The Third Doctrinal War -- Stardock, Reiche/Ford, and Star Control

Hey, we’re not just gamers here. We’re like the Gamer Illuminati, the landed aristocracy of video games! We’re a breed of our own, unlike the rest of the rabble out there.

I’m absolutely not trying to be an asshole (it just comes naturally!), but if I’m reading the Discourse stats properly you account for roughly 25% of the posts. I think they’re saying that 92 people have commented in this thread, which is roughly 3% of the registered users on Qt3.

Basically, most people don’t care, but those who do REALLY care.

Thus some do care.

edit: Also for technical accuracy your math is off. It shows I’ve got ~250 posts out of ~1500. Around 16%

I imagine not all users are actually active users, i.e. people who’ve posted here recently?

Since the stats were mentioned 92 users is a lot for a thread here, especially for a sort of side topic. The SC:O thread has 130 and has been running since July of 2013 where this one has been up since just March of this year. The current bargain thread, which is long running and has lot of random participation is 168.

So if we were to use numbers here as the example there’s a large amount of interest in the lawsuit.

The launch appears to have gone off without much issue. There is no DLC offered in the steam market place.(beyond the soundtrack)

There are a few user reviews, vast majority positive. This particular one does not count for nothing, but I laughed none the less:

and it goes on to post his twitch account.

You’re as bad as me in the EU4 thread. Does Discourse yell at you too, or did Tom&Co disable that feature?

In any case, internet high-five, my prolific friend. :)

You’re right. I took your “thousand post thread” comment and didn’t look at the actual number.

That’s a much better comparison than mine. 3,000 users is certainly way too high, but I don’t know how to check the number of active users. It’s probably in there somewhere – I can see who’s visited in the last month on a user by user basis.

Regardless, I really wasn’t trying to make a point, just messing around with statistics.

Hmm, do deleted posts count as users posting? Time to find out (I have one early that was basically a drive by “LOL”)

E: Given that the number ticked from 92 to 93 on this post, the answer is no.

SC:O is out and on the livestream on Steam I just saw the streamer meeting the “Arilou”. Sigh.

88% out of 26 reviews are positive. FWIW.

Good to hear it’s looking like a good game. So sad to hear that they just couldn’t see fit to keep to a completely separate universe as originally announced. I just don’t see the reason for doing something that deliberately tests the boundary of infringement. Why even take the risk?

Now if it does get DMCA’d or some other action is taken based on that potential infringement there’s really nobody to blame but themselves. Especially when from the first settlement offers their stance has clearly been “We’re playing hardball here. Are you sure you are ready for hardball?”. I think P&F have clearly shown they are ready to see this thing through and will play hardball is that is the chosen game. It will be interesting to see if P&F swing at this pitch.

Did they call themselves the Arilou? I ran into a group at a space station that looked like stereotypical alien, but they couldn’t/wouldn’t tell me who they were.

Good point - they were the aliens featuring front and center in the “Arilou” DLC. Not sure about the name.

Looking online, yeah that is who I ran into.

Feel free, but please take note of the corrections others have already mentioned. I’ll make one clarification of my own: The statutory damages would depend on both the judge and the jury, so they are unlikely to be anywhere near the theoretical max (which is, itself, ridiculous).

That’s what I used to think, but Paul and Brad’s emails near the beginning of all this seem to indicate they were all on the same page, until Brad seemed to suddenly reinterpret the 1988 contract after learning about GotP.

If you mean that I came here specifically to discuss the lawsuit, as opposed to randomly dropping in, you’re right. If you mean anything else, I’d be curious to hear it.

It won’t get DMCAed soon, as P&F have committed not to do so until the court finishes hearing Stardock’s request that they not be allowed to do so.

When is the court supposed to make a decision on that?

You must be special. Here, let me quote it for you.

but I think mentioning that the original creators are once again not involved in a Star Control game and are actually part of litigation surrounding it has value to readers.

Again, please tell me how that has value to readers. I’ll be back later. There will be a quiz.

I am not disputing that because my comment bears no relationship to that opinion. Of course there are gamers who care about the people who make their games. And in some cases, they tend to be very tribal about it. I mean, it’s gaming, drama is in our DNA.

So, let’s try this again, shall we?

but I think mentioning that the original creators are once again not involved in a Star Control game and are actually part of litigation surrounding it has value to readers.

I quoted that earlier because that was the excerpt that I needed clarity on. You just danced around it without actually addressing it.

  • We know the original creators aren’t involved. I personally don’t care, and I’m quite certain that there are many others who don’t either.

  • The original creators are part of litigation surrounding an all but dead IP.

So, what value does any of the above have to gamers? At least to those who actually give a shit?

LOL!! yeah, none of that.

  • Obviously I meant P&F
  • Nope. I was responding to an excerpt
  • Nope. I never implied that - anywhere
  • Nope. SC3, like SCO is part of the IP. So yes, it’s totally about an IP; otherwise why is there a lawsuit? I’ll wait.
  • Nope. That was never the implication. You’re generalizing my comment while ignoring the context in which it was made. That being, in the event that a DMCA gets it removed from third-party sites, anyone who wants to buy it, can get it direct from Stardock. You know they have like, a fully-functional digital store, right?

This is totally going to be fun, guys. Bring it!