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Activision Comes To Its Senses; Allows King's Quest Fan Game To Live On (Again)
from the permission-culture dept
Nearly five years ago, we wrote about how some fans of the video game King's Quest, of which there hadn't been an official release in years, had decided to put together a fan-created version. Vivendi, who owned the rights to the game, initially sent in the lawyers with a cease-and-desist, but later backed down, and gave the go ahead, so long as the name of the game was The Silver Lining, rather than King's Quest IX. But, of course, you may recall that earlier this year, Activision, who had merged with Vivendi, suddenly decided that the old permission no longer applied, and demanded that all work on the game cease and go away.
Thankfully, Nick Coghlan alerts us that, after many months, this story actually is turning into a repeat of the 2005 story, as Activision has come to its senses and is letting the game live on. Apparently the negative publicity over Activision's previous position convinced the company that it was making a mistake, and it rescinded the cease-and-desist.
While this story appears to have a happy ending where common sense prevails over ridiculous legal threats, the whole situation once again highlights the problems of permission-culture. These fans were trying to build something that celebrated a game that hasn't been commercially released in ages. And yet, twice now, they've had to deal with threats to be shut down, with the second time coming after they'd already secured "permission." This is not how culture is supposed to work.
Thankfully, Nick Coghlan alerts us that, after many months, this story actually is turning into a repeat of the 2005 story, as Activision has come to its senses and is letting the game live on. Apparently the negative publicity over Activision's previous position convinced the company that it was making a mistake, and it rescinded the cease-and-desist.
While this story appears to have a happy ending where common sense prevails over ridiculous legal threats, the whole situation once again highlights the problems of permission-culture. These fans were trying to build something that celebrated a game that hasn't been commercially released in ages. And yet, twice now, they've had to deal with threats to be shut down, with the second time coming after they'd already secured "permission." This is not how culture is supposed to work.
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Interest in a fan-created version could also possibly mean interest in the entire King's Quest saga. /looking forward
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I would be curious
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what happens when the game you want to make is blocked, but the reference is 10+ years old
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http://www.amazon.com/Kings-Quest-Collection-Pc/dp/B000AYFPKG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogame s&qid=1277814345&sr=8-1
Release Date according to the Amazon.com page is September 06. It came to Steam in 09. There haven't been any new "Quest" games in a long, though.
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Until The Next Merger With Somebody Else ...
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Correlation w/Music...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_video_games
Now, some of these games were commercial releases that have been freed up, and some of them are even old Rougelike text style adventure games, but many of them aren't. Some of them look extremely well done and polished (we'll find out when I play a few). The point is that, again, people will create for creation's sake. To try and stifle that as Activision did, instead of embracing it, reminds me of how the music and movie industries try to slap down fan made releases that build upon THEIR copyrighted works.
It's just silly. Copyright being used to stifle creation will lead to more open source offerings, more CC style releases, and more dilution in these markets where the only one with anything to lose is those relying on antiquated protectionism....
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Re: Correlation w/Music...
And yet these companies haven't discovered that obscurity is a larger enemy than piracy.
When I used to pirate music, I bought lots of music. Then I realized the legal situation and quit pirating. But ironically, I care less about music and buy less.
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Re: Re: Correlation w/Music...
....I've never been happier!
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Re: Re: Correlation w/Music...
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THOUSANDS OF GAMES
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Me
If we're talking about games, I highly doubt that people will say that Crimson Echoes competed with Square for market space. The game was shut down right as release was about to happen for it (1 month left before it was completed)
Let's think about this...
Three guys, 5+ years and then Square comes to warn them of $150,000 in damages for a game that was fan made because of a "ROM hack". Here's what's so unfortunate...
The game looked to be a great addition. It had a great story, great plotting, and linked two of their games.
As it stands, it's still a great fanfiction. How this is any different from a commercial release is beyond me. Regardless, it disappoints me greatly that so much effort is wasted for short term profit.
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Re: Me
I do find it odd that Square struck at just before the release (the site says the game was 98% complete).
At first I thought Square came down on them because they were about to start working on a new CT title themselves (kinda like how that group that was making a fanmade Halo RTS got shut down and barely a month later Halo Wars was announced). But it looks like more of the same jerkiness. All Square had to do was ask that they clearly state that Crimson Echoes was not an official Square product and call it a day.
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