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#1 |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: the Netherlands
Posts: 65
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Heya legal experts,
I have been pondering about a mini-game in my mud. Basically it will be a game in a game (right, that's a mini game I think). However some questions arose now that I am designing the game which I want to ask you. 1) I use merc codebase, I make the game available in the mud, will it now be under the Merc license? This is important if I think the game is "commercially viable", or in other words, if I can use it in another environment to earn from it. 2) I don't want anyone to use my idea for this game to make any other version of it, not in software but not in "hardware" either (ie. make a boardgame of it). Will a copyright suffice here, or should I take other legal actions? Don't get me wrong, I have nor the inclination or the idea that my mini-game will be so great everyone wants to copy it, however I wanna make sure it won't happen. (if anyone makes a profit of this, then it should be me or my mud ![]() Thanks in advance, |
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#2 | ||||
Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Mill Valley, California
Posts: 2,306
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Having said that, I've had to deal with these sorts of issues a fair bit in the course of building Iron Realms into what it is today. Quote:
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--matt |
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#3 | ||
Legend
Join Date: Apr 2002
Name: Richard
Home MUD: God Wars II
Posts: 2,052
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#4 | |||
Member
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: the Netherlands
Posts: 65
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![]() What I am worried about is that I implement the game, somebody sees it, makes a flash version or whatever and puts it online. I just want exclusive rights on my game idea. However I have no idea if this falls under copyright or not. As I hardly have any legal education, I don't know what I can do to keep something for my mud alone. Just to make a point, I heard a while back that the Settlers of Catan rights were bought by MicroSoft so they can make a version for MSN. So what rights are those? And is that costly to get? Thanks for the answers so far. |
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#5 | ||||
Legend
Join Date: Apr 2002
Name: Richard
Home MUD: God Wars II
Posts: 2,052
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You may find this of interest: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html |
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#6 | |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: the Netherlands
Posts: 65
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I think I get it now (finally). It doesn't really matter if I make it in my mud, as the game idea will never be protected. So if I want to create a flash version of it for the website, then I'd just be using the idea of the game and implement it in another way and therefor don't violate the merc license even if I would charge for that version. Therefor the first question doesn't really matter anymore as implementing it within the code of the mud will still keep the game idea open for everyone else. However I can't use the mud version to make money (which wasn't the intent anyway). Thank you! |
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#7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 315
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If you program a concept into a merc base, debug/enhance it with player feedback, no law stops you from programming the same thing (except merc specific utility functions) into a different base.
You should only apply the strict implementation rules Kavir mentioned when you code something based (even partial) on the ideas and implementations of someone else. It should be obvious you don't lose your copyrights the moment you implement something into a merc base. So I don't think you need to worry, unless this mini game involves killing computer simulated players for experience, etc. |
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