[OT] LAN party concern

[ShadowX]

Theres a LAN party that I will be participating in soon and they want it to be completely legal. No copying or cracks or the like. But I was arguing whether the following situation is illegal:

If I take a game with no cd key and without a cd crack, and then use it to start the game up. I then remove the cd while the game is running and using it to start up the game on another computer.

Now I am not looking to know your opinions on whether this is wrong or not. I am looking for a response on how the law looks on such an act. Is it illegal?

 

[DerianCypher]

First off, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure what you're talking about is legal. In fact, it's called spawning. They used to build them into the CD (Like an "Install Spawn" option) but they just made it so you can do exactly what you're talking about.

You should be golden if that's what you're doing.

DC

 

[Darkness]

Moved to Software/Computers.

 

[MythosaAkira]

I believe the general idea is one CD for each installation, so "spawning" isn't legal unless the publisher explicitly says so.

StarCraft or Warcraft or one of those was spawnable, if I recall, and I remember that you were allowed to install the multi-player part of Half-Life on up to 4 PCs with the same CD key. But that sort of thing isn't necessarily the case for all games.

I'm not a lawyer, of course, nor would I give out legal advice on a message board if I was Your best bet may be to contact the publishers of the games you're planning on running and asking what their policies are.

 

[Psionicist]

Most EULAs states that one CD = one computer.

 

[gariig]

Halflife is 2...you can have 2 installs running at the same time with one cd key.

Gariig

 

[smetzger]

You will have to read the EULA.

 

[andrew]

If you're unsure whether it is legal or not, chances are the game organizers will not allow it. They are probably interested in protecting themselves and will no doubt frown on any activity that isn't clearly legitimate. If you have to argue your case, you've probably already lost it.

My advice is to just bring two copies of the game.

 

[jdavis]

I believe the general idea is one CD for each installation, so "spawning" isn't legal unless the publisher explicitly says so.

StarCraft or Warcraft or one of those was spawnable, if I recall, and I remember that you were allowed to install the multi-player part of Half-Life on up to 4 PCs with the same CD key. But that sort of thing isn't necessarily the case for all games.

I'm not a lawyer, of course, nor would I give out legal advice on a message board if I was Your best bet may be to contact the publishers of the games you're planning on running and asking what their policies are.

Lots of newer multiplayer games allow for "spawning" like that, where the CD can be used to start up multiplayer games to run without the CD but not the single player game. Check the booklet that comes with the game to see if it will do that . I am pretty sure Neverwinter Nights is like that. The ones that allow it say in the instruction books.

 

[WizarDru]

Allow me to assure you, NWN is NOT like that. NWN is one of the most perisistent battlers of spawning around. It checks for an internet connection about six times during the startup of a multiplayer game, and tries to verify CD keys quite a bit. It most certainly does NOT allow for spawning. Quite the opposite, in fact. I've run against it enough times to say that with confidence.

Games like Starcraft specifically give you the option for spawning clients during install...as long as one player has a valid license, it can act as a server for a LAN game.