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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In the case of the Defuser CoH got more free publicity out of the fact that everyone watching learned he not only played City of Heroes but he went and won. |
Originally Posted by Power_Play
Nope...
Jarrett (aka The Defuser, from Who Wants to be a Superhero, also aka Detective2416 on these boards) made The Defuser on several of the servers. Basically, if you create a character ingame, NCSoft owns the ingame rights to the character. That's the only thing you need worry about. If you become famous as that character, they COULD (and probably would) produce promo material for CoH with your character's image and name on it and do things like have your character appear in the CoH comic. By creating the character ingame, you give them the rights to it, to use in any context having to do with City of Heroes. They really don't give a rat's patootie what else YOU do with it.  |
It would have been suicide for NCSoft to to kill the golden goose by getting their panties in a bunch over copyright/trademark issues. That kind of negative publicity could have seriously hurt the game.
I had a friend who repeatedly rolled toons named "Wonder Woo'man."
Got a guy down in the suggestion section that claims he doesn't understand why he can't use Queer in his character names.
Oy.
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Actually, those two statements I made were not meant to be connected. They addressed two separate issues. Whether or not NCSoft wanted Jarrett to do anything specific with his character is immaterial. If I created a character in CoH called Snufflebutt the Wonder Bunny, I could have Snufflebutt books, movies, toys, et cetera and NCSoft would have nothing to say about it. I, as the character's creator, would have the final say. What I could NOT do is tell NCSoft not to use the character for their own purposes. Since the character is in their game, they can use it to promote the game in any way they choose which is not harmful to the image or value of the character or to my use of the character.
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Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
In the case of the Defuser CoH got more free publicity out of the fact that everyone watching learned he not only played City of Heroes but he went and won.
It would have been suicide for NCSoft to to kill the golden goose by getting their panties in a bunch over copyright/trademark issues. That kind of negative publicity could have seriously hurt the game. |
Hey Cookie Monster, if "C" is for cookie, what is "N" for?
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Originally Posted by Power_Play
Actually, those two statements I made were not meant to be connected. They addressed two separate issues. Whether or not NCSoft wanted Jarrett to do anything specific with his character is immaterial. If I created a character in CoH called Snufflebutt the Wonder Bunny, I could have Snufflebutt books, movies, toys, et cetera and NCSoft would have nothing to say about it. I, as the character's creator, would have the final say. What I could NOT do is tell NCSoft not to use the character for their own purposes. Since the character is in their game, they can use it to promote the game in any way they choose which is not harmful to the image or value of the character or to my use of the character.
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I wasn't talking about whether or not NCSoft wanted to him to do anything at all with his character. I was saying that it would have been a negative publicity crapstorm if NCSoft tried to claim sole ownership of the IP. For NCSoft it was far more profitable just getting CoH advertised to the people that love super heroes than to get in a legal pissing match over who owns an IP they weren't going to use.
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Woo'man would be a good name for a dual pistol character. |
Originally Posted by VoodooGirl
I had a friend who repeatedly rolled toons named "Wonder Woo'man."
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Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
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Yep. There's a video where he mentions it while on a fantasy authors panel. I believe it's of Comic Con 2009 or 2010. Should be on Youtube.
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Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Doesn't Jim Butcher have a version of Harry Dresden in this game?
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@True Metal
Co-leader of Callous Crew SG. Based on Union server.
I didn't realize people still got Generic'd.
I see people violating trademarks all the time in Incarnate trials. Of course that means little - you can create a character and have him in an incarnate trial within two hours.
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This list...|
Originally Posted by Roderick
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.
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. |
Edited to add, I use this list (or previous versions of it) to find out if a name I cannot choose (for whatever reason) is banned, because several times now I have tried names that have been flagged by the character creator as unavailable (rather than already taken) that I have not been able to find any conflicts to (one doesn't appear on that list either).
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That's handy. I see my one indiscretion is still on there. <.<
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Originally Posted by Lost Ninja
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'I don't like the look of it at all,' said the King: 'however, it may kiss my hand if it likes.'
'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.
Looked up and found the information on Jim Butcher playing Dresden in game. In the second link he actually says that he frequently gets genericed and has to petition to get his name restored, but he seems to take it in stride. That's probably partly because he's pretty adamant that no one else be allowed to use the character in game.
http://www.sfsite.com/08b/jb182.htm?vm=r
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/10/qmo...l-at-nycc?vm=r
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It's impossible for the GM's to police all the possible names. So all they have to do is show that when these things are brought to their attention thay act on them. That covers NCSofts legal butt.
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Originally Posted by Giant2005
I didn't realize people still got Generic'd.
I see people violating trademarks all the time in Incarnate trials. Of course that means little - you can create a character and have him in an incarnate trial within two hours. |
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Originally Posted by catwhowalksbyhimself
Looked up and found the information on Jim Butcher playing Dresden in game. In the second link he actually says that he frequently gets genericed and has to petition to get his name restored, but he seems to take it in stride. That's probably partly because he's pretty adamant that no one else be allowed to use the character in game.
http://www.sfsite.com/08b/jb182.htm?vm=r http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/10/qmo...l-at-nycc?vm=r |
Well it's probably easier to take it in stride because he knows it's his own fans who are trying to protect his copyright.
As far as I know, he is the only person who actually owned the trademarked character who managed to keep it.
Jarrett (aka The Defuser, from Who Wants to be a Superhero, also aka Detective2416 on these boards) made The Defuser on several of the servers.
Basically, if you create a character ingame, NCSoft owns the ingame rights to the character. That's the only thing you need worry about. If you become famous as that character, they COULD (and probably would) produce promo material for CoH with your character's image and name on it and do things like have your character appear in the CoH comic. By creating the character ingame, you give them the rights to it, to use in any context having to do with City of Heroes. They really don't give a rat's patootie what else YOU do with it.
Hey Cookie Monster, if "C" is for cookie, what is "N" for?
Golden Age & Early Silver Age Heroes (RPers) Wanted!
Batman PWND by The Insidious Termite!
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