Whee, we made Slashdot

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Woot! This game is going to rock.

I am so hyped that /. posted about this project. I can't wait to try it out. Thanks to everyone involved! Woot... this game is amazing!
 
Prerequisites?

I read on /. you have to have the original game to play the game released here. Is this true?
 
Unregistered said:
I read on /. you have to have the original game to play the game released here. Is this true?
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No, not true at all. Where on slashdot does it say that?
 
There is some copyright discussion about what other mods do to skirt the issue by requiring the original.
 
JKeefe said:
No, not true at all. Where on slashdot does it say that?
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Good to know...sorry to "spread FUD" like that. I should have just read the friendly manual first. :p

You may want to add that to your FAQ.

Thanks!
 
I saw this on /. and I have to tell you it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I've been missing the Wing Commander series for a long time now and have actually resorted to installing Windows 3.11 on an older hard drive to run WC1,2,3 and Privateer. This will make life so much easier. Thanks, guys, I cant wait to try it.
 
I've gotten a few e-mails about legal stuff. Lemme know who you worked with at EA to clear this and I'll forward questions to them.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
I've gotten a few e-mails about legal stuff. Lemme know who you worked with at EA to clear this and I'll forward questions to them.
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Your post makes no sense.
 
PeteyG said:
Your post makes no sense.
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Yes, it does. LOAF's received emails (either from players concerned about the legality of PR, curious about it, or actual legal eagle confirmations about copyright permission...), and wants to know who (if anyone) is a contact in EA to answer them.

Which raises the point: was an 'unofficial' permission to use WC IP sought at all?
 
PeteyG said:
Your post makes no sense.
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When we post something like an episode of Academy we contact EA to make sure it will not be a legal issue. A fan game that copies an existing for-product game would almost certainly do the same thing.
 
Since we're hosting the Priv site, it'd really help if we knew who you talked to in order to coordinate everything here. Any inquiries would inevitably fall on us.
 
ChrisReid said:
Since we're hosting the Priv site [...] Any inquiries would inevitably fall on us.
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Also, since they have had numerous previous dealings with you and know who you are...
 
This isn´t just a mod, you´re using protected original material (sound files). I would strongly suggest you make an explicit statement with the permission right on the second page of the manual.
 
Okay.

Great that the mod made it to slashdot.

Bad if we have copyright issues.

Assuming that this is the case (doomsayer that I am), there's one direction to go.



The way I see it, we're dealing with the portion concerning mods in Vegastrike's GNU license here, which reads:

2 b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
parties under the terms of this License.

So we do have a legal document the can be referred to as basis for negotiations with EA people. As this isn't new, somebody around here might be experienced in handling copyright discussions with EA.
Since PR does not steal code from EA, or hide its intentions at being a remake, or infringes sales on copyrighted EA products in any way (at least none that I know), we have a pretty sound case here.

I guess the UE/Standoff team might have some hints for that (although I'm not clear on the legal status of those mods).

If this doesn't lead anywhere, I'm sure that the CIC staff has good contacts to EA people; and I'm pretty sure there's already communication going on outside this forum to solve possible issues or misunderstandings.

Another good step might be to issue a legal disclaimer on the webpage, stating the intent and legal status of the project. A good example might be the disclaimer from the King's Quest Remake by AGD: http://www.agdinteractive.com/legal.php (although I have no idea if the same situation applies)

Soooooo, people, don't cry wolf or push the eject button yet. This is a serious topic, but there are plenty of opportunities to solve it.



And maybe I'm too much the pessimist after all, and everything's fine already. I hope it is.
 
Not to burst anyone's bubble, but I ran into a similar problem several years ago.

I was making a computer game, from scratch, based on Avalon Hill's "Magic Realm" board game.
After mentioning it on several forums, and being asked about legallity, I contacted Hasbro, Avalon Hill's current owner, about it.
I was politely told, in no uncertain terms, that while they couldn't prevent me from making the game, they would sue the begezus out of me if I gave even one copy away for free.
I've heard tell that LucasArts has the same attitude about their properties.

While I was working on the "Privateer: The Reckoning" mod for Freelancer, I was told that as long as no money was involved, we were free to proceed.
(But I can't recall if that was official, or not.)
 
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