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The Silver Lining - Cease and Desist

Started by Yonkey, February 27, 2010, 08:59:56 PM

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Delling

*pounces upon interview and reads* heh... heh... I've been sort of eagerly awaiting the interviews since you mentioned them... :P


I thought I remembered hearing that... that Activision basically had no clue who you guys were.
Noli me tangere! Nescio ubi fuisti!
Don't touch me! I don't know where you've been!

Marquess of Pembroke
Duke of Saxony in Her Majesty's Court
Knight of the Swan for Her Imperial Highness

...resistance was obviously useless against a family that could invent italics.

"Let the locative live."

http://my.ddo.com/referral/Delling87

waltzdancing

#641
I have spoken to someone in Activision! It was just a follow up to the packages I have sent however, they are being very helpful to me. The person whom I spoke to, did see the petitions on someone's desk, and knows a bit about our situation in passing some of the others in the company. I am going to shoot him a email in a moment and he will forward it to the proper athority. I will have your email in there too Yonkey if they want to talk to someone on the TSL team.

Keep the petitions coming becuase I will now be following them up every week with an email and a phone call. Keep your fingers crossed, they know we are here and they know we are not happy.

Yonkey

That's great news, waltzdancing!  Have them contact me and I'll take it from there. :)
"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."

waltzdancing

I have given them your email and have also have sent you one as well with the number I have been using and whom I spoke too. I told them in the email that you will be waiting for a response.

Yonkey

"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."

crayauchtin

Quote from: BloodShed on March 30, 2010, 06:06:43 PM
So this thread is still going?  ::)  It reminds me of the hilarious times I had reading the fan posts on the 3DRealms forums.  ...you know, the people that refused to admit that DNF was vaporware.  Good times.

Seriously though, I'm a huge KQ fan and I was looking forward to TSL for years.  But frankly, I just don't care to help when the team isn't even interested in helping themselves.  You guys still can't even repost your website and defend your basic rights.  Instead, you expect Activision to care when your fans do the only thing you approve of... sign pointless petitions and mail tens of letters.  They wouldn't even spend minimum wage on someone to throw your letters away; they'll let the interns do it.  At least you gave Activision a good 10-second chuckle when they saw just how quickly you fall for nonsense scare tactics.

To the 30 or so visitors still clinging to a shred of hope that Activision will waste even 2 minutes to reconsider... I hope, for everyone's sake, that I'm wrong.  But unfortunately, I'm not.  A year from now, this site will be empty or completely gone and Activision will have forgotten what TSL even was (if they haven't already).

Good luck anyway.
Yes, this thread is still going.

Maybe you should try reading it, or any other thread on this website, so you might actually know a little tiny bit about what's going on?

So, just to correct a few minor points...
-Yes, the fans are doing what we can. This is what saved the game last time, so don't tell us it's pointless.
-The team is taking measures of their own, as they've stated several times. They are looking into buying the IP from Activision, among many other courses of action they're considering.
-The mailings that Activision has received already have, in fact, at least gotten TSL some attention from within the company.

I hate to be a bubble burster... but, uhm, there are no facts whatsoever supporting your jaded version of reality, so come join the rest of us on Earth? Just give it a shot for a day, yeah? :D
"If your translation is correct, that was 'May a sleepy hippopotamus lie down on your house keys,' but you're not sure. Unfortunately, your fluency in griffin-speak is too low."

We're roleplaying in the King's Quest world: come join in the fun!

Angelic_Sabyne

#646
Sorry for going quiet, life's been hectic for me recently.

I just read the interview you put up, Yonkey.  I admit, though I too had heard that Activision had no idea who you all were, it still disappoints me that everything seems to have been treated so casually by them.  Not being an industry insider, I wonder if this is a typical thing for companies like this?  I also wonder how high this opinion goes up in the Activision food chain.  Is it possible that anyone higher than the Legal/PR departments has absolutely no clue about TSL and what's going on?  (You'd be surprised at the density of some corporate folks.)

In any case, I'm glad you're getting a response, Waltz.  I knew there'd be something, given a bit of time.  I also need to sit down this evening and write my own letter to Activision about this mess.  If I can finish it, I'll get it to you ASAP.  :)

ETA: Hate to waste my keystokes, but I wanted to respond to Mr. Concern Troll upthread.

Quote from: BloodShed on March 30, 2010, 06:06:43 PM
So this thread is still going?  ::)  It reminds me of the hilarious times I had reading the fan posts on the 3DRealms forums.  ...you know, the people that refused to admit that DNF was vaporware.  Good times.

Seriously though, I'm a huge KQ fan and I was looking forward to TSL for years.  But frankly, I just don't care to help when the team isn't even interested in helping themselves.  You guys still can't even repost your website and defend your basic rights.  Instead, you expect Activision to care when your fans do the only thing you approve of... sign pointless petitions and mail tens of letters.  They wouldn't even spend minimum wage on someone to throw your letters away; they'll let the interns do it.  At least you gave Activision a good 10-second chuckle when they saw just how quickly you fall for nonsense scare tactics.

To the 30 or so visitors still clinging to a shred of hope that Activision will waste even 2 minutes to reconsider... I hope, for everyone's sake, that I'm wrong.  But unfortunately, I'm not.  A year from now, this site will be empty or completely gone and Activision will have forgotten what TSL even was (if they haven't already).

Good luck anyway.

Ha.  Buddy, you have no idea what you're talking about.

The reason DNF failed so dramatically isn't even in the same galaxy as why Activision issued their C&D.  3D Realms' efforts went belly-up due (in a nutshell) largely due to Broussard's large ego and his lack of proper planning, as shown in this Wired article http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_duke_nukem/.  In contrast, this C&D is largely due to a company being penny-wise and pound-foolish.  The past few months have shown that Activision is willing to tick off their fan base in the name of profits, even as they tout superior motives.

If you come back in a year, will things be different?  Don't know, it's tough to say.  I will say, that a lot of us may still be here.  Why?  Because we're a community.  We're here because we enjoy the company and the atmosphere.  I know if this forum remains and the game is still unable to be released, I'll come back and talk to others.  I love this community, even if I've done more reading than posting.  But we're all gonna do our best to get this rolling again, because if we don't, if we assume the game would never be released, then it won't.  If we give up, they win by default.

Erpy

#647
Heh, you shouldn't be too surprised about this. When AGDI was busy getting its license validated, we regularly had to remind our contact at VU who we were again and that was while we were busy getting legal papers drafted. Not everybody at game companies plays games, particularly those who have no direct involvement in game development, nor do they hang out at internet communities. How many big businessmen are avid gamers? Not many, I wager. So, if they don't hang around in adventure-game related online communities, how COULD they have known?


waltzdancing

True.  ;) They have alot of other things going on and those projects not directly related to their community are going to slowly slip away. I wasn't surprised that Activision hadn't heard of TSL. I hadn't heard of it until 2008 and that was just a general Kings Quest search one day by my sister.

crayauchtin

I was not surprised by the fact that they didn't know who POS was -- I was surprised that they apparently had no record of the license worked out with Vivendi. That falls on Vivendi's shoulders, most likely, not Activision's. It should have been made certain by Vivendi that the license and all files concerning the license were properly transferred to Activision when the merger happened.
"If your translation is correct, that was 'May a sleepy hippopotamus lie down on your house keys,' but you're not sure. Unfortunately, your fluency in griffin-speak is too low."

We're roleplaying in the King's Quest world: come join in the fun!

Rider Jetfire

Well what with all the things that go on during mergers it's not surprising it wasn't handled properly, as much as I would have liked it to be.  Still though, thanks to us, they know POS is still alive and kickin!
What thing is it without a name that brings my mind ere back the same to thee?

Yonkey

Quote from: Angelic_Sabyne on March 31, 2010, 03:56:01 PM
I know if this forum remains and the game is still unable to be released, I'll come back and talk to others.  I love this community, even if I've done more reading than posting. 
The forum will definitely remain up.  When we received the C&D, I did consider shutting down the entire website, since that's what most people do.  But, we had a few days to digest the letter, and during those days I saw how active and close our community was, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. 

So, I did the next best thing: keep the forum up, but remove all TSL-related content.  It may have been a little too overprotective, but the thought of losing such a caring community over some small legal technicality was just not worth that risk.  It was a tough decision to make, but we adapted, and it ultimately made us stronger.
"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."

tessspoon

Don't know if this will have any effect, or if someone else has already posted this (have only been very quickly skimming posts the past couple weeks), but apparently Activisions is reorganizing. linky

waltzdancing

I that is interesting. Maybe that is why everything seems so scattered over there, hopefully the fourth group will listen to us.

GoneTooLong

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this on another thread, but Joystiq put up a report on their time spent playing the first episode. I'm guessing this was when they talked to Rich at PAX:

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/01/hands-on-the-silver-lining-the-game-activison-doesnt-want-you/
Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says "But Doctor...I am Pagliacci." Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains.

waltzdancing

DYING!!!!!! I NEED THIS GAME NOW!!! This article just made my mouth water even more. God Activision, this game needs to come out I can feel the whole Kings Quest air about it by just reading!

Yonkey

I've now linked to the Joystiq article in the first post. :)
"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."

Rider Jetfire

I agree with waltz!!!!!!!  Oh my gosh...  PLEASE LET THIS GAME BE RELEASED!!!
What thing is it without a name that brings my mind ere back the same to thee?

Yonkey

Remember, it all comes down to convincing one person to understand and change their mind.
"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."

SurfnSwells80

I have posted links to the save TSL site and to these forums in the comments section on the Joystiq article. Reading the comments, it appears that there are people really wanting a new KQ game. Every person who contributes is hopefully one step closer to a release.
David Johnson
Quality Assurance Tester