AGS games being sold! (more or less...)

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

This has to do with AGS, or at least with AGS games, so I thought it should come to this forum.

Check this out:

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_p_r/razors_in_the_night.html

See "Other games downloaded" to find more AGS games.

Now try and download them!

I understand that they might need to have people pay for their services (though I don't like it), but to do it with freeware games? Is this allowed?

[Mr Flibble]

They'd probably get more money if they asked for donations. I mean, if I were forced to pick between two sites, one of which was charging me for free games and another which asked quietly for any monetary gifts as I was on the way out.... I know which site I'd use.

I don't know if they're allowed to do that, I hope they aren't. Maybe we should..do..something? If it were my game, I'd certainly send them a fake cease and desist from my made-up lawyer 

[GarageGothic]

Considering that the same site also has abandonware (including Sierra games that are now being sold in compilations), a few emails to the right people could probably get the site closed down. That said, I find it unlikely that anybody is actually paying them instead of looking elsewhere for the same games.

[Akatosh]

Not as long as Home of the Underdogs exists.
Let's just see how much AGS games are sold there. If it's more than 10, we could ask them to remove the games, and if they don't react...


hehehe!

/EDIT: The results of searching for ags:
16 matching documents
:o

[Ali]

I'm not expert, bu I don't think they're breaking the law. They're charging for the service not for the games. I believe that if I make a CD with a freeware game on it, I could charge you for the CD, but not for the game. This seems to be the same thing.

I suppose a game's author ought to be able to tell them to stop, but I'm not sure it's necessary to get made-up lawyers involved. It seems to me the best thing to do is to maintain a collection of amateur games available for free. Which CJ does, and we reap the benefits... like a rabble of disorderly benefit-reapers.

[Mr Flibble]

I'm not sure it's necessary to get made-up lawyers involved.

Well no, but it'd be hilarious to see the look on their faces. Plus, it'd get things done faster.

[Akatosh]

Think adventure, man. Just talking to them isn't going to help  :

[m0ds]

I've looked over the website but there's something I don't quite understand, who would buy a download from that website when they could download it from the AGS games database for free?

I could host those games for free on the americangirlscouts server and no-one would have to pay. It isn't necessarily illegal, but I say this everytime I see someone who isn't the developer selling AGS games - flippin' cheeky!

I could charge you for the CD, but not for the game. This seems to be the same thing.

Are they selling these on CD? That's the part I couldn't find on the website...it looked to me like a pay for download...

[Ghost]

Trouble is, there are people out there who may not know that these are AGS games, and that they can be d'loaded here for free. I'd call that false/midleading information then, even if they're just charging for the service- they make it sound as if the game's not available for free.

[GarageGothic]

Seeing as the URL of the site says free-game-downloads (ironic, yes), and several places specify that the games are - to their knowledge - free, it's not a big step for the user to do a quick google search.

[Darth Mandarb]

I'd like to see the stats on how much money (if any) they are actually making off of this.

It would make FAR more sense to me if they did that same site with the downloads for free and put Google ads on there or something similar.  I will always click an ad or 2 from a website that gives me something I was looking for.  To support them.

[CodeJunkie]

I believe the site is infamous for leeching off of HoTU, ie pointing downloads towards HoTU servers, and charging on top of that.  HoTU have added measures to prevent this and continually warn about the site, it seems that even once you've paid a successful download isn't guaranteed.  Considering the size of HoTU it appears that shutting down FGD isn't a simple task or they would've done it long ago.

[Gregjazz]

I just wish they'd mention that the games are actually freeware, and readily available for download from other places.

[IceMan]

I got a heads up that "Da New Guys" was on there a while back.  I didn't check to see if any other AGS games were there, but a quick e-mail to them was enough for them to take it down.

They told me that they only charge to keep the site up.  True or not?  No idea.

[voh]

That site is well-known in the abandonware scene as being a bunch of assholes. The argument that you're paying for the download service rather than the games itself is what they've been saying for years. We've emailed them numerous times based on the fact that we don't believe you should charge for games you don't own the copyright to (and certainly not for freeware games!), but they ignore us.

Since there's still people dumb enough to use their service, I don't think they're going to go away anytime soon. Which is a bloody shame 

[vict0r]

I really hate the way they use free games to earn money, but as it seems they get paid for the service and not the games, I doubt there is anything we can do...
We could get someone to hack the site...?

[Ubel]

We could get someone to hack the site...?

Yeah, good idea. That would be so much more legal than what they're doing.

[Akatosh]

We don't need to hack it...

...a simple DoS attack would be enough already

[vict0r]

DoS?

[auriond]

Denial of Service, not the DOS we all know and love.

Basically Akatosh is suggesting that we all flood the site with hits and bring down their server that way. A server admin's nightmare.