Remove the Rusty Hearts community hub

[Phoenix (yes, another one)]

http://steamcommunity.com/app/36630

Rusty Hearts was a service based online game, where the hub in question was associated to the NA/EU release published/hosted by Perfect World Entertainment/Arc, who back in 2014 shut down their services for the game. THE GAME CAN NO LONGER BE PLAYED, it's over, dead, all the legal publishers on the planet have dropped it years ago, and the developers seem to be out of business as well. The function of that hub was to support the fore mentioned NA/EU release, and that service has long since ended, so the function of the hub has also ended. Although unlike other publishers of cancelled service based online games, the publisher never bothered to shut down the Steam hub for this game, and has also been completely ignoring it.

Leaving it up so people can discuss, and advertise illegal private servers, which has basically become the only thing it's used for, is against the rules of Steam forums, and even can be considered against the law, as they are illegal services. It serves no function, or value to Valve, or the former publisher to leave it up, but due to what it has been used to do for quite some time now, could be potentially detrimental to both. Since the publisher can't seem to be bothered to remove it, Valve should step up, and do so.

[wuddih]

contact the publisher/developer if you wanna get rid of the community hub. Valve has no saying in this and this neither do YOU know if the current situation of the game is not actually allowed or tolerated by the pub/dev, you just assume that.

[Drab]

It's only illegal if the copyright holder asks the private server operators to stop and they don't.

Also the argument against advertising doesn't apply to game hubs it the developers don't object.

[Falro the Great]

What I don't quite get is why you care so much about a supposedly "dead" game. Does this really bother you this much?

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Phoenix (yes, another one)님이 먼저 게시:

If you left something you don't use out in your front/back yard, and someone took it without consent, it's still regarded as theft, which is illegal.

And if Gary leaves a soccer ball outside and Jack takes it without asking Gary first but Gary does not give a flying crap about the fact that someone took it, the sheriff does not charge Jack with theft.

So: Are you the owner?

Also:

Falro the Great님이 먼저 게시:

What I don't quite get is why you care so much about a supposedly "dead" game. Does this really bother you this much?

[BossGalaga]

Phoenix (yes, another one)님이 먼저 게시:

Then people are not discussing the game, people are really only advertising illegal private servers. If some drug dealer tried to set up shop in your backyard, would you just leave it as is, or would you call the cops?

I don't think the cops would be amused if you called to tip them off about an "illegal game server."

If you have a problem, you can contact the actual developer/publisher here:
http://www.perfectworld.com/contact

[Smugass Braixen-Chan]

Phoenix (yes, another one)님이 먼저 게시:

Both the store page, and community game hub of a game can, and have been removed before when a game like this shuts down, such as for Dark Blood ( http://steamcommunity.com/app/267790/discussions/ ). If you were to use a saved direct link to such a hub/forums, you would instead bring up the Steam store main page.

And everybody who posted screenshots, artwork, guides, and threads for this game probably lost their content because Steam Arbitrarily decided to delete it all.

If you left something you don't use out in your front/back yard, and someone took it without consent, it's still regarded as theft, which is illegal. The people hosting private servers of online games have no legal ownership of, or permission to publish the games in question, so yes, such private servers are illegal according to the law. If fans wanted legal ownership of shut down games there are channels to go through to obtain them, the people hosting private servers haven't done that though, so they have no legal grounds to publish such games, whether they are charged, or not is a separate issue. Many people love to pirate games, distribute fan sub videos of anime, and so forth, then try to claim it's legal, when it's not, what people publishing these private servers are doing is basically the same.

Steam forum rules state they can't be used for advertising, which is pretty much all people have been doing with it for the past few years, advertising private servers. When what is being advertised turns out to also be illegal, then they're made all that much worse.

Who cares?

The developer is well within their right to crack down on private servers. But they haven't. Which means that they don't care. They may crack down on them at some point, but right now, it doesn't matter because the developer doesn't care.

YOU don't have the authority to make the decision to crack down on private servers for them. You're just some dude on the internet who wants to shut down private servers on principle, regardless of whether the developer wants these servers shut down or not.

For all you know, the developer is silently encouraging it, because they can't make running their own servers profitable anymore, but they also don't want their game's fandom to die.

This may come as a shocker, but some developers make games because they want people to play them, not just as a means of making money. The growing number of completely free games on Steam is a testament to that.

[Dirty Dan]

Insanity Wolf-Chan님이 먼저 게시:

Phoenix (yes, another one)님이 먼저 게시:

Both the store page, and community game hub of a game can, and have been removed before when a game like this shuts down, such as for Dark Blood ( http://steamcommunity.com/app/267790/discussions/ ). If you were to use a saved direct link to such a hub/forums, you would instead bring up the Steam store main page.

And everybody who posted screenshots, artwork, guides, and threads for this game probably lost their content because Steam Arbitrarily decided to delete it all.

If you left something you don't use out in your front/back yard, and someone took it without consent, it's still regarded as theft, which is illegal. The people hosting private servers of online games have no legal ownership of, or permission to publish the games in question, so yes, such private servers are illegal according to the law. If fans wanted legal ownership of shut down games there are channels to go through to obtain them, the people hosting private servers haven't done that though, so they have no legal grounds to publish such games, whether they are charged, or not is a separate issue. Many people love to pirate games, distribute fan sub videos of anime, and so forth, then try to claim it's legal, when it's not, what people publishing these private servers are doing is basically the same.

Steam forum rules state they can't be used for advertising, which is pretty much all people have been doing with it for the past few years, advertising private servers. When what is being advertised turns out to also be illegal, then they're made all that much worse.

Who cares?

The developer is well within their right to crack down on private servers. But they haven't. Which means that they don't care. They may crack down on them at some point, but right now, it doesn't matter because the developer doesn't care.

YOU don't have the authority to make the decision to crack down on private servers for them. You're just some dude on the internet who wants to shut down private servers on principle, regardless of whether the developer wants these servers shut down or not.

For all you know, the developer is silently encouraging it, because they can't make running their own servers profitable anymore, but they also don't want their game's fandom to die.

This may come as a shocker, but some developers make games because they want people to play them, not just as a means of making money. The growing number of completely free games on Steam is a testament to that.

More free games doesn't equal that they don't want to make money. WoW is a "free game", etc. Making games free so that you can make a big community to later add pay-to-play is a viable business strategy.

[Smugass Braixen-Chan]

Dirty Dan님이 먼저 게시:

More free games doesn't equal that they don't want to make money. WoW is a "free game", etc. Making games free so that you can make a big community to later add pay-to-play is a viable business strategy.

I'm talking about actual free games like Endless Sky and Dwarf Fortress (Not on Steam, but still free), not free to play.

[Phoenix (yes, another one)]

wuddih님이 먼저 게시:

contact the publisher/developer if you wanna get rid of the community hub. Valve has no saying in this and this neither do YOU know if the current situation of the game is not actually allowed or tolerated by the pub/dev, you just assume that.

I did, they're doing the old pass the buck thing by saying it's Valve responsibility. I contacted Valve directly, and they said they're looking into it. But this is Valve here, it could be a year, or more before they doing anything. It took them pretty much exactly a year to remove a Green Light page after I reported a game on it since the publisher that posted the page, had gone out of business.

Drab님이 먼저 게시:

It's only illegal if the copyright holder asks the private server operators to stop and they don't.

Also the argument against advertising doesn't apply to game hubs it the developers don't object.

The mobile division of Eyedentity Games put out a short lived mobile version of Rusty Hearts made by Zoogames a year, and change ago, I think Zoogames are the current rights holders. Also following your faulty logic, if you murder someone, and no one complains, it wasn't illegal, or murder.

___________________________



What I don't get, and find amusing is how that forum, and hub is dead. Likely the only person in this thread that has posted to it in the past two years, or even ever, is me, ignoring that silly "Someone should probably save all the posts in this forum" thread. That said, the real question is why do YOU guys care if a hub you're not using, and may never have used, is removed?

I liked the game, but it's over, it's done, almost no one outside of those advertising private servers, or discussing them have really used it for the past couple years, and it only tends to get about one, or two posts a month, which again is usually to advertise a private server. Anyone that actually liked the game shouldn't like the current sorry state of things, and would rather it just get packed away, rather than allowed to continue to rot.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Phoenix (yes, another one)님이 먼저 게시:

wuddih님이 먼저 게시:

contact the publisher/developer if you wanna get rid of the community hub. Valve has no saying in this and this neither do YOU know if the current situation of the game is not actually allowed or tolerated by the pub/dev, you just assume that.

I did, they're doing the old pass the buck thing by saying it's Valve responsibility.

And so you have a response from the actual rights owner telling you, de facto, "whatever".

Now stop trying to white knight this for them.

Phoenix (yes, another one)님이 먼저 게시:

Drab님이 먼저 게시:

It's only illegal if the copyright holder asks the private server operators to stop and they don't.

Also the argument against advertising doesn't apply to game hubs it the developers don't object.

The mobile division of Eyedentity Games put out a short lived mobile version of Rusty Hearts made by Zoogames a year, and change ago, I think Zoogames are the current rights holders. Also following your faulty logic, if you murder someone, and no one complains, it wasn't illegal.

If so, I'll be sitting here waiting for Zoogames to do something about this. Not you.

Also, murder is a criminal offense, while this is a civil offense and thus requires a plaintiff.

Phoenix (yes, another one)님이 먼저 게시:

What I don't get, and find amusing is how that forum, and hub is dead. Likely the only person in this thread that has posted to it in the past two years, or even ever, is me, ignoring that silly "Someone should probably save all the posts in this forum" thread. That said, the real question is why do YOU guys care if a hub you're not using, and may never have used, is removed?

I like it there. And hey, thanks for reminding me of its existence.

And why do YOU care so much to get it removed?

Oh, by the way, just because the people who use that hub haven't shown up here doesn't mean they're just fine and dandy with your wanting to get it unceremoniously dumped.

Phoenix (yes, another one)님이 먼저 게시:

I liked the game, but it's over, it's done, almost no one outside of those advertising private servers, or discussing them have really used it for the past couple years, and it only tends to get about one, or two posts a month, which again is usually to advertise a private server.

Do you have some sort of personal beef with the owner of a private server, that you haven't told us about?

Phoenix (yes, another one)님이 먼저 게시:

Anyone that actually liked the game shouldn't like the current sorry state of things, and would rather it just get packed away, rather than allowed to continue to rot.

That's just...your opinion, man.

You want my opinion? I liked the game, and I'd rather the board stick around and be a record of things. What you call "rot" I call an active archive.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Also, just for the record:

Phoenix (yes, another one)님이 먼저 게시:

THE GAME CAN NO LONGER BE PLAYED

Actually, considering there are private servers? The game can still be played, so this quoted statement is not true.

[Matt]

Game hubs are rarely, if ever, removed. I don't think you need to take such a personal interest in this. Just ignore and move on. Don't loose sleep because of an unmanaged game hub.