Blizzard: Valve Shouldn't Trademark DotA
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
QFT. I mean, come one. Let's face it people. The only reason Blizzard is speaking up about this is because they feel that they should own DotA (and are angry Valve beat them to the punch in trademarking) or because they're afraid they might not get to name their upcoming StarCraft 2 gamemode DotA. It's that simple. They don't really give two shits about the "sanctity" of the property. If Valve hadn't made the move to copyright the name, I can guarantee Blizzard would have.Dioxide20 said:
As much as I love Blizzard, this is just shameless. Besides, I'd wager a hefty amount of cash on Blizzard trying, should they get Valve to forgo trademarking, to trademark the name themselves.
Because they're afraid it'll somehow draw "millions and millions" of players away from their precious babies StarCraft 2 and WarCraft 3.w-Jinksy said:
Based on your other posts, you're either a fervent Blizzard fan or just a trolling ass. You can't call people fanboys when all you do is insult and hate on people that don't love Blizzard.JerrytheBullfrog said:
Furthermore, DotA wasn't made by the "Blizzard Community". It was played by and slightly modded by a part of the community. The game/mod itself was made by a small handful of people, one of whom (that being IceFrog, who was basically handed the franchise by the other two creators after they left to pursue other projects) now works at Valve. Frankly, it's within Valve's right to trademark the name. The only reason people like you are bitching is because you somehow think you'll have to buy the game and won't be able to mod it. Clearly, you've not really read up on the topic. The game is likely going to be free, just as Alien Swarm was. It will allow (and provide support for) any and all modders within the community. Just as they've done with Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead. And, just like all of Valve's games, it will receive frequent, free updates and content. Blizzard does the same, mostly, but unlike Valve, they usually charge for any large content update. (I point you to World of Warcraft, specifically) Now that's disgusting.
This all comes down to a community assuming it owns a game. It'd be like if the Team Fortress 2 community decided Valve has no right to own the brand or do anything with it because it's "theirs". The community plays it, so clearly it must belong to the community! Self-entitled whiners ruin everything, I swear. This whole fiasco is as bad as the whole Left 4 Dead 2 boycott. (if not worse, since it's not just a whiny bunch of kids but an high-profile company doing the whining)
Blizzard just announced four new game variations for SC2 all being given away for free.ImprovizoR said:
Except it was made from Blizzard IP.GiantRedButton said:
I reckon it should be left to the community. Valve and Icefrog can go ahead and make a clone/version 2 of it, but the DOTA should be the communities. Even if Icefrog was the biggest contributor to it, he wasn't the only one. The rest have their say too.
Im pretty sure those arent three different genres. Blizzard stick to the same formula. Im hoping when valve get DoTa they can mix it up a bit and improve on the experience the mod team originally made. Blizzard doesnt really have any force in the matter. Yes their mod tools helped created the original mod, but thats where it stopped.JerrytheBullfrog said:
Anyway, im not a fanboy for any of the companys, im just calling it how I see it.
I think someone should ask West and Zampella how they feel about somebody taking something that is more or less an ActiBlizzard property and screwing them out of it through legal shenanigans. I wager once they were done basking in the sweet sweet irony of it all they wouldn't come out on the side of ActiBlizzard
You're missing the point... the trademark will not only allow Valve to secure their game, but it will allow them to stop future mods.Vigormortis said:
I don't care if Valve make a DotA and I'm pretty sure most of the people on Blizzards side don't.
We care about the trademark. If they trademark it then suddenly there is a whole bunch of rules on DotA mods.
People want it to be a free name so that anyone can make a mod. Blizzard don't want to own it, and they could have bought it over the last few years.
Why din't they?
So to keep the name free.
Now Valve are strolling over, with one guy from the original development team, and they're trying to take creative control of DotA. The other two developers both went to work on other DotA projects, they didn't abandon it.
Remember, it's the trademark we're pissed off about, not the game.
They had like 3 years to pick up a copyright to DotA.Yosharian said:
Really... why do you think they didn't?
Cause it should be damn obvious. They wanted DotA to be a free title for anyone who wanted to use the same idea.
If one person owns the trademark to DotA then suddenly it's no longer a free name and modders have to adhere to rules if they want to make a DotA mod.
I reckon Valve should be able to trademark "DOTA2", just like they trademarked "Team Fortress 2", but anyone can make a game called "DOTA" or "Team Fortress" still. Just the specific usage of it to refer to Valve's version.
They said no one should get the copyright. Their princples is that DotA is fan made map, and it is community not IceFrog or Valve. Valve have nothing to do with DotA, and they don't have the copyright for it yet. Anyways Icefrog didn't made DotA or DotA: Allstar, I don't think Valve is going to get the copyright for it.Yosharian said:
Also, how is the free map Blizzard DotA making money for them? You have no idea of how they works...
It should be 4 beacuse WC2 and WC3 play nothing like each other.SovietX said:
How blizzard supports their community with the tools to make great community mods like DotA, and allow the community to keep what they make belonging to them instead of trying to muscle in on the DotA trademark over the years that it has been out? Their ethics regarding the treatment of community made content seems fine to me.gamerguy473 said:
They are treating it as freeware since it came out and they never attempted to get copyright for it. Only one who wants money from this is Valve because their are gonna sell it while Blizzard lets it free so Im not sure who of us two is being ignorant...Yosharian said:
They didn't "want it to be free". And the community owns nothing. That's just your idealism. They simply didn't care about it's existence so long as it propped up other blizzard properties, which made it a non-entity to them. They're cawing now because it's suddenly become a threat not because they care about you the player or any modder's rights.GamesB2 said:
So it's a stand-alone product then? I wouldn't say, need a copy of warcraft three to play? I wouldn't need to log onto battle.net and see their advertisers?Exort said:
If your argument was anything more than some angry anti-fanboyism towards Blizzard you would realize the DotA game type became huge before Valve made a push at it. If Blizzard only want DotA to be free if it is on a DotA game they would have copyrighted the DotA name as soon as HoN and LoL came out.Ghengis John said:
Obvious joke games that are going to be free to the community is completely different than copyrighting the name to a community made game that Blizzard is very close to the community of.Zero_ctrl said:[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104641-BlizzCon-2010-Hands-On-Blizzard-DotA-Left-2-Die-Starjeweled]
If Blizzard named it Left 4 Dead 3, copyrighted the use of Left 4 Dead with 3 at the end, and then sold it for profit, your argument would make sense, otherwise it is just stupid.
I realize this. But I fear that most of the people complaining are themselves missing a few details. Just because a company owns the rights to a game's brand name does NOT mean they'll instantly put a stop to all mods for it. Take a look at Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, and Left 4 Dead. Valve not only allows mods to spring up but friggin' SUPPORTS them. Hell, they even add some of the better mods into official releases and updates. My point is, people are afraid that the "community" won't be able to contribute, add to, or mod DotA 2. If anyone had bothered to read Valve's announcement, they'd immediately realize that DotA 2 is being designed with contributing and modding in mind. The whole basis of Valve's version of the game is to create a friendlier, more open community for a game that desperately needs it. Let's face it, DotA at this point only really caters to those that are hardcore players of the game. New players really don't stand a chance and are often reviled and met with fervent hatred. Valve plans to rectify that. If that means they have to copyright the name, I'm all for it. I'd say the same if Blizzard had decided to do it. I just feel like it's better to have a professional company make the core product first, and have the community contribute and modify it afterward.GamesB2 said:
[edit] I'll be honest though. I'm not really concerned. I was never a big fan of Dota. Maybe it's because of the community, I don't know. All I know is, this whole thing is getting out of hand and misinformation is more abundant than the truth. From all parties involved. So, until this thing simmers down, I'm just not going to care.