Abandonwarez
Some people believe strongly that if a software application is abandoned then its open game to be used without paying for its use. Some games are in a grey area of legal use. Many BBS doors can no longer be registered as the games have been abandoned by their authors. In other circumstances, door games such as LORD (Legend Of the Red Dragon) and the various games made available from John Dailey Software can still be registered during this point in time. Actually, the price to register door games comes at an excellent price point. For example, John Dailey's games can be purchased with a $15 USD license fee using PayPal money transfer. Some people think that it is fine to pirate a game if it is impossible to register it using legal means. Personally I would not suggest using pirated door games on your BBS because the author could come back into The Scene and you would be liable to purchase the game plus damages. This philosophy will work for the benefit of The BBS Scene by upsetting people enough to make people keep our Scene's software preserved. We lost a great person who ran BBSFILES.COM. From there you could legally register all sorts of games from various authors. His death from Cancer has been tragic, both for his own self, and for the non-lasting legacy of his offerings. If anyone can find his tools to register games and keep monies in reserve until the authors come back into the BBS Scene would be most excellent. What I know is that if you pirate software from an author who still has a legal option to register their door game then formal registration is the route you must take. Piracy is stealing and the authors of games, especially the small time game developers need to be rewarded for their work for helping out our Scene. There is one piece of software that I use because there are no replacements for it and if I need to pay to use it retroactively I'm okay with that. It is absolutely required in my case, so I have to judge my actions on a scale of Lady Justice. From law class the professor said that the main word in law is “it depends.” There are many facets that must be considered, with few things being fully black or white.
