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Bloodlines remake gets a Cease & Desist from CCP

thesheeep

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Quite the opposite, as it would have - if at all any influence - generated more interest.
I could see a bad result only if that project was utter crap and harmful to the "brand".

Nah, this whole thing is a typical bored lawyer syndrome. Showing your dick to make sure you got the biggest one.
 

Luzur

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What if they continue working on it, but don't acknowledge it and don't talk about it? Then they release their thing on torrents when it's done. What's the problem here?

Dunno why modders and whonot doesnt do it this way? always want to be on the big stage....
 
Self-Ejected

supervoid

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Anything (except satire, reviews and citation-like stuff) that include touching copyrighted content is illegal without written approval from owner: (I'm using art as example but it applies to other types of projects) selling any fanarts is straight illegal and can end in the court, but also drawing these fanarts and showing it on internet is almost in every case illegal and can cause C&D (but nobody cares usually, also it would be bad for copyright holder's PR, ex. Blizzard approves fanarts, because it will cost them more to lost fans because of lawsuits than they lose due to copyright violations by fans). Mods made in official tools are obviously legal and nobody need to ask for approval, in other cases it is only good will of publisher. IMO hexer is on the way to receiving C&D because he is writing from time to time about evidently illegal & rather stupid stuff like crowdfunding or paing his slaves team monies for work. Somebody should explain this to him maybe?
Two things:

1) You're forgetting fair use.

2) If they didn't include actual art portion, but it was just an empty game and used the original vtmb assets they should be fine.

Fair use is what I have already written- satire, reviews, news, citation, educational purporse, and some specific cases like plaing songs and movies on free mass events. In kwa it works kinda different because of this precedent rules, but overall it applies to similar stuff. Any messing with game (or any copyrighted content) except things that owner already aproved like making levels in official level editors can be cause of C&D or lawsuit. There is not many lawsuits and C&D because of PR decisions. In this case reaction from the CCP might be caused by big "Donate" button on the middle of project webpage.
 

Xeon

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What if they continue working on it, but don't acknowledge it and don't talk about it? Then they release their thing on torrents when it's done. What's the problem here?

Dunno why modders and whonot doesnt do it this way? always want to be on the big stage....
I think someone said on Reddit a long time ago that they will still probably get sued instead for illegally distributing copy righted materials or something when a remake of a Morrowind or something was also sent a C&D letter.

Some modders now pretty much mod games and include it for their resume so a lot of them will probably don't want to do it anonymously. Like one of the modders for Skyrim found work at Bungie IIRC. Obsidian and Beemdog and Paradox also seem to recommend to mod games to get experience and exposure when asked how to get work at videogame companies.
 

ASTRAL

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Meh, I had no problems with the source engine.
Better engine = better modding

Why do you want to mod Bloodlines ? Seems pointless considering combat was shit and people love Bloodline mainly due to atmosphere and story content.
Apparently they also were planing on adding some additional mechanics and potentially some of the VAMPIRE LARP fan-fiction could be entertaining who knows?
 

Luzur

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What if they continue working on it, but don't acknowledge it and don't talk about it? Then they release their thing on torrents when it's done. What's the problem here?

Dunno why modders and whonot doesnt do it this way? always want to be on the big stage....
I think someone said on Reddit a long time ago that they will still probably get sued instead for illegally distributing copy righted materials or something when a remake of a Morrowind or something was also sent a C&D letter.

Some modders now pretty much mod games and include it for their resume so a lot of them will probably don't want to do it anonymously. Like one of the modders for Skyrim found work at Bungie IIRC. Obsidian and Beemdog and Paradox also seem to recommend to mod games to get experience and exposure when asked how to get work at videogame companies.

Well, if i was a modder i would do both, secretly mod games as ANONX (i even have a zorromask on for the extra points) and release on torrent like soke cool pirate while also openly make dogsex mods for Oblivion as CoolDevName, Indie ballgulper extraordinaire, for those hot job offer as Pete's personal buttslave at Bethesda.
 

Bester

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In this case reaction from the CCP might be caused by big "Donate" button on the middle of project webpage.
They must be really sick in the head to be butthurt over what's most likely is a hundred bucks.
 

Bester

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Well, if i was a modder i would do both, secretly mod games as ANONX (i even have a zorromask on for the extra points) and release on torrent like soke cool pirate while also openly make dogsex mods for Oblivion as CoolDevName, Indie ballgulper extraordinaire, for those hot job offer as Pete's personal buttslave at Bethesda.

So that's who's behind these things.

skyrim001.jpg
 
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What a bunch of sad tossers. They sunk their own WoD:Online, the only MMO which I was interested in. They have pointlessly sat on WoD license, they basically killed White Wolf. And now to come and shit on modders? Granted, I never probably would have played Bloodlines remake, 'cause I find the graphics holding to this day, and completed VtM:B five or so times already. But it's the principle of the thing. Sad thing is, even with somewhat stale EVE development they won't tank, because it have sustainable and devoted user base, who generally don't give a shit about WoD license and its abuse. Oh well. :cry:
 
Unwanted

QuestionMan

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Oooooooooookaaayyyyyy........ good to know how quickly a remake or recreation in another engine can be stopped. Now I'll think twice before attempting a remake of anything (which I somehow got in the mood a couple of weeks ago). I'm still not 100% you are on the legal side, if you do it like the Morrowind Open Source project. I believe he still had to ask Bethesda for allowance.
 

Luzur

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Well, if i was a modder i would do both, secretly mod games as ANONX (i even have a zorromask on for the extra points) and release on torrent like soke cool pirate while also openly make dogsex mods for Oblivion as CoolDevName, Indie ballgulper extraordinaire, for those hot job offer as Pete's personal buttslave at Bethesda.

So that's who's behind these things.

skyrim001.jpg

Bro, i could barely place buildings in Morrowind using the modding tools, you actually think i would be able to correctly texture horse pussy? Guffaw
 

Mastermind

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
It appears that Project Vaulderie is now engaging in the unauthorized creation, use, and sale of products bearing the name of CCP’s registered intellectual property, Vampire: The Masquerade, without any license, authorization or permission of CCP.

Were they charging money or something? Maybe it's just a misunderstanding and they could sort it out with CCP.
 

Bester

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I think when they throw in accusations, it's the more the merrier. They're not interested in whether you're making any money or not, frankly. The lawyers who wrote it are interested in filling their own pockets and the guys who asked them to make the move don't even know what a mod is. They have a faint idea of what a video game is cause they played call of duty once when they were stoned at this party a few years ago.
 

SarcasticUndertones

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And this is simply justification for the point of view that releasing info on unauthorised projects is stupid. I understand no hype, no interest or donations but still.. you're gonna get shut down. However killed projects should just be let free into the wild, it would probably get worked on, on and off by multitudes of people.. I love to see them try to stop that.. It's the 'organised' efforts that are doomed to failure'

Sad, but true, when it's assbutts who are running the whole shooting match of life.
 

flabbyjack

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CCP must be pissed that they missed the boat on this whole Twilight thing. No, really. They could have cashed in for billions.

Joke's on them. Hahaha Icelandic losers.

:keepmyjewgold:

This is the same company that makes EVE Online! Did you know that keeping your Intellectual Property modern and relevant has a useful business purpose? Let them make the mod god damnit. As mentioned above, this kind of free fan-made content is the first exposure people have to the setting, but one bad legalese move like this puts a bad taste in your customers' mouths, they won't forget this....

The letter is wrong
It appears that Project Vaulderie is now engaging in the unauthorized creation, use, and sale of products bearing the name of CCP’s registered intellectual property, Vampire: The Masquerade

Incorrect. This was a non-commercial product. Therefore the grounds for the Cease & Desist, as the CCP legal/business team sees it, is invalid (for this letter).

This seriously has me un-considering subscribing to EVE Online. In fact when I talk about EVE to people I'm going to tell them what shitbags CCP are.

If it was me, I'd just rename a few letters here and there (vampires are now vampyres), change a few levels, and release it anyway. "Okay it's no longer about WoD, it's now generic dark fantasy"
 
Last edited:

upwardlymobile

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But it was back in '12, and until that time CCP basically sat on that license doing nothing.
Well that makes sense then, they're probably getting worried about trademark abandonment kicking in. In IP law you can't just sit on a trademark, you have to actually be doing something with it or you can lose it. That goes double if someone else starts producing things using your brand and you don't do anything about it.
 
Unwanted

QuestionMan

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The letter is wrong

If it was me, I'd just rename a few letters here and there (vampires are now vampyres), change a few levels, and release it anyway. "Okay it's no longer about WoD, it's now generic dark fantasy"

The letter is only partly wrong, it still has the words "creation, use and sale of products based on ..." in it. So it still remains a problem.

Nevertheless it's wishful thinking that they could just continue it under a different name. The project would probably die if it couldn't use any art assets from the original game, meaning - they have to create every asset themselves from scratch. That's a whole lot of work. Like the Black Mesa "recreation". 10 years of work. Not many people have the patience to continue a project on a scale like that.
 

Minttunator

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This is really depressing. I get that they have to protect their IP but CCP really do come off looking like dicks here - they're not doing anything with the license themselves, yet won't let anyone else do anything either.
I'm also still butthurt about WoD being cancelled. Man, fuck CCP! :fight:
 

Infinitron

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garren You were saying? +M

Shockingly, the best company for allowing remakes and fan sequels of old games is none other than Electronic Arts, who even allow projects that use their competitors' engines (Dungeon Siege, Freespace 2, etc).
 
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Well fuck.

It's a fan project and they are not going to be charging for it. It costs CCP nothing to let it continue - they are not doing anything with the bloody licence anyway. The only way killing this will protect their intellectual property is by making it even more worthless.
 

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