Federal Prison Tablet version

[ACEem]

Hello,

Not sure how well known this is, but AT is one of the few games available on the new tablet that federal prison inmates can now buy (since early 2023 or so).
Most of the games on the tablet are junk, made just for the prison tablet to extract easy money from inmates, who have to purchase games individually. Fortunately, there's Andor's Trail, and it's one of the favorite games of the federal inmates.
A lot of the inmates are eagerly looking forward to the expansion of AT, so all the work put into progressing the game is much appreciated by those inmates. AT is a great time killer in a very boring environment.

One question, the Federal prison version is said to remove some quests due to the correctional environment. To my understanding, the Stoutford prison quest can't be completed (since you would have to kill the warden) as well as a mission to break the Thieves Guild member out of jail in Fallhaven. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Are there any other changes to the federal prison version of AT (sometimes referred to as BOP version)?

[tactical371]

Since I am not a developer, it is not really my place to answer. But since nobody has answered, I will answer anyways! Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice.

We do not know all the changes that the federal bureau of prisons (BOP) made to the game, since we do not have a copy of their version of the game or their version’s source code. The developers do not make any money from the game, and they are not paid when you pay $4 to purchase the game on the Keefe tablet. We are told that the Stoutford prison quest is not completable, and a thieves guild quest is not completable (see viewtopic.php?t=7558). This implies that any quests that have those quests as prerequisites are also not completable, since they are not startable (so you are locked out of other thieves guild quests and possibly other non-guild quests).

Any other changes are unknown to us. The BOP and/or Keefe Group has the legal right, under software license GPLv2, to take the developers' source code, modify it, and sell it without permission or compensation to the developers. They also have the legal right to choose to not disclose the program modifications to the original developers, since the original developers are not users of the modified version of the program. However, as a user of the modified game, you should be entitled to a copy of the source code in a human-readable format, unless BOP or Keefe Group can exploit a legal loophole to prevent this from happening. Once you have a copy of the source code, you are entitled (assuming no legal loophole, and remember this is not legal advice) to study the source code, modify it, and share it freely (for example, by posting it on this forum for the original developers to see). However, you are not entitled to run your modified version on the BOP tablets, since software license GPLv2 does not protect against hardware restrictions (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tivoization).

That is the short answer to the question. I might post a longer answer later, if you want to know why the statements in the previous paragraph are true. If you would like the source code of the game that you purchased, source code which you are arguably legally entitled to, please consult with your attorney before doing anything. Besides, if you cause too much hassle for the BOP by exercising your legal rights, they might decide to remove their version of Andor’s Trail from purchase on the tablets as retaliation (remember, the GPLv2 does not protect against hardware restrictions). So you should ask an attorney, preferably one versed in copyright law, before you start making demands. I am sure Keefe Group had their own lawyers look into the GPLv2 software license before putting Andor's Trail on their tablets. They may very well have came up with some sort of loophole to deprive you of your legal right to view the source code (for example, maybe you are just borrowing the software, or maybe the prison retains rights due to owning the actual tablets, or some other bs reason that may or may not actually hold up in court).

And yeah, you probably don't want your fellow inmates to beat you up if the BOP removes the game from everyone's tablets because you exercised your legal rights.

[tactical371]

So to summarize, we do not really know the full extent of the changes. For all we know, it is just the Stoutford prison and the thieves guild quests.

By the way, are you able to see something like the attached image in the about/help section on the start menu?

[Ulfather]

As a recently released inmate, I can say we loved this game. The BOP sent a notification with the update they gave us (v0.8.6.1) that 2 quests were removed that were "inappropriate for prisoners" ... one (we found out later) was the jailbreak quest...we weren't sure about the other, until I found this site just now.

No one who is incarcerated, is able to complete the Stoutford Prison quest....you can still kill the warden, however you cannot present the necklace to the guard captain. Hence killing any other quests in Stoutford...and anything that requires it.

I was really hoping to find that the group responsible for providing games ( not Keefe) was collaborating with game developers...but I see ( as usual) that's not the case.

They've only removed 1 game so far...and that was because the Tablets can't handle the load requirements and kept crashing.

If I may ask...would there be anyway, that in a future update that the requirements for Stoutford Prison and the Fallhaven Jailbreak be removed or modified for prisoners playability? (If the BOP even allows it)

Prison Tablets were a huge success in part because of this game. Thank you all for all of your hard work.

[Antison]

If I may ask...would there be anyway, that in a future update that the requirements for Stoutford Prison and the Fallhaven Jailbreak be removed or modified for prisoners playability? (If the BOP even allows it)

Nope. We will not facilitate the BOP to further steal from us.
They have ignored our attempts for action.

[Ulfather]

If I may ask...would there be anyway, that in a future update that the requirements for Stoutford Prison and the Fallhaven Jailbreak be removed or modified for prisoners playability? (If the BOP even allows it)

Nope. We will not facilitate the BOP to further steal from us.
They have ignored our attempts for action.

It's a third party company they do business with (like everything dealing with government)... probably some Senators son's start up...I'll get you the name of it if you want.

[Antison]

If I may ask...would there be anyway, that in a future update that the requirements for Stoutford Prison and the Fallhaven Jailbreak be removed or modified for prisoners playability? (If the BOP even allows it)

Nope. We will not facilitate the BOP to further steal from us.
They have ignored our attempts for action.

It's a third party company they do business with (like everything dealing with government)... probably some Senators son's start up...I'll get you the name of it if you want.

I understand that and we've contacted those people and they have ignored us

[rijackson741]

It's out of our hands. They took the game, and modified it. Very badly. We could have done a far better job in probably less time than it took them to do the bad job, if only they had contacted us. But they are extremely rude, and have refused to even give us a one word reply when we have reached out to them, despite the fact that they are profiting off our work.

I believe there is more than one prison supplier doing this. Walkenhorst's is certainly one of them.

[tactical371]

I do not know if "steal" is the right word. The GNU GPLv2 permits the game to be sold for profit. See https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.ht ... AllowMoney . Regardless, just as piracy is not theft, unauthorized copying is not stealing.

However, I do not know if they are releasing their modified version of Andor's Trail under the GPL, like they are supposed to, or if they are breaking the copyleft or the license as a whole.

Ulfather, do you still have the tablet and/or the game on the tablet now that you have been released? Since you have paid for the game, you should be entitled to the source code, as long as the game you purchased is also licensed under the GPL. And since you are out of prison, they cannot really retaliate against you for exercising your legal rights. So if you want, you can request a copy of the modified source code. You would then be free to post the modified source code on github or another git hosting site. This would allow us to see exactly what differences there are between the game versions, as well as possibly allow us to compile and distribute the BOP version. But this is assuming that they are not in flagrant violation of the license / law.

Do you recognize anything like the attached image from the copy of the game that you played in BOP? If you still have the tablet, can you see if the BOP copy has the same section?

capture1.jpg

[tactical371]

It's out of our hands. They took the game, and modified it. Very badly. We could have done a far better job in probably less time than it took them to do the bad job, if only they had contacted us. But they are extremely rude, and have refused to even give us a one word reply when we have reached out to them, despite the fact that they are profiting off our work.

I believe there is more than one prison supplier doing this. Walkenhorst's is certainly one of them.

If they are indeed breaking the law, it is not surprising that they have not replied to you. Remaining silent is an important legal strategy!