Game devs: „Here is the code to run our games on a private server. Have fun!“
Gamers: „Cool, thanks! Will do!“
ESA: „ISN‘T THERE SOMEONE YOU FORGOT TO ASK???“
this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2026
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I invited Jesus, but he never logs on
ESA members: https://www.theesa.com/our-members/
- Amazon
- Atari
- Bandai Namco
- Capcom
- Disney
- EA
- Epic Games
- Konami
- Mattel
- Microsoft
- Netflix
- Nintendo
- Riot Games
- Roblox
- Sony Play Station
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- Tencent
- Ubisoft
- Warner Bros
- Wizard of the Coast (owner of MtG and DnD's rights)
The page also has this quote:
Shape and influence the largest entertainment industry in America.
So absolutely no one I respect. Nice. ESA go fuck yourself.
Yes. I was worried while I read the list, but known assholes top to bottom. That's nice, I guess?
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What's the point in Microsoft shooting against "their own" product? I mean, the option for public or private servers is literally built into the game. Also there is the option for playing together over LAN which you could also argue is a private server.
If you have the facts, you pound the facts. If you have the law, you pound the law. If you have neither, you pound the table. This is the ESA pounding the table, and the goal is to confuse the gerontocracy LARPing as lawmakers.
This is why tech has gotten so out of control in the US. In the past 40 years, this industry has had so many revolutionary inventions while our legislators on average get older and less likely to understand the newest technology, thereby making them more susceptible to being misled or misleading others. Combined with our legislators not giving a fuck about actual economics, this is how we have oligopolies everywhere in the US with cartel behavior
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The way I see it there are two possible reasons:
- incompetence: The statement in question was said by ESA's vice president for state government affairs, in other words a professional lobbyist. Video games are her day job, not her hobby. I don't know how much she actually plays herself. It may therefore be the case that she wasn't briefed properly or she got confused. The ESA is currently persuing legal action against certain private servers after all. The article contains specifics on those but in short: Those servers enable piracy, the Minecraft ones don't.
- they are lying: the whole thing was part of a hearing on Stop Killing Games. Private servers are one of the ways to fulfill their demands. It is the industry's position that implementing those is too complicated. Each instance of private servers existing weakens the argument. So better pretend that those don't exist. After all gamers won't even learn about this statement. It's a random California state senate hearing. They don't watch those!
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Saruman and Gríma just want to shape and influence the largest cavalry force of Middle Earth...
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Of all the hot takes in the world, that statement is the dumbest thing I have ever heard someone say. Completely out-of-touch with the case, with the subject and with the games referenced. It is literally wronger than Flat Earth and young earth creationism in a single sentence. I would quote Bully Madison but even that wouldnt suffice.
Of all the hot takes in the world, that statement is the dumbest thing I have ever heard someone say. Completely out-of-touch with the case, with the subject and with the games referenced. It is literally wronger than Flat Earth and young earth creationism in a single sentence. I would quote Bully Madison but even that wouldnt suffice.
I'm sorry mate but you asked for it. We are now all dumber for having read the words "Bully Madison."
Bully Madison
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So it's piracy to use the software that comes with the game? The Java version of the game, at least, has always come with the software to run your own server without needing to rent one directly from any specific vendor.
The ESA can go fuck itself.
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Why is the European Space Agency doing this instead of a moon program or something? /j
For a moment there I was wondering what was happening on the ISS for ESA to make such a statement
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If it’s piracy either way then why are we paying?
I’m sorry, WHAT? How fucking stupid do you have to be to think that this makes any sense.
The ESA isn't stupid, they're just making the statement to give the politicians in their pockets a cover excuse for making it illegal that the actual dumbasses who support those politicians will buy.
And they've been successful with that strategy (for now)
Regardless, the Protect Our Games Act did not make it out of this stage of the legislative process. With four aye votes, three noes, and four abstentions, it failed to accrue the majority of ayes necessary to pass. Nevertheless, it has been granted a reconsideration, so it's not the end.
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Gibbons cut in: "They're illegal. They are not in any way affiliated with Microsoft. Microsoft, for Minecraft, has gotten a lot of criticism because of those community servers not employing the same safety standards that Microsoft does on their Minecraft servers."
Oh this bullshit with the EULA
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The ESA is a mouthpiece for companies that want you to own nothing and do nothing that they don't approve of and benefit from.
It's blatantly a bad stance from them; but it doesn't even touch on games that use internal client/server models even when playing single-player — which includes Minecraft. If their argument were law, would I be breaking it by just playing Minecraft at all? With the way it's worded, I would think yes.
That doesn't even take into account that Minecraft in particular can turn a single-player client/server into a multiplayer with one button press. Would that be illegal? Maybe they'd argue not, because it's LAN only (which is a flimsy argument as well). But with a little effort, you could open up that LAN server up to whomever you wanted.
Very obvious they didn't think it through, they just want you to own nothing.
If they will still call you a pirate even if you buy the game, and even if the game sells well, they’ll eventually lay off the entire development team, why not just pirate the damn thing from the start?
Screw the ESA and its partners.
All I heard from the ESA representative is : "If buying isn't owning, pirating isn't stealing." 🦜
We reached out to all gamers everywhere and a spokesman for the group responded with the following statement:
Lol wut?
Fucking noobs...
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Reading this article, ESA feels like the evil archenemies of the Stop Killing Games folks. As SKG put it, the talk of illegality was to mislead a Californian legislator too busy to fact check.
That said, the real fight ESA is pushing is more in regards to private servers for MMOs and other always-online games that SKG wants to be legal as part of preservation. I personally disagree with ESA in that regard, although I can understand their legal argument regarding the lawsuits on World of Warcraft private servers, mentioned in the article.
(Though, my two cents, I personally feel "free market" should mean official servers are better and earn their subscriptions: more people, more reliable, better content, etc... but they usually aren't. So fuck them, lol).
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I was like what the hell is the European Space Agency doing with Minecraft in California...
Big “Home Taping is Killing Music” energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Taping_Is_Killing_Music
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What I would give to have these fucks having an inkling of what it is they're talking about.
They know. They don't care that it makes no sense. To them anyone with money that is not paying all of it to them is a criminal.
I'm actually going assume they (ESA) meant the Minecraft DRM servers and not the hosting and playing with friends servers, because they refer to 'counterfeiting and piracy' lawsuits right afterwards. I mean its easy to say they don't know the difference but I'd suspect this was a little more malicious.
They don't know the difference. Oh, you're right, that was easy.
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IP has more rights than people.
Yeah obviously since these games don't want private servers they provided the exact files to host your own server. Do they really believe the courts are that stupid?
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Wait until they hear what Quake, DOOM, Marathon, Half-Life, etc were doing in the 90s...
Well then, I guess we will just have to make better OpenSource games, now won't we?
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Did they let their members know this before they implemented private matches and server browsers in their games?
THAT'S ILLEGAL REEEEE
We'll keep up the good work, then.
It's not baffling, if you realize its the ESA saying it.
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