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2) Character name & history - technically the character names/history that you create for CoH/CoV are owned by Cryptic/NCsoft. You can use them in fanfiction, etc., but you cannot profit from them.
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I'm not going to say if this is right or wrong -- but if you can avoid all potential legal entanglements, why wouldn't you?
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Why not just plain NOT lay claim to names and histories not containing actual COH/COV history or content, and costumes not obviously derived from the COX engine, and powers not exclusive to COX (I'm not sure I can think of any in COX I haven't seen elsewhere...), even if they exist, or have existed, in the COX game system? What reasonable motivation do you (collectively) have to claim these player creations?
If you claim ownership over my characters and concepts, don't you also assert you have the right to profit off of them in the future? Are you not maintaining you have the right to, without any consent from me, replicate *my* character, *my* concepts, and *my* history, and use them for your own profit.
This just smells wrong to me. I've never liked being told "Oh, well we could, but we won't." Lay claim to your own content and keep your hands off mine, is that too much to ask?
I bet that as a license/user agreement reader (or even skimmer) I am probably in the *minority*. I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't notice the larger section below which says that I give you everything I ever do when I log in. Probably because I assumed "content and conduct" to refer to "(not wanting) adult content" and "poor conduct", and not applicable. I'm sure most people don't even realise they are signing over all rights to everything they do while logged in.
What concerns me is that if some one (I'm not THAT invested in my characters, Lazuli's background is something like "mumblemumble nanites mumblemumble") does decide to carry on a concept - be it germinated in your game or not - into an innovative new work of art, some lawyer or money-grubber higher up may demand royalties from the person who is ultimately the creator (and, legally or not, in my mind the real owner of the beyond-COX content) for a concept that may no longer truly be "likely to bring to mind the Game Content"
I'm sure there are many other gamers and writers who like to port their creations. Many of my friends and I have attempted to bring previously existing characters, their names and histories, over from roleplaying games. From White Wolf's Changeling: The Dreaming, the DC Heroes RPG, and some strategy games, for example.
You're telling me I shouldn't have done this, that we should delete these characters (none of mine worked actually, your power systems didn't jive with their concepts). Can you see how this is annoying? Can you see how I ultimately don't care about overprotective lawyering?
What I encourage is that you (collectively) not just write an iron clad claim of death over all in-game events for fear that somewhere down the road some megacomic might make money because some one used too many of your concepts (aren't they already protected?) and actually have an agreement that acknowledges player creativity comes from the creator, as much or more than COX, despite the concept's beginning in your world.
Chances are, this won't happen. Law and money are too powerful... but hey, that's my take.
Lazuli.
(edited for a very odd typo and a few little words here and there...)
