Doom 3: System Shock 2 mod ...NOT

KdjaCL

Found this in my boredness may be a long rant.

1st up someone told me of System Shock 2 using Doom 3 as the source, class idea imo. I went and check out the mod teams website (this was when i was working for www.fpscentral.com) As my job was to do things like this.

Anyway their ideas seemed good , had a decent team of modellers and mappers (from other games they were familiar). Then Ea games (owner of said copyright ) sents out their team of legal eagles to kill the mod dead. With this letter.

Steve Bené, Esq.
VP, Acting General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Electronic Arts Inc.
209 Redwood Shores Parkway
Redwood City, CA 94065


Dear Webmaster,

It has come to our attention that a modification is being developed for
the Doom 3 engine with the name "System Shock 2: Rebooted". As you are
probably well aware the System Shock name is under copyright and cannot
be reused without our express permission. We are contacting you the
webmaster to inform neither you nor the website you are hosting have
permission to produce a mod of this name.

It is suggested that you change the name within 10 days of our e-mail
or we will be forced to take higher legal action. We admire your work
and dedication towards an enhanced copy of System Shock 2 but ask that
you let the proper license holders make the decision to make an enhanced
copy or a sequel at all.

We are not asking that you halt all production of the mod but we do ask
that you drop the name and any affiliation the mod has with System Shock
or System Shock 2. This includes the reproduction of the wrench with the
name Von Braun on it, the Cyborg Assassin with the Tri-Optimum logo on
its upper arm and any other copies of the models from the original game.

We also ask that you the webmaster take action to prevent this type of
copyright infringement on your server again. It not only displays lack
of respect from you but from your company, Digitally Evolved, as well. We
hope that you make the right decision as to what will happen to the
offenders.

Sincerely yours,

Steve Bené, Esq.
VP, Acting General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Electronic Arts Inc.

Pretty much killed the mod there and then , but the modders had asked for permission (as is the way when making a mod on another persons IP regardless of when it was made , its just nice to ask)

Full letter asking for permission

Now they have asked nicely so EA should allow them i mean it wont affect sales of System Chock 2 now will it, but no Ea would not relent ,Full story here

If i was on that mod i would continue to make it as when EA take them to court this little piece of evidence would swing the decision in their favour, as most players of battlefield know its moddability is superb and there are tonnes of mods being released almost weekly. Some fictional some based on others IPs one such mod is Galactic Conquest a Star Wars mod, and everyone knows how much George Lucas likes his IPs to be used without him making money.

Battlefield Mod Update
The Battlefield 1942 Mod Community remains alive and well with the recent release of Galactic Conquest .4 (and the subsequent .42 update). We want to take a moment to congratulate the Galactic Conquest mod team on a smooth release, as well as on the high quality bar they continue to set with each milestone (particularly in their innovative use of Objective Mode to create the epic space battles one would expect from their source material).

Excellent work, GC team! Keep it up.

For more information on the Galactic Conquest mod see www.galactic-conquest.net.

Among 100s of others on BF websites Ea encouraging mod teams to use other IPs whilst modding Bf and BFV. On one hand noone allowed use their Ips for other game mods , but will activley encourage modders to use whatever IP suits them to sell their own games. i was really looking forward to playing System shock using Doom engine, its actually perfect platform for such a mod . but now this wil never happen the team have moved and creating their own original mod with no links to the System Shock IP.

Sad day for modders when the biggest game comapny refuses to allow mod teams to use their IP.

kdjac

Kiith

i think it's bull**** that ea stopped this mod. i loved system shock and system shock 2, and it would work great on the doom engine, and it would, if anything, help to sell more copies of the originals. they have no plans for a sequal, so why not let the community use the material.

Sand

Its a dissapointment - I loved SS2 and its unbelievable were still waiting for a third installment - but EA would be pretty stupid to allow its IP to be used to create a mod that might be another Counter Strike, a user mod so good that it rivals commercial projects - or worse still might be a pile of dross. Slight chance maybe, but when theres money on the line why let it happen?

Thats the downside from the increasing quality of mods - theyre taken more seriously by IP holders.

Reading the email, its not that awful - all theyre basically saying is change the name and remove SS2 references. Which is fair enough. I dont think EA has a problem with a mod "inspired by such games as SS2". So, EA are not stopping the mod - theyre only ensuring their IP isnt selling a mod that they have little or no control over, that could be of any quality. If the mod is so bad that without the SS2 name it becomes hopeless to go on , then its not much of a loss. If the mod is quality then it should be worrying more about making a name for itself rather than using someone elses name.

As for EA praising the Star Wars mod, thats not their IP and thus not their problem. Cyncial but hey.

Lex_Diamonds

Cool. I cant wait for Shock System 2.

BLITZ_Molloy

Couldn't they get away with changing the name and making a few minor alterations. It'd be a more interesting mod if they tried their own interpretation rather than a straight port.

The Specialists gets away with using characters and settings from various movies. CS gets away with using real life guns. There have been loads of mods based on Star Wars. I don't know that EA would have much of a case against a mod.

Ivan

Um, arent they both abandonware?

Would seem like maybe there IS some kind of sequel/remake being considered.

regeneration

Abandonware I think only comes into effect when the copyright on the game runs out, therefore the owner doesn't have any control over distribution of the game. System shock2 you can still purchase in budget ranges, therefore someone owns copyright.
I think the Star Wars mod got permission mainly because Star Wars is a brand or intellectual copyright, and has different regulations.
I dont honestly know. I could be making this up

monument

Yes, the BF Star Wars mod did get permission to use the name.

Maximilian

I don't think Abondonware means copyright has expired. Its a bit of a grey area -these games are simply not commercially available anymore, so by distributing them freely, the copyright holder cannot really complain, as they have sustained no loss from the free distribution (you couldn't buy the game even if you wanted to).

The position is really that you are not supposed to distribute these games but the understood reality is nobody is going to care anyway.

tman

so let me get this straight... ea own the rights to a game and there's only been one sequel made so far...
surely we should be up to system shock 2005 by now?

i reckon they're planning on doing something with the franchise tbh

regeneration

On the other hand,who says EA have to give them permission. I mean what if the mod team is utter crap? For all EA know, this team might be utterly talentless and ruin the good name of system shock.