DEAR GOD! That flash animation on the pimp the backhanding page is hilarious!
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DEAR GOD! That flash animation on the pimp the backhanding page is hilarious!
oops... I mean to say what a damn dirty game! DAMN DIRTY GAME!
From we have to charge you to it won't hurt, so don't worry about it to well, maybe we were wrong in one week.
They still seem keen on licensing games, but they're at least rethinking it. We'll see what they come up with.
According to my crystal ball, they will come up with a load of feces and pass it off as strawberry shortcake.
Uh who actually cares..there aren't secret cameras installed in their books. Who give a shit what they "think"..keep doing what you have been doing. Wait till a law suit comes down, then you have something to rant about. But until then stick your middle finger up in the air and say bite my ass White Wolf! They are not going to stop anyone from doing anything!!!
cabal23: The core problem is White Wolf's attitude. The idea that you can charge people to play a game you purchased is as old as the industry itself. White Wolf is trying to change industry attitudes, trying to take something that's been okay for about 30 years, much longer than White Wolf has existed, and declare it wrong. They're pissing on their very own customers, declaring them some sort of wrongdoers. That's pretty noteworthy.
Waiting for a law suit is stupid. Harm is done without an actual law suit. Some groups will feel compelled to comply (especially those large enough that WW is likely to notice). Want to run a large game (that charges money) and try to avoid paying WW's fees? Do you trust each and every one of your 60 players to not be a loyal WW toady and rat you out? Indeed, once ratted out, WW generally would need to escalate to a lawsuit. Lawsuits are expensive. Sending a nasty legal sounding threat is nearly free and likely to scare many of the rest into submission. Beyond those groups that would essentially be bullied into paying, if WW has any success at convincing people that this is something reasonable to ask, the idea will spread. I do not want to have an industry where companies believe they can control my use of their game.
Ultimately, it was bad press that caused White Wolf to change it's mind. When you're getting mocked on Boing Boing and other high profile geek sites, you've got a serious public relations problem. Rants like these (although probably not this rant in particular) nipped this in the bud so that no one had to face a lawsuit, no one felt bullied into paying.
If you wait until it becomes a problem you end with the crap like the software industry that claims you can pay for a product, take it home, then be forced to agree to a license. Indeed, in most of the United States the law (legislative and case) does not recognize that power, it's debatable territory. However, it's become so pervasive that challenging it is very difficult.
Dude, You sir are an idiot. What did you think they would say? Yes, your using our idea's that we copy righted, go ahead and charge your players. You have to be one of the dumbest people on the planet. No company or author with a copy right would let you charge a group of people when your using their idea. The fact that you bothered to waste your time ranting about such stupidity doesn't really help your case all that much. So why don't you just shut up and leave white wolf alone. They may have made a few mistakes but it isn't concerning you nor anyone else. If you don't like it then you don' have to play or use their stuff. Common Sense here. Though I guess you just don't know what that is.
The links above now read, "The topic or post you requested does not exist." Smooooooth, White Wolf. Just pretend it never happened. It's dishonest. And completely unsurprising.
This is part of the reason that I have a policy against deleting posts. I haven't done so and currently only plan to do so in the event of a serious problem (pretty much only a technical problem). I flag spam so that you have to specifically ask for it, but it's still there. If I've mismarked something, people can notice and call me on it. It's also why I try to note any non-typo change to my posts; again it's dishonest. All too many bloggers subscribe to the "I'm never wrong because I delete everything that later turns out to be untrue." One needs to be accountable for people to have trust in you. White Wolf doesn't want to be accountable, so you shouldn't trust them.
