Petition CA for MTW source code?

**Kaidonni** · 04-29-2009, 14:18

It's better than just sitting around talking about it, that. If I could just get rid of the battle mouse-over bug, I'd be happy. They are still selling the game, and it is their responsibility to inform people of the issues with it on more modern PCs (and a majority of gamers are not going to come to places like here at the Org or other Total War sites, they've only bought the game to play it casually). I knew there could be issues back in 2006 when I got Medieval Gold, but I was lucky. Others won't know, and won't be so lucky, even if it's as simple as only needing the button fix or tweaking a few graphics card settings. They'll be frustrated and want to return the game, and feel cheated by CA or Nvidia, or both. Not really that good for reputation. As long as a game is sold, there should be some semblance of support, not a pretence that all is fine. It is also inefficient to continue selling the game, expending resources on the production of the software and other items and shipping them to stores, if the most probable result is that people can't play it.

It is not as if anyone is looking to pirate the game by having the source code. Mentioned before is the fact that anything done with the source code would still require that people have the original game. That means people will still be paying for the game. Sure, there will be people who pirate the game, nothing can stop that. But short of not producing and selling any games, only so much can be done to combat that. Punishing paying customers and those of us who are honest and only have good intentions is not the way to combat it. Nothing malicious will be done with the source code, and it only needs to be given to certain trusted people. CA and Sega both know that people can be trusted in this manner, too - look at Jack Lusted. He tried his darned best to fix Rome and Medieval 2, and eventually got hired by CA because of his contribution. They believed in him enough to allow him to become more intimately involved with the development of their games. They trusted him, that he was right about the flaws in the games. It would not be so different with providing someone with the source code. We swing it in our favour by suggesting we pay to have it - maybe to 'hire' it, even, rather than own it. Non-disclosure agreements are all that is required, only certain modders being allowed to have access to the code. And even if someone did distribute it further and pirated it...all games have been pirated, and again it does not mean we are all like that. Most people will not go down that route, most are willing to pay for the game. Something about not stealing. CA and Sega would do well not to be too pessimistic about Human nature, it is insulting.

I believe the issue is even being made more complex than need be. Non-disclosure agreements, paying to be able to have access to altering the code, maybe even a system that stops it (or does a very good job at trying to stop it) from being distributed beyond the original recipients. Maybe something along the lines of CD-keys, and they can only be registered once. This could make everyone happy. And it could net CA and Sega more money and a better reputation. Medieval Total War is a timeless game. It is at a time when the Total War games were really only just starting. It is as classical as Age of Empires and Age of Empires 2, or Doom and Doom 2. Same goes for Shogun. Do they really want to let this game die?

It takes a lot of effort to alter the source code for a game, anyway. And an artistic eye, nonetheless. Your generic pirates aren't going to get anything from pirating the source code. There probably wouldn't even be any effort put into distributing it. We're not talking about downloading something to play here (although I am NOT endorsing such an action, might I add), we're talking about modding. Not only that, but programming and coding. Most people do not have the patience or the time to do any of that. If they have the skills, then they are less likely to be the scum that doesn't pay for games because they probably want to do something with programming as a career. People who mod and who code do not steal, they are not the common thieves CA and Sega might be taking them for. These are people who would easily sympathise, not just empathise, with the pain endured through seeing your artistic/commercial property stolen. They don't even want people to steal any of their work. And I don't think people like being hypocrits, so...

It is definitely time for us to do something. Either we make a concerted effort to make a future for MTW, or we just decide to play it until we no longer can and let it fade into the darkness of the past.

PS: Besides, petitions won't be enough by themselves - individuals are smart, but get people into large masses and see their true nature

. What we need is to argue our points and ensure that we are in the right. Debates are all about that - argue your points, take what you can from your opponent, and still find a way to be right somehow and win. No point in trying to lose.

**edyzmedieval** · 05-26-2009, 11:22

Very good point Kaidonni.

I was recently playing a bit of Medieval: Total War, to remind myself of the glory days of the Total War series, and I still throughly enjoyed the medieval and historic feel of the game, something which cannot be reproduced at all in M2TW. And at the same time I thought it's a real shame we can't do anything to fix the diplomacy and other bugs which clear hinder the game progress.

**caravel** · 05-26-2009, 14:02