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The Silver Lining - Cease and Desist

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

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Yonkey

Quote from: Erpy on April 22, 2010, 11:38:55 PM
it doesn't point out why it'd be of benefit to them to revoke the C&D
We've actually spent months pointing out the benefits to them.  The choice to change their mind is in their hands, and their hands alone.
"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."

liggy002

Whats happening over at Activision now? Has anyone heard anything back from them?  And... if they refuse to comply with the petition's request, what is the next step?

Thank you for keeping the forum going and I sincerely hope that all of your hard work doesn't go to waste.

RollingStone

Here is a link to an interesting interview with Ken Williams about "The Silver Lining" on the SierraGamers forums. Has anyone here heard of Matt Edwards or seen his article?

blahmoomoo

Hrm.  It looks like Ken hasn't really seen any of the screenshots/alpha release footage.  It seems like he is unaware that the beginning of the game takes place on the Green Isles and the scenes are modeled directly off of the images KQVI.  The resemblance between the two obviously puts TSL within the KQ universe, even if all dialog and names were changed... [and even changing the dialog would be a grueling task, what with needing to get voice actors to do all the parts over again]

Dan

The sad part of this is Activision does not care.  I sent them a certified letter with return receipt at the end of last month and got no reply from them.  I play World of Warcraft but now am bored with it and realize Activision doesn't care about gamers so I am now going to quit WOW.

liggy002

I have a brother who is an attorney so if anyone has any legal questions regarding the game I may be able to help answer them.  Although he is not that type of attorney, he may know someone who is knowledgeable about video game/IP law.  I'm not sure if you can change around the names and get away with it but it doesn't seem likely.

Petra Rocks

I doubt it's that they don't care about customers, just you are a little too small. Your petition has under 2500 signatures, and I assume fewer people actually stopped buying something. With Wow alone having over 10 million players, they probably get more hostile emails and threats to quit when they fiddle with the attack spells of some Wow class than what this has generated.  :P

Thus I'd put more faith in talking a VU ex into thinking this will be good for the company than browbeating them into submission with boycotts and petitions. :P

oberonqa

Quote from: Petra Rocks on April 24, 2010, 12:23:24 PM
I doubt it's that they don't care about customers, just you are a little too small. Your petition has under 2500 signatures, and I assume fewer people actually stopped buying something. With Wow alone having over 10 million players, they probably get more hostile emails and threats to quit when they fiddle with the attack spells of some Wow class than what this has generated.  :P

Thus I'd put more faith in talking a VU ex into thinking this will be good for the company than browbeating them into submission with boycotts and petitions. :P

Wow Petra... I wonder if the army at Thermopoly felt the same way when the Persian army came knocking...

That being said... at least we're doing something to try to affect change.  It may be small... it may not be much... but it IS something.
 
Chronicling the history of Sierra through the conversion of it's premiere magazine into an easy-to-use, searchable wiki format.

RollingStone

#748
Quote from: Petra Rocks on April 24, 2010, 12:23:24 PM
I doubt it's that they don't care about customers, just you are a little too small. Your petition has under 2500 signatures, and I assume fewer people actually stopped buying something.

Not true. We're up to 2,614!

Petra Rocks

 Thermopylae sounds well, but it was foolish and anyway it was Plataea that won the war. You win by playing to your strengths and denying the enemy your weaknesses.  I'm not saying that it's a bad idea to sign these petitions. It's not, giving them a petition is another way to get in their face and have a hearing.  I'm  just saying that the only path to success I can see doesn't lie in compelling them release the C&D due to a mass boycott, you don't have the numbers.

The only way I can see to win is to get somebodies ear and convince them that allowing TSL to go out is good for the bottom line. Find out who exactly make the decision, and try to talk to him. Find out what their concerns are and try to address them. Are they worried about setting a precedent that other people can use their IP? They remain in control and the massive effort it takes to make a game mean it is not likely this would spiral out of control.  Point out how it would revitalize an ancient product line and if it becomes popular, they could sell the KQ IP for considerably more than it is worth now. Was it just a form letter? Maybe a petition would be good there, to make somebody in an important position actually spend half an hour looking at it.  For them the worse it flops and nothing happens, it's not likely to hurt the already low value of the IP involved.

Probably the team knows all this perfectly well and is or has tried these channels. But for all your not unjust wrath, the path to success here doesn't lie in browbeating Activision, tempting as it must seem.

If that doesn't work, the best recourse is to either wait until Activision sells or goes out of business or merges, or remake the game. The former is unpredictable, the latter hard and arguably detracts from the point of making it to begin with. It seems very unlikely that Activision will be intimidated by a few thouand people signing an internet petition though.  :-\

oberonqa

The idea was never to intimidate or to rally a boycott... My thoughts regarding a boycott are (or should be) well known... but I will say it again.

A boycott would hurt retailers more than it would hurt Activision.  I cannot and will not condone a course of action that could have such widespread effects on people that are not even remotely connected to Activision's decision.

That being said, the idea behind the petitions is to garner attention, which it has done quite well.  It shows an active interest in the game in question (TSL) and it provides an anchor for journalists to latch onto and do their reporting.

And in those two areas, the petitions are doing exactly what they were meant to do.
 
Chronicling the history of Sierra through the conversion of it's premiere magazine into an easy-to-use, searchable wiki format.

cupcakedoll

Er, I know this is probably a dumb idea, but has anyone tried straight up bribery?  "Let the project continue and you can have a couple thousand bucks?"  I'd give 'em a couple thousand bucks.  There are probably buckets of legal whatnot standing in the way of that simple solution though.

Petra Rocks has two good thoughts--1  if we knew what their reason for the C&D is, we'd have a better chance of convincing them they're making the wromng decision.  If only someone at Activision would talk to us.

And 2-- hey TSL folks, keep your data safe!  The copyright may move again! 

(Am I the only one feeling supersorry for the TSL programmers?  After EIGHT YEARS of work!  I'd be ready to commit some fairly serious crimes if someone killed a project I'd spent eight years on.)

Erpy

LOL, I think those lawyers make WAY too much money the legitimate way to be swayed to ignore their employer's interests (and harm their career) over a couple of thousand bucks.

The reason for the C&D would be a mixture of laziness and unwillingness to deal with fangames. It's like the interview with the team says...the legal dept had to finish a couple of legal procedures to make the game's release possible and couldn't be bothered to put manhours into something they did not support to begin with.


KatieHal

Quote from: cupcakedoll on April 25, 2010, 10:22:24 PM
Er, I know this is probably a dumb idea, but has anyone tried straight up bribery?  "Let the project continue and you can have a couple thousand bucks?"  I'd give 'em a couple thousand bucks.  There are probably buckets of legal whatnot standing in the way of that simple solution though.

Haha, I believe in the biz they just call that 'buying a license.' It has a nicer ring to it. ;)

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

Rider Jetfire

That is a MUCH nicer ring to it.  Sounds much more legitimate and less back alley like.
What thing is it without a name that brings my mind ere back the same to thee?

liggy002

Money talks and B.S. walks, thats the saying and it holds true.  If you flash enough money in front of Activision, see how fast their tune changes.


atec123

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Dan

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