Character was reset...due to copywritten costume? WTF?

[twozerofoxtrot]

[Monty Haull]

On 4/11/2024 at 5:31 PM, Niizzy said:

Since when Homecoming have these shenanigans? I have characters inspired by Sabretooth, Psylocke and a lot of others well know characters, even their names is the same and nothing ever happened, now I made a complete Gambit replica and was proud as hell, having a lot of fun but when I logged into the game I saw the character was completely reset and received an email to not replicate the costume again because its copywritten???

 

Is this the consequences of the NcSoft thing already?

As others have said it's not a new thing.  It can happen if you are not careful.

 

 

Ask me how I know.  🙂

 

Edited April 14 by Monty Haull
Spelling is hard.

[Snarky]

5 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

Damn

[Azari]

If you copy a costume at least have the decency to change the name. 

[Shenanigunner]

2 hours ago, Snarky said:

Damn

 

And an incorrect meme to boot. Contrary to the collective wisdom of netizens, Twain and Lincoln did not say everything worth quoting.

[Techwright]

12 hours ago, DoctorDitko said:

 

There are some nifty card tricks you can do with the blank one. And, yes, the ad one is good to practice throwing!

 

 

 

[lemming]

43 minutes ago, Shenanigunner said:

 

And an incorrect meme to boot. Contrary to the collective wisdom of netizens, Twain and Lincoln did not say everything worth quoting.

 

[Glacier Peak]

[Scarlet Shocker]

59 minutes ago, Shenanigunner said:

 

And an incorrect meme to boot. Contrary to the collective wisdom of netizens, Twain and Lincoln did not say everything worth quoting.

 

 

"Don't trust half the shit you read on the interwebs!" - Aristottle

[Player2]

[GenericHero719]

OP, you've been oddly quiet after your rant, did you catch a ride on the hammer, or you just hiding from the beautiful roasting you created?

So, despite being a Generic, I too like all these other fine people, are laughing at this very silly complaint.
Personally I was Gen'd about 3 weeks after original launch. Mine was for having a name that was Profane.
Now, I don't think the B word (the one that means illegitimate child) is overly profane, but I knew it was a possibility and made my decision.
It was a kid friendly game, I knew better, it was dumb, but I wanted to build a Hercules like toon, and not use the name.

I agreed to the rules, and broke em, and got Gen'd. At the time they were so overwhelmed with stuff like "xX Wulver33n Xx" regen scrappers that I wasn't allowed to petition for a name change, and my Genericising was effectively permanent. Oh well, at least I wasn't banned?

 

You did the same....

This community has been through a lot. We've almost lost the game multiple times to lawsuits from IPs that didn't want specifically what you were doing to happen. And yet here you are, doing, AND complaining about getting nerfed (and surprisingly not banned with the list you admitted to) for doing that exact thing. 

We did lose the game eventually for other reasons, and now we're all just happy to have it back.
 

This is probably the nicest gaming community out here, and rarely does anyone in it tolerate ridicule of others....

 

BUT, now you're here, making a tantrum post about it????

You agreed to the rules, and broke em.
You didn't get banned, Be happy, and enjoy the game.

Don't break the rules, don't ruin this for everyone else.
 

You won't find pity here. We don't want to lose this again.

[ZorkNemesis]

9 hours ago, Monty Haull said:

Ask me how I know.  🙂

 

Well, how do you know?

[Luminara]

33 minutes ago, ZorkNemesis said:

 

Well, how do you know?

[Scarlet Shocker]

the more I think about OP's rant, the more it pisses me off. Here's a rant in return.

 

It pisses me off because of his ignorant entitlement. His willing flaunting of the EULA and the conditions under which we play the game, which have been pretty consistent since I started in 2006.

 

We have never ever ever been able to play copyrighted or trademark characters, and that's a given amongst 99% of the community.

 

Now, especially, the one thing that can kill the game for us, and having it taken away forever is some wilful penicheese deciding that he can do what he likes despite what the rules say. That's formerpresident levels of entitlement. And it's dangerous because getting slapped with a lawsuit is probably pretty nail in the coffin for the HC team and our game goes away very suddenly.

 

I'm gonna make a confession here: I do, have, and will, report copyright infringements to HC if I see them in game. Read above if you fail to understand why. I don't do it to "be a dick." I do it to stop dicks being a bigger dick to the community. If I have earned your opprobrium in the doing thereof, you almost certainly deserve to be put in the dick corner.

 

If your singular lack of imagination requires you to make a wolverine clone rather the claws of wrath (you can have that name if you want it) then you need to consider why you're playing this game instead of trying to unstick the pages of your favourite Julie Strain comic anthology.

[Monty Haull]

3 hours ago, ZorkNemesis said:

 

Well, how do you know?

Funny you should asked.

My name was spelled like the great game show host and I was promptly stripped and renamed.  Though my costume strip was on error as there is no copyright for it, I did choose a different spelling of the name.  That happen well over a year ago so, it's not a new thing.

Edited April 15 by Monty Haull

[Sanguinesun]

14 minutes ago, Monty Haull said:

Funny you should asked.

My name was spelled like the great game show host and I was promptly stripped and renamed.  Though my costume strip was on error as there is no copyright for it, I did choose a different spelling of the name.  That happen well over a year ago so, it's not a new thing.

 

 A year ago?  You were on excelsior just hours ago. 

 

I know multiple people who reported you for that, though not I, as I knew your name was specifically from the D&D trope referring to campaigns with an over abundance of rewards in them... but the name was a parody even for DnD of Monty Hall the game show host.

 

You gambled on that intentionally and knew better. 

 

Then you went and made Money Mouse as a parody of Minnie Mouse with a monty hall twist.

 

I think you're still pushing your luck and going around the moderators sanctions against you is a sure fire way to get in worse hot water.

 

Coming here thinking you weren't in the wrong just also opens you to having more on your account scrutinized too. 

 

There's no right way to defend the wrong thing.

[Oubliette_Red]

10 hours ago, Shenanigunner said:

 

And an incorrect meme to boot. Contrary to the collective wisdom of netizens, Twain and Lincoln did not say everything worth quoting.

 

One of my personal favourites:

[Player2]

4 hours ago, Sanguinesun said:

I think you're still pushing your luck and going around the moderators sanctions against you is a sure fire way to get in worse hot water.

 

Coming here thinking you weren't in the wrong just also opens you to having more on your account scrutinized too. 

 

There's no right way to defend the wrong thing.

 

There is room in the law for parody and homage, even room within this game.  The GMs will review those instances and make the decision of what is acceptable and what isn't.  Because ultimately, if anything were to be dragged into court it would fall on HC to defend the parody/homage they allow.  It's easier to just remove the offending issue by making a character generic and warning the player where they went wrong... but Crumpet himself has stated that they can work with players to determine what is acceptable or not.

 

All of the trademark infringement revolves around whether or not something meets the criteria for legally distinct.  In Monty's case, Monty Hall is a celebrity name associated with an old television game show, but Monty Haul is a different spelling that be said to have an additional/different meaning behind it in line with parody of as he points out not just the game show host but a trope in fantasy role playing games.  As for his costume, that was never an issue.  A person like Monty Hall may have a distinct appearance, but the game does not recreate it specifically and real people clothing appearance generally does not fall under the law of what can be trademarked.  This is why Superman's costume cannot be recreated and played as Subparman or Superiorman, but anyone could recreate his glasses wearing alter ego in blue suit.  Hell, Marvel Comics has used Clark Kent in both likeness and name on a few occasions and even made allusions to him being the secret identity of Superman by having him suggest that he was going to go contact the authorities when trouble popped up.

 

Clark Kent is generic enough in both name and appearance that he can't really be protected under trademark law.  The same would go for a character that looks like Monty Hall... but once you slap the game show host's moniker on him, you would be pressing your luck... which is what happened and apparently has been dealt with in a way that both player and GMs are comfortable with.

 

TL;DR version:  yes, there absolutely is a right way to defend a "wrong thing" if the wrong thing is not as wrong as someone might think.

[Player2]

7 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

Now, especially, the one thing that can kill the game for us, and having it taken away forever is some wilful penicheese deciding that he can do what he likes despite what the rules say. That's formerpresident levels of entitlement. And it's dangerous because getting slapped with a lawsuit is probably pretty nail in the coffin for the HC team and our game goes away very suddenly.

 

 

Careful...  you may be happy to report people for trademark violations, but I'm likewise eager to pull the trigger on people who make politics an issue.  We should be able to have this discussion without referencing political figures, whether they be a sitting president or a former one currently preparing for criminal trial.  We start dragging politics into the discussion, though, and then lines will be drawn and players will start making judgements and arm-chair lawyering over merits of political issues and so on and things will quickly devolve into a smelly cesspool of off-topic conversation.

[Scarlet Shocker]

2 hours ago, Player2 said:

 

Careful...  you may be happy to report people for trademark violations, but I'm likewise eager to pull the trigger on people who make politics an issue.  We should be able to have this discussion without referencing political figures, whether they be a sitting president or a former one currently preparing for criminal trial.  We start dragging politics into the discussion, though, and then lines will be drawn and players will start making judgements and arm-chair lawyering over merits of political issues and so on and things will quickly devolve into a smelly cesspool of off-topic conversation.

 

 

All I did was open a door and you walked through it 🤣

 

I didn't specify location, period or mention any law suits, pending or otherwise. Nor indeed body or organization.

 

Any inference you make here is your own

[Player2]

3 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

 

All I did was open a door and you walked through it 🤣

 

I didn't specify location, period or mention any law suits, pending or otherwise. Nor indeed body or organization.

 

Any inference you make here is your own

I'm not walking through anything, I'm just suggesting caution with regard to even mentioning political stuff.  It's a door that should not be opened.

And yes, you were vague, but you are making an inference with "formerpresident levels of stupid" preceeding talk about lawsuits.

 

Don't open doors to see if people will walk through.  That is just as bad as the people that walk through them.

[Scarlet Shocker]

4 minutes ago, Player2 said:

I'm not walking through anything, I'm just suggesting caution with regard to even mentioning political stuff.  It's a door that should not be opened.

And yes, you were vague, but you are making an inference with "formerpresident levels of stupid" preceeding talk about lawsuits.

 

Don't open doors to see if people will walk through.  That is just as bad as the people that walk through them.

 

So sorry Dad!

[Player2]

3 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

So sorry Dad!

Mom

[DarkPetting]

Count yourself lucky they didn't go through your entire roster to see if anything else needed fixing.  One badly over the line arsenal themed character (GM must have been a spurs fan ...) and I lost a bunch of names.

Luckily I complained and they gave me a full refund.  /s

 

[BurtHutt]

This has always been the rule. I tried telling this to a couple of people I was teaming with and they got all bent out of shape. I honestly think I teamed with OP and commented to him about his Gambit rip-off and he called me "Dad" lol. Just amazing. I also mentioned this to another guy on a rip-off toon and he got all...butthurt... 🙂 

 

I will say I am not in agreement with not being able to use names that're common words. If someone creates a toon named something like...Colossus and it looks nothing like the X-Man and they don't have the same powers then so be it. It should be fine. Lawyers...they certainly do belong at the bottom of the sea! ALSO, name hoarding is a thing so this should be allowed but all good. I'm happy to have the game around again. 

Edited April 15 by BurtHutt