I was told to talk to Bliz about my character being generic'd, who is that?
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2011-09-05 20:43 in Player Questions
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Originally Posted by MaestroMavius
/This.
I had a global friend that used to roll a Tank named The Incredible Bulk and was a straight up ripoff of The Hulk, complete with green skin and purple pants. He rolled it to see if he could reach 50 before being Gen'd. 3 years later, He still has Bulk, same default costume. Now a level 50+ I see him on Bulk in Cim gathering for an ITF one night a few months back and fly over to say hey. Right as I land... BAM... He's gen'd and now standing there in plain clothes with a bunch of numbers over his head. What he'd rolled as a throwaway joke must have grown on him over the years, as he seemed actually upset over it. The group that was forming for the ITF were laughing at having witnessed a Generic happen. I was sending him /Tells reminding him of why he created the violation to begin with when one of the ITF crew chimes in local with a snort. Something along the lines of: "Yes!!bbq!! It worked, I pwned you fool, was quick too I just reported you a few minutes ago!!!!" He said nothing as the timer above his head appeared and began counting down. Then the 'former' Incredible Bulk was seen no more. |
Thats kinda sad.
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Oh I know, but I think there's a valuable lesson to be learned, which is if someone is going to publicly indulge in certain types of distasteful behavior then they better be sure they aren't guilty of anything that can be petitioned. Cuz people love seeing jerks get their comeuppance.
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Originally Posted by Ironblade
Sadly, that's how a lot of people just are. They do something stupid/offensive/wrong/whatever and when there are consequences, THEY'RE the victim. THEY'RE being persecuted.
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Reminds me of this one guy on Justice years ago. Had a toon "H Potter" and was a dead on costume of Harry Potter.|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Oh I know, but I think there's a valuable lesson to be learned, which is if someone is going to publicly indulge in certain types of distasteful behavior then they better be sure they aren't guilty of anything that can be petitioned. Cuz people love seeing jerks get their comeuppance.
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This was, this guy was a vulgar jerk to any and everyone who told him he was breaking the rules.
'You know copy toons are against the rules.'
"YOU ****! **** you you **** faced ******* *******! I have every RIGHT to be this ******* character and if you don't believe me I'll ******* break you down in the arena! Bring it you piece of ****!"
Somehow I doubted that JK Rowling plays our game or has that kind of attitude.
I petitioned him every time I saw him for like 6 months straight. Never got Generic'd, or if he did he renamed/rerolled or something every time. Hadn't bothered to look him up in a long time and don't plan to do so.
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Ummm, no.|
Originally Posted by Daemodand
People like to pretend they are protecting the game from a lawsuit by getting people genericed, but the above is the actual truth of the matter. It's a form of PvP, people destroying a character just because they can.
The lawsuit was settled a long time ago, there is no threat at all of a new lawsuit, and there is no need whatsoever for any player to report TM violations. Absolutely none. Except the above mentioned PvP. |
It is extremely likely that self-policing any trademark violations that crop up in the future was one of the terms of the lawsuit being dropped. Marvel can revive that lawsuit, or start a new one anytime they like. Why? Because every single case of trademark infringement in the game is grounds for a new lawsuit if they are so inclined to do it. It was probably an agreement reached by both companies that Marvel will leave NCSoft alone provided NCSoft handle the situation themselves by self-policing any trademark infringements that occur. Furthermore, it is entirely possible that any NEW trademark infringements would be considered a breach of an agreement that was reached to settle the lawsuit, which would have been drawn up legally and signed. If Marvel can prove that trademark infringement is still occurring AFTER the agreement was reached to settle the suit, they will be in a MUCH stronger legal position.
Guess how the game is self-policed? That's right, since the GMs CANNOT be everywhere at once, they have to rely on players to bring infringing characters to their attention, at which point the GMs will decide if the character in question is indeed in violation. The players cannot get someone generic'd just because we want to report them, the GMs have to decide if it is warranted first.
I don't have an issue with someone reporting a trademark violation. I've reported a few myself if they were particularly blatant. I DO have a problem with it when the person doing the reporting rubs it in the violator's face after doing so.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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The truth is in de middle, some do it to 'respect' copyright protected names, others indeed do this to just 'annoy' the person. |
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Ummm, no.
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A 'superlady' with lookalikes from Superwoman, i really dont mind. If this person however is freaking annoying, i'll report him without doubt.
Its mostly the reason why they report it, that makes the difference.
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Didn't mean to derail the thread with my anecdote.
Did we ever find out who Bliz is? Or are we going with they slipped and thought it was Blizzard's game?
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Unfortunately this is true.|
Originally Posted by Daemodand
People like to pretend they are protecting the game from a lawsuit by getting people genericed, but the above is the actual truth of the matter. It's a form of PvP, people destroying a character just because they can.
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Originally Posted by Daemodand
The lawsuit was settled a long time ago, there is no threat at all of a new lawsuit, and there is no need whatsoever for any player to report TM violations. Absolutely none. Except the above mentioned PvP.
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If someone reports a character for violation I believe a GM takes a look before you get generic'd. However if you make a reasonable case you can get you character reinstated. I know of two cases, one called Ms Albion (who got reinstated) and one that had "Angel" in part of his name (but was nothing like the Marvel character in appearance or origin) that did not. The difference between the two cases (as far as I can see) was that one of the players was a lawyer
Good luck.
PS: I suspect that if you tried hard enough you could find a similar published character to almost any character!
This is a song about a super hero named Tony. Its called Tony's theme.
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This actually came up while rolling an Earth/Thorns Dominator. I had dressed him up with an awesome "killer scarecrow" look. When it came to naming him, I hit a snag: the words "scarecrow," "hobgoblin," and other synonyms were all names of very well known copyrighted characters.
Because I knew some jackass would make that connection without a second thought, I had to think of things I'd never thunk before. And then sit...and think some more.
I would not be just a nothin'
My head all full o' stuffin'
My heart all full of pain...
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This is something people want to be true, but it's not.|
Originally Posted by Daemodand
The lawsuit was settled a long time ago, there is no threat at all of a new lawsuit, and there is no need whatsoever for any player to report TM violations. Absolutely none. Except the above mentioned PvP.
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Originally Posted by Daemodand
It's a form of PvP, people destroying a character just because they can.
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It just happens that it's someone else's character that gets protected, not that of the COH/V player who "appropriated" it for use in-game.
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QFT|
Originally Posted by SinergyX_EU
The truth is in de middle, some do it to 'respect' copyright protected names, others indeed do this to just 'annoy' the person.
A 'superlady' with lookalikes from Superwoman, i really dont mind. If this person however is freaking annoying, i'll report him without doubt. Its mostly the reason why they report it, that makes the difference. |
And I'm the same way. I rarely pay any attention to other players characters until someone makes a PITA of him or herself and disrupts my funtime. That's when I quietly send a petition.
I had one generic'd and I think it was a really weak reason.
She was a plant/earth Dominator called "Dirty Hoe"... the excuse was they didn't want to condone prostitution. I had to laugh considering I've been in missions where I "killed" someone, kidnapped someone, robbed a bank, and a few other nefarious deeds. There is a jewelry shop called "family jewels" as well.
Needless to say I didn't win my appeal
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Unless you happen to be an Evil Overlord-in-Training. Then, I think it's required to monologue on the subject for at least 10 minutes.|
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
If you're going to report someone for something, just do it and keep it to yourself. There is no reason whatsoever to report someone and then brag about how it was YOU who did it.
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Some inner voice told me to copy/paste that reply before hitting send. Good thing I did.
Stupid forum auto-log-out.
There I was between a rock and a hard place. Then I thought, "What am I doing on this side of the rock?"
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If your costume gets genericed, it can be recreated (with about 5 clicks, if you had it saved). If your name gets genericed, it goes on a "banned list" and new characters cannot be created with that name. Existing characters with that name are unaffected (unless they are /petitioned as well). I doubt you could select a name off the Banned List with a purchased rename either.|
Originally Posted by KianaZero
I petitioned him every time I saw him for like 6 months straight. Never got Generic'd, or if he did he renamed/rerolled or something every time. Hadn't bothered to look him up in a long time and don't plan to do so.
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So he was one of the lucky ones where the GM who took the call was unfamiliar with the IP in question, as hard as that is to believe in this case.
@Roderick
For those curious about "the rest of the story", the OP posted most of it over on the Virtue Name Watch thread.
Short answers:
Generic'd Name: Phantasm
New Name: Sight Effect
Old Name: Available again so that someone else can also get generic'd later, though Animorph claimed it with a level 1.
Who is Bliz? We may never know.
my lil RWZ Challenge vid
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That link doesn't work for me because I have the board set to show more posts/page than you do. But I'd say that this link should take you to the starting post over there.
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Originally Posted by Organica
For those curious about "the rest of the story", the OP posted most of it over on the Virtue Name Watch thread.
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As for my opinion on the matter of reporting violations, whether in-game rules or in real life, my opinion is generally that anyone who can be reported deserves to be, and that if they broke the rules, they broke the rules.
Though in practice, while I won't have any sympathy for those who knowingly broke the rules and are upset that someone called them on it, I'm usually too busy playing the game to report every trademark violation I see myself. I tend to be a bit quicker with reporting more actively malicious stuff like trolling a public channel like Help or griefing.
While I don't have any actual characters that would be vulnerable to generic-ing, I have played around with the costume editor to see how close I can come to replicating some of my favorites from other IP's. And for a while, one of Spectreblade's alternate costumes was InuYasha. I created it to attend an anime-themed costume contest/Halloween party held in Pocket D on Virtue. I even got to fight an arena duel with The Cape Radio (I think it was the Cape, but I don't recall exactly) playing the first season opening song! My opponent came to the party dressed as Mega Man (okay, so it wasn't just anime). After losing the match, I quipped, "You got Wind Scar!"
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Doesn't sound weak to me. Sounds like a simple case of a player trying to push the boundaries of what is and isn't offensive to see if he or she could get away with it, and you didn't.|
Originally Posted by nytflyr
I had one generic'd and I think it was a really weak reason.
She was a plant/earth Dominator called "Dirty Hoe"... the excuse was they didn't want to condone prostitution. I had to laugh considering I've been in missions where I "killed" someone, kidnapped someone, robbed a bank, and a few other nefarious deeds. There is a jewelry shop called "family jewels" as well. Needless to say I didn't win my appeal |
And the game content has nothing to do with your choice in character names. You knew that name would draw attention and get reactions.
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Even if you own the IP rights yourself, and can prove it, it's still rather "iffy" on getting the name change reversed if it is clearly a name from another source. As soon as you create a character in City of Heroes, it is NC Soft, and NOT the player who owns the character, and any rights associated with the character.
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Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
In the former you'll probably have to be able to prove you had the name first or that you have permission from the IP owner to use it. I never heard of anyone getting an offensive name back.
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- Garielle
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Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme
I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".
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You forgot the second half of that last sentence, which goes: ".... as it has to do with the game world of City of Heroes."|
Originally Posted by Garielle
Even if you own the IP rights yourself, and can prove it, it's still rather "iffy" on getting the name change reversed if it is clearly a name from another source. As soon as you create a character in City of Heroes, it is NC Soft, and NOT the player who owns the character, and any rights associated with the character.
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You don't give up the character in its entirety. Only in how that character exists within the game world. Example: If your character is from a book that has nothing to do with the game, then that book character is perfectly safe from NCsoft's ownership of the City of Heroes version.
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Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
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Originally Posted by Garielle
Even if you own the IP rights yourself, and can prove it, it's still rather "iffy" on getting the name change reversed if it is clearly a name from another source. As soon as you create a character in City of Heroes, it is NC Soft, and NOT the player who owns the character, and any rights associated with the character.
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Originally Posted by Aggelakis
You forgot the second half of that last sentence, which goes: ".... as it has to do with the game world of City of Heroes."
You don't give up the character in its entirety. Only in how that character exists within the game world. Example: If your character is from a book that has nothing to do with the game, then that book character is perfectly safe from NCsoft's ownership of the City of Heroes version. |
The Members List here shows 39 names containing "bliz", but none were an obvious answer. As has been said, though, you should get an email, and that gives you the opportunity to submit three new name choices for them to consider. You shouldn't have to rename the character yourself.
Maybe there's a GM_Bliz with whom your friend interacted before on a genericization case. <.<
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'I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked.
'Don't be impertinent,' said the King, 'and don't look at me like that!' He got behind Alice as he spoke.
'A cat may look at a king,' said Alice.
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Here's something relating to that I've always been curious about.|
Originally Posted by Aggelakis
You forgot the second half of that last sentence, which goes: ".... as it has to do with the game world of City of Heroes."
You don't give up the character in its entirety. Only in how that character exists within the game world. Example: If your character is from a book that has nothing to do with the game, then that book character is perfectly safe from NCsoft's ownership of the City of Heroes version. |
You wake up in the morning with the exact duplicate of your favorite power combo in game, only now you can do it in the real world.
Let's say for expedited purposes that you also very quickly decide to be a superhero and after a quick flight or teleport out to Hollywood to get some designer to whip up your favorite crime fighting apparel, you hit the streets to fight the good fight.
Someone asks you what they should call you.
If you choose to use the same name you've had ingame for years, as your real life super persona, other than the obvious problem of the Dev's being able to figure out your secret identity, would they have any legal claim to you and or the name/look you use?
Yes, my mind works like this sometimes, comes with being an overthinker.
Legal yet stupidly risky?
Can they take you to court and win 'custody' of you, then be able to order you to appear at functions and what not or face court sanctions?
(I've been on a law and order binge tonight...)
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Keep Calm & Chive On!
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No, they cant. Although they 'own' your character (the bits and bytes), they do not own the IP of your name. If i give my character my real name, they dont suddenly own the 'right' to force me dress my future child (if he would take the same name as me) as he is dressed now ingame.|
Originally Posted by MaestroMavius
Yes, my mind works like this sometimes, comes with being an overthinker.
Legal yet stupidly risky? Can they take you to court and win 'custody' of you, then be able to order you to appear at functions and what not or face court sanctions? (I've been on a law and order binge tonight...) |
You kind can compare this to the 'worldchampions' of gaming, they initialy are ingame known by their name, but eventualy they are worldwide known by such name (Fatality for example, now a Creative brand). Though none of the games/developers of where they were known by that name, have any right to tell him what to do.
Yet it can go the other way, as seen today in England. Few members of Luzsec are not allowed to ever use their nickname on the internet again as decided by the judge.
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
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Yep. |
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Doesn't Jim Butcher have a version of Harry Dresden in this game?
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As far as I know, he is the only person who actually owned the trademarked character who managed to keep it.
It was kind of an ironic story actually. Someone familiar with the character saw him in game and petitioned him in an attempt to protect his character, not realizing that the person he was petitioning was in fact the author himself.
The petitioner meant well, but it caused a huge headache.
Edit: As far as the thread title goes: They were probably told that by someone who was under the impression that all MMOs are owned by Blizzard.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
The lawsuit was settled a long time ago, there is no threat at all of a new lawsuit, and there is no need whatsoever for any player to report TM violations. Absolutely none. Except the above mentioned PvP.
If you say there's no reason for it, but a redname said it helps the game, guess who I will believe.
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