Copyright law is seriously screwed up. As are the ways in which many content creators are forced to negotiate if they want their product to get advertised and distributed through mainstream channels.
Consider for a moment this business with Sony and Spider-Man. Sony is making a new Spider-Man movie because if they don't, they lose their right to the license back to Marvel.
That's the way it
should work, but that's not the standard. That happened because a company like Marvel has the money and clout to negotiate something like that with another big company like Sony.
As it stands, copyright on an IP can last for over a hundred years. Long after the death of its creators, a corporation can still make a buck on Mickey Mouse or Superman... And stomp on a day-care center for painting one of those characters on their wall without authorization.
In at least one sense, Jim is spot-on. SOPA and PIPA are to a great extent more about controlling the means of distribution than actual copyright infringement. About old-media companies sinking their claws into new-media ones to prevent themselves from sliding into irrelevance, any wounds they inflict on the upstarts in the process being a bonus.
To be clear: Minecraft is the exception, not the rule. There are plenty of developers selling their games on Steam who languish in obscurity, and it's not because their work isn't any good; it's still
very difficult for a small, independent development team to draw the attention to be successful. Which leads many back to the big publishers and those Faustian bargains to raise development and advertising capital at the cost of losing their hard work.
Sober Thal said:
newdarkcloud said:
Sober Thal said:
Jimothy Sterling said:
Sober Thal said:
Fun fact. The artists and developers own 100% of their IP. They then decide to sell the rights away for money and more resources. Duh.
That's what happens when the rights-buyers have rigged the game in their favor before the artists create their art. Duh.
Creators have a choice to sign these contracts. Are we implying that these people who make games don't know how to read?
Publishers won't even look at a developer if the developer wants to keep the majority share of the rights to the IP. The only exception is when the developer has already become well known enough to have publishers compete for them.
What's wrong with that? Are publishers just supposed to gamble away money on possible crap product?
Are you even aware of the ludicrous double standard in what you've said?
Consumers are supposed to be capable of doing research to find out if the game is any good.
Developers are supposed to be able to go through enormous contracts with a fine toothed comb while wolves growl at their door and the members of their team live on ramen noodles- not that they necessarily have agents or legal teams to go through the ramifications of those contracts, they're just supposed to be inherently able to do so under pressure, and if not, well, sucks to be them.
But the big publishers! Oh, dear stars, won't someone think of the poor Sonys and Activisions and EAs?! How are they supposed to
live without contracts that screw over their serfs? Why should companies with millions in the bank be expected to suffer any kind of risk? It's not like
they can do any sort of research! It's not like
they get some kind of- I don't know,
design document or
prospectus advising them as to what the developer hopes to do with their money, so they might scrutinize it and consider whether it's a good investment or not. It's not like they have
marketing departments to advise them on just this matter. It's not like they can set
milestones demanding certain results by a certain time frame, or even withhold payment altogether if the development team doesn't suddenly move in an entirely different direction.
No, no! The publishers are the victims, here! And a contract that has a creator lose all rights to the work they've created, that may see that work turned over to create derivative works that they don't see a cent from- why, how could a dev recognize that with anything other than humble gratitude?