Massively article: The Think Tank -- What's your solution to save closing mmo's

[johnrobey]

Not sure if this was posted, but big old shout out to us:  http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/13/the-think-tank-whats-your-solution-to-save-closing-mmos/

Thanks for posting this article.   I'm glad to see I'm not the only one thinking this issue is complex.  I'm glad also (assuming I'm inferring correctly) that this issue in general is being considered by the industry.

[Globetrotter]

You guys do know that a Korean court has determined that in-game items that require work to earn or real money to buy are all worth real money, don't you?

http://moremoney.blogs.money.cnn.com/2010/01/22/play-money-is-real-money-says-high-court/

Hmmm.... this would implicate, that NCSoft robbed us from assets (costume bundles, power sets etc.) we bought with paragon points, that were payed for with real money.

[Victoria Victrix]

Hmmm.... this would implicate, that NCSoft robbed us from assets (costume bundles, power sets etc.) we bought with paragon points, that were payed for with real money.

That's the ruling by the Korean court in a nutshell. 

[Sailboat]

That gave me the urge to make the first Massively Multiplayer Renaissance Art-based Online RPG.

But...

I don't have the Monet.

:3

I liked that!

But then, I'm young and Impressionist.

[Grolleter]

From the article: "I believe that it is always up to the artists (or publisher or the group that holds the rights) to do what they want with their art ... We don't support most censorship, like the alteration of books or movies. This should be no different."

Two words: Architect Entertainment.

Besides, once someone decides to make their art commercially available, they are giving up some of their right to control it. If I buy a painting or a poster or a music CD or a novel or a movie or a board game, or even if I get one for free in some (legal) way, and the person who created it later decides that they don't want its contents to be publicly available, I have no obligation to destroy or sell it, because it is now my property. I'm not a legal expert by any stretch of the imagination, but don't we, as purchasers of a video game, have just as much right to continue to make use of the software we've purchased?

Obviously I have no more right to insist that NCSoft continue to run servers than I would to insist that videocassette manufacturers continue to sell VCRs. But I have a lot of trouble seeing any way that the idea that "MMO players have no rights to the software or setting once the publisher decides to stop supporting the game" is any more acceptable than the idea that "board game players have no rights to the components or rules once the publisher decides to stop manufacturing the game".

[WolfSoul]

It's like going to the Pottery Barn, paying for a mug or plate or what have you and painting it and firing it, etc, etc only to be told that you can't keep it.

[Tahquitz]

That gave me the urge to make the first Massively Multiplayer Renaissance Art-based Online RPG.

But...

I don't have the Monet.

:3

Don't get Lippi with me.

[healix]

For the love of Christo, Escher are being silly! You are all hitting a Homer with your wit!

[downix]

Except when a EULA or something similar-looking tells you right from login that anything you create is the property of NCSoft. :/ I think someone said that the EULA we had in CoH wasn't legal enough, but it besting the argument "they are stealing my art" if it even holds.

Actually the EULA specifies that we own what we make, because if they did not then it would be unenforceable due to US federal copyright laws.

And, throwing this onto the other foot, I have an EULA here for every game I play which by selling me the game the gaming company automatically accepts as part of the purchase. I send them a copy by mail of course and their allowing me to access their online services is automatic acceptance of my EULA which specifies that it superscedes any EULA by them.

[Triplash]

For the love of Christo, Escher are being silly! You are all hitting a Homer with your wit!

I fail to see your Pointillism.

Now please, can you lend me some gas so I can make my Van Gogh?

[JanessaVR]

And, throwing this onto the other foot, I have an EULA here for every game I play which by selling me the game the gaming company automatically accepts as part of the purchase. I send them a copy by mail of course and their allowing me to access their online services is automatic acceptance of my EULA which specifies that it superscedes any EULA by them.

That's...absolutely hysterical!  ;D  I swear if a case involving a tactic such as yours ever comes to court, I'd pay to watch that trial!

"The Defendant has no rights, he accepted our EULA."

"What about his EULA that he sent to you, and that you tacitly accepted?"

"...What?!"

Oh dear gods, the entire software industry might have a heart attack.

...Pass the popcorn.

[JaguarX]

Soooo... is there  lawsuit in the works? Sounds like some people have a case and genuine feeling of getting ripped off.

[downix]

Now, for the OP:

There are several solutions. You could of course run the game at a loss, which would make little sense from a business standing. You could authorize private servers, even limited servers able to run only a dozen players, easy to do. You could open the source. You could modify the game to run as a standalone. You could switch it to a P2P architecture and then the players would be the servers.

Lots of options.

[Atlantea]

I fail to see your Pointillism.

Now please, can you lend me some gas so I can make my Van Gogh?

Hey - If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it!

[dwturducken]

This seems like a good place for a Nihilist joke, but I just don't care.

[Victoria Victrix]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwce0rY5RIk

[Osborn]

Heck, the cheapest thing that even a corpse corporation could do is just release the game to the wild and wait for the internet to make its own emulator. If the internet's combined potential can't do it, then it wasn't meant to be.

That, or they churn through games like potato chips, never having savored something so satisfying.

Eventually this problem is gonna happen with cloud computing to single player games. What happens when eventually Steam closes down? Etc. As it is, the end user has almost no rights, where as the platform creator has basically all the rights. And this sentiment enables that.

So people going "Lol, it's just a game, move on with your life" are eventually waiting for this problem to come to bite them someday, somewhere in the future.

[corvus1970]

So people going "Lol, it's just a game, move on with your life" are eventually waiting for this problem to come to bite them someday, somewhere in the future.

Yup. and when it happens to them, they will scream, rant, and toss blame around, asking why something wasn't done to prevent it earlier.

[Osborn]

Yup. and when it happens to them, they will scream, rant, and toss blame around, asking why something wasn't done to prevent it earlier.

Heck, I'll be honest, I feel bad for not really knowing about the whole thing with Tabula Rasa when that happened.

[corvus1970]

Yeah I hear you. It was one of those times where I shrugged and didn't give it a second thought.

However, I didn't say "Oh deal. Its just a game" either.