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The Royal Archives => The Dark Age => General => Topic started by: oberonqa on March 01, 2010, 12:26:29 AM

Title: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 01, 2010, 12:26:29 AM
Save The Silver Lining Petition is now up and active at the following URL:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/savetsl

Here is a copy of the actual petition:

Background:

On February 28, 2010, Activision issued a Cease and Desist order against fan developer Phoenix Online Studios, who has been hard at work on The Silver Lining, an unofficial sequel to the venerable King's Quest series. Visitors to the game's website, located at http://www.tsl-game.com are now greeted with the following letter from the development team:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Our Fans:

In 2005, Phoenix Online Studios received a Cease & Desist letter from Vivendi Universal, the owners of the King's Quest IP, in regards to our work on The Silver Lining. We complied with the request, and over the months that followed, we were able to work out a non-commercial fan license with Vivendi that allowed us to continue our work on the game.

We have spent a lot of time recently reworking the material of The Silver Lining into episodic releases, with the first out of a planned five episodes completed, and submitted for review, and had hoped we would be able to bring our game to you, the fans, in the Spring of 2010.

Recently, however, ownership of the Sierra IP changed hands and became the property of Activision. After talks and negotiations in the last few months between ourselves and Activision, they have reached the decision that they are not interested in granting a non-commercial license to The Silver Lining, and have asked that we cease production and take down all related materials on our website.

As before, we must and will comply with this decision, as much as we may wish we could do otherwise.

We cannot say enough how much we appreciate the support we have had over these years from our fans. Without you, we would never have gotten this far. There would be no game to develop, and no one to develop it for. You have been amazing and steadfast, and we will always remember that and appreciate it more than we can say.

Sadly, after eight years of dedicated work and even more dedicated fans, The Silver Lining project is closing down.

What the future holds for us, as individuals or a team, we cannot say. We have an amazing development team, however, filled with talented and hard-working individuals, and we hope the teamwork and rapport we have developed will not go to waste. We hope that when we do know what the future holds for us, our fans will be there to enjoy what we can give them still.

Again, thank you all so much for everything. This has been a long and crazy road, full of more twists than we could have anticipated, but more triumphs and wonderful memories than we could have ever hoped for. And for that, to all of you and to everyone on our team, we will always be grateful.

Thank You,

The Silver Lining Development Team

In compliance with Activision's request, most of our forums are coming down. However, we are keeping a few new, empty forums open so fans can stay in touch with one another and with us. Please visit: http://www.postudios.com/blog/forum/index.php?topic=8394.0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As many of you will recall, back in 2005, Phoenix Online Studios was issued a Cease and Desist by Vivendi Universal for the development of King's Quest IX. After a lengthy petition and review process, Vivendi Universal granted the developer a limited non-commercial license to develop their game, which was renamed "The Silver Lining".

However, with Activision's recent acquisition of Viviendi Universal's properties, the fate of The Silver Lining came into question yet again. Today that fate appears to be sealed. The Cease and Desist issued by Activision calls for the immediate cease in production of the game as well as taking down all related materials from the game's website. At this time, the game website has been taken down and the bulk of the game's community forums has been taken down by the development team in an attempt to comply with the order.

What We Want:

We, the fans and supporters of The Silver Lining, hereby request that Activision, the current Intellectual Property (IP) holder of the King's Quest brand, retract their Cease & Desist order and allow Phoenix Online Studios to finish development of The Silver Lining. Furthermore, we, the fans and supporters of The Silver Lining, hereby request that Activision, the current Intellectual Property (IP) holder of the King's Quest brand, grant Phoenix Online Studios the ability to present a finished product to them for review prior to releasing the game in accordance with the terms of the non-commercial license that was originally granted by Vivendi Universal in 2005.

We, the fans and supporters of The Silver Lining, acknowledge the importance of ensuring brand integrity and acknowledge Activision's right to ensuring all products based on one of their Intellectual Properties (IP) should be of the highest caliber in terms of quality and content. We, the fans and supporters of The Silver Lining, ask that The Silver Lining be allowed to finish it's development and enter a fair and impartial review process by Activision to ensure The Silver Lining meets these expectations of quality and content.

Those who sign this petition are fans and supporters of The Silver Lining project.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Haids1987 on March 01, 2010, 12:30:42 AM
YES!  Thank you, oberonqa!
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 01, 2010, 12:34:55 AM
Your welcome.  :)
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: crayauchtin on March 01, 2010, 01:28:13 AM
Oh, I didn't see this thread before. :P

The Petition is written superbly, Oberonqa, and I think it's perfect in that sense. However (as I said in the C&A thread), online petitions often don't seem to have the kind of impact that offline petitions have even in this Internet age. Would we be able to take your writing and turn it into the kind of campaign that was used in 2005?
http://www.savekqix.bravehost.com/
I would be perfectly willing to have everything mailed to me and to send out the final package of petitions.

Of course, we could also try the online petition first and if that doesn't work, try the offline one as Plan B. I think doing both at once seems like a bad idea though.

(Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, a good example of what I mean is what happened when SciFi canceled Farscape -- the online petition had no effect but when the offline campaign "Crackers DO Matter" began (along with a coinciding offline petition), SciFi softened and eventually created a miniseries to give closure to the fans... although this may have had to do with the number of stale crackers they also received in the mail....)
(And yes, I know because I participated in both petitions and the letter-writing -- although I did not send crackers with my letter...)
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 01, 2010, 01:37:03 AM
Might be something we can discuss.  Shoot me a PM with what you have in mind.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Delling on March 01, 2010, 07:30:16 AM
*signs*

I was going to write up something for an offline petition this afternoon, so if you guys are PMing, I'd like to be in the loop. :)
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: atec123 on March 01, 2010, 07:33:15 AM
How about having a printable petition you can sign and mail to someone on  this sexy website im making?

would that work?

And about doing an online petition... I don't think there is much of a chance of it working..... never hurts to try it though.

Again, still not thinking straight but...

Ok I will sign this online thingie.....
Quote from: Delling on March 01, 2010, 07:30:16 AM
*signs*

I was going to write up something for an offline petition this afternoon, so if you guys are PMing, I'd like to be in the loop. :)
Cool.  I think we should get a bunch of petitions written and maybe decide  whitch one is best...

Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 01, 2010, 09:26:38 AM
An offline petition is still possible, but might be a good idea to give the online petition some time.  It's in position now and there so articles that pop up on gaming websites can mention it (if they want) and people coming to the forums have an immediate avenue to show their support of TSL. 

Crayauchtin is working on a form letter that people can print out and mail into Activision, which we both think would be a great accessory to the online petition. 
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: MangoMercury on March 01, 2010, 12:42:23 PM
I've linked the petition on my Facebook and implored even non-fans to sign it (gotten at least one person I know to do it so far); the more widespread this petition is, hopefully the more signatures we'll get!
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: waltzdancing on March 01, 2010, 12:50:21 PM
I have done the same to my facebook. I don't know if anyone has signed yet.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 01, 2010, 01:24:49 PM
The more the better folks.  Keep up the great work on spreading the word about the petition! 
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: dark-daventry on March 01, 2010, 01:30:48 PM
I posted it on my facebook too. I'm going to spread the word about it, and I may even go down to my local Gamestop and implore them to sign it.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: atec123 on March 01, 2010, 01:32:52 PM
Quote from: dark-daventry on March 01, 2010, 01:30:48 PM
I posted it on my facebook too. I'm going to spread the word about it, and I may even go down to my local Gamestop and implore them to sign it.
OOH.  That's a good idea.  There is a game stop within walking distance of my house so I might go over there later today.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: dark-daventry on March 01, 2010, 01:35:39 PM
Quote from: atec123 on March 01, 2010, 01:32:52 PM
Quote from: dark-daventry on March 01, 2010, 01:30:48 PM
I posted it on my facebook too. I'm going to spread the word about it, and I may even go down to my local Gamestop and implore them to sign it.
OOH.  That's a good idea.  There is a game stop within walking distance of my house so I might go over there later today.

Yeah, I'm good with the manager of my local Gamestop, and one of the employees is a huge adventure game fan, so checking in with Gamestop is a pretty good thing to do. And besides, I have to pick up some new games anyway...
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 01, 2010, 01:37:22 PM
Worth a shot... just be sure to be respectful of the store.  Might be a good idea to print out the petition statement and take it with you... and be sure to talk to whoever is working at the store prior to engaging guests to make sure it's OK to do this.  

I say these things because I work at a video game store as an assistant manager (as you may recall, I got out of the trucking business back in 2008 due to medical problems).
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: thegreatpjdj on March 01, 2010, 01:48:30 PM
Just a suggestion: link to the petition on the main forum page and DON'T make people set up an account. The extra step will deter people from signing it for sure.

Hope it works out guys!
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: dark-daventry on March 01, 2010, 01:52:56 PM
Quote from: oberonqa on March 01, 2010, 01:37:22 PM
Worth a shot... just be sure to be respectful of the store.  Might be a good idea to print out the petition statement and take it with you... and be sure to talk to whoever is working at the store prior to engaging guests to make sure it's OK to do this. 

I say these things because I work at a video game store as an assistant manager (as you may recall, I got out of the trucking business back in 2008 due to medical problems).

I was actually just thinking of getting the store employees to sign it more so than getting customers to sign it. I don't have the time to stand around and get people to sign it. I have homework to do tonight...
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: mateo360 on March 01, 2010, 02:32:32 PM
I can't remember I said this already or not, but the Sierra Help files website had a topic on this and I got the petition link up there.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 01, 2010, 03:34:28 PM
Nice!  Thank you Mateo!  I have to leave to goto work here soon and it puts my mind at ease to know that there will be others out there keeping the torch lit while I am at work.

Thank you thank you thank you.  :)

(Posted on: March 01, 2010, 01:38:10 PM)


There's also been some Twitter activity about the petition on the #kingsquest and #activision sections....
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Oldbushie on March 01, 2010, 05:05:35 PM
I've signed it. Thank you so much for spreading the word, I did my part. :)
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: mateo360 on March 01, 2010, 05:31:00 PM
I've got a youtube video going up with info on this and a link to the petition.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: A.R.C.C. on March 01, 2010, 05:57:24 PM
I've been rallying support for this petition on a Chrono Trigger fangame site I'm a member of. It might not be Activision, but we're under the thumb of "bad company" as well, and a C&D is always something to be feared. Some of us are KQ fans, but for the most part there's a lot of support for TSL from people who've never played a King's Quest game but still look to this project as an ambitious beacon of fandom and heroic indie effort.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Rosella on March 01, 2010, 08:08:45 PM
The best thing about an online petition is that it's viral. It's easy to send a link and ask them to send the link, etc. etc. This is great. I've signed and passed it along. :)
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 01, 2010, 10:02:49 PM
Quote from: Rosella on March 01, 2010, 08:08:45 PM
The best thing about an online petition is that it's viral. It's easy to send a link and ask them to send the link, etc. etc. This is great. I've signed and passed it along. :)

Exactly.  Take a peek over at twitter on the #activision and #kingsquest sections to see just how viral an online petition can be... a couple of tweets an hour with at least one easyURL pointing back to the petition, which of course points to the forums here.

Some may say an online petition is not as effective as an offline petition (I feel that way I might add)... but an online petition can spread like wildfire and that is exactly what is happening.

Anyway... now that I am home from work, I need to get something to eat and then start making the rounds checking on new articles and whatnot.

EDIT:

Petition has been up for 24 hours now and is sitting at 294 signatures.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: pj2elliot on March 02, 2010, 02:44:08 AM
I've been a lurker on the forum for a long time.  I've had an account, just never got on because my sister is on here as well, and I just got all my info from her. 

I've signed the online petition, but I agree that a "hard copy" might be more effective.  Gone to a couple of blogs and posted the website for the petition as well.  I'm glad to see it's making news everywhere.  Please let me know if one become available, and I'll be all over it :D 

Now that this catastrophe has happened, I deeply regret not being more active on the forum before.  PLEASE let me know if you need help with ANYTHING!!!  I have a lot of free time, so I really can help get stuff done. 
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 02, 2010, 07:38:41 AM
I think I can speak for a lot of fans and supporters when I say thank you for helping us out pj2elliot.  Keep an eye on the Form Letter for Contacting Gaming Websites thread, as I keep a list (one post for each new day) that lists all news articles I have come across about the C&D.  If links to the Movement are needed, I make sure to note that. 

If you make links on any of the articles I have already found and noted as needing links, just shoot me a PM with the name of the site and I'll edit the post with that site to reflect it having Movement links.

Thank you again for your kind words and support.  :)
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Galgamo on March 02, 2010, 02:50:08 PM
Hi all there!!

I can't believe what I'm reading.

I'm so sad to see that Activision has ordered a C&D request for TSL.

Please, be sensible and clever. We are neither enough people to boycott Activision games nor we should do that kind of things.

They wants TSL to be ended and we don't know why, nor we need to know.

I think plotting against Activision is just like crying when a baby cannot get his hands to a candy.

All we have left is complain and ask Activision, please in a polite way, that we wish TSL to continue.

Don't be as they are. Let's do thing as they should be done!! Let's get back TLS. Let's begin signing the petition!!

Thank you for reading.

Wish the best for the TSL Team

Galgamo

P.S. Sorry for my bad English. I'm Spanish.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: crayauchtin on March 02, 2010, 03:33:26 PM
Galgamo --

First of all, your English is quite good, especially considering that it's your second language. I've seen plenty of people who speak English as their first language and don't do anywhere near as well as you!

It's not so much plotting, a boycott is a perfectly legitimate means of forcing a company to reconsider it's actions. They happen all the time. Furthermore, I doubt it would be just us boycotting. They've managed to tick off Diablo fans, KQ fans, Call of Duty fans, and Modern Warfare fans, not to mention most everyone else because of their recent price-raising -- given that, a boycott could be absolutely devastating to Activision and might not be too hard to get underway.

Obviously, we'd rather petition and write letters, but if that doesn't seem to be causing an impact.... well, we already know what the next step will need to be. :)
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 02, 2010, 10:44:52 PM
We will do what needs to be done to see the Cease and Desist against TSL removed.  If that includes a boycott.... then so be it.  I would rather it didn't come to that, but if it does, it will be organized and done.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Djuwal on March 03, 2010, 06:44:46 AM
I too have been on this site off and on waiting for the release of the game ... been a King's Quest fan since I was 7.  However, I went to sign the petition and my Mcafee came up warning me about a virus which was trying to download:

00008cc0.js   Exploit-IframeBO (Trojan)

I don't know if someone hacked the site or if it's a bad ad from that website, but thought I'd give a warning.  I do support this movement and think that Activision should allow a fan based game to go through especially since it's free.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Yonkey on March 03, 2010, 07:03:23 AM
Is 00008cc0.js the JavaScript file that McAfee reported it in?  Because I don't see any reference to it on the page's HTML source.  I don't even think that page has any ads...  Was that the only webpage you had open at the time?
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 03, 2010, 07:15:53 AM
I just checked out the page source myself and could find nothing in reference to that javascript. 

What time was this and what ads were on display?
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: icarus on March 03, 2010, 09:21:14 AM
I just (tried to) sign.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: tessspoon on March 03, 2010, 09:28:33 AM
You weren't able to? ???
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: icarus on March 03, 2010, 09:31:46 AM
it told me I already signed it. (maybe I klicked once to fast)
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: shamhain13 on March 03, 2010, 09:48:27 AM
Not under my watch.. there is no way they can shut this down after they have been working on it for a billion years. I'm in.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: copycat on March 03, 2010, 01:34:42 PM
Quote from: icarus on March 03, 2010, 09:31:46 AMit told me I already signed it. (maybe I klicked once to fast)
No, apparently there's some kind of bug which tells the site to display that text when something went wrong. I know, I got it several times too and my sig wasn't on the list after I got that.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: tessspoon on March 03, 2010, 02:12:27 PM
I do remember it giving me trouble as well; I should make sure it went through actually.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: icarus on March 03, 2010, 11:45:45 PM
I just watched to the listy and my RL name was on it. So I signed it.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Haids1987 on March 04, 2010, 07:56:49 PM
Over 1,000 signatures now!  ;D
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: atec123 on March 05, 2010, 07:31:04 AM
Quote from: Haids1987 on March 04, 2010, 07:56:49 PM
Over 1,000 signatures now!  ;D
Sweet.  How many letters signed, waltz?

Also did you get mine?  My email was being stupid so I PMed it.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: waltzdancing on March 05, 2010, 09:23:27 AM
I got it Atec. I think I am up to 30 this morning. I have to count again. Let me print the ones out i got last night and this morning and I will get back to you
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: KatieHal on March 07, 2010, 09:39:32 PM
I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence of a name or something like that, but "Al Lowe" has signed the petition!
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: oberonqa on March 07, 2010, 10:31:11 PM
That doesn't surprise me.  After all, he's on my FB friends list, so every post I make on my wall about this he gets to see.... not to mention he's also on Sierra Chest's FB friends list.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: splat44 on March 08, 2010, 04:59:59 AM
Just to encourage everyone, according to the following discussion, Ken and Robert William support fan made games. Read about it:

http://www.bigbluecup.com/yabb/index.php?topic=40255.msg532020#msg532020

I don't know if that means anything yet but keep on sending those petitions letter!
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: copycat on March 10, 2010, 10:21:11 AM
Quote from: KatieHal on March 07, 2010, 09:39:32 PMI'm not sure if it's just a coincidence of a name or something like that, but "Al Lowe" has signed the petition!
I have a more 'direct' connection with THE Al Lowe than oberonqa has, and as thus he has said it is pure COINCIDENCE.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: crayauchtin on March 10, 2010, 02:52:56 PM
You wouldn't happen to have asked Al Lowe to sign the petition via this more direct connection?
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: copycat on March 10, 2010, 04:24:22 PM
I sent him links to the facebook, myspace, online petition and form line for contacting websites (the off-line petition was not in effect at the time), but he just replied he didn't have much faith in online petitions. I also mailed him the link to the thread with the off-line petition and the 'Call to Arms'-thread.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: RollingStone on March 13, 2010, 10:56:18 AM
Quote from: copycat on March 10, 2010, 04:24:22 PM
...he just replied he didn't have much faith in online petitions.

I've definitely heard THAT line before! You should tell him  how successful the petition was last time we got a C&D. And that even if his signature doesn't help, it definitely won't hurt. And that it only takes about five freaking minutes.

Not signing a petition because you don't think it will make a difference is like not voting because your one vote won't make a difference, or not recycling because you're just one person and how can one person possibly make a difference? Meanwhile, everyone else has the same thought and does the same thing...
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Haids1987 on March 13, 2010, 11:00:47 AM
Quote from: RollingStone on March 13, 2010, 10:56:18 AM
...or not recycling because you're just one person and how can one person possibly make a difference?
Spoken like a Northwesterner! :yes:

But excellent point.  That makes me sad.  If everyone looked at the survey and said, "My vote won't matter," we would have no signatures at all.  How depressing.
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Yonkey on March 19, 2010, 04:25:57 PM
For what it's worth, I've now signed the petition. :)
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: JohnThazer on March 31, 2010, 08:24:21 AM
Same, petition is signed!
Title: Re: Save The Silver Lining Petition
Post by: Farquhar on April 14, 2010, 07:11:15 PM
Hey Waltz, just emailed my letter to ya ;D