or

Sorry Guys, No Excuses This Time
This'll be short since I just woke up and am quite hungry :<

So upon browsing the RO forum looking for possible info about Ragnarok II, I come across the inevitable private server threads. It's the usual, "join my server blah blah blah *edited by mods*", "private servers are illegal", "actually no they aren't".

Yes, they are.

Any server running Aegis is running the official server software leaked from gravity. This server software used by anyone other than Grabity is stolen software, therefore it is illegal. eAthena and Freya were coded independantly, but with Aegis as their base. That makes you say "But it's not their server software, what's the problem?" But the problem does not lie within the server software in those cases.

To access servers run by those particular programs, you have to go in and modify the game created by Gravity. Nothing is done to the core gameplay, but you're still modifying something that was created for an entirely different purpose. You take Gravity's game and take away the money that they would get from monthly fees for private server play. Taking money from them? Isn't that kinda like stealing?

I saw a faux-quote from the RO Wikipedia entry somehow saying all private servers outside korea are legal. Funny! Look what I found?

There are many free private servers all over the world; these servers are illegal in every country in which a company has licensed the game.

Guess what? You could live in Zimbabwe and it'd still be illegal, because any country that doesn't have its own version of the game is covered by the U.S./International server. That means that any private server run anywhere in the world for anyone anywhere in the world is therefore illegal.

See also:

Private servers are illegal in many countries. Some use pirated copies of Gravity's server software, AEGIS. Most private servers use reverse engineered server emulators such as eAthena, Vidar, Prometheus SVN, Freya, and its many variants. Server software like eAthena is legal by itself, but Gravity's client software and data (maps, sprites, etc.) are also used, which still makes these servers illegal.

Everything I've been saying for over a year is summed up right there. Private servers can't be justified by any rational means. Sorry, guys.

Actually, private servers became legal when eAthena beat Gravity in a court appearance... over 2 years ago.

Actually, private servers became legal when eAthena beat Gravity in a court appearance... over 2 years ago.


owned and true. and wikipedia is usually slow when it comes to these news. either they are biased or they're just plain slow.

Ah, I suppose that is true. Running a private server isn't illegal.

Accessing the server, however, is entirely.

Ah, I suppose that is true. Running a private server isn't illegal.

Accessing the server, however, is entirely.

that's like saying owning a game and the iso of a game and playing it is illegal.

that's like saying owning a game and the iso of a game and playing it is illegal.

That's absolutely nothing like what I'm saying.

First of all, Ragnarok is a free download. It's free to download with the specific intent of accessing their official pay-to-play servers. Modifying the game client with the intent of connecting to a server that was created to avoid paying for the services originally intended is illegal.

That's absolutely nothing like what I'm saying.

First of all, Ragnarok is a free download. It's free to download with the specific intent of accessing their official pay-to-play servers. Modifying the game client with the intent of connecting to a server that was created to avoid paying for the services originally intended is illegal.

once again, you make no clue of what you say. private servers are still legal thanks to eathena's victory against gravity. therefore, even playing it is still legal. we can easily use loose-construction that private servers are officially legal: played, or not played.

edit: there is no point into this argument anymore. nice job posting fake bullcrap

http://img334.imageshack.us/img334/6337/pserversarelegal4wi.jpg

You can call my posts "fake bullcrap" because the content of the Wikipedia entry was changed, most probably by someone reading this topic.

It's pointless to argue when people blindly clutch onto things that have no other backing. I've spent some time searching and I can't find any record of these court hearings. I'm going by federal law when deciding what's illegal and what's not. Theft of intellectual property is illegal, no matter what people may otherwise claim.

once again, you make no clue of what you say. private servers are still legal thanks to eathena's victory against gravity. therefore, even playing it is still legal. we can easily use loose-construction that private servers are officially legal: played, or not played.

edit: there is no point into this argument anymore. nice job posting fake bullcrap

http://img334.imageshack.us/img334/6337/pserversarelegal4wi.jpg


Read that sticky at the top of the RO forum, even if they are legal, we don't care, so why keep coming up with this "private servers are legal so we are allowed to post them blah blah blah" junk.

The truth is: Sure they may be legal, but here at OnRPG, WE DON'T CARE! That's why 1, you see the people that post private servers with the "banned" tag under them, and 2, the private server threads that ARE started aren't there for long.

Any more questions?

edit: Just relized something, I know that what I said probably isn't why you have these arguments, it's to prove a point, but new people that see these threads see "private servers are legal" which leads to them postin them, which leads to them being banned, which leads to even more problems like "ZOMG WHY U BANNED ME SERVERS ARE LEGAL WTF" stuff

*yes I have really bad typos, forgive me :P*

It's just really hard to make a point when the source for the debate keeps changing. This will go nowhere, the entry will just keep changing back and forth.

Requesting a topic lock.

Read that sticky at the top of the RO forum, even if they are legal, we don't care, so why keep coming up with this "private servers are legal so we are allowed to post them blah blah blah" junk.

The truth is: Sure they may be legal, but here at OnRPG, WE DON'T CARE! That's why 1, you see the people that post private servers with the "banned" tag under them, and 2, the private server threads that ARE started aren't there for long.

Any more questions?

edit: Just relized something, I know that what I said probably isn't why you have these arguments, it's to prove a point, but new people that see these threads see "private servers are legal" which leads to them postin them, which leads to them being banned, which leads to even more problems like "ZOMG WHY U BANNED ME SERVERS ARE LEGAL WTF" stuff

*yes I have really bad typos, forgive me :P*

i already understand that advertising private servers are illegal, which is why i don't partake in them, but the fact that onRPG ALSO posts and talks about emulation is out the question too. sound fishy huh? exactly.

Read that sticky at the top of the RO forum, even if they are legal, we don't care, so why keep coming up with this "private servers are legal so we are allowed to post them blah blah blah" junk.

The truth is: Sure they may be legal, but here at OnRPG, WE DON'T CARE! That's why 1, you see the people that post private servers with the "banned" tag under them, and 2, the private server threads that ARE started aren't there for long.

Any more questions?

edit: Just relized something, I know that what I said probably isn't why you have these arguments, it's to prove a point, but new people that see these threads see "private servers are legal" which leads to them postin them, which leads to them being banned, which leads to even more problems like "ZOMG WHY U BANNED ME SERVERS ARE LEGAL WTF" stuff

*yes I have really bad typos, forgive me :P*

we don't care? apparently, the rules are rather flawed here, since you guys also promote emulation, which also in turn is illegal. try explaining that.

I don't see where your coming from Darknesse, whats making you think we promote emulation? The adds? We don't controll the adds. And are you doing this just because we changed forums? Cause for some reason I don't know what your talking about

I don't see where your coming from Darknesse, whats making you think we promote emulation? The adds? We don't controll the adds. And are you doing this just because we changed forums? Cause for some reason I don't know what your talking about

whoops sorry about the double post.

anyway, i don't see why people can't advertise PS since you state that you and the administrators don't want to get this place in trouble, but wouldn't you think something also has to be done about emulation? i mean, i've seen some places where people talk about emulation on this forums, and nothing has been done...

Doesn't mean we promote them, if its in some of the other not-so-popular sections I understand, but we don't promote emulators

As requested by the OP, I'm closing the topic, we can continue more in PMs if you want darkness :)