Sorry but this this is complete BS. The fuck is this trend nowadays where game companies feel they should put their hands directly into our pockets first.
"DISCLAIMER: This production and it's entirety is being produced by a team of developers to represent a fan/indie game and not intended for profitable distribution or sale. All Harry Potter characters, designs, sounds/music, stories, logos, locations, etc. are all owned and copyrighted by Warner Brothers Entertainment. This production is not intended for a profit, but to develop a game fans around the globe can enjoy as they dive into the magical world."
Sounds like a roundabout way of saying, "we don't have the rights to do this."
That just not possible. You can't make use of copyrighted material (for commercial purposes or otherwise) without explicit permission/ agreement from the owner. Otherwise lawyers would be up the wazoo on this.
A few minutes of digging proves that incorrect. On their forum:
"DISCLAIMER: This Product is not Endorsed or Produced by Warner Brothers Entertainment. This production is a Non-Profit development created for the sole purpose of supplying fans the experience of creating their own wizard or witch within the beloved and reknown world. All Characters, Logos, Names and Music/Sounds are copyrighted by Warner Brothers. We are not affiliated with Warner Brothers and are not producing this production for a profitable income."
First failed attempted at kickstarter in December using the Hero Engine.
Second attempt using Unreal 4.
Neither attempt has ANYONE's permissions to do this. EVEN IF JK Rowlings said yes go ahead, there would be no way in hell the movie studios would allow the same visual effects and music to be used. Indy game or not... it won't be allowed.
The guy who tried to remake the Vampire The Masquerade game not for profit, was ordered to stop by CCP. How far do you think these kids will get?
More power to them if they succeed. Good luck to them.
Sorry but this this is complete BS. The fuck is this trend nowadays where game companies feel they should put their hands directly into our pockets first.
"DISCLAIMER: This production and it's entirety is being produced by a team of developers to represent a fan/indie game and not intended for profitable distribution or sale. All Harry Potter characters, designs, sounds/music, stories, logos, locations, etc. are all owned and copyrighted by Warner Brothers Entertainment. This production is not intended for a profit, but to develop a game fans around the globe can enjoy as they dive into the magical world."
Sounds like a roundabout way of saying, "we don't have the rights to do this."
That just not possible. You can't make use of copyrighted material (for commercial purposes or otherwise) without explicit permission/ agreement from the owner. Otherwise lawyers would be up the wazoo on this.
A few minutes of digging proves that incorrect. On their forum:
"DISCLAIMER: This Product is not Endorsed or Produced by Warner Brothers Entertainment. This production is a Non-Profit development created for the sole purpose of supplying fans the experience of creating their own wizard or witch within the beloved and reknown world. All Characters, Logos, Names and Music/Sounds are copyrighted by Warner Brothers. We are not affiliated with Warner Brothers and are not producing this production for a profitable income."
All's I can say is.... if they truly did not reach any sort of agreement with Warner's, they are just inviting legal troubles.
My unprofessional research on copyright law:
Copyright laws apply to profit and nonprofit organizations. Although U.S. copyright law specifically cites a nonprofit educational purposes as a primary consideration in support of "fair use" of a copyrighted work, it is hardly "carte blanche." In general, a nonprofit's use of copyrighted material gives its claim of fair use greater weight than a similar use by a for-profit company.
Originally posted by Vorthanion I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting crowd funding fatigue.
This will be a common theme with people in the end I think. Everyone is trying to get kickstarted now. Hard to tell who really has something worth funding and who just wants a quick cash grab. Gamers in the end will get burned enough that I think projects that should get funded may not.
Most people are thinking what I'm thinking, she's rich so let her fund her own game. I know she probably is just renting out the theme but the thought is still there.
The company should mimic the space sim kick starters. Create a web page and start selling virtual Potter stuff, special wands, spells, and gear to kick starters. Lots of designs about future gear for sell now. $1000 dollar pledge comes with your own pet dragon. Come on now.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Originally posted by R.Lima I would love to play a Harry Potter MMO, but that video was embarrassingly bad...
+1
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
The last time this company was in the news research showed they were a very inexperienced studio with little chance of pulling this off. The chances of them getting a playable game out there are extremely slim.
This looks like one big scam.
I'm not normally one to crap all over another's project, but you hit the nail on the head. The presentation video isn't professional. Their website and advertisement isn't professional. Their goals for the funding level don't seem realistic. It's not all bad and some of their KS page shows they've thought the project through, but I don't think they have the maturity or experience to pull it off. I know my money isn't going that direction. Great ideas and if they can step up their game then maybe they can pull it off.
When I was deciding what to write I first thought of a joke about the quality of the footage in game play looming so real, but the VO sounded more like Welch than English. And that I was glad to see the kid who cuts my grass got a new job when I saw the first guy.
But here is the thing. These are young people familiar with new technology and ideas. They are doing this on a straight out of school costs (the lowest possible). Forty percent or more of that Kickstarter isn’t going into the pocket of some multimillionaire, who has to pay for his multimillion lifestyle first and the game second. Maybe they don’t know how much rent, utilities, and insurance for one year of office space will cost. Maybe they haven’t looking into the cost of servers to host the game yet. But I think if any one can truly build a good modern MMO with a popular IP, it’s these kinds of young people.
I expect to be 50 before my game is ready.
Pardon any spelling errors
Konfess your cyns and some maybe forgiven Boy: Why can't I talk to Him? Mom: We don't talk to Priests. As if it could exist, without being payed for. F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing. Even telemarketers wouldn't think that. It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
Very hard to find the information i was after but i did seem to find enough out.
Apparently this was a deal with Warner Bros to design the game up to Beta then Warner would decide from there.It was going to be called online world of Harry Potter.Someone did not like them for whatever reason and started a rumor they were going to walk on the contract so Warner stopped the project until an investigation could be done.
So rather than wait and deal with it ,they decided to pull the IP copyright name and now are going on their own trying the kick starter way.
IMO like ANY of these free handouts,you should be ready to lose whatever you give with no remorse.
From what i gather on limited information,they seem legit to a point,do i think they can pull it off?Well i look around at all the games over the last 5 years and i see a ton of cheap low end game designs,so yes they could pull it off.
Every single MOBA is a cheap game design,Blizzard's Starcraft and Hearthstone are cheap designs and even Diablo takes a backseat to POE a free to play venture.SO ya if the biggest money grab developer out there can pull it off with tons of overhead, a smaller operation could do it for half the cost.
Would i hand over free money?I have not done it yet and don't plan on ever doing it.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
If you look at their disclaimer, it says that WWO is a not for profit piece of fan work. They don’t own any rights to the IP. I think they are doing this under “fair use.” Maybe they hope if it does well then the IP holders will buy them out. They won’t (or can’t) be selling it, as stated in the KS disclaimer section.
What I would like to know is how big is the game world? Is the game world only Hogwarts and Hogsmeade? Or does it include all of the UK or more?
Pardon any spelling errors
Konfess your cyns and some maybe forgiven Boy: Why can't I talk to Him? Mom: We don't talk to Priests. As if it could exist, without being payed for. F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing. Even telemarketers wouldn't think that. It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
Originally posted by Iselin The inevitably inevitable inevitability is happening
Yep, was destined to happen. What surprises the hell out of me is that its an indie kickstarter game instead of another AAA white elephant. Guess we'll get to see which team can do a better job.
True. I also thought it would be a large studio announcing it with a lot of pomp.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
JK Rowling is pretty fiercely protective of her creations. I doubt this attempt will work, and I expect that eventually a landslide of lawyers will come knocking at these folks doors.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
A perfect kickstarter scam, you'll get the game funded, but you don't have the rights to it. "Sorry for funding us with 100k, but we can't develop the game"
I am probably a tiny minority here - but I am not a fan of Harry Potter at all. I am not sure why but I just can't get into it period.
Now if the game is fun - I will check it out.
I got into it because I have a daughter the right age who loved them...so I read them with her and we made a thing of having a movie marathon of all the previous movies a few days before we went to see the new ones (on opening night, of course )
It's got heaping doses of cute and some light humor but in no way shape or form does it reside in the same universe as Tolkien, RR Martin, Feist, Leguin, Brooks and many other writers of great fantasy.
But it definitely was a cultural phenomenom and I've been expecting an MMO based on it for a while, now that their core fan base is late teens to early 20s.
Now...a GOT MMO I could get really excited about. It's about time we had a good sparse magic low fantasy one.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Sorry but this this is complete BS. The fuck is this trend nowadays where game companies feel they should put their hands directly into our pockets first.
You're under the presumption J.K. Rowling wants anything to do with this. At best, they just broke a deal with her and her lawyers asking for permission to use the IP for their game in exchange for paying Rowling some royalties. This doesn't mean Rowling would ever give them money for the game.
To her, it's a possible source of extra source of income which requires absolutely no investment from her. And if it happens to be doing well, all she has to do is give 1 public endorsement about it and boom, instant awareness of hundreds of thousands, even millions of people will know about it. But as far as financial investment? Why would she?
I realize that.
She obviously must have sold the rights to this company and made even more off it. What I'm saying is, if this company is going to ask for the dollars of fans, why aren't they turning to a real publisher or the well-fortuned author first?
Because if they get funded by a publisher or the well-fortuned author, they are supposed to deliver a quality product. If their game fails miserably they will have a HUGE problem. However, funding by kickstarter bears no risk at all. As long as their IDEA is sold (funded), they can do anything they want without any risk. Even if their game fails miserably or never leaves playable alpha state, they can just say "well we did what we could, too bad you guys who already gave us the money don't like it, BIGSORRY" and start another project.
So we're to believe that an officially licensed Harry Potter game requires a Kickstarter to get going? Let the people who own the rights fund the damned thing! They've only got about forty bajillion dollars at their disposal.
This really does reek of a scam.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
"We are not only using Kickstarter to fund The Wizarding World Online, but to involve all our dedicated fans in this process, because simply, we care about you."
Wow that was so bad....I mean how do you allow this kind of thing to happen. An IP like Harry Potter could be as huge as wow if done right and then we get this.
I run the Mature Minded Gamers. We do video and board gaming videos and reviews. We also have a big Dungeons and Dragons community with multiple games active each week. Join us at: https://www.maturemindedgamers.com
Very hard to find the information i was after but i did seem to find enough out.
Apparently this was a deal with Warner Bros to design the game up to Beta then Warner would decide from there.It was going to be called online world of Harry Potter.Someone did not like them for whatever reason and started a rumor they were going to walk on the contract so Warner stopped the project until an investigation could be done.
So rather than wait and deal with it ,they decided to pull the IP copyright name and now are going on their own trying the kick starter way.
IMO like ANY of these free handouts,you should be ready to lose whatever you give with no remorse.
From what i gather on limited information,they seem legit to a point,do i think they can pull it off?Well i look around at all the games over the last 5 years and i see a ton of cheap low end game designs,so yes they could pull it off.
Every single MOBA is a cheap game design,Blizzard's Starcraft and Hearthstone are cheap designs and even Diablo takes a backseat to POE a free to play venture.SO ya if the biggest money grab developer out there can pull it off with tons of overhead, a smaller operation could do it for half the cost.
Would i hand over free money?I have not done it yet and don't plan on ever doing it.
Thanks for that! I knew this smelled fishy from the start. That's a steaming pile they are HIDING.
The dead giveaway to me was that they never specifically said why they are doing a KS in the first place. Almost ALL successful KS's I can think of are UPFRONT-- they cut to the chase about why they need help to crowdfund (Kingdom come deliverance comes to mind most recently).
Apart from the outstandingly bad KS video (one of the wizards actually casts a spell by saying "Cadabra" lol), and the kid CEO (that alone may explain why Warner's did not back these guys), I think they have done themselves a huge disservice by hiding things.
JK Rowling is very protective of her creations and unless she approves of it ( which is extremely unlikely ) this game has zero chance of a release of any sort and will probably be closed down even before it gets to alpha . Anyone investing money into this would have to be an idiot before she gives her endorsement to the project .
Having said that even though I appreciate her Potter books I still think she did borrow a lot from Neil Gaimens Tim Hunter creation for DC Comics . I do think a genuinely endorsed Potterverse MMO would do well .
Comments
The CEO lookslike he is 12 yrs old... holy crap.... that's scary. I don't support kickstarters anyway.
Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004! Make PvE GREAT Again!
A few minutes of digging proves that incorrect. On their forum:
"DISCLAIMER: This Product is not Endorsed or Produced by Warner Brothers Entertainment. This production is a Non-Profit development created for the sole purpose of supplying fans the experience of creating their own wizard or witch within the beloved and reknown world. All Characters, Logos, Names and Music/Sounds are copyrighted by Warner Brothers. We are not affiliated with Warner Brothers and are not producing this production for a profitable income."
http://thewizardingworldonline.com/forum/m/24266065/viewthread/17760857-welcome-new-students-start-here
Fourth post.
First failed attempted at kickstarter in December using the Hero Engine.
Second attempt using Unreal 4.
Neither attempt has ANYONE's permissions to do this. EVEN IF JK Rowlings said yes go ahead, there would be no way in hell the movie studios would allow the same visual effects and music to be used. Indy game or not... it won't be allowed.
The guy who tried to remake the Vampire The Masquerade game not for profit, was ordered to stop by CCP. How far do you think these kids will get?
More power to them if they succeed. Good luck to them.
All's I can say is.... if they truly did not reach any sort of agreement with Warner's, they are just inviting legal troubles.
My unprofessional research on copyright law:
Copyright laws apply to profit and nonprofit organizations. Although U.S. copyright law specifically cites a nonprofit educational purposes as a primary consideration in support of "fair use" of a copyrighted work, it is hardly "carte blanche." In general, a nonprofit's use of copyrighted material gives its claim of fair use greater weight than a similar use by a for-profit company.
(http://smallbusiness.chron.com/profit-vs-not-profit-copyright-laws-fair-use-issues-4151.html)
This will be a common theme with people in the end I think. Everyone is trying to get kickstarted now. Hard to tell who really has something worth funding and who just wants a quick cash grab. Gamers in the end will get burned enough that I think projects that should get funded may not.
Most people are thinking what I'm thinking, she's rich so let her fund her own game. I know she probably is just renting out the theme but the thought is still there.
The company should mimic the space sim kick starters. Create a web page and start selling virtual Potter stuff, special wands, spells, and gear to kick starters. Lots of designs about future gear for sell now. $1000 dollar pledge comes with your own pet dragon. Come on now.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
+1
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
When I was deciding what to write I first thought of a joke about the quality of the footage in game play looming so real, but the VO sounded more like Welch than English. And that I was glad to see the kid who cuts my grass got a new job when I saw the first guy.
But here is the thing. These are young people familiar with new technology and ideas. They are doing this on a straight out of school costs (the lowest possible). Forty percent or more of that Kickstarter isn’t going into the pocket of some multimillionaire, who has to pay for his multimillion lifestyle first and the game second. Maybe they don’t know how much rent, utilities, and insurance for one year of office space will cost. Maybe they haven’t looking into the cost of servers to host the game yet. But I think if any one can truly build a good modern MMO with a popular IP, it’s these kinds of young people.
I expect to be 50 before my game is ready.Boy: Why can't I talk to Him?
Mom: We don't talk to Priests.
As if it could exist, without being payed for.
F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing.
Even telemarketers wouldn't think that.
It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
Very hard to find the information i was after but i did seem to find enough out.
Apparently this was a deal with Warner Bros to design the game up to Beta then Warner would decide from there.It was going to be called online world of Harry Potter.Someone did not like them for whatever reason and started a rumor they were going to walk on the contract so Warner stopped the project until an investigation could be done.
So rather than wait and deal with it ,they decided to pull the IP copyright name and now are going on their own trying the kick starter way.
IMO like ANY of these free handouts,you should be ready to lose whatever you give with no remorse.
From what i gather on limited information,they seem legit to a point,do i think they can pull it off?Well i look around at all the games over the last 5 years and i see a ton of cheap low end game designs,so yes they could pull it off.
Every single MOBA is a cheap game design,Blizzard's Starcraft and Hearthstone are cheap designs and even Diablo takes a backseat to POE a free to play venture.SO ya if the biggest money grab developer out there can pull it off with tons of overhead, a smaller operation could do it for half the cost.
Would i hand over free money?I have not done it yet and don't plan on ever doing it.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
If you look at their disclaimer, it says that WWO is a not for profit piece of fan work. They don’t own any rights to the IP. I think they are doing this under “fair use.” Maybe they hope if it does well then the IP holders will buy them out. They won’t (or can’t) be selling it, as stated in the KS disclaimer section.
What I would like to know is how big is the game world? Is the game world only Hogwarts and Hogsmeade? Or does it include all of the UK or more?
Boy: Why can't I talk to Him?
Mom: We don't talk to Priests.
As if it could exist, without being payed for.
F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing.
Even telemarketers wouldn't think that.
It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
True. I also thought it would be a large studio announcing it with a lot of pomp.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
A perfect kickstarter scam, you'll get the game funded, but you don't have the rights to it. "Sorry for funding us with 100k, but we can't develop the game"
I got into it because I have a daughter the right age who loved them...so I read them with her and we made a thing of having a movie marathon of all the previous movies a few days before we went to see the new ones (on opening night, of course
)
It's got heaping doses of cute and some light humor but in no way shape or form does it reside in the same universe as Tolkien, RR Martin, Feist, Leguin, Brooks and many other writers of great fantasy.
But it definitely was a cultural phenomenom and I've been expecting an MMO based on it for a while, now that their core fan base is late teens to early 20s.
Now...a GOT MMO I could get really excited about. It's about time we had a good sparse magic low fantasy one.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Because if they get funded by a publisher or the well-fortuned author, they are supposed to deliver a quality product. If their game fails miserably they will have a HUGE problem. However, funding by kickstarter bears no risk at all. As long as their IDEA is sold (funded), they can do anything they want without any risk. Even if their game fails miserably or never leaves playable alpha state, they can just say "well we did what we could, too bad you guys who already gave us the money don't like it, BIGSORRY" and start another project.
So we're to believe that an officially licensed Harry Potter game requires a Kickstarter to get going? Let the people who own the rights fund the damned thing! They've only got about forty bajillion dollars at their disposal.
This really does reek of a scam.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
Becareful what you wish for...
"We are not only using Kickstarter to fund The Wizarding World Online, but to involve all our dedicated fans in this process, because simply, we care about you."
Please.... Gimme a freakin break.
Looks like their lame KS may fail anyway judging by http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/186771546/the-wizarding-world-online/ so I won't bother saying anymore.
Join us at: https://www.maturemindedgamers.com
Thanks for that! I knew this smelled fishy from the start. That's a steaming pile they are HIDING.
The dead giveaway to me was that they never specifically said why they are doing a KS in the first place. Almost ALL successful KS's I can think of are UPFRONT-- they cut to the chase about why they need help to crowdfund (Kingdom come deliverance comes to mind most recently).
Edit: some sources are http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/Harry-Potter-Online/ and http://2p.com/4794385_1/Harry-Potter-Online-Being-Worked-on-by-Bio-Hazard-Entertainment-by-Nichole.htm.
Apart from the outstandingly bad KS video (one of the wizards actually casts a spell by saying "Cadabra" lol), and the kid CEO (that alone may explain why Warner's did not back these guys), I think they have done themselves a huge disservice by hiding things.
JK Rowling is very protective of her creations and unless she approves of it ( which is extremely unlikely ) this game has zero chance of a release of any sort and will probably be closed down even before it gets to alpha . Anyone investing money into this would have to be an idiot before she gives her endorsement to the project .
Having said that even though I appreciate her Potter books I still think she did borrow a lot from Neil Gaimens Tim Hunter creation for DC Comics . I do think a genuinely endorsed Potterverse MMO would do well .