like all other possessions. I'm no expert on this, though.

[โ€“] Geodad@beehaw.org 4 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm against the concept of intellectual property. Information should belong to the entirety of humanity.

Just don't bother asking someone who obviously doesn't care anymore.

[โ€“] Dave@lemmy.nz 19 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

So you post a selfie on Lemmy and the next thing you know, you're the key subject in a new Facebook ad?

I think we need some level of IP laws, but current copyright periods are way too long.

[โ€“] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1436186

Rufus Pollock's math agrees. I am so bummed he recently took this down from his personal website where it had been available for 15 years

Now it just resolves as a 404 not found:

https://rufuspollock.com/papers/optimal_copyright_term.pdf

[โ€“] Dave@lemmy.nz 10 points 18 hours ago

Ah that's cool, 15 year copyright sounds good to me.

[โ€“] Kissaki@beehaw.org 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

If you make a good effort to identify, locate, and contact copyright holders, but the path runs cold, can you disregard copyright? Maybe by claiming fair use or lack of traceable copyright?

Trademark requires active use. I don't believe there's such a thing for copyright. Are there limits other than regular fair use and documented year expiration?

[โ€“] Kichae@lemmy.ca 12 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

No. You don't get to just decide you have the right to use someone else's work just because you coudn't find them to ask, any more than you get to decide that you can use their car. Them not actively selling their works isn't the equivalent of leaving the car derilict on public property.

[โ€“] 4am@lemmy.zip 9 points 21 hours ago

It should be, and they should only get 14 years before it expires.