Why the Skyrim boycott is a waste of time and missing enjoyment.

[Korahn 27]

Not much of a concern to me. I enjoy Bethesda's games, have no desire to play "Scrolls" and can't stand Minecraft.

There are many similar titled games, movies, even songs and products out there. Unless the word "scrolls" is trademarked, I honestly don't think Bethesda has a case on this. then again, if Notch's game is similar to the elder Scrolls game and is using the name "scrolls" to be like an Asylum brand rip-off, then sure, why not.

It's the whole posting the letter on twitter and laughing about it thing that makes me feel Notch needs to mature a little and say, "Ok, they don't like it. MY game isn't out yet. I could change the title, or change the 's' to a 'z' and then there we go"

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Eh, just let them boycott. It's not gonna do much, plus they aren't really hurting anyone.

Look at the L4D2 boycott as an example, nearly every Steam user on the site was boycotting it but right now, it's the fourth most played game on people's Steam accounts [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/top_games], after Team Fortress 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Dead Island.

Just let them boycott it, or try and convince them to buy Saints Row 3 with their money.

This. Sometimes people just want to make a point, even if it is just to themselves. They aren't hurting anyone.

 

[funguy2121]

If you inhabit the internet you know about Zenimax suing Mojang over the word "Scrolls"

And you've most likely heard how everyone Notch fanboy from here to the moon is going to boycott Skyrim because Bethesda is beating on the little man!

Ok, for one, Notch isn't little, stop defending him.

Second, Zenimax has all the right to sue Notch over this if they want to.

Third, No, Zenimax isn't the only one to blame, they sent him a cease and desist letter, his reaction? Post it on twitter and laugh about it.

Fourth, a article went up recently (This one: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.316261-Mojang-Offered-Up-Scrolls-Trademark-Bethsoft-Said-No)
and more butt hurt and flames were sputtered by Notch fanboys. Apparently Notch said that he was willing to change "Scrolls" to 'Scrolls: [some subtitle]' and now he's confused as to why he's getting sued still.

BECAUSE IT DOESN'T GET RID OF THE SCROLLS PART.

That's what Zenimax is peeved about, the Scrolls part, so adding a subtitle doesn't solve their problem.

Now is Zenimax guilt free? Of course not, they're being stupid about the lawsuit to, but Notch is being just as equally (if not more so by bringing the public into it) about the whole thing.

My overall point? Boycotting an awesome looking game because your overlord says hes completely innocent is just being stupid, please for the love of god use your brain.

Awesome-looking. Yawn. It's like a pretty World of Warcraft. Skyrim still doesn't hold much appeal to me.

 

[ExileNZ]

Boycotting a game is pointless

At some point you will give in and buy the game.

Bethesda aren't bad people, their legal team are just being assholes who won't do the Quake 3 match.

Actually, boycotting is the one, single useful thing we as buyers can do. You can fire everyone, from the CEO down, by simply not buying what they're selling. The point is that it shouldn't be done over nothing and it shouldn't be threatened and not used (for once, Jim and I agree on something).

Bethesda are, let's be honest, being dicks about this. If you're going to crack and get it, either wait until it's dirt cheap or, if you're really desperate, pirate the damned thing.

Or better yet, buy it second hand, since publishers have been complaining that it amounts to the same thing (BS but that's for another thread).

 

[chstens]

Uh... There's a Skyrim Boycott? I thought there was just two guys, I would hardly call two guys a boycott.

 

[MacGuges]

I'm going to respond to one point of fact in particular:

Fourth, a article went up recently (This one: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.316261-Mojang-Offered-Up-Scrolls-Trademark-Bethsoft-Said-No)
and more butt hurt and flames were sputtered by Notch fanboys. Apparently Notch said that he was willing to change "Scrolls" to 'Scrolls: [some subtitle]' and now he's confused as to why he's getting sued still.

BECAUSE IT DOESN'T GET RID OF THE SCROLLS PART.

That's what Zenimax is peeved about, the Scrolls part, so adding a subtitle doesn't solve their problem.

This is not true, based on our source for what Notch said [http://notch.tumblr.com/post/10990169550/a-short-response]:

When Bethesda contacted us, we offered both to change the name to "Scrolls: " 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.

In case the point is not perfectly clear, Mojang offered to either change the name to "Scrolls: " or to give up the trademark.

My advice? Check all your facts before creating vitriolic forum threads.

 

[Zeh Don]

I have a question, why the fuck is this? I hear this constantly and it's the dumbest shit I've ever heard. The patent owner should be able to let anyone they want slide for infringements of THEIR intellectual property. Why is it not a patent owner's right to let crimes that supposedly are against them slide?

What patent are we talking about? What technology was apparently patented? We're discussing copyright.
Unlike patent filing, copyright is free; any picture, story or artistic work you complete is protected by copyright law automatically. This encompassing protection has its draw backs; if you don't protect what's yours, you forfeit the right to claim it as your own.
If Zenimax wave their hand and decide not to pursue this case, they forfeit their claim to not only this case, but any case involving the word 'Scrolls' in the future - this can and will have drastic repercussions from unscrupulous companies who make those annoying Banner games like "World of LordCraft".
They could licence their copyrighted material to Notch, however Notch would then be forced to not only pay for it, but admit that he was intending to invoke a connection to the copyrighted series 'The Elder Scrolls'.
Being as Notch goes out of his way to make himself seem like a small indie guy kicking stones in the alleys, as opposed to the multi-millionaire game developer currently inking deals with Microsoft and other giants, he won't. Instead, he offers 'creative' solutions like his 'Quake 3' solution, knowing this will further endear the internet collective and get a few extra sales for his games while gambling nothing, because Zenimax are legally incapable of accepting his offer.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and just Scrolls are as similar as the name would be to a game just called "The".

You're showing your cards here. 'The Elder Scrolls' is a three word copyrighed term referring a series of specific video games of the RPG Genre. Notch is making an RPG called 'Scrolls'. If his game were a Cell Shaded FPS, the case would have no merit. Context: it's everything.

No ones the bad guy here, though - like I said - Notch is milking this shit for all it's worth. Anyone who honestly believes Zenimax are Activision Blizzard is an uneducated oblivious hipster.
I hear EA is making another game - you better run along and get that boycott bandwagon rolling. Who cares what it's about - the world must know of your outrage!
*rolls eyes*

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

Looks like some people missed Jim's episode about boycotting.

 

[shannon.archer]

Boycotting a game is pointless

At some point you will give in and buy the game.

Not really, I'm boycotting all EA games that require Origin because of the ToS. Shame too, I really wanted to get Battlefield, but alas the alternative isnt much of a downgrade .

OP is right though, people kindof missed the facts with fanboyism. I would even find "Scrolls: [Subtitle]" even more confusing as all elder scroll games are "Elder scrolls [number]: [title of game]". I also get where Bethesda is coming from to an extent. Both are fantasy based in a similar era and considering they are more afraid of someone buying the wrong box not wrong game. I.e. they arent going to get to play the card game to realise its not the 3d exploration-based game they thought it was till after purchase.

Then again, I'm yet to find someone refer to an Elder scrolls game as "Elder Scrolls" and not just the main title. e.g. Daggerfell, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim etc.

 

[Shifty Tortoise]

Mojang offered to get rid of the Scrolls trademark entirely, Zenimax didn't accept, now here we are... Why does nobody get that shit?

 

[Treblaine]

If you inhabit the internet you know about Zenimax suing Mojang over the word "Scrolls"

And you've most likely heard how everyone Notch fanboy from here to the moon is going to boycott Skyrim because Bethesda is beating on the little man!

Ok, for one, Notch isn't little, stop defending him.

Second, Zenimax has all the right to sue Notch over this if they want to.

Third, No, Zenimax isn't the only one to blame, they sent him a cease and desist letter, his reaction? Post it on twitter and laugh about it.

Fourth, a article went up recently (This one: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.316261-Mojang-Offered-Up-Scrolls-Trademark-Bethsoft-Said-No)
and more butt hurt and flames were sputtered by Notch fanboys. Apparently Notch said that he was willing to change "Scrolls" to 'Scrolls: [some subtitle]' and now he's confused as to why he's getting sued still.

BECAUSE IT DOESN'T GET RID OF THE SCROLLS PART.

That's what Zenimax is peeved about, the Scrolls part, so adding a subtitle doesn't solve their problem.

Now is Zenimax guilt free? Of course not, they're being stupid about the lawsuit to, but Notch is being just as equally (if not more so by bringing the public into it) about the whole thing.

My overall point? Boycotting an awesome looking game because your overlord says hes completely innocent is just being stupid, please for the love of god use your brain.

"Metal GEAR Solid" vs "GEARS of War" vs "Guilty GEAR"

"God OF WAR" vs "Gears OF WAR" vs "men OF WAR"

"EDGE" vs " Tim Langdell of EDGE Games"

"DEAD rising" vs "DEAD island" vs "Dawn of the DEAD" vs "DEAD or alive" vs "Left 4 DEAD"

"Team FORTRESS 2" vs "Dwarf FORTRESS"

"Hitman: Silent ASSASSIN" vs "ASSASSIN's Creed"

Notch is not ripping of Elder Scrolls, he is using a word in the English language that happens to have been used AS PART of another trademarked name. Something zenimax ALREADY DOES ITSELF:

-RAGE vs Streets of RAGE
-TES4: OBLIVION vs Living in OBLIVION (1995 film)
-Dark MESSIAH of Might and Magic vs MESSIAH (PC game, year 2000)

No one has EVER refereed to Elder Scrolls as simply "scrolls", nor has anyone to do with the game ever marketed it as such, there is no ambiguity here.

But most damning, Zenimax holds a trademark for the name "THE ELDER SCROLLS" not individually the word "Scrolls".

There is NO CONFUSION HERE! This is like confusing Gears of War and Metal Gear Solid!!

I don't care about boycotts or how big or small whoever is. The important thing here is that Zenimax's claim does NOT cover "scrolls". It is NOT a mark against Notch for him to laugh at this, as the claim is laughable. Kojima has the same rights to sue Epic Games for using the word "Gears" in one of their games.

This is a matter of right and wrong. And Zenimax are clearly not in the right here.

The only time size comes into this is quite how mind bogglingly expensive legal defences cost, you need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend yourself from the easiest to disprove allegations. My perturbation is that Notch has to go to the effort of disproving this rather than them actually proving anything. Guilty until proven innocent I guess.

 

[natster43]

I am not even boycotting it an I am not buying it. I hated Morrowind and didn't play Olivion. I might check it out sometime later in the year since I love the fallout games. Also why the hell boycott a probably good? Isn't buying used supposed to be the worst thing ever for the industry? Just do that.

 

[Zeh Don]

Mojang offered to get rid of the Scrolls trademark entirely, Zenimax didn't accept, now here we are... Why does nobody get that shit?

Sweet, now if Mojang can travel back in time and remove the laws that give corporate entities the same rights as individuals with regards to copyright, and alter the face of copyright law entirely to ensure that forced protection isn't an issue, we can do away with all of these legal mumbo jumbo.

"Man, Micecraft was awesome, so Mojang must be awesome. Bethesda/Zenimax are suing Mojang, so they must not be awesome! Boycott all of Bethesda/Zenimax's games!"

If you don't understand what's actually happening here, refrain from posting. Mojang could call their game "Scrolls: Not the Elder Kind" and it still wouldn't fly. If you don't understand why, look it up.
Unless 'Scrolls' was actually a parody of the Elder Scrolls - parodies are protected under most countries Freedom of Speech and generally exempt from copyright cases such as this - Bethesda/Zenimax don't have any options if they seek to retain copyright against other games. If they said 'yes' to 'Scrolls' they'd be forced to say yes to 'The Old Scrolls', 'The Eldest Scrolls', 'The Scrolls of Elder', etc., all of whom might try and fool uneducated customers into thinking they were purchasing 'The Elder Scrolls'.

 

[Treblaine]

OP: this boycotting tangent is a STRAW MAN ARGUMENT

just because people are feckless and use the threat of boycott as an empty threat

THAT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN THEY DO NOT HAVE A POINT!!!

Zenimax are most DEFINITELY in the wrong in this situation and whatever a bunch of (failed) boycotters do or do not does it does not change the fact that they are blatantly abusing the trademark system. That should be self evident.

 

[CrazyJew]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/3857-BOYCOTT

According to Jim, this boycott is justified. Let i be known, I do not mean boycotting JUST Skyrim. Boycott babies are just taking the first scapegoat they can find. I say a proper boycott must be done. ANYTHING by Bethesda should be boycotted until they reach a non-court forced compromise with Mojang.



Also: All the "honest" PC gamers among us won't buy the game anyways, amirite?

 

[Vibhor]

Bethesda aren't bad people, their legal team are just being assholes who won't do the Quake 3 match.

Their legal team never played Quake 3, they'd be at a disadvantage. See, I'm always looking out for the litte guy. Don't blame me for my pure brilliance and handsome good looks, God gave me those gifts and many more.

Uh no, Zenimax also owns iD, the guys who made quake 3 in the first place. Anyone who is at a disadvantage is Mojang as the match was never between legal teams.

I personally think that zenimax are a bunch of pussies. Seriously, this is a moment of making history. First time a legal matter would be solved by a game of quake. This is a small step in a great road. If this goes right then soon we would have real wars being fought on RTS games.