Big difference.
Lot of people getting all in a stress about this situation, but keep in mind folks this is not really anything to do with Warhammer Online and Mythic. Gamesworkshop see Curse, which is a business, making money and using their IP without permission. From the comments posted by the previous owner of WHA, the WHA site did have permission before the site was sold to Curse, but alas for WHA it was sold and as a result in GW's eyes will have become a business and no longer a fan site. So no matter what Mythic or Warhammer Online players may think, Gamesworkshop will always sue.
To them no matter how well WAR did it would always have been just a sideline, a licence they sold and get a little bit of cash from. It’s a small priority compared with protecting their intellectual property, since failure to do so even once can lead to difficulties when making a legal challenge in future. Gamesworkshop have a history of aggressively protecting their IP against anyone that could be seen as making money from it. And to be honest they don’t really have much choice, their IP is their entire business. They have to be aggressive, that's just how it works. It’s like with the Damnatus warhammer 40k film, GW didn’t want to give them the legal slap, but because of the way German copyright laws work, to protect themselves in future they had no choice. That one is still rumbling on I believe.
Do I like it? Of course not, whilst I couldn’t give a monkey’s about Curse (due to apathy, not some random hatred), I do like WHA and regularly read the forums. But this situation is just about business, is far from uncommon and totally understandable. Hopefully Gamesworkshop and Curse will work something out, after all that’s what usually happens in these situations. The whole suing thing is probably just a kick up the arse and a statement, rather than an attempt at taking Curse for a milllllllllllion dollars.
But don't get dragged into blaming Mythic. Feel free to shout at Mythic for not giving us news on an expansion though. I mean come on, Age of Conan gets one and we're not? Now is not the time for viral marketing, hints or just plain silence. Now is the time to kick arse and take names, it's time to stake a claim! A fitting tune considering the UK's political mess at the moment. Lib Dems get 24% of the vote, but only 8% of the seats in the House of Parliment, how the fuck is that democracy working? In fact while I'm getting cross... 52% of the population make clear votes to keep the Tories out, yet somehow with a mere 36% it looks like they'll get in. No please, no return to eighties rich person buffing! Do not want! Broken system is broken.
Ooh man now that was a tangent.
Anyways....... don't blame Mythic, this is not their fault. The sue Curse bit I mean, not the politics. Though I'm sure there is an ex-WAR playing Troll that can think up why the political mess is Mythic's fault. :P
The whole thing about IP and not protecting it, is a very difficult subject. If you don't protect it now, then you have a very hard time defending it later, due to allowing a precedent. This is why some author stamp down hard on fan fiction. Not that they don't like some of it, but what happens if the allow any free reign.
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing this out, a surprising amount of people seem to miss it. Even if we manage to overcome this suit with little to no harm, Mythic has and will continue to get a lot of hate that should not be aimed at them. Mythic still has my love.
ReplyDelete-Nattfodd, site manager for Warhammer Alliance.