Stop Killing Games now dealing with alleged bogus claims from anonymous letter

The stench thickens, as Ross Scott, a major voice behind the Stop Killing Games movement, is now reporting that an entity from the gaming industry is trying to file “false claims” against it. In a new 20-minute video, Scott breaks down what’s happened, and it’s just all manner of grimness.

For those not entirely caught up on the saga, Stop Killing Games (or officially, Stop Destroying Games), is a movement that is attempting to do as it says on the tin. Gaming is at a weird crossroads in terms of preservation. While work is actively being done by teams across the world to save gaming’s history, the industry wants nothing to do with it.

In contrast, after many, many months, it appears that players wholeheartedly agree with the idea. In the last few days, it’s managed to scoot across 1.4 million signatures.

Continuing to have access to something you technically owned at some point might be a disgusting idea to the suits in a C-Suite. However, in a world where we increasingly don’t own much of anything that we buy, taking some control of the situation is an ideal that people can get behind.

Scott’s new video delves into an apparent false claim made by someone from within the industry. It’s not clear who, but as lobbyists begin to gear up to scupper Stop Killing Games as it gets off the starting line, underhanded attacks are clearly being made.

Stop Killing Games’ Ross Scott immediately debunks threat

The letter detailing all the faults that Stop Destroying Games has done is immediately debunked by Scott. Mainly, it’s all sunk because the EU group sought out whether Scott’s help was in breach of anything, to which the EU said it wasn’t.

This situation also comes down to what the EU classes as a sponsor. On the official website, here’s everything that Ross was able to use to debunk the issues raised (hint, it’s all four points):

• Sponsors are people or organisations providing financial support over EUR 500.
• Legal persons or organisations providing other economically quantifiable (in-kind donations) or non-economically quantifiable support to an initiative are also considered sponsors.
• Individuals providing non-financial support, such as volunteering, are not considered sponsors under the ECI Regulation and do not need to be reported.
• If you are unsure whether support you are receiving should be reported, please contact the ‘Ask an expert’ service of the ECI Forum.

No money on Ross’ part has been spent, and the weird estimates of how much he’s poured in through what’s been called “professional contribution”, he rebuffs by saying only time has been spent on the matter. This is forgetting that Ross can only advise and promote the cause. For the guy that came to prominence online making a Half-Life comedy show for Machinima, there’s no way he’s got the funds claimed in the document.

Ultimately, it’s an entirely bogus and incredibly weak attempt at trying to stop something as basic as letting the people control what they bought into. Yes, of course, this will take years to culminate in any kind of response, but the fact that lobbyists are clearly struggling to find any reasonable ground outside of quotes to a PC Gamer article and made-up numbers to try to use the 500 Euro limit as a smoking gun shows just how grody the road ahead is.

What is Stop Killing Games about?

The Stop Killing Games petition aims to bring to the European Union a mandate that would force publishers and developers to either “sell or license” shuttered games to the general public. So instead of a game having its servers closed and languishing in limbo, budding developers could take over to continue keeping it alive.

Fans of dead games will always try to find a way

This isn’t a new concept. In fact, SEGA, Capcom, and even Disney have turned a blind eye to private servers being run of their now-defunct MMOs. Yes, you can right now jump into a Pirates of the Caribbean MMO, Phantasy Star Online 1 and Universe, as well as Monster Hunter Frontier Z.

Fans have been keeping the spirits of dead games alive for a lot longer than some people realise. In 2013, Jagex, the company behind RuneScape, essentially bowed to player demand for a version of the game that had simply been overwritten by its constant updates and evolving gameplay. Part of that was due to private servers of archived versions of the game dating to 2007 were outperforming the official, main game.