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Mythic Sues Microsoft Over Mythica MMORPG
An anonymous reader writes "Mythic Entertainment, developers of PC MMO videogame Dark Age of Camelot, has filed suit against Microsoft, arguing that Microsoft's upcoming MMORPG Mythica is too similar in name and content (it 'also employs Norse images and mythology') to its own name and flagship title. Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted..."
Now I know why my Elven Archer was set back to level zero and an 'a' was added to the splash screen.
Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted...
How about this exciting new genre: plumbers, drywallers and electricians duke it out for world supremecy!
I couldn't help but to grin at this:
"We would expect Microsoft to react no differently if someone launched an operating system called Microsofta just as Microsoft did when confronted with an operating system called Lindows," Mythic President and Chief Executive Mark Jacobs said."
While I got a kick out of it at first, it sort of seems to validate Microsoft's lawsuit. It certainly is an amusing twist of irony, though.
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
You meant to say Microsoft is suing Mythica, right?
Companies think they can adopt a well known image/idea rather than develop something unique as that would require imagination and be time consuming and difficult so they latch on to something and then act like it's theirs.
And you'll be glad theres nothing but fantasy out there. Not me, however. The more virtual people i can kill, the less real people ill off. I mean, ive got quotas. Rockstar and company help me out in that sense.
That, and ssx3. What a sweet game.
"Something's wrong with you...and I hope we never do meet again." - Deftones When Girls Telephone Boys
Look, if something's good, it's gonna sell well.
Word of mouth is more powerful than any silly trademarked name or advertising gimick.
I hate lawyer, and I hate Microsoft for taking the competition out of what should be a competitive marketplace.
(Gee, and they wonder why I turned down their job offer again? Assholes.)
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted
MMORPG besically has two choices either fanstasy or space/future technology. The sims online sucks, so I doubt a company is going to make more games about regular life and sports games do not translate to MMORPG.
...direct descendants of King Arthur are suing Mythic for unauthorized use of the his namesake.
Chicks dig my good /. karma.
I hope Microsoft wins this lawsuit.
This is stupid. No other company can make a RPG that features Norse gods?? Its not like they were invented by that company.
Do you realize how silly I'd look with my new "hobbit" foot and ear implants if fantasy becomes passe?
I look around, and see an overweight, sloppy sys admin who needs hookers to have sex.
Fantasy is what I desire.
Isn't the ironing delicious?
um, isn't a computer game by definition fantasy? I dunno about you, but I'm sure as hell not playing any game where I ACTUALLY get shot!
This space available.
... because when I first heard of it, I was immediately confused, because I didn't remember Mythic making any any MMO of the sort (I play DAoC).
But as far as the content, best of luck to them. DAoC was brilliant in that it didn't rely on some license for the core game (like Star Wars), but they also didn't just make something up out of the blue. Mythic took heavily from already-existing Norse mythology, Arthurian legends, Camelot, etc, and put it all together in a surprisingly good story. If somebody else does the same thing, what sort of legal leg do they have to stand on?
Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
...own medicine. They have been filing suits for years like this(like Lindows), it's about time someone slaps them back.
...nevermind it's based on a manga that's very loosely based around Norse mythology.
As a loyal slashbot, I'm torn by my need to rant against an obviously frivolous lawsuit, and my need to say something bad about M$ (you'll notice the dollar sign).
From the CNN article, it seems that MS is truely violating copyright law... then again, there are too many shoot-up-all-the-aliens games out there. Should John Carmack from DOOM sue all the 3d FPS game makers?
-------
FM Clan
I assume you send in a bugreport then ?
Umm, maybe when someone invents a new genre that still gives me a reason to airbrush naked chicks on unicorns onto my van, THEN I will give up on fantasy. Until then, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
sig:
See the "..for smart people" banners Wired runs here? Look elsewhere guys.
'Norse' refers to a tribe of Scandinavian origin, while Camelot was purported to be in England. Also, the popular mythology of Arthur puts the time period around 1200AD. I will let some other wise-guy post a wikipedia link correcting my dates and stuff.
"If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
Maybe they just spelled "Mysica" with a lisp.
They're right that MS's game shouldn't be called "Mythica", but they should be hit with rotten eggs for taking a shot at the Lindows name. And the fact that it centers on Norse mythology is irrelevant. It should simply be a suit about the name, Mythica. Of course, as devil's advocate, I'd suggest most people know the name Dark Age of Camelot, but they don't even remember "Mythic"...
.sigs are for post^Hers.
Granted I don't agree with all of Mythic's practices on DAoC, I think they're giving Microsoft a taste of their own medicine here. Maybe when I play DAoC tonight, I'll have extra fun knowing that I'm helping to fund a legal campaign against Microsoft.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
I've given that quite a bit of thought... but realistically, what new genre could you devise that would be fun to play?
A Sci-Fi setting is about as close as you can get for that sort of gameplay... and that's stretching it. It's Fantasy-Sci-Fi at that point. As AO amply demonstrated, the whole Sci-Fi themed RPG on a computer doesn't work out so well, and ends up being pretty silly.
Fantasy is really the only theme you can have and be "believable," as far as believability in that sort of setting goes.
Once you move up technologically/time period wise, you have something completely different. Why, you ask? Simply because combat becomes something less personal (which personal is the whole focus of MMORPGs) and more destructive.
Any time period set in current day and the future has the potential to have weapons of mass destruction, making game play decidedly un-fun when a nuke comes in and wipes out your whole city without you being able to do anything about it. The fact is, medieval/fantasy is about the only realm you can safely have interactive person-to-person RPGs (note I said RPG, not FPS) and have them remain fun. That's simply because it's more of a drawn out conflict between people, whereas anything set in modern day or the future is a conflict between equipment and wars of attrition, not skill.
I dislike fantasy books, but love SF books. I would love to see a game based on SF... but the more I've thought about it, there's not one single SF themed multiplayer game that I think would be fun without borrowing heavily from fantasy. It's all about personal combat, in the end, and nothing caters to that like fantasy.
I'm sorry, but Linux was in the wrong that time; MS was in the right.
C'mon, go ahead. I'll just sit here and laugh. Reality bites, eh?
....Or perhaps Microsoft took the name from another fantasy game, Myth. Developed by wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, Bungie, and also employing elements of norse mythology.
Mythic Miffed, Mcbeals Microsoft's Mythica Moniker
It's called SIMS Online
.sigs are for post^Hers.
"Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted..."
I think it's time they revive "Gammaworld" or "Boot Hill". I would enjoy a SciFi based RPG, and maybe a creative soul could make a good western!
But don't knock fantasy. I don't think I'll ever get tired of level-development-based party quests. However, I never thought I'd say this, but I AM getting tired of D&D themes. I started playing D&D in the 70's, Wizardry in the 1980's, and have played all of the Ultimas and Bard's Tales, continuing up to Baldurs Gate II. After BG2, there's really no way to improve unless the graphics get better, and that game was damn near perfect, but was 15-20 modules stuffed together!
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Of course that's the irony isn't it. Fantasy gaming is perhaps the most unimaginative genre in computer games right now. It's a sad commentary that probably the best one on the market right now is Temple of Elemental evil, an old school Monty Hall dungeon crawl from 20+ years ago from the hack of all hacks Gary Gygax.
MS could make something original, then problems like this could be averted. These people will be bought out soon.
Windows is not trademarked.
Mythica is.
I see you forgot to take your medication today.
Microsoft is not being sued because it's making a norse gods game. It's being sued because it made a norse god game that's called MYTHICA. Y'see, to establish trademark violation, you have to establish TWO THINGS. First, you have to establish that the trademark is sufficiently similar. Second, you have to establish that the two names in question are for products which are in the same market and could confuse customers. If Microsoft named renamed Microsoft Word to Microsoft Mythica, it'd be fine. But it didn't. It gave the name Mythica that is very similar to another product with an existing similar trademark. Game set and match -- Microsoft will go down on this one for certain.
Mythc alifragilisticexpialidocious
Mythic
Mythica
Mythical
Mythicala
Mythi
I hate to break it to you, but Apple didn't 'invent' the GUI either. It is common knowledge that Apple stole ideas from Xerox. I'm not 100% sure, but there were probably earlier GUI's than Xerox's as well.
Nice try at MS bashing however. Maybe next time you'll get your facts straight?
That's exactly why the suit has no merit. How can MS be gaining any advantage from Mythic's name if nobody even really knows their name?
Most game players think the publisher wrote the game anyway.
And anyone who would know the Mythic name would already know the difference between DAoC and Mythica.
.sigs are for post^Hers.
How can we expect to profit from ancient religions if we do not first extend copyright retroactively backwards 10,000 years? These myths would all be dead were it not for the incentive business has to keep them alive. What better way to guarantee a quality product than by quashing all competition and guaranteeing a monopoly for one company? If we let other companies tell us who the ancient gods were, there might be an upheaval of religious dissent, and that could lead to terrorism and wars. We must have strong copyright laws if we are to avert such senseless tragedies!
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
I am eldron of the developers, developers, developers guild. I have collected over 450 service packs in my quest. Only 4000 more and I will have earned 10% of a client access license for windows 95.
Although it would never happen, Microsoft really should be made to choose one, here.
On one hand, they are fighting tooth and nail against Lindows, arguing that changing a single character constitutes trademark violation, and on the other, they are fighting Mythic(a), to argue that changing a single character doesn't violate trademark.
Of course, Windows is M$'s reason for existence, so if it came to that, they'd change they name of "Mythica" to "Mythologica" or something like that...
But, wouldn't it be truly ironic if Microsoft WON this suit, and that victory was then used to settle Lindows' suit?
Wistful musings over lunch, between coding sessions....
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted...
We wish, but it's not so. For every non-fantasy genre that game developers dream up, some other me-too company will crank out a copycat version of that genre.
Like with movies: Die Hard was a big success, so there's a rash of ripoffs -- "Die Hard in a Hockey Arena", "Die Hard on a Battleship", etc.
-kgj
-kgj
doesn't own Myth anymore.
I thought exactly the same as you when I read this at first, except that Bungie divested itself of the Myth "franchise", a less than brilliant move that seemed to be part of the acquisition deal when they were kidnapped by Microsoft.
Actually, I remember vividly that all copies of Myth II for all platforms were recalled by Microsoft within hours of the acquisition. It took several months to locate a store that still had the Loki published Linux version of Myth II, and to this day, you can still no longer purchase a Windows or Mac version of Myth II. Myth III was released by someone else.
Bungie is not referred to on that page about Mythica, so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
-- Len
But the bigger argument about Lindows vs. Windows is that Windows shouldn't have been given trademark. That would be like Ford trademarking "Car".
News Release
Ford Motor Company has just released Car v4.8. In other news, Ford sues General Motors for releasing a new compact "car".
MS should lose the trademark on the Windows name. Lindows may indeed be playing off the Windows name, but the windows name is far too generic. Many operating systems have for 20 years used "windows" as a primary feature of their graphical interfaces.
.sigs are for post^Hers.
Yeah, I even hear that Henry Ford got all his ideas by looking at a horse & carriage. And do you think AMD invented the x86 architecture? Nope. They blantantly stole it! And Firestone? There were *tons* of tires around before they started! Jeez, innovation is truly dead! Everything is just a ripoff or derivation of stuff that has been done before!
[/sarcasm]
Ok, you got me, that's still fantasy.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I think you're right. I have triumph of the nerds on DVD, but I haven't watched it in a long time. I don't feel like watching it right now to verify the details.
Ironic that their job for in game support specialist has to work in VA... Online game but have to physically be there. Something wrong with that. They could get alot cheaper help if they let you work from home... in your underwear.
And didn't Microsoft buy Bungie? Seems Mythic doesn't have a tripod to stand on. Maybe Robert Graves, Edith Hamilton, and a few other authors should sue all us fantasy gamers for stealing their thunderbolts. Anyone remember when you had to name your game X&X (ala D&D) to sell your game at all (oh I guess that would be Dungeon or Adventure to the early video game crowd).
I need the support of someone just like you! My company owns the trademark on "Le Car", the French compact car you may recall from the eighties. Now we've discovered that Toyota is selling something called a "hybrid car". Every lawyer we've approached with this case says we don't have a chance, but since this lawsuit would be more-or-less identical to the Lindows.com lawsuit, maybe you could explain it to them better?
We need the help of legal scholars like you! We cannot allow our trademark on the word "Car" to get trampled like this!!!
Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted... Check out City of Heroes, http://www.cityofheroes.com. Superhero MMORPG, currently in beta testing, with a scheduled spring release.
If by stole, you mean paid them with Apple Stock, you are correct.
Bill?
If by "stole" you meant "paid a licensing fee as stated in a contract between two companies", then yes, Apple stole Xerox's GUI.
In other words, I would do a little bit more fact checking if I were you.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
yeah, interesting. Do some research on TSR and (I think) Flying Buffalo. For bonus points cross reference with the works of H.P. Lovecraft and (again, I think) Michael Moorcock. My opinion? The BHA computer.
But, yeah, Norse (and others, I'm sure) mythology *should* be public domain.
Ads are broken.
"It was ok to him! He was on row!"
time for some french porn !
Film xxx biographie filmographie actrice film x film xxx : clara morgane is the hottest actress in the world !!!
"The suit asks for damages as well as an injunction against Microsoft and other penalties."
Whilst I may agree with the basis of their lawsuit granted I have never heard of them as a non PC gamer, I disagree with their request. Since this is an upcoming game, why not just ask for injunction against Microsoft to change the name, What damages are they asking for? It's funny how they go to quote Microsoft against Lindows, Microsoft was asking for change of name, which I disagree with, Microsoft was not asking for damages done by the name "Lindows"
------ Curiosity killed the cat. {satisfaction brought it back | it didn't die ignorant | lack of it is killing mankind
We're always amused as The Next Big Game looms on the horizon.... Did you know that DAoC was going to kill EverQuest's role as the #1 MMORPG? No? Perhaps that's because you were waiting for Neverwinter Nights? Star Wars Galaxies? PlanetSide? Anarchy Online?
;-)
Perhaps you have not learned your lesson and are waiting for WoW?
It amazes me that each new game comes out and again misses the point. It's not the graphics (most long-term EQ players turn off all the bells and whistles they can); it's not the storyline (the EQ storyline reads like Christopher Tolkein on quayludes); it's not the marketing (when is the last time you saw an add for SWG, NWN or DAoc? Now what about EQ? I think EQ gets less press than the Slash engine
So what is it? It's the fact that the game is large enough and growing to absorb enough user-base that there is a community that has real staying power... somehow, THAT is what another game needs to replicate, and it emphasizes all of the things that most game companies do not want to spend money on... Perhaps Sigil will get it right. they did once before....
I used to play DAOC. I used to love DAOC. But a creator of new ideas DAOC is not.
Dark Age uses the most widespread, obvious and well-known cultural and mythological references for its game world.
We must remember that Mythic's case against Microsoft constitutes a claim of ownership over these themes.
For once Microsoft is right.
Mythic: you should have been more original if you wanted something protectable.
Verdict goes to the defendant.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
Microsoft already did a pretty decent MMORPG ala "Asherons Call" (ok Turbine did it and Microsoft assimilated it into their collective). However IMHO Asherons call is a halfway decent MMORPG. Though now that MS has sold Asherons call back to Turbine, now I see why exactly.
MS should be worried about this lawsuit from a competitive standpoint. If too much hack and slash is done to their new MMORPG that leaves them with nothing in the MMORPG world (though maybe this isn't a bad thing...).
Or maybe MS should just stick with MS Flight simulator, IMHO the graphics in that game are just awesome...
...in bed
Heh, well, maybe back when almost nobody had a car, they could have trademarked it, and it wouldn't have mattered. IE it only became generic because nobody trademarked it.
Most of the world had not heard of "Windows" for computers before Microsoft used that term for their software, and probably before they even trademarked it. It's still not really considered generic because when you say "Windows" everyone knows you're talking about Microsoft Windows. (It's not like bandaid or frisbee)
But go ahead and keep living in your dream world where trademark law bends to your desires.
Crashica
Trollers are on teh sp0ke!
http://pcblues.com - Digits and Wood
No, rather it would be like Ford Motor Company releasing a car range called the SteeringWheel (tm). Perfectly fine, another company could not release a car range called the same, but it could still use steering wheel technology within it.
So, it makes me sad when people attack the ideas of another without clarifying their own, hopefully better, ideas: Genres other than fantasy. Could the author be a bit more specific as in what genre of game he'd like to see?
...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
But it could just as well be Linux coupled with the X window system. Windows is used in far more computer related places than just Microsoft windows.
I'd NEVER have thought of a talking paper clip. Oh, stoners and innovators aren't the same thing?
Banaaaana!
By the way, I just happen to have mod points. Found a comment more constructive, though.
Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted...
Maybe if publishers didn't cancel promising MMO's like Privateer Online, and nerf other ones like Motor City Online, we wouldn't be in this situation.
An exciting new genre indeed!
Quack, quack.
roll a 20 sided die to decide this?
->Jeff
No, of course not. The only thing Ford innovated was the idea of mass producing automobiles. Cars were around a goodly amout of time before Ford came along. Ford's the one that made them cheap and accessible.
His point was that Microsoft hasn't really done much of their own. They've ridden the coat tails of real innovators.
They're like the Japanese in that regard. For a long time, the Japs didn't make anything origional. They made them smaller, better and cheaper. Sure. No question there. However, nobody has decried Japanese manufactures for those things, but origionality??? Not one of their strong points. Only now is Honda doing some interesting things (human robot for example), otherwise it's all of the same old shit that we've had for 20 years, rehashed and refined.
Perhaps that's why GM and Ford own all of them now?
Seems like a total non-starter to me.
Until reading the post I had no clue what company created DAOC. And give it a day or so, and I'll likely forget it too.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
get out and look at the sun once in a while you pasty-faced losers. It won't hurt. you know, the sun. it's that big bright thing in the sky. You know, sky? it's all that blue stuff you see when you look up outside. Well, except for you guys in the pacific northwest. Even if you spent every day outside I couldn't blame you for not knowing what it was. There IS no sun in Seattle.
This is exactly what Microsoft deserves. They try to claim Lindows is too similar to Windows, so hell with them, let them take some heat for a similar name too.
-- If we don't stand up for our rights, now, there will be no right to stand up for them later.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
The Geek in Black
I know my BCD's (when I'm Sober)
I hear by claim dominion over all adjectives other than "Mythic" and all other non-sense words created from them by adding any consonats or vowels from any alphabet as well as any suffixes from all languages.
I do this because I, like Darl McBride, am bat-shit insane. And I need a lot of karma if AC's are ever going to post at +1.
Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted...
Blatant plug for Shattered Galaxy
Blatant self-promotion: Jerek.net
"windows" as commonly used to describe microsoft's OS is actually a common term...The proper name is "MicroSoft Windows" . Without the "MS" or "Microsoft" before it There's no trademark to dilute! For a matter of fact MS argued EXACTLY THE SAME THING in court when they infringed on the term "Internet Explorer"! They argued that because the terms "internet" and "explorer" were such common terms, that the combination was also common... So as a matter of Law and precedent, Lindows has a sufficently novel name for their product...While MS doesn't have a leg to stand on for simply the term "windows" They allowed the name "MS windows" to become diluted...That's why somebody will soon corect my use of rollerblades, when I get back from rollerblading! Get it! Sue it or loose it!
And me all out of crunchie-time algea chips and bouncy bubble beverage.
Well, it's beyond hope now... but it was good to begin with. It had the potential to be a new genre, but it really just extended the current Fantasy-RPG style of gameplay to space (rpg-in-space) sure, there's a bit of trade element and experience based upon your exploration of the known universe (very cool, not too difficult to imagine but the first time I've seen it in a graphical mud.)
Really I'm tired (as well as many others I suppose) of the hack+slash forever pointlessness. Not to mention the horribly pathetic issue with EQ of waiting for many RL days for virtual items (gah someone castrate the person who came up with that revenue-model.) Hopefully there will be some changes drastically in the "treadmill" model of character development. Lemme tell ya, if I have to kill 12,000 mobs to get to a theoretically more enjoyable endgame one more time I'm gonna smack all of mud-dev.
"Oh, and we could have a new acronym: IANALBIPOO (..But I Play One Online)"
.sig for a long time here and would consider any use of IANALBIPOO an infringement of my IP rights.
I'm sorry, but I've been using a similar
IANAL, but I play one on
Scandinavian countries should combine and sue Mythic and Microsoft over use of their Mythology!
This is obviously getting out of hand...
I'm sorry, but Linux was in the wrong that time; MS was in the right.
Huh??? Since when do the actions of one company represent the actions of a software package (Linux) or even a community (the Linux community)? I agree that Lindows.com, Inc. was in the wrong by trying to create confusion with Microsoft's trademark "Microsoft Windows", but that doesn't make "Linux" in the wrong.
47% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
oh man... now we're going to see trolls spamming "teh spoke"
:)
Try something new for once
Oh? You still consider it new? ah well
you can bet your .asp on that won.
all this phonIE greed/fear/ego based pretense is rapidly becoming illuminated for all to see.
consult with/trust in yOUR creators.... get ready to become proportionally enlightened.
mynuts won, don't try telling robbIE that he doesn't own his 'gnu dating service' you moron?
Heh next thing you know, Ultima Online is racking in money for pioneering graphical MMORPGs.
- shazow
Right so you want Waterworld MMORPG.
Hurray we all get to be Kevin Costner.
" Perhaps it's just me, but it seems that there is a huge difference between Microsofta and Lindows"
No no....I see it too. It looks like one starts with "L" and the other starts with "M".
I made an RPG in 91 titled it, but never published.
2003, a german game company makes a title with that name.
I email them, tell them I sort of had rights, ask for a tour of the company.
They email back, and said Lucas Arts threatened to sue
God spoke to me
- Grand Theft Auto
- Call of Duty
- Command and Conquer: Generals
- Planetside
- Project Gotham Racing
</sarcasm>And never mind the imbecilic "logic" of the quote above, which implies that no two game developers should ever make a game in the same genre. (It also implies that it's a relatively simple thing to invent a new game genre. Yeah. Put up or shut up.)
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
They've trademarked 'Ka' - which is almost just as bad.
The Mythic/Mythica argument is stupid. Mythic is a company with a Camelot-era game, Mythica is a Norse-era game. Should a company really get sued for putting out a game called ID, Valve, or Rock Star?
Couldn't there be a game based on this, but for a defence lawyer rather than a prosecuting one?
Say, you get a case or several cases where you have to prove your client innocent through gathering clues (instead of the classic "you are framed and need to prove get yourself out"). Perhaps on some cases you have to decide when your client isn't really innocent after all, or they are innocent of the crime in question but overall definately not a saint.
You could collect clues, get paid, etc, in a quest form, or perhaps a board-game (similar in concept to an advanced "clue?"). Something like an old gumshoe game but a little more advanced?
And yeah, maybe if you made it a large multiplayer online game you could set precedents, etc. Would be cool. Maybe just factor this into a larger MMORPG and have some players act as either lawmaker, citizen, or lawyer? Mock trials?
From many laughed at ideas there is a variation which is brilliance...
How about Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates? It is fairly original, constructing a fairly complex group dynamic from a relatively simple set of puzzles.
Y!PP
Both MS and Apple got the GUI idea from Xerox, but didn't steal it. There were elements of the Windows GUI, however, which were not in the Xerox GUI but are in the Apple GUI which were subjects of a lawsuit.
OK, maybe I'm a dumbass. I know what MMORPG stands for, but what does MMO stand for? "Microsoft Management Orgasm? Massive Masturbating Oliphaunts? What?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Only at Microsfot, R&D stands for "Ripoff and Deploy" instead of the normally understood meaning...
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
Judging from opinions on slashdot, Microsoft shouldn't have called their OS "Windows," they should have called it "Pane."
Aha haha. I crack myself up.
Or maybe they've saved that for GNOME 2.5, Ha Ho hmmm.
IDSPISPOD style is. I might remind you that there is a Law & Order brand video game where collect evidence and present it to a jury in a courtroom.
So while changing frogger to a lawyer might be satisfying, the future is now.
Windows is not trademarked in any country that has english as it's native language, in all other countries it is not a common word and can be trademarked
or did you forget that there are more languages out there?
Solid Splash design
Yo! Before WE invented the GUI there was...nothing. er. then again there was emacs?
XrX
Looks great in 1.5a.
a genre that gets naked chicks on your unicorn in a van?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
No, it would be like Coca Cola trademarking Car as a new soft drink brand. I would understand your line of logic if Microsoft actually had something to do with actual physical windows.
i mean come on
"Did you know that DAoC was going to kill EverQuest's role as the #1 MMORPG?"
ummm i think way more people play uo and im basing this on absolutely nothing.
i mean come on
Corp Por!
You'd need an entire class dedicated to analyzing SCO and their crackpot claims....I guess we could call that class an Imp Lawyer...
01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00101110
Oh no, they are using norse and Arthurian legend in a game? heaven forbid their be more than one game of that out there, next you'll be telling me that some company that puts out a world war 2 fps is gonna sue all the other companies that put out a ww2 fps.
jesus christ people, you didn't invent the legends, you based a game on them. Microsoft decided to do the same, for once in my life I am siding with microsoft.
That is it, from this day forth, let it be known that I created egyption history. My first order of business will be to sue the Toledo Museam of Art because they have an Egyption section featuring a MUMMY, and we all know that I thought of mummification first damnit!
Lawsuits lawsuits lawsuits, I f'ing swear. Companies don't make money by producing anything anymore, they just sue each other all day long. First we kill all the lawyers, then all the lawsuit happy morons in this god forsakken country, then we kill ALL CEO's and anyone who still works at SCO.
I would like to mention, my fever is at 103....
--Nuintari
slashdot : where an opinion can be wrong.
I say the estate of JRR Tolkein gets their lawyers to draw up papers against Mythic, since their Dark Age of Camelot has elves, dwarves, hobbits (which they call "Lurikeen", which are *supposedly* leprichauns, but we all know they are hobbits), swords, archers, axes, orcs, trolls, magic, etc.
After they sue the pants off Mythic, they can go after almost every other fantasy work since then as being highly derivative.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
"Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted..." BWHAHAHAH
Not quite.
The entire "novelty" of modern GUI operating systems was that they had the concept of windows, and that you could have more than one window open at once.
Thus, in a very believable sense, a modern OS GUI was "windows".
So perhaps my choice of name, "Car", was poor. A better analogy would be "automobile", because of course that's what was novel about a modern human transport.
.sigs are for post^Hers.
Mythic: you should have been more original if you wanted something protectable.
Verdict goes to the defendant.
Yes let's remember this when the Court case filed by Microsoft against Lindows will be decided. The name Windows is stunningly original ;-)
Mythic can use every argument MS brings about against Lindows.
Help fight continental drift.
Well, I really *tried* to get into the MMORPG thing via Shadowbane when it first came out. After 2 hours or so, I just didn't like it at all - but my wife REALLY got into it. Now, she plays the thing addictively every day, and I uninstalled it from my computer.
I love the idea of a massive multiplayer online world, but I don't love the D&D "hack/slash", "buy/sell weapons, spells, armor", "gain experience/levels" formula. I also don't care for the design of many of the MMORPGs where you're practically required to spend a certain amount of time "checked in" to the game, doing routine maintenance tasks and so on, or else everything you worked to build falls apart.
I think an MMORPG based on either modern times or the future would be just fine, as long as it didn't concentrate on warfare so much. I'm not advocating more of "The Sims" either -- but I guess I'm thinking of something where you get to do a lot of creative construction/development of parcels of property. The things you build should become permanent fixtures in the game, even if you cancel your user account. (Shadowbane makes a big deal about having this type of thing, but in reality, it's more of a manipulation tool to provoke battle and the taking of sides; EG. So much money is required to build and maintain a city and walls that you have to keep killing things to keep the money flowing in to maintain it.)
Just like the real world, there should be the potential for battle/conflict, but it should be VERY costly to undertake, and require more than just one player deciding he/she wants to "stir up some trouble".
I think there would be plenty of potential for fun in a game like this because A) you'd spend a lot of time exploring the things other people are actively building, and B) you'd build in some sort of loose, evolving storyline that allows your character to go on interesting missions. There should be plenty of useful objects to seek out, but they shouldn't necessarily be practical (or required) to obtain through battling/defeating the other players online.
...look something like this? Damn, looks like they took the video down...
Don't bother suing: the first 11 letters are pure coincidence!
Let's start with some definitions:
.
A check at Trademark Electronic Search System shows that the Trade/Service mark "Mythic Entertainment" was obtained for "Operating real time, role playing games for others over global computer networks." So a similar game (real time, role playing) with a similar title (Mythica vs Mythic) could be infringing.
That said, suing Microsoft over trademark infringement (usually a slam dunk) is a good way to go out of business. The last person to do it had an open-and-shut case and should have gotten lots of money. Instead legal fees bankrupted the company, and when MS finally settled for $5million dollars, it all went to legal fees: Microsoft pays $5M for IE name
Rick DeBay
http://www.debays.org/
<rant>
Why isn't <Q> allowed and <BLOCKQUOTE> is?
And
And it's throwing spaces in to the URIs I just listed.
</rant>
OMG FUCKING LOL! M$ har har that's so clever and original. The $ is cause they're greedy, GET IT?
Mmm. The sweet smell of defoliant on the astroturf in the morning.
Of course it's going off the rails. How else is it ever going to fly?
Well a MMORPG in the dune universe would be interesting, you would still have WMD. You could completly leave stoneburners and other nukes out of the game, citing the great convention etc etc, but if you remember, lasgun + shield = atomic rivaling explosion. You could do it during the tyrant time when shields were banned, but that was a pretty boring time for humankind. Still, if someone made a decent dune based game it would be the only one i'd consider picking up. Galaxies seemed interesting, being a SW geek too, but i waited, thankfully, to hear that it sucks.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
MU online, the game from Korea is the #1 MMORPG, not EQ.
It also doesn't require a super fast machine to keep from bogging down.
Anyway, to refine this, measured by number of players, MU bests EQ.
The reason Mythic choose public mythology in the first place was to avoid copyrights, this was detailed in an interview with the founder back when DAoC was coming out.
Now looks like they would like to adopt a copyright on adopting public copyrights eh?
-Jon
this is my sig.
People stick to fantasy because..... fantasy sells.
maybe it's because the big two sci fi massmogs were giant bug lists at release, which ran well only on high-end systems. i dunno. (anarchy online, starwars galaxies)
but fantasy makes up for the vast majority of massmog subscriptions, so why would you target a niche, in an already niche market?
mass-market aimed media (film, tv, games) very rarely features creativity, only because that market doesn't reward creativity.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
Maybe if companies would stop trying to trademark or patent English words, we'd stop seeing such a stupid abuse of the legal system...
There's nothing wrong with the fantasy genre that a little imagination can't cure...
How about a fantasy setting where lawyers have taken control of all three branches of government and wield the mighty One Dollar to control all aspects of human life?
I know the first time I heard of Mythica and that it featured Norse mythology that I thought it was a Mythic game. I played Dark Ages of Camelot for a year and played exclusively in the Norse realm. I honestly thought that it was Mythic's new product focusing on that part of DAoC.
I still get confused when I hear about it. I have to think about it for a few seconds to realise it's a MS product.
However, this is ENTIRELY Mythic's fault. Microsoft has done NOTHING wrong. Mythic just picked an awfully generic term to name their company after. If they thought no company would ever use the term "myth," "mythic," or "mythology" or any variation of either of those 3 words then they were smoking crack.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
Kinda just seems like poetic justice to me.
But Officer, I DID read the f**king article!
I saw it at E3 and, while it does have content from Norse mythology the current incarnation is nothing like DaoC (aside from the similarities that the current crop of MMO games all share). I'm not sure how Mythic can argue the content claim.
Aside from the super-duper graphics and wicked-cool effects, the most interesting thing about the game was the emphasis on small party role-playing. I always hate the fact that in MMO games, everyone in the world is a superheroic adventurer and you all complete the same quests. In Mythica, in addition to the big open area where everyone is yelling at each other about who r0x0rs, most quests and adventuring were supposed to take place in non-public (not quite private, but restricted) areas. You'd pull together a party of a half dozen players or so and go off on a quest that was all your own. No camping, no poaching. From what I remember these areas were fairly large and you could remain in the non-pub areas between logons.
The other problem I have with MMO games - the illusion wrecking respawning - was also addressed, at least partially, by the developer. Since the whole thing takes place in tha afterlife, the fact that you magically rematerialize after every "death" is at least superficially explained by the rules of the world and doesn't conflict with the story. I always found it less than compelling to know that everyone in the world of Asheron's Call is basically immortal. Makes you figure that humanity has the edge in the long run taking the world back from evil. Of course, there are also likely to be some sanitation and food supply problems with an undying population.
OK, I suppose that was a little off-topic, but I thought the content bore little resemblance to DaoC.
PS - regarding non-fantasy MMO games (I know many have commented but):
The Sims
EVE
Anarchy
Planetside
Earth & Beyond
Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates (love it!)
A Tale in the Desert
etc.
There may be a glut of Tolkienesque worlds, but it's not true that there are *no* alternatives.
Look ma, no tpyos^H^H^H^H^H^H . . . oh crap.
This is really a combination of things and I think Mythic is in the right.
#1 Similar name, no big deal on its own.
#2 Similar content as Mythic's existing DAoC game, no big deal on its own.
Combined these two things make for an infringment.
If I opened up a site named OSDNO (Open Source Development Network Online) and sold crumpets it wouldn't mean anything. If I opened up a news site w/ some random name it wouldn't mean anything. But if I open up a tech news site called OSDNO and tote it as the replacement of Slashdot I've done something wrong. (FYI for those who don't know OSDN is the parent company of Slashdot)
Super Mario Brothers already did this.
I was in gamestop last week, and I always check the "under $20" section they have. I noticed all three Myth games for sale there.
Maybe if game developers could dream up a genre other than fantasy, problems like this would be averted..."
too much crack smoking this morning?
I basically agree that having the dragons be "death claws" worked pretty well, and that I could just die before I see another dwarf or wizard. But if Fallout's as close to a departure as we can think of, well... that apple ain't too far from the tree.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
We'll see who wins, Microsoft with its army of lawyers, or Mythic Entertainment with its no doubt heafty army of lawyers with its much smaller warchest with which to fight.
It's spelled "truly".
Mod me down for being offtopic, sure, but this is a pretty big pet peeve of mine.
--- 11 meters/second, or 24 miles per hour - the airspeed velocity of an unladen European swallow. Really.