Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
General: World of Starcraft Mod Targeted by Blizzard
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
UPDATE: "Ryan", the creator of the World of Starcraft video and module has been offered a job with Riot Games, confirmed by the League of Legends Design Director Tom "Zileas" Cadwell according to PixelatedGeek.com:
When I see a modder with a lot of drive that has done something cool, I tend to contact them. I shot him an email recently asking if he was interested in exploring an opportunity here. As to what comes of that, who knows — that depends on the mutual fit and his own goals.
It didn't take long for Blizzard to react to Monday's release of a trailer showing what modders were calling "World of Starcraft". The lead modder on the project, Ryan, received a notice from YouTube that his video had been removed due to "copyright complaint(s) regarding material (he) posted". It appears that Blizzard's ultra-agressive stance protecting its copyrighted materials came full bore on this group's project.
This post from the mod team is quoted at Rock Paper Shotgun:
You created a tool that allowed us to do anything with your assets. You encouraged us to use your assets and were eager to see what we might come up with. You had to have seen this coming?
I know it’s hard to trust someone you’ve never met to piggyback on your own legacy. The brilliance of StarCraft combined with the multiplayer focus of World of Warcraft. You might be a little worried about your lore being butchered… or even more-so worried about a guy with no supervision tainting the name of your company with poor product.
Let me assure you that I am in no way shape or form going to deliver anything less than complete perfection. I’ve been following your work since Warcraft. I’ve worked with every editor you’ve put out since I was 13 years old.
If you have a problem with what I am doing… or would like to talk about it. I’m all ears. But please don’t send me some messenger with a cease and desist letter.
Read more here and find all of the relevant links as well.
The video previously hosted here at MMORPG.com has been taken down due to the recent copyright infringement information received from the video owner from Activision - Blizzard.
Comments
Offer him a job, he has talent.
Damn, he should be laureled and get a job offer to work for Bliz.
My brand new bloggity blog.
I agree, they should offer him a job. Take him into the fold.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Activision, such decent chaps.
They make modding tools for Starcraft...then when people mod Starcraft, they pull copyrights on them?
Blizzard should have seen this coming when they kept insisting that they weren't going to do a World of Starcraft. :T
Yeah, I'd love to see how you guys would react if it were your itellectual property that was being misused. Especially in a way that undermines any future plans you may have for the IP. I'm willing to bet my life that most if not all of you would be up in arms with lynch rope in hand. Not only upset at the principle of the matter, but the detrimental effects on income as well.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
They weren't modding SC2, they were making a completely different game with the modding tool and to make it worse, labeling it as World of Starcraft. I mean really, it's indefensible by anyone but asshats.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Its the title "world of starcraft" that has caused the issue nothing more, does not take much imagination to see what would happen if a popular blogger thought it was an official blizzard game and before you know it blizzards customers think this is the real deal rather then a mod for SC2.
They weren't modding SC2, they were making a completely different game with the modding tool and to make it worse, labeling it as World of Starcraft. I mean really, it's indefensible by anyone but asshats.
Full conversions are still mods. Did the modder say he was going to sell the game or host it on his own servers? If so then yes he deserved to be shutdown. If he was planning to toss that bitch on battlenet then the only issue I see is that Blizzard didn't like the name he used.Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
No kidding.
But, I still maintain their big "surprise" is going to be that they were actually being sneaky this whole time and have indeed been working on a SC mmo (code named: Titan).
The last thing Blizzy would want (if I'm correct) is for anyone to be doing anything like what were seeing with this modder situation.
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
Honestly? I mean, what's up with the title? "Targets"? You make it sound like bad Blizzard screwed over a poor guy when in reality, they have every right to do so. It's their intellectual property and why should they trust some random guy to make a World of Starcraft anyway? Also, it's not like his forum got shot down. I do not know everything about youtube's copyright , but couldn't it be that some random user flagged them? Or that youtube flagged those videos until they have word from Blizzard? Let's not judge what is going on before we all have official word. Even if they pulled those videos, maybe they just want the name changed, which wouldn't be that big a deal.
Agreed that name is what is causing all this copyright stuff.
Meh, Blizzard released the tools and if they haven't illegally hacked the engine to create it then blizzard should just effing piss off. Just because you have a metric crap ton of money does not mean that you can change the rules whenever it effing suits you. If it weren't for the mod community Blizzard would be another johnny come lately. Keep pissing in people's Cheerios they will eventually move the eff on.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
I read some of the comments posted on that site and here is the most solid response:
"It’s basic brand confusion. People are historically stupid and will not realise that this is a mod, particularly when you name it something so official and it’s clearly using recognisable Blizzard assets."
But i couldn't help but imagining the faces of Blizzard employees when they found the mod videos..
WORLD OF......
STARCRAFT??!!!
Uh, no. They were totally modding SC2. The SC2 mod tools are pretty amazingly flexible, really. This would have been simply a mod that was unplayable unless you actually own SC2. It's not like the man was stealing their money or something.
Yes, they probably have to make the guy stop, to protect their own copyright, but they could have been nicer about it. There's a huge gap between 'Can't you be a bit more polite when fans are using your own modding tools to create a mod of one of your games' and 'asshat'.
LOL! Great pic, Vyeth.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Do you know anything about copyrights? It isn't just about selling for a profit, it's copying, reproducing or using intellectual property in any fashion without the express consent of the copyright owner. Profits are a major concern of course, but so is name recognition and reputation.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
It's no longer modding if they completely change the format of the game. How the hell do you equate a SC2 mod with a MMO style game labeled as World of Starcraft? They aren't modding SC2, they are creating a completely different kind of game, using the SC2 engine and mod tools.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
I don't think Blizzard has anything to do with the copyright decision on youtube, it has to be Activision since they are the parent company.
Damn you Kotick and Activision lawyers.
Oddly enough, Blizzard expressly gives permission for people to use the Starcraft 2 assets while modding.
I mean. C'mon. Wouldn't it be crazy if you could create Starcraft 2 mods, but NOT use any of the assets at all?
The biggest problem is probably just over the name, 'World of Starcraft'. They might have that name copyrighted, but to be honest, I don't know. It would make SENSE for them to have it copyrighted, but the modders were probably thinking 'haha, this is a funny name for our mod that makes SC2 look like an MMO', rather than 'Haha, now we will steal Blizzard's reputation and smear it in the dirt!'
Again, Blizzard is perfectly within their legal rights to shut it all down (They do control what people make with the mod engine, after all, and in fact their EULA says they can stop any mod for any reason they want, up to and including reasons like 'Too much blue'), but they could have been... I dunno... nicer about it. He wasn't using their modding tools illegally in any way, so far as I can tell, the only real issue is over the name. :T
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
You are aware that Blizzard themselves made 'StarJeweled', a mod that turns Starcraft 2 into a Bejeweled version of Starcraft, right? Along with several other mods that completely change the gametype (Including a co-op survival game called Left 2 Die? Which seems suspiciously close to ANOTHER game's title, yet Valve never got around to sending them a cease and desist. Speaking of which, they also made 'Blizzard DoTA', when Valve owns the copyright to DoTA. Huh. So asshattery is okay if it's Blizzard, but not if you're an independent modder?)? To show people that it can be done, and encourage people to do other things like that?
There are mods that make SC2 a turn based JRPG style game, and a kart racer, and Blizzard/Activision are fully aware they exist.
You really don't have the slightest idea about the SC2 mod tools, do you? Are you just making up stuff to make yourself sound smarter or something?