The people making the game and the lawyers who represent the company are totally separate. I'd be willing to bet that a majority of the Skyrim tream (and probably most of the employees there) would take the side of Mojang if they were willing to talk about it. Unfortunately the developers probably don't have much say in the way things are actually managed. If bethesda is built like a regular corporation, then the developers would be the equivalent of the people on the assembly line at McDonalds. They probably have no say in how things are run.
Hmm, this is making me think twice about releasing my game. Ah, what the heck. Hey everybody, I'm developing a game called "Skrim" that'll be available for purchase on November 11th of this year. You may already be familiar with my last title, "O'bolivian." It's kinda like that game.
[QUOTE="SilverSignal"]Very obviously wrong?! For Christs sake they only want the name of a game changed! They don't want Mojang killed.rragnaar
You just don't get it, do you? It doesn't matter WHAT they want, the thing is, they want something that isn't theirs to begin with. It's the principle of the matter.
Definitely. It is frivolous and harmful. Minecraft is a big enough hit that Mojang can afford to fight this case, but they aren't going to come out unscathed even if they win. The time Notch spends in court and the money he spends on lawyers could be spent making Minecraft better and could be spent towards the completion of Scrolls.
Which is exactly what Notch should be doing right now; something more positive than negative.
[QUOTE="rragnaar"] Definitely. It is frivolous and harmful. Minecraft is a big enough hit that Mojang can afford to fight this case, but they aren't going to come out unscathed even if they win. The time Notch spends in court and the money he spends on lawyers could be spent making Minecraft better and could be spent towards the completion of Scrolls. If Mojang has a lawyer who is worth a crap, they will ask the courts to force Zenimax to pay all of their legal fees, at least. Loser pays really should be the automatic law of the land with cases such as this by now, though.
We realized we should apply for the trademark "Minecraft" to protect our brand. When doing so, we also sent in an application for "Scrolls". When Bethesda contacted us, we offered both to change the name to "Scrolls: [some subtitle]" and to give up the trademark. They refused on both counts. Whatever reason they have for suing us, it's not a fear of us having a trademark on the word "Scrolls", as we've offered to give that up. Notch
It seems really weird that Bethesda have continued with the suit. It seems like Mojang is willing to work with them.
This is interesting. [QUOTE="Notch"] We realized we should apply for the trademark "Minecraft" to protect our brand. When doing so, we also sent in an application for "Scrolls". When Bethesda contacted us, we offered both to change the name to "Scrolls: [some subtitle]" and to give up the trademark. They refused on both counts. Whatever reason they have for suing us, it's not a fear of us having a trademark on the word "Scrolls", as we've offered to give that up. rragnaar
It seems really weird that Bethesda have continued with the suit. It seems like Mojang is willing to work with them.
Its a PR stunt from what ive gathered, and its worked quite well.
[QUOTE="Notch"] We realized we should apply for the trademark "Minecraft" to protect our brand. When doing so, we also sent in an application for "Scrolls". When Bethesda contacted us, we offered both to change the name to "Scrolls: [some subtitle]" and to give up the trademark. They refused on both counts. Whatever reason they have for suing us, it's not a fear of us having a trademark on the word "Scrolls", as we've offered to give that up. rragnaar
It seems really weird that Bethesda have continued with the suit. It seems like Mojang is willing to work with them.
At this point, I think their just trying to get a hold of some of those massive profits Mojang's made off Minecraft. I don't see any other reason for Bethesda to keep this up when Mojang is trying to find a good compromise.
It does seem quite silly of them, and I would much rather Bethesda spend their time and resources on making more games instead. lol
akiraxander
How about spend more time ironing out their releases? Which always seems to be riddled with bugs, glitches, and other issues. Hell, even RAGE, an id software developed game already has issues at launch. What's going on with these developers nowadays? Looking to release games just to meet deadlines and make consumes wait weeks for a patch until they could finally play it. I might sound like I'm ranting.. but isn't it true? And these games are $60 a pop at launch. I always see people saying, "I don't buy games at launch any more because of this reason" and I'm beginning to see why and I agree. Rage pre-order canceled several days ago. But I will buy it in the near future.
Don't get me wrong, I loved Fallout 3 and New Vegas. But they really need to not rush deadlines and iron out bugs.
Corporations do this a lot. Bethesda is not alone in this. Apple and Google buy up giant patent "bundles" so that they can sue each other and other companies. It's like corporative gang warfare. And, there is always that similar argument: How much better of a product could they release if they weren't so invested in lawsuits and patent bundles? Just the way it is, tho.
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