Greycat

The flip side of that is *Marvel is part of Disney, who is known for being VERY aggressive in copyright protection.* Do *you* want to deal with Disney lawyers so someone can play as Iron Man? Especially (a) with the money Disney can put behind a suit and (b) the money the movies - and by spillover the comics and other content - have made for them recently... which is a HUGE incentive to go after people copying?

... and yet people are complaining because they got generic'd for making copyrighted or "close enough" characters. So if they don't want it lifted, then they don't want it applying to them, just everyone else. The rule's there. Follow it, or make a good enough case to the team why it shouldn't be. If they want to make copyrighted characters without getting generic'd, it's a path they can take. I never stated Homecoming was. And they won't need to, because they're following the same policy that was on live.

So what if it was 15 years ago? Know what didn't happen because of it? We *didn't get a license to use copyrighted characters* on live. Know why the lawsuit was settled? In part because *they were already generic'ing characters* to protect others copyrights and had that stated plainly in their code of conduct. (And in part because Marvel used its own employees to create examples of copyright infringement for the suit, which rather irked the judge, as I read it.) And there was no *further* lawsuit in part because they CONTINUED to actively generic copyrights (I lost count of how many former-gokus I saw with generichero#### on them.) Sort of like here. Hmm. I wonder if there's a reason for that....

Right at the top of the forums. Code of conduct. Use of copyrighted characters and content without permission is not permitted when creating characters or Architect content. This includes characters and stories from intellectual property belonging to any IP that is not City of Heroes. The infringing people were reported. The GMs agreed it was infringing. You are in the wrong. Period. This argument was tiresome on live, it's tiresome here. Here, however, you do have choices: 1. Find a server that doesn't care and play there. 2. Get the code. Be sure to pay NCSoft a license. Talk to Marvel. Pay them for a license for similar characters. Do the same with DC, Dark Horse, ... who's the one that does Dragonball, Toyama or something? Them, etc. You will now have paid out a bunch of money, but have a license to use the characters.

Someone else owns the legal rights to the character you're copying and the homecoming team does not.

Kids are not games trying to become legiitmate that already have a history of being looked at and sued by the comic industry. Adults are ... buying the comics from the copyright holder. You're *really* stretching for arguments. You should probably stop while you're behind and think about what you're really arguing for. Again. If my choice is the server having a better chance at becoming legit, but people playing blatant ripoff characters getting generic'd, and the negotiations being shut down or the server having to deal with a copyright lawsuit so you can play "yron.man?" Better get to love that black and white barcode, because I will support that generic every. single. time.

Server of a game that already went through a copyright lawsuit and is trying to become legit again is *very* different.

Right. And artists aren't being original because they use the same paints that other people use (other than vantablack.) Musicians all use the same instruments other musicians use, 99.9% of the time. They all use vibrations in the air to produce the same tones that have already existed. No music is original. Are you *sure* you want that to be your argument? Because there's a huge difference between "You're using the same parts and so can't be original, so copyright infringement is fine" and "You don't need to copy others." One is a huge leap in "logic," the other is common sense.

Oh, they'd read it, then try to rules-lawyer their way to finding some 0.01% to say "See, I shouldn't have been generic'd!" Which is generally, on top of the work to compile it in the first place, why these aren't listed.

That's that game's choice. And no kidding, comic con has people doing cosplays. Which the comic industry, *part of the con,* is fine with. You'll notice that comic con is not a legally-grey server trying to become legitimate. You're comparing apples and ... not even oranges. Apples and truck tires. You're trying to argue that Blizzard would have a problem with BLizzard cosplayers at Blizzcon. No, really? They like fans at their own event? *None of these are servers of a game that was already looked at for copyright infringement which is trying to go legit again, and which does not have the rights (that second half of "copyright") to other peoples' characters.* ... don't look like a copyrighted character, with a similar name and powers? How is this hard? There are hundreds of "power suit" wielding / wearing characters blasting energy, for instance, between live days and here. Somehow they managed to not all be Iron Man. The ones that went red and gold on with costume pieces that were very similar to the comic character, with some variant of "Iron man" in the name? Probably ended up as GenericHero####.

Hmm. yeah, I've got a similar laptop (as in "has APU and nVidia GPU," not an HP, though) and you can definitely use nVidia's drivers on it. (It also loves ignoring the GPU if I try to use the video out to play on a monitor or the TV, which is annoying. And looks awful.)

Regardless of how you feel (and you're making some pretty weak arguments - there's a difference between "I made a super strength/inv tank" and "I made a Superman clone named S.U.P.E.R.M.A.N and it got genericed," and I'm pretty sure you know it,) there are two big facts you're choosing to ignore: 1. Early in the game, Cryptic (at the time) was already embroiled in a copyright suit filed by Marvel. Yes, Marvel pulled some shenanigans, but it's in the game's history - which is why they were generic'd on live, and 2. *The devs are trying to negotiate with NCSoft to go legit.* People making copyrighted characters can cause issues with that. So yes, they have to act on copyright-infringing characters. If the choice is between "I want to be Iron Man" and "The game is now legal," I'm *not* choosing you. And I don't think the devs or GMs would, either. I'd much rather have donations go to keeping the server running than having to get even more to fight another lawsuit. I have had *hundreds* of characters on live (approaching a hundred here, actually.) Many of them probably had powerset combinations that matched comic characters - I don't know, I'm not a comic encyclopedia and there are hundreds of thousands of comic characters out there. Know how many of mine I've had a hard time trying to keep from being generic'd? Zero. It's fine to have ideas inspired by characters or franchises you like. But there's a big difference between "Female archaeologist and adventurer" and "I'm Lara Croft, down to name, backstory and look!" Be more creative. Be unique. Don't put the efforts to bring this game legally back to life at risk for everyone. And altaholic - "Everyone is using a costume that has been already done before." Really? In all the time I played live, from issue 3 to shutdown and now here, playing (there) on all servers, I ran across a similar costume to one of mine... once. I don't think I've ever had someone confuse one of my characters with a copyrighted one. So, no, "Everyone is using a costume that has been already done before" is not true in the least. The large number of costume parts make it *easier* not to look like someone else (part of the reason people play is to *make their own* look and character, after all,) not harder. (Edit: I should say twice, but that was a deliberate choice with myself and another player, and that costume didn't look like anyone else *or* any copyrighted character.)

... nothing about what I suggested modifies anything but player behaviour, and that only temporarily to earn a badge. Much like "master of" runs for badges, which already exist. I think you need to go back and re-read exactly what I posted. Since it sounds like you're mixing my suggestion and those of others.

There is not. As I recall, due to animation issues with players and powers. (You'll note the Illusionists just kind of float, versus walking.) Been asked for (with long dresses, long robes, etc.) for ages.

Assuming that's how things are done. And why are you trying to overcomplicate this?

I don't think it was in all that long. Maybe around the time of in game advertisements? I couldn't find word on teh wiki.

Yep.

Wow. I have't seen people try to do that (indiidually) since.... issue 3? 4? Of course, then they got their laughs TPing people inside of guard towers... which is why they now have doors. And why we have the accept prompt option... That's more a "report" than "ignore," I'd say.

... was the in game browser disabled? It was a fairly poor one, but I seem to remember having one for a bit. I don't remember how to bring it up to begin with...

While I'd be amused to be a Nemesis Nemesis again, I believe I heard somewhere or other that they actually ate more server resources than you'd think...

As much as I might gripe about other things relating to power creep, I've pretty much always agreed with this. Reward for hitting 50 and getting into Incarnates. I'd be... more fine with the other powers working at non-incarnate levels outside of incarnate content (available at the 5 level difference, something like that.) Lower damage/target cap on Judgement, for instance - so you're not outdoing the T9 of a blaster, as an example.

And if you read the rest of the post, the powers being there *but not being used* is the point of those badges I was talking about. Otherwise you could just get them by running the content before getting incarnate powers, which kind of defeats the purpose. The two I mentioned are not click powers. You can choose to have but not use Judgement, for instance. You can't have available but not choose to use Alpha.

Well, two of the powers you can't turn off (Alpha, which honestly I'm fine with being a "reward" for everything, and Interface.) Otherwise, there is one (for some) - Badges. Finish X content/TF/whatever "without using Lore, Judgement or.... " (the one that's slipping my mind right now. Clarion, etc.) "after obtaining them" - get the "(almost) old school" badge. Powers *have* to be in your tray and there to be used, but not used. ... heck, have one that you can only get by having no set bonuses. "Really old school." All SOs (or common IOs.) Just have to have a build with no set bonuses or procs. (Again, fine with Alpha or Interface.) Sure, they're not for everyone, but it'd be interesting to see who'd take those challenges.

Had one person the other day ask about... eh, some Incarnate power. One of those "Which should I take?" Didn't really give any information. Try to get any out of him, get abuse in return. Copied the PWiki link, since, hey, maybe he's new and doesn't know what they do. Get "I know all that already!" in return. He gets asked "well, what is your character weak on, what do you need to fill?" and he throws back "Oh, look, the same old copout answer." Yep. You could hear ignores slamming down like a corridor full of steel doors on him at that point... I think I saw one person try for 2-3 more sentences before giving up on him. So, ignore flags? Get rude and abusive to people who are trying to help and get plonked.

... daily, actually. And sadly they say "healer." Part of me dies inside every time they do that or someone advertises themselves as a "healer."