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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..."
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?
...direct descendants of King Arthur are suing Mythic for unauthorized use of the his namesake.
Chicks dig my good /. karma.
Do you realize how silly I'd look with my new "hobbit" foot and ear implants if fantasy becomes passe?
... 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."
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.
....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.
A.P news has a qoute fron Odin: "I'm pretty thor over all of this".
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.
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 : )