from Hacker News

Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

by SoMuchToGrok on 5/4/17, 2:45 AM with 291 comments

  • by jakebasile on 5/4/17, 5:59 AM

    It looks like someone found a copy of Blizzard's copyrighted source code, returned it to Blizzard, and got a reward. Why are people upset about this? It seems like the right thing to do to my mind. If someone found a copy of my own source laying in the street I'd be very happy if they returned it instead of releasing it on the net.

  • by huehehue on 5/4/17, 6:03 AM

    Damn people are tearing this guy apart, the reddit threads are particularly brutal. It's a video game.

    The finder has no obligation to risk legal trouble so that a game can be modified, played, or even preserved. I'm all for archiving these sorts of things, and agree there's probably no great reason to keep the source private.

    But if I have the (likely) stolen property of a large company and they ask for its return, I'm sure as hell not going to go all cowboy to make some enthusiasts happy.

  • by uranian on 5/4/17, 6:49 AM

    Fair chance Blizzard expected he had at least made a copy. Their being so generous with gifts and inviting him to speak with him personally seems to me a desperate effort to generate even more loyalty in him, which is actually really smart. It's their best chance for very little money and effort to prevent this source code to circulate on the internet.

  • by Vekz on 5/4/17, 4:59 AM

  • by slackingoff2017 on 5/4/17, 9:23 AM

    Wtf? Who make a "gold disc" for source code?? Wouldn't the gold master be compiled code? And who the fuck makes a "gold source" disc that's also "professionally printed"? That implies they gave the source to somebody to have the CD made. Yeah right. Also, the game takes up most of a CD, the assets would use far more space than that.

    There's so many holes in this story, it's obvious bullshit and everyone is soaking it up. 100% chance this is a lame viral marketing stunt to drum up interest in StarCraft remastered. It's clearly paid placement, and frankly a bit sensational to even be possible.

    Blizzard is known for quietly paying people for product placement and bullshit stories like this. Don't be sheeple.

    Edit: I did some reading and other sources actually name the person and mention he's a game collector (with pictures of some of his collection). Surprisingly, this looks to be legit.

    http://www.dualshockers.com/2017/05/03/long-lost-starcraft-g...

  • by kgu on 5/4/17, 6:46 AM

    I can't find it viscerally in me to take moral issue with the guy releasing the code. I understand it belongs to Blizzard, but I just don't feel sorry for them. Not defending that, just stating a fact about the absence of an emotion in me.

    That said: if you believe the guy would've been right to distribute the code, it follows that you believe the right thing for Blizzard to do is to release the code themselves. Instead of arguing morality here, one might spend one's energy articulating that argument to Blizzard instead.

  • by FrozenVoid on 5/4/17, 6:54 AM

    Thats C++ source from v1.00 pre-expansion, an early version that is quite not the polished game that v1.07/v1.08 was, written on pre-c++98 MSVC code by inexpirienced and overworked programmers, when win95 was the mainstream OS and 128mB of ram was plenty and 3D cards were luxury products(most used motherboard graphics).

    https://www.codeofhonor.com/blog/tough-times-on-the-road-to-...

  • by jfoutz on 5/4/17, 5:03 AM

    I would never want to go up against blizzard legal, but I have a hard time with the "trade secret" bit when the box came from eBay. The guy didn't sign a contract with blizzard.

    I have cds with intellectual property on them. It's not like he's copying it all willy nilly. No different than finding a manual of procedures for some random organization.

    The only "real" risk seems to be possessing stolen property (maybe, could have been a gift or souvenir). But stolen 20 years ago and never reported.

    I can't understand how keeping the disk is particularly bad. But good for them for giving it back. I think it belongs in a museum, but back home at blizzard is ok too.

  • by rweichler on 5/4/17, 4:09 AM

    You'd have to pay me way more money than that to keep such a pungent cultural artifact buried. What a shame!

  • by devwastaken on 5/4/17, 3:32 AM

    In other news, Blizzard pays less than $1000 to make sure modders can't make starcraft better than they can.

  • by infinityplus1 on 5/4/17, 8:04 AM

    Many are blaming him for not releasing the source code anonymously. Do you really think he had the knowledge to do that safely? He would have already done that if he could. It's really simple, don't play with fire if you don't know how to handle it.

  • by sverige on 5/4/17, 4:46 AM

    What has happened to the pirate spirit that used to exist in this country? That was found booty, nothing more, nothing less. What a shame. Guess I'd better send back to Microsoft that copy of "Chicago" I got from the U. of Florida servers back in the day.

  • by d--b on 5/4/17, 6:48 AM

    Come on guys... Had any of you made Starcraft, you'd be very happy to have the disc back. Blizzard's behaved ok I believe in flying the guy to blizzcon and giving him the perks he got.

    While it's interesting to have the code, there's probably nothing really amazing about it. However, the game is still being played, so releasing the source code may help people cheat.

  • by jvdl on 5/4/17, 9:39 AM

    Wow, this thread. Plenty of people insisting on gaining access to source code they didn't write and had no part in developing.

    News flash: it's not your product, you don't own it, and you have no rights to insist on hijacking someone else's product for your own gain.

  • by recentdarkness on 5/4/17, 4:21 AM

    Karma is a ... -- Being honest had always been having its perks for me too

  • by vatotemking on 5/4/17, 8:03 AM

    n-gate.com is so gonna love this thread

  • by jbmorgado on 5/4/17, 10:13 AM

    I think we are mixing two terms here: Intelectual Property and Trade Secrets.

    The code doesn't seem protected by intellectual property but it's a trade secret. Just like Mona Lisa was intellectual property of Leonardo, but the way he created the different paint colours was his trade secret.

    A trade secret don't necessarily have to be protected by law, the moment it gets out, then people are free to use it as they see fit. That's what I think about this source code: it got out somehow (even if the way it got out was illegal or not), but the moment it comes to public it becomes general knowledge.

  • by jlebrech on 5/4/17, 9:43 AM

    and not long afterwards they re-release the game for free with a new installer.

    looks like they finally found that long lost source code.

  • by rjeli on 5/4/17, 4:12 AM

    This article breaks my heart to read.

  • by goldenkey on 5/4/17, 6:41 AM

    This is why there are two types of people. Those that ruin it for everybody else, and those that don't. What a dunce.

  • by Kenji on 5/4/17, 6:21 AM

    I wouldn't have returned the source code for 10000$, let alone a measly 250$.