Sebatianos, on Apr 13 2006, 09:02 PM, said:
I can understand that AR wishes to have some well renouned classic titles as well, especially when they fall into the freeware category for which AR was created, but there's no reason some games shouldn't be on BOTH SITES. After all these are sister sites, not competitors, so why not share some things which are equali importaint to both???
Since this was bumped already, how's this for a reason: if AB is theoretically entitled to lay claim to any freeware game eligible to go on AR (on the grounds that it's a classic which is of general interest, etc), but conversely, AR's being a freeware site means it naturally won't be able to lay claim to any titles which might go on AB, you're NOT treating the sites as equals, and the whole "sister" concept becomes ludicrous:
Suppose you're a strict vegetarian who only lives on salad and the odd bit of tofu, while your brother is an omnivore (although he prefers meat on the whole, he does like to have some fresh salad from time to time). In the mind of your brother, sharing lunch would mean that he gets part of your salad, while he sincerely regrets not being able to give you some of his steak in return because you don't eat meat - what a shame. For you, of course, things look a bit different: the only person who has to gain from the sharing lunch thing is your brother - you'll still be eating salad, just as you would be if your brother hadn't asked you to share, and you can't help feeling that there's something slightly unequal about the whole thing. That doesn't make your brother a bad person, of course (after all, he isn't to blame for the situation; it was you who chose to become a vegetarian at one point, and now it just wouldn't be right for you to eat meat), but its still an unequal situation, no matter how much your brother may praise your great relationship.
OK, maybe that wasn't a particularly good example, but what I'm trying to say is that true "sharing" in our case wouldn't mean that AB gets abandonware updates and shares AR's freeware games, it would mean that AB gets all things abandonware, while freeware (regardless of whether they're classics or not) goes on AR. What you're suggesting would indirectly favour AB by giving it the meat as well as the choice of the salad.
Anyway, salad-examples aside, I'm fairly tired of this discussion. Frankly, I can't see what AB could possibly hope to gain through trying to belittle the importance of its sister site by duplicating updates and effectively telling visitors "all the
really important stuff is here - you don't actually need to go over there, unless you absolutely want to". I'm not saying that that is the actual motive behind AB's actions concerning freeware updates, but that's how it will be understood and frequently has been understood. I've seen a lot of confused posts along the lines of "freeware games are added to both sites, right?" or "I don't really check Reloaded; all the important stuff goes on Abandonia anyway". It's as simple as that: as long as Abandonia continues to add freeware games, people won't see what's the point in having Reloaded at all.
Edit: Ignore this post. I just type too bloody slowly.
Edited by A. J. Raffles, 13 April 2006 - 10:01 PM.