Hate to even bring this up...

[Naraka]

1 minute ago, Luminara said:

 

Yes, it's hurting everyone who plays the game, directly, by placing the game at risk of further legal issues and potentially forcing the HC team to abandon the project entirely.  If this kind of behavior continues, it will, eventually, force a confrontation with a comic book publisher, which will, in turn, force NCSoft to take action in order to distance themselves, and then it's all over.

 

Furthermore, the HC team, collectively, would be held responsible in a copyright infringement lawsuit, which could cost them their savings, their homes, their jobs and their futures, and as decent human beings, we shouldn't be shrugging our shoulders and ignoring the risk they're taking in order to do everything they have done and are doing for us.  Since they aren't properly staffed to monitor every zone and every mission map on every server, it falls to us to police ourselves to some degree, and this sort of thing is exactly where that kind of self-policing comes into play.

 

Don't act like this is a victimless crime.  We all stand to lose, and the HC team stands to lose big, if this goes unchecked.

 

The other possibility is no legal legitimacy would ever be reached and this would fall under similar circumstances as other fan-driven projects to preserve failed or non-supported games that are becoming more prevalent as more games are having their support swept from under them and more consoles become defunct.

[Uruare]

I have no horse in this race, but I have the following thought on it.

 

While I understand the interest some have in playing a rip or some kind of homage character, I personally find it unappealing, uninteresting and more than a little...perhaps unintentionally...arrogant.

 

I don't want to RP with someone's random interpretation of Superman or Wolverine or Batman, and I'm not interested in their fanfiction.   For my RP interests, which include my willing exposure to peoples' bios and other creative expressions to-do with their characters, I want to interact with original characters.    Moreover, I don't at all like the idea of anyone deciding that Superman is theirs now on this server/game/whatever, and now they get to be the self-appointed arbiter of what that character is, does and means in ways that simply aren't true.

 

Homecoming isn't a for-profit endeavor, so I'm not seriously concerned about Marvel or DC and their litigations having any road to travel in trying to sue the Homecoming staff over any parodies or ripoffs anyone's using, though now that streaming is allowed, individual streamers that are streaming for profit could get nuked from litigious orbit that way, and the Homecoming staff could...at least hypothetically...be harassed in ways nobody needs over it by the Pit Fiends serving as legal counsel for Marvel, DC, etcetera.

 

I don't realistically think that'd be the problem these years on account of that this is a not-for-profit interest, but I will never underestimate the greed or asinine assholery of DC or Marvel when it comes to pursuing litigation.  Never, ever underestimate their willingness to find new and intriguing ways to break new ground in being twisted mockeries of everything good and decent about the human race.   

So, if anyone thinks the fearmongering about lawsuits is overblown...weeeeeeeeell.   Maybe it is.   Probably it is a little bit.    But lets just stay on the safe side and not give Marvel, DC's or any of the other zealously litigious IP-owning nerdcorps half an excuse to beat us up and take our lunch money, because that's like, all five of their top five favorite things to do in life. 

All five.  Doing coke off the tits of dead hookers and hiding the bodies in the path of forest fires started by gender reveal parties is a close #6 though.   

 

So don't do it.

 

And if that weren't reason enough, it's arrogant and tacky as all hell.      If you want to play some kind of homage character that takes concept inspiration but is endowed with your own creative work for their personality, backstory and so on, that's fine.   That should probably be recognized as the furthest into that lake anyone should ever go, for the reason unrepentantly belabored above.

 

There are so many fertile fields to cultivate our nerd-rage in.  Even if we completely ignore the probably-remote possibility of attracting the attention of Dewy-Screwum and Howe Law Firm, do we REALLY want to see what kind of arguments will turn up the first time someone's playing Batman wrong™, or when thirty eight variants of Deadpool, Dedpül, Dead.Pool, .Deadpool, .Deadpool., D-Pool, Dreadpool, Wadepool, Wade Wilson and Deadwade all ascend to the 33rd level of Nerdvana arguing about who amongst them is being The Truest To The Source Material and who amongst them Is Doing It All Wrong?

 

I mean, we could just light the servers on actual fire and at least get some neat pyrotechnics out of the deal if we're going to go that way, because we most assuredly wouldn't be getting anything good, reasonable or fit for public consumption out of all the rip-offs and interpretations of copyrighted characters that would otherwise occur.

Even without the vague-but-terrible possibility of litigious behavior from the offices of Hell Incorporated, that's a door we should keep shut at all costs, forever.    Lets padlock it, then put shit in front of it so nobody even sees it.
 

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Uruare

[KauaiJim]

8 minutes ago, Uruare said:

I have no horse in this race, but I have the following thought on it.

 

First, while I understand the interest some have in playing a rip or some kind of homage character, I personally find it unappealing, uninteresting and more than a little...perhaps unintentionally...arrogant.

 

I don't want to RP with someone's random interpretation of Superman or Wolverine or Batman, and I'm not interested in their fanfiction.   For my RP interests, which include my willing exposure to peoples' bios and other creative expressions to-do with their characters, I want to interact with original characters.    Moreover, I don't at all like the idea of anyone deciding that Superman is theirs now on this server/game/whatever, and now they get to be the self-appointed arbiter of what that character is, does and means in ways that simply aren't true.

 

Homecoming isn't a for-profit endeavor, so I'm not seriously concerned about Marvel or DC and their litigations having any road to travel in trying to sue the Homecoming staff over any parodies or ripoffs anyone's using, though now that streaming is allowed, individual streamers that are streaming for profit could get nuked from litigious orbit that way, and the Homecoming staff could...at least hypothetically...be harassed in ways nobody needs over it by the Pit Fiends serving as legal counsel for Marvel, DC, etcetera.

 

I don't realistically think that'd be the problem these years on account of that this is a not-for-profit interest, but I will never underestimate the greed or asinine assholery of DC or Marvel when it comes to pursuing litigation.  Never, ever underestimate their willingness to find new and intriguing ways to break new ground in being twisted mockeries of everything good and decent about the human race.   

So, if anyone thinks the fearmongering about lawsuits is overblown...weeeeeeeeell.   Maybe it is.   Probably it is a little bit.    But lets just stay on the safe side and not give Marvel, DC's or any of the other zealously litigious IP-owning nerdcorps half an excuse to beat us up and take our lunch money, because that's like, all five of their top five favorite things to do in life. 

All five.  Doing coke off the tits of dead hookers and hiding the bodies in the path of forest fires started by gender reveal parties is a close #6 though.   

 

So don't do it.

 

And if that weren't reason enough, it's arrogant and tacky as all hell.      If you want to play some kind of homage character that takes concept inspiration but is endowed with your own creative work for their personality, backstory and so on, that's fine.   That should probably be recognized as the furthest into that lake anyone should ever go, for the reason unrepentantly belabored above.

 

There are so many fertile fields to cultivate our nerd-rage in.  Even if we completely ignore the probably-remote possibility of attracting the attention of Dewy-Screwum and Howe Law Firm, do we REALLY want to see what kind of arguments will turn up the first time someone's playing Batman wrong™, or when thirty eight variants of Deadpool, Dedpül, Dead.Pool, .Deadpool, .Deadpool., D-Pool, Dreadpool, Wadepool, Wade Wilson and Deadwade all ascend to the 33rd level of Nerdvana arguing about who amongst them is being The Truest To The Source Material and who amongst them Is Doing It All Wrong?

 

I mean, we could just light the servers on actual fire and at least get some neat pyrotechnics out of the deal if we're going to go that way, because we most assuredly wouldn't be getting anything good, reasonable or fit for public consumption out of all the rip-offs and interpretations of copyrighted characters that would otherwise occur.

Even without the vague-but-terrible possibility of litigious behavior from the offices of Hell Incorporated, that's a door we should keep shut at all costs, forever.    Lets padlock it, then put shit in front of it so nobody even sees it.

 

 

I completely agree - I think it would be most unwise to make the Eye of Sauron look this way.  Even if this seems overblown none of us really knows what toe going over what line might wake the sleeping giant.  They seem to be tolerating us.  For now.  It seems like this may possibly go well and HC and NCSoft may eventually be able to reach an agreement, but I think anything that creates a potential issue for them would give them pause.  So, lets continue to all try as a community to behave and at least not give them a legitimate reason to shut this all down. 

 

Just my thoughts on the matter.  Either way I don't think this is something to get too worked up over.  Just be aware and watch for toes going over the line...

 

[Col. Kernel]

3 hours ago, Haijinx said:

 

Seems a common mindset these days

 

You are boring and repetitive.  I suspect that you work for the Dept. of Redundancy Dept.

 

Being rebellious is the lifeblood of America, and far too many have forgotten it.

 

Hell, it used to be the lifeblood of England, too.  We come by it honestly.

[Col. Kernel]

1 hour ago, Luminara said:

 

Yes, it's hurting everyone who plays the game, directly, by placing the game at risk of further legal issues and potentially forcing the HC team to abandon the project entirely.  If this kind of behavior continues, it will, eventually, force a confrontation with a comic book publisher, which will, in turn, force NCSoft to take action in order to distance themselves, and then it's all over.

 

Furthermore, the HC team, collectively, would be held responsible in a copyright infringement lawsuit, which could cost them their savings, their homes, their jobs and their futures, and as decent human beings, we shouldn't be shrugging our shoulders and ignoring the risk they're taking in order to do everything they have done and are doing for us.  Since they aren't properly staffed to monitor every zone and every mission map on every server, it falls to us to police ourselves to some degree, and this sort of thing is exactly where that kind of self-policing comes into play.

 

Don't act like this is a victimless crime.  We all stand to lose, and the HC team stands to lose big, if this goes unchecked.

 

Really? 

 

Q.  How, exactly, does NCSoft (may they rot while covered in boils and festering wounds) put that toothpaste back into the tube?

 

A.  They can't.  Their code is in the wild now.

 

I wish nothing but the best for SCORE and Homecoming but, if worst comes to worst - in the words of Glinda, "You have no power here, Begone!" applies to NCSoft.

[golstat2003]

48 minutes ago, Col. Kernel said:

 

Really? 

 

Q.  How, exactly, does NCSoft (may they rot while covered in boils and festering wounds) put that toothpaste back into the tube?

 

A.  They can't.  Their code is in the wild now.

 

I wish nothing but the best for SCORE and Homecoming but, if worst comes to worst - in the words of Glinda, "You have no power here, Begone!" applies to NCSoft.

 

Yeah they can easily shut us down if they wanted to. And the HC staff don't deserve any kind of flack.

 

Sorry but IP infringement is still a no no. Luminara's point are spot on.

[TemporalVileTerror]

It's really not that likely that a court case could do that much damage to the members of the Homecoming Team.  As I understand it, they're a limited liability corporation for exactly that reason.

But it could still result in a costly legal battle which would require that they either beg the community for help with the funds, or just pull the plug on the server.
So, yeah.  Still not ideal, and it's just easier to say to the community "here are the rules, we'll enforce them."

I know I criticize a lot, but in this scenario, the Homecoming Team is doing the best they can.  We ought to support them in it.

[golstat2003]

5 minutes ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

So, yeah.  Still not ideal, and it's just easier to say to the community "here are the rules, we'll enforce them."

I know I criticize a lot, but in this scenario, the Homecoming Team is doing the best they can.  We ought to support them in it.

 

Pretty much this. Better to avoid anything that can give the team grief. They are volunteering their time. They are not paid.

 

Let's all appreciate that.

[KauaiJim]

27 minutes ago, Col. Kernel said:

You are boring and repetitive.  I suspect that you work for the Dept. of Redundancy Dept.

 

Did you really mean to come across like this?  While I agree with the rest of this post as a 'general' comment, I really am not sure what this part of the post was about.  I wanted to say 'like' to the other part of the post because it is a good point (however keep in mind the Beatles song 'Revolution' points out that this too can be taken too far).  But this tone pointed directly at someone who really didn't say anything worthy of being hung from a tree just seems...  unnecessary.  Especially when they were just stating a truth.  Maybe you said it lightheartedly.  It's difficult to tell when reading something online what the actual tone is sometimes.   

 

31 minutes ago, Col. Kernel said:

 

Really? 

 

Q.  How, exactly, does NCSoft (may they rot while covered in boils and festering wounds) put that toothpaste back into the tube?

 

A.  They can't.  Their code is in the wild now.

 

I wish nothing but the best for SCORE and Homecoming but, if worst comes to worst - in the words of Glinda, "You have no power here, Begone!" applies to NCSoft.

 

Again, they simply pointed out the truth - the part that is being overlooked by others.  I can see that you feel passionately about the past and NCSoft and I can certainly understand that.  What I think has me puzzled here is this seems like hubris to me on your part.  You sound pretty confident that you and you alone understand exactly how the rest of this lunatic asylum will react and that they are all powerless to do what they clearly can do if they want to.  I don't know you personally and I hate butting heads but I have to speak up here.  Why all the attitude?  We all just want to quietly play our game.  Not march back and forth waving it in someone's face daring them to do anything about it.  WTF? 

 

Let me answer your question for you by not being so narrow minded and seeing the whole picture...

 

"Q.  How, exactly, does NCSoft (may they rot while covered in boils and festering wounds) put that toothpaste back into the tube?"

 

Answer:  They can't but they can sure ruin what we have now if they want to.  Yes, we can be arrogant and challenging because we are still mad at them, but I think (call it a hunch) that this approach will not make anything better for us. 

 

I don't disagree per say with your overall sentiment, but I most definitely think you are being a touch over confident and with that first post flat out impolite. I would suggest maybe trying to present your take on things in a way that doesn't, oh I don't know, inflame people?  Or maybe that's what you meant to do in which case the reddit forums are that way ->

 

And what if your take on things backfires and you are mistaken?  Are you prepared to take us all out to dinner for a date at least (you know, since you screwed us all)?  lol

 

[golstat2003]

2 minutes ago, KauaiJim said:

 

Did you really mean to come across like this?  While I agree with the rest of this post as a 'general' comment, I really am not sure what this part of the post was about.  I wanted to say 'like' to the other part of the post because it is a good point (however keep in mind the Beatles song 'Revolution' points out that this too can be taken too far).  But this tone pointed directly at someone who really didn't say anything worthy of being hung from a tree just seems...  unnecessary.  Especially when they were just stating a truth.  Maybe you said it lightheartedly.  It's difficult to tell when reading something online what the actual tone is sometimes.   

 

 

Again, they simply pointed out the truth - the part that is being overlooked by others.  I can see that you feel passionately about the past and NCSoft and I can certainly understand that.  What I think has me puzzled here is this seems like hubris to me on your part.  You sound pretty confident that you and you alone understand exactly how the rest of this lunatic asylum will react and that they are all powerless to do what they clearly can do if they want to.  I don't know you personally and I hate butting heads but I have to speak up here.  Why all the attitude?  We all just want to quietly play our game.  Not march back and forth waving it in someone's face daring them to do anything about it.  WTF? 

 

Let me answer your question for you by not being so narrow minded and seeing the whole picture...

 

"Q.  How, exactly, does NCSoft (may they rot while covered in boils and festering wounds) put that toothpaste back into the tube?"

 

Answer:  They can't but they can sure ruin what we have now if they want to.  Yes, we can be arrogant and challenging because we are still mad at them, but I think (call it a hunch) that this approach will not make anything better for us. 

 

I don't disagree per say with your overall sentiment, but I most definitely think you are being a touch over confident and with that first post flat out impolite. I would suggest maybe trying to present your take on things in a way that doesn't, oh I don't know, inflame people?  Or maybe that's what you meant to do in which case the reddit forums are that way ->

 

And what if your take on things backfires and you are mistaken?  Are you prepared to take us all out to dinner for a date at least (you know, since you screwed us all)?  lol

 

 

 

I typed up a less polite response then stopped. You're is spot on.

 

I'll just say this to any other edgelords that may appear thinking that NOT infringing on any other IP while playing on HC servers doesn't apply to them:

 

There is a code of conduct you agree to when you start playing on the HC servers. Full stop. Yes, it applies to YOU. Yes You. lol.

[Col. Kernel]

@KauaiJim

 

He said it 3 times, at least twice as a direct quote of himself.

 

I'm more than willing to entertain ideas and positions that are contrary to my own.  However, please make them at least informative and, if possible, entertaining as well.

 

I won't repeat my statement, that would be hypocritical, but at least now you know why I said what I said.

Edited May 17, 2021 by Col. Kernel
Edit in italics

[Col. Kernel]

39 minutes ago, KauaiJim said:

 

Did you really mean to come across like this?  While I agree with the rest of this post as a 'general' comment, I really am not sure what this part of the post was about.  I wanted to say 'like' to the other part of the post because it is a good point (however keep in mind the Beatles song 'Revolution' points out that this too can be taken too far).  But this tone pointed directly at someone who really didn't say anything worthy of being hung from a tree just seems...  unnecessary.  Especially when they were just stating a truth.  Maybe you said it lightheartedly.  It's difficult to tell when reading something online what the actual tone is sometimes.   

 

 

Again, they simply pointed out the truth - the part that is being overlooked by others.  I can see that you feel passionately about the past and NCSoft and I can certainly understand that.  What I think has me puzzled here is this seems like hubris to me on your part.  You sound pretty confident that you and you alone understand exactly how the rest of this lunatic asylum will react and that they are all powerless to do what they clearly can do if they want to.  I don't know you personally and I hate butting heads but I have to speak up here.  Why all the attitude?  We all just want to quietly play our game.  Not march back and forth waving it in someone's face daring them to do anything about it.  WTF? 

 

Let me answer your question for you by not being so narrow minded and seeing the whole picture...

 

"Q.  How, exactly, does NCSoft (may they rot while covered in boils and festering wounds) put that toothpaste back into the tube?"

 

Answer:  They can't but they can sure ruin what we have now if they want to.  Yes, we can be arrogant and challenging because we are still mad at them, but I think (call it a hunch) that this approach will not make anything better for us. 

 

I don't disagree per say with your overall sentiment, but I most definitely think you are being a touch over confident and with that first post flat out impolite. I would suggest maybe trying to present your take on things in a way that doesn't, oh I don't know, inflame people?  Or maybe that's what you meant to do in which case the reddit forums are that way ->

 

And what if your take on things backfires and you are mistaken?  Are you prepared to take us all out to dinner for a date at least (you know, since you screwed us all)?  lol

 

 

What you didn't comment on was my wishing the best for the Homecoming team.  That means I really don't want to see a protracted (or even a short) legal battle over this server.  I am at least peripherally aware that the SCORE server had to change URLs and manifests multiple times before the game code got released into the wild, and I have no desire to see that scenario repeated.

 

As a personal example, I had a Fire/Fire dom named Uncle Iroh who more or less looked the part.  Someone was polite enough to advise me that they had been genericed for a tribute and that merely changing the name should be enough to avoid being genericed. 

 

My point being that because we rebel we don't have to be stupid about it.

 

What irritated me about this thread was the repeated statement that tribute characters are bad/dumb/whatever.  And that's probably half of what prompted my less than civil response, The other half being the mindless repetition without adding anything to the conversation.

 

I would also like to thank you for writing well thought out responses rather than spamming a catchphrase.

[KauaiJim]

@Col. Kernel -  No problem.  I cannot throw stones at anyone else.  It simply caught me off guard and I did not know where you were coming from.  I can see how someone might get the impression you did.  If a person likes tribute characters and HC says they are okay as long as they don't cross certain lines I don't see what the problem is.  I would disregard the 'banter' parts of this thread as they are just that. 

 

I was completely unaware of your (understandable) irritation with this thread.  I myself am guilty of letting a forum thread or two get under my skin, lol.  I just did not know your 'passionate' replies originated in your strong feelings about tribute characters.  I have no problem with that at all. 

 

Unfortunately the way you came across when I read it I made no connection to you defending anything, So I spoke up, as did others.  Heck we all disagree with each other about one thing or another.  It's all good.  We just couldn't see the whole picture.  Had I seen it I would have just let you be (but maybe still pointed out how you were overlooking a true danger). 

 

Of course I don't believe you don't care.  I know you do or you wouldn't be here my friend.  I think that's part of what threw me was your posts sort of came across "f 'em. let them try!" which I'm sure now that's not what you meant. 

 

As for the personal jab, I had no idea there was something going on there.  Sometimes when something presses my buttons just so I react instinctively.  We all do.  We're human, you know?  I know.. I know...  But we're SUPER HEROES!  ..but we're still human too, lol - anyone else watch both seasons of "The Boys"?  (definitely NOT for everyone, but for some of us quite entertaining).

 

I didn't mean to leave anything out that painted you in a good light or anything like that.  In fact I hope you caught that I wanted to 'like' the one post with the slight exception.  As for the second post - I can promise you you are not alone in you feelings - just the overall statement seemed like you were being challenging which would be ill advised.  Now I know you were venting to counterpoint your overall perceived tone of the thread and I would be a hypocrite if I didn't support you there.  I just didn't understand based on what I read.

 

I interpreted this thread to be about folks starting to cross the line brazenly and with the less restricted video policy potentially make ripples in a pond that we all want glass smooth.

Also, HC and the GM team I'm sure will take care of it at this point so continued debate or arguing here is just kind of wasted energy IMO. 

 

G'nite all.  Need my beauty sleep.  I ain't getting any prettier!  😴

 

(oh and thank you for thanking me!  I'm trying my darnedest to show people we can disagree without going to battle over every little thing)

[wjrasmussen]

4 hours ago, Luminara said:

 

Yes, it's hurting everyone who plays the game, directly, by placing the game at risk of further legal issues and potentially forcing the HC team to abandon the project entirely.  If this kind of behavior continues, it will, eventually, force a confrontation with a comic book publisher, which will, in turn, force NCSoft to take action in order to distance themselves, and then it's all over.

 

Furthermore, the HC team, collectively, would be held responsible in a copyright infringement lawsuit, which could cost them their savings, their homes, their jobs and their futures, and as decent human beings, we shouldn't be shrugging our shoulders and ignoring the risk they're taking in order to do everything they have done and are doing for us.  Since they aren't properly staffed to monitor every zone and every mission map on every server, it falls to us to police ourselves to some degree, and this sort of thing is exactly where that kind of self-policing comes into play.

 

Don't act like this is a victimless crime.  We all stand to lose, and the HC team stands to lose big, if this goes unchecked.

You sound overly dramatic in your reply.

[Peacemoon]

5 hours ago, Naraka said:

Yes.

What is “Boomer Hive-Mind”? 
Why don’t you say what you mean instead of hiding behind made up terms? 😉

[Haijinx]

3 hours ago, Col. Kernel said:

 

You are boring and repetitive.  I suspect that you work for the Dept. of Redundancy Dept.

 

Thank you.

[Haijinx]

2 hours ago, Col. Kernel said:

@KauaiJim

 

He said it 3 times, at least twice as a direct quote of himself.

 

Hmmm.  This isn't really accurate though.   I mean.  I said it twice and didn't quote myself either time.  

 

I still get to be boring and repetitive though. Right? 

 

I mean I said the tacky thing twice, too!

[Haijinx]

14 minutes ago, Peacemoon said:

What is “Boomer Hive-Mind”? 
Why don’t you say what you mean instead of hiding behind made up terms? 😉

 

 

If you are over 40, you are a boomer.  Yes, I know it was actually our parents that were the actual Boomers but that is considered a Boomer thing to bring up.  

 

As to the hive mind part, that's just us Boomers all agreeing with each other.  Like Boomers do (I guess)

 

I'm actually so old one of my parents was actually born during the war.  So I only have one real Boomer parent.  I wonder if that gives me any extra Boomer chops. 

[Mezmera]

I'm not really feeling the pettiness of labeling anyone that wants to make homages of characters they enjoy in real life onto this game as tacky or any other label you'd like to portray onto them.  This is just another avenue of release for our fiction by the way.  

 

I don't find it tacky in the least if someone is creative enough to use this extensive costume creator to recreate the look of some of their favorite characters.  What I don't like is all of a sudden companies stray into ownership of words and colors.  Like say I have a tank that has "Woman" in it and has a sparkly gold, red and blue costume, where does a company get to say they have any leeway into any of that?  Sure if it is "Wonder Woman" with all the glitzy look that may be treading on thin ice but I'd still air on the side of this is a not-for-profit entity so I can RP as I damn well please, plus it's more engraining these characters into culture so all the better for these companies.  

 

This being a not for profit business model business entities will have very little legal legs to stand on if they should take offense to someone using the full name and look of one of their characters.  Likely they'd see it as a waste of money and resources chasing down something that doesn't make any money for them to profit off of a copyright infringement case. 

 

Anybody can draw anything they like for fun, they just can't sell Superman comic books with the same name and look without giving the companies that own said characters a cut.  

 

To each their own basically sums up my take.  

[SaintD]

As a signal boost for, let's put it frankly, idiots, let's make it clear:

THERE WILL BE NO LEGAL BATTLE. EVER. It is a monetary impossibility, and I am very confident in also speaking for the Homecoming team in also saying that for them it would also be a personal impossibility. None of them are going to step up and shove their genitals into the NCSoft (or any other property holder we infringe on) legal meatgrinder because some fool on the internet will cry about the consequences of their own stupidity.

The very second NCSoft/anyone else found the address of absolutely anyone on the team, electronic or otherwise, and dropped a cease and desist into it that had any actual validity, Homecoming turns off. And if anyone were stupid enough not to do as demanded, the server hosting company would absolutely turn Homecoming off when THEY get the second letter NCSoft mails out.

And if you're going to blither nonsense about 'the code is in the wild!', please kindly shut it. The game needs physical hosting. If the property starts being actively shut down, no company will host it. If no company will host it, some goon has to host it illegally. If some goon hosts it illegally, it'll keep being shut down and set up, never developed or supported, and will quite likely last the four minutes it takes NCSoft to find the l33t haxxor wannabe who thought they were anonymous and send them a letter.

No-one is being 'overly dramatic'. If ANY company with any sort of vested interest so much as legally coughs in our direction, Homecoming is done. If you can set up a server for you and your four mates you don't really like anymore but they like CoX and they're the only ones you can play with, great, but a server any bigger than that will become impossible.

Edited May 17, 2021 by SaintD

[Haijinx]

The idea that Homecoming is going to stand up to the Disney/Marvel and WB/DC juggernauts just so they can play COH as The Hulk or Superman is actually crazy hilarious. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Greycat]

9 minutes ago, Mezmera said:

I'm not really feeling the pettiness of labeling anyone that wants to make homages of characters they enjoy in real life onto this game as tacky or any other label you'd like to portray onto them.  This is just another avenue of release for our fiction by the way.  

 

I don't find it tacky in the least if someone is creative enough to use this extensive costume creator to recreate the look of some of their favorite characters.  What I don't like is all of a sudden companies stray into ownership of words and colors.  Like say I have a tank that has "Woman" in it and has a sparkly gold, red and blue costume, where does a company get to say they have any leeway into any of that?  Sure if it is "Wonder Woman" with all the glitzy look that may be treading on thin ice but I'd still air on the side of this is a not-for-profit entity so I can RP as I damn well please, plus it's more engraining these characters into culture so all the better for these companies.  

 

This being a not for profit business model business entities will have very little legal legs to stand on if they should take offense to someone using the full name and look of one of their characters.  Likely they'd see it as a waste of money and resources chasing down something that doesn't make any money for them to profit off of a copyright infringement case. 

 

Anybody can draw anything they like for fun, they just can't sell Superman comic books with the same name and look without giving the companies that own said characters a cut.  

 

To each their own basically sums up my take.  

 

If they feel they need to defend their intellectual property, they will, whether or not anyone else is making money off of it - because someone farther down the road who *has* money can say "Well, they let this slide, obviously they're not interested in keeping this property/look/etc to themselves." Whether *we* (as in the homecoming team, not the players) are not-for-profit is irrelevant. The fact they've defended their copyright *is.* (As well as homecoming showing they're being reasonably proactive with doing things like generic'ing looks and names.) As far as a waste of money? They pay their lawyer for a letter, NC and HC gets the letter, HC (or NC) decides it needs to be shut down. IP defended, more cheaply than a court case.

 

The "plus it's more ingraining these characters into culture so it's better" bit? That's like telling a working artist "oh, give me art for free so you get exposure." Exposure doesn't pay the bills. Besides, when it comes to marvel/dc/star wars/dragonball/whatever IP characters, obviously they *have* the exposure for you to be copying them.

 

And yes, "anybody can draw anything they like for fun," but the Homecoming team isn't a bored teenager drawing in a notebook. They're operating in a much different level - where, yes, they do have to worry about these things.

[AerialAssault]

One needs only to look at Nintendo to know that a fan project being non-profit does not magically shield them from legal action.

 

If you absolutely must play as Wolver1ne, Dar3dev1l or Superoman there's other servers which don't give a hoot about that kinda thing.

[cranebump]

8 hours ago, Luminara said:

 

 

Ah. Forgot about that! I stand corrected.

Edited May 17, 2021 by cranebump

[cranebump]

2 hours ago, Haijinx said:

 

 

If you are over 40, you are a boomer.  Yes, I know it was actually our parents that were the actual Boomers but that is considered a Boomer thing to bring up.  

 

As to the hive mind part, that's just us Boomers all agreeing with each other.  Like Boomers do (I guess)

 

I'm actually so old one of my parents was actually born during the war.  So I only have one real Boomer parent.  I wonder if that gives me any extra Boomer chops. 

 

Well, let’s see if I can make up for getting my Trek trivia wrong. Baby boom generation begins after the war (1946) and ends about 1964. Someone in their 40s is Gen X. Can’t comment much on on the “hivemind,” except to say there seems to be a difference in attitude between those born in the earlier part of it, and those in the latter. I’m in the tail end, and sometimes I look at how people just 5 years older act and I think, “Old people...(sigh).” 🙂