Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!olivea!oliveb!amdahl!JUTS!rmm20
From: rmm20@ccc.amdahl.com (Robert Mitchell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: Re: Lemmings (and Copy Protection)
Message-ID: <5bkf02r=06Zx01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com>
Date: 29 Mar 91 18:17:53 GMT
Reply-To: rmm20@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Robert Mitchell)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 46

OK, here is my contribution to the Great Lemming Debate:
I purchased Lemmings 28 days ago; I know because I am
looking at the Mastercard bill which I have not paid yet.
It was used maybe a dozen times; now it refuses to load.
Even a great game that will not load (tested on several systems)
is trash.
I returned it to my dealer, HT Electronics.
While they would not replace it, they did pay for a call
to Psygnetics in Massachusetts.
These people had the unmitigated gall to accuse me of
exposing their game to a Virus!  As if media never failed.
If at my own expense, I mail it back to them and they
verify it is not Virus infested, they will send me a replacement,
date unspecified.

Personal opinions:
 1) An ethical distributor would have the retail establishment
    replace defective merchandise on the spot.
    This would certainly be the case if I purchased a Nintendo
    cartridge from Target.
 2) An ethical distributor would use the best media available
    if it is copy protected.  This media is Kao.
 3) An ethical distributor, concerned about Virus damage
    to it's products, would use media without a write enable shutter.
    In a game like Lemmings, there is no requirement to ever write
    to the disk.  It should be Virus proof. (My disks were never
    write enabled).

Now what do I do?

 1) Send the disks back to Psygnosis and trust them (?) to 
    actually send me a replacement.  And if they get lost in shipping
    or in Psgnosis' mail room, what are the chances of my getting
    replacements??  I have no choice on this one, I have to send them back.
 2) The Mastercharge bill.  I can contest payment of the charge
    to HT Electronics on the basis of defective merchandise until
    I get a replacement, but this does not seem fair to HT.

I am really very opposed to copy protection.

 - Robert Mitchell
-- 
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