Why the Skyrim boycott is a waste of time and missing enjoyment.

[Frost27]

Boycotting is absolutely not pointless and no, I will not "eventually buy the game". That is an opinion that is more Bethesda fanboy than fact.

Fact is, I was on the fence about Skyrim. My opinions of the game ranged from "meh" to "It looks decent" while still being hopeful that I would be pleasantly surprised. This issue was enough for me to decide not to pick up the game altogether. There is just too much other entertainment coming out this season that I do want (Saints 3, BF3, Arkham City, AC: Revelations) for me to feel the need to look back and buy it later.

In a release season like this, I can't be the only one in this situation who would pass up a dumbed down Oblivion not only on principal but because there is plenty of other stuff to do this year.

I made plans not to buy the game and to save the cash for another release and my roommate cancelled her preorder, both of us being of like mind. Besides, with quality functioning titles like Fallout 3, Fallout NV, and Rage that released entirely broken and nearly (and in some cases completely) unplayable and stayed that way, I am not missing much by not putting full faith and loyalty behind Bethesda.

 

[Rewrench]

They have a legitimate concern with the name of notches game,

This is in no way a legitimate LEGAL concern.
Big companies do this crap a lot and it is sickening.

I have no plans to boycott over it and this topic is likely just some troll bait..
But anyway.

 

[The Lugz]

'Paraphrase'
my opinions do not entirely align with yours, so you are stupid

sure, notch is a fish out of water right now he has no frekin clue what hes doing, and defend him? heh no.

i mean hell, he thinks it's cool to just tweet his legal situations out when it's really nothing to do with anyone but him for trying a general patent on the word scrolls, like the dip he is

he has acted like the quintessential man child as head of a company.

OBviously Zenimax / bathesda would have an issue with that, for anyone that does not understand
a general patent would mean

notch OWNS 'Scrolls' as a word. as in you use it he owns you.

it is extremely suspicious for anyone to do that

however, i shall not be buying [SARCASAM] 'scrolls, the adventure of the bathesda bullcrap' [/SARCASAM]
because they honestly tried to defend their decision with 'our customers are retards and cannot tell the difference'
rather than explain the real issue
they PERSONALLY insulted everyone that buys their game, so they can do f themselves if they think i'm going to buy it

everyone involved in this has disgraced themselves in my opinion
but you know what? the man-child has not personally insulted me, yet.

 

[Kris015]

Wait.. People are actually boycotting Skyrim because of that? WTF world!

Seriously.. I can't do anything but facepalm.. Facepalm so hard my hand will get stuck in my face!

This is just too fucking stupid..

 

[Sir Prize]

I'm still going to buy this game, maybe not new and certainly not special addition, even though I think sueing over one bloody word is stupid.

I don't think their not doing anything wrong as such, just being babies over something that probably won't affect them. It wouldn't matter if some twit mistook Scrolls for being related to Elder Scrolls, simply because Bathesda doesn't lose anything. If Bathesda were to release a card game then maybe they'd have something to whine about.

EDIT: I'd also like to state that it would take someone who's either not a fan or a little dim to mistake Scrolls for having something to do with the Elder Scrolls series. I say because pretty anyone who is willing to buy a card based on the fanchise would know it as The Elders Scrolls.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

While I think he's being somewhat obnoxious about it (in his tone, not in his willingness to release public documents; I have no idea why people seem to see that as some sort of negative thing), I do think Notch is sort of in the right here. This isn't really a "both people are equally at fault" situation, tempting as it seems to be to make everything a "both people are equally at fault" situation.

Notch is making a game using a noun that is incredibly common in video games. Should the makers of Gun be sued by series that happen to have guns in them or "gun" in the title? What about Rage? Should any game with the word "rage" in the title go lawsuit-happy "protecting their trademark"? This is silly. Imagine if someone had sued Spielberg over the title of Jaws because they had made a movie with that word in the title.

It's made even more silly by the fact that the lawsuit has to prove that the relevant audience would be likely to confuse the games, which the audience itself knows to be completely unreasonable. Of course, it doesn't sound quite so unreasonable if you aren't part of that audience. When you're unfamiliar and you think that all games are relatively similar, you're much more likely to rule in favor of stupidity like this. Unfortunately, the people ruling on the case will likely fall into that very category. So there's more than a little bit of shadiness involved in circumventing the spirit (alternatively: ichor-dripping, tooth-gnashing malevolent specter) of trademark law by bringing this case.

And then you come to the fact that he offered to drop the trademark (you forgot to mention that bit, which is a bit more important) and add a subtitle. If you were arguing that it might be confused for an Elder Scrolls game because the title being a single word makes it a little more likely that someone might think you were talking about Elder Scrolls, there goes that too. Unless you want to argue that Elder Scrolls games have subtitles too, so it's even more like it! And if you honestly want to argue that, I strongly suggest you enter the legal profession: money is waiting for you.

As for the people boycotting Skyrim:
(a) Game boycotts have never done anything. Ever. Not even some time in the 60's when people still cared about protests and shit.
(b) Notch himself has said not to boycott the game. He's going to buy it, and he suggests that you do too.

 

[Firstmark_Bannor]

I'm not going to buy Skyrim but only because I have no interest in it. I did some research on it and it's not my kinda game.

 

[Undeadpool]

If you inhabit the internet you know about Zenimax suing Mojang over the word "Scrolls"

And you've most likely heard how everyone Notch fanboy from here to the moon is going to boycott Skyrim because Bethesda is beating on the little man!

Ok, for one, Notch isn't little, stop defending him.

Second, Zenimax has all the right to sue Notch over this if they want to.

Third, No, Zenimax isn't the only one to blame, they sent him a cease and desist letter, his reaction? Post it on twitter and laugh about it.

Fourth, a article went up recently (This one: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.316261-Mojang-Offered-Up-Scrolls-Trademark-Bethsoft-Said-No)
and more butt hurt and flames were sputtered by Notch fanboys. Apparently Notch said that he was willing to change "Scrolls" to 'Scrolls: [some subtitle]' and now he's confused as to why he's getting sued still.

BECAUSE IT DOESN'T GET RID OF THE SCROLLS PART.

That's what Zenimax is peeved about, the Scrolls part, so adding a subtitle doesn't solve their problem.

Now is Zenimax guilt free? Of course not, they're being stupid about the lawsuit to, but Notch is being just as equally (if not more so by bringing the public into it) about the whole thing.

My overall point? Boycotting an awesome looking game because your overlord says hes completely innocent is just being stupid, please for the love of god use your brain.

You forgot fourth: No one who's talking about boycotting the game is actually going to. Just look at CoD 2, Dragon Age 2 or the Star Wars Blu-Rays for some great examples of how effective declaring you're going to boycott something on the internet is.

 

[IamGamer41]

So Bethesda has the right to sue anyone who uses the word Scroll in there games?

 

[Xanthious]

Now there will be those people not buying Skyrim and there will be those not playing Skyrim. I imagine that more than a few people boycotting the game will be falling into the "not buying" portion that will still manage to play it. Then of the "Not Buying but still playing it" portion there is probably a group within that group that falls into the "Wasn't buying it anyway but boy I love to get all indignant on the interwebs so may as well say I'm boycotting it" category. Now how they could ever hope to play it without buying seems like somewhat of a head scratcher to figure out but I suspect they will find a way, somehow.

 

[Ghostkai]

See you boycotters on launch day

I can't wait for the game.

I also love Minecraft.

I am going to happily play both.

 

[Treblaine]

OP: this boycotting tangent is a STRAW MAN ARGUMENT

just because people are feckless and use the threat of boycott as an empty threat

THAT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN THEY DO NOT HAVE A POINT!!!

Zenimax are most DEFINITELY in the wrong in this situation and whatever a bunch of (failed) boycotters do or do not does it does not change the fact that they are blatantly abusing the trademark system. That should be self evident.

No they are not. As I said, using the part of the name of one of the most popular rpg series to use in your own rpg is dodgy/stupid. No investor would let Zenimax get away with not suing him.

It's not dodgy or stupid. How can you be so arrogant to simply repeat your assertion without further expansion or explanation? Are you so pomp's to think that I should just naturally accept your idea simply because it is your opinion. Do NOT confuse liberal ideas that people have the right to share their ideas with the oppressive idea of forced acceptance of opinion of others.

Scrolls are inherently a part of the mythos of the swords and sorcery genre, that pre-dates TES by decades, even pre-dates even Tolkien.

They are not using "part of the name" unreasonably. Call of Juarez uses "part of the name" of Call of Duty, but even Activision aren't low enough to sue over something like that! Probably because such a claim is UTTERLY TRIVIAL and the CoJ developers have the clout to have it kicked out of court.

And as much money as Notch has earned, it is not as much as Zenimax, he could very easily spend a quarter of all his revenue fighting an international legal dispute at massive cost.

"No investor would let Zenimax get away with not suing him."

You KNOW full damn well that that utterly flies in the face of facts. Look across the game shelves, look at how many titles use words from other titles. Here, a compendium:

Metal GEAR Solid and GEARS of War or vs "Guilty GEAR"

Condemned Criminal ORIGINS and
Dragon Age ORIGINS?

Mass EFFECT and
Fear EFFECT?

CALL OF Duty
CALL OF Cthullu: Dark Corners of The Earth
CALL OF Juarez

Infinite Space
Dead Space
Dead Rising
Advent Rising

COD: BLACK Ops
BLACK (2006 game)

MOTORstorm
Forza MOTORsport

Fallout New VEGAS
Rainbow Six VEGAS

RED faction
RED dead redemption

"God OF WAR" vs "Gears OF WAR" vs "men OF WAR"

"DEAD rising" vs "DEAD island" vs "Dawn of the DEAD" vs "Left 4 DEAD" (all zombie games with "dead" in the title) plus

"Team FORTRESS 2" vs "Dwarf FORTRESS"

"Hitman: Silent ASSASSIN" vs "ASSASSIN's Creed"

Zenimax's central argument - that there is the possibility of brand confusion - is 100% bullshit. It should be obvious from first glance - and is undeniable with through examination - that all of the promotional material of TES 5 has called it "SKYRIM!" The media pundits have constantly called it just "Skyrim" and if they ever mention the word "scrolls" then is in the whole name "The Elder Scrolls V: SKYRIM".

And as the case of "EDGE" vs " Tim Langdell of EDGE Games" has established you cannot trademark a single commonly used English word. It is not right, and it is NOT LEGAL. And Zenimax's trademark isn't even of a single word, but of a collection of THREE words:

The
Elder
Scrolls

That is the limit of their trademark. Notch has NOT infringed on ANYTHING!!!!

 

[CoDzombieDude]

Interesting, suing them over a use of a single word from 'The Elder Scrolls' title; I wonder if they would've acted so strongly if it had been called 'Elder' or 'The'...

Back on topic, I think that boycotting a game for this reason alone is fairly pointless. But hey, their loss.

 

[The Mighty Pepper]

People are actually considering not buying this game? Over something as stupid as that? Ugh... People are idiots -_-

 

[Treblaine]

I don't care about boycotts or how big or small whoever is. The important thing here is that Zenimax's claim does NOT cover "scrolls". It is NOT a mark against Notch for him to laugh at this, as the claim is laughable. Kojima has the same rights to sue Epic Games for using the word "Gears" in one of their games.

This is a matter of right and wrong. And Zenimax are clearly not in the right here.

The only time size comes into this is quite how mind bogglingly expensive legal defences cost, you need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend yourself from the easiest to disprove allegations. My perturbation is that Notch has to go to the effort of disproving this rather than them actually proving anything. Guilty until proven innocent I guess.

First: Your examples are stupid. There is no trademark on "Gears" / no one is going for single words from those names as trademarks. If someone would, with such an application as "Scrolls" from Mojang you can be sure as hell there are going to be lawsuits everywhere.

No, it is a very clever example.

As there is no trademark on "Scrolls" by Zenimax who is the claimant in this suit.

I remind you (if you aren't directly coveting it) that Notch has offered to DROP the trademark claim, or expand the trademak claim to be "Scrolls: [some subtitle yet to be decided)". He OFFERED THEM THAT! And They REFUSED! They just want Notch to remove all mention of Scrolls from the the title of his game.

Second: No, this is NOT a case of right and wrong. If you would take your "I love Minecraft so I love Mojang" sign down and would look into this case you'll see why Zenimax is so aggressive about this.

I say, lets compare the applications of both trademarks:

The Elder Scrolls: "Pre-recorded CD's and DVD's featuring fantasy games."

Scrolls: Computer games; video games; computer software; computer and video games software; computer software downloaded or downloadable; computer software publications downloaded; interactive entertainment software; data recorded electronically from the Internet; data recorded in machine readable form from the Internet; discs, tapes, cartridges, CD-ROMs and other magnetic, electronic or optical media, all bearing computer games software or video games; electronic amusement apparatus for use with television receivers; electronic games apparatus; home video game machines.

And whis is just for the forms of electronic media. Explain me, why do they want this? And I hope you can see where the problem lies. There is a game with "Scrolls" in it's title hitting shelfes in several weeks. The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Yes, there is no confusion. But the "Scrolls" would violate the trademark and when Mojang would go against it they could stop Skyrim from getting released. The other possible outcomes are also not so bright for Bethesda if they would let this trademark skip by.

So please, pull your head out of your ass and open your eyes. This case is NOT "right or wrong", this are two dickheads in a dicking each contest. And Mojang does a pretty good job of putting themselfes on the "victim" side.

Edit: I'm sick of such stupid fanboyism towards Mojang, going off to scare some first semester students...

Again, this WHOLE THREAD is about Notch offered to drop the trademark claim for just the word "Scrolls" and have the trademark on "Scrolls: [subtitle]" but ZENIMAX REFUSED!!

 

[grimgor42]

I laugh at the losers who punish themselves. I can play both and have fun because i'm not an idealistic idiot.

 

[archabaddon]

Boycotting a game is pointless

At some point you will give in and buy the game.

Bethesda aren't bad people, their legal team are just being assholes who won't do the Quake 3 match.

In other words: boycotts are useless to people who lack willpower. If you can't even bother to try to refrain, don't refrain at all

BTW, take up smoking, you're probably going to try it anyhow.

(I don't care about the boycott one way or the other personally)