|
I hadn't seen any of the KODT live stuff and it looks like that was remarkably well-cast. loving shame Ken Whitman was involved.
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2018 05:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 17:33 |
|
|
xiw posted:Someone's suing industry dirtbag Ken Whitman over the KODT movie kickstarter. They’re also suing Kickstarter, interestingly.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2018 11:41
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:They’re also suing Kickstarter, interestingly. a) Happily passed the money to Ken Whitman despite the fact that the corporate identity he set up the Kickstarter under didn't actually exist as a legal entity, and clearly hadn't done any checks themselves to make sure that the D20 Entertainment was a real company. b) Refused to pass on the details of other backers, making it more difficult to co-ordinate any sort of enforcement. Point a) is a tricky one because whilst adding more scrutiny of project creators could make Kickstarter much more of an unfriendly environment to individuals and smaller enterprises if the due diligence is too demanding, at the same time there's surely a point where Kickstarter has to draw the line on accepting new projects from someone who's demonstrated that they are a bad actor. Point b) is likewise tricky because on one hand the idea that your details might be passed to a disgruntled backer is alarming, but on the other hand it's precisely this sort of divide-and-rule which makes it harder for backers to hold project owners' feet to the fire.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2018 12:12
|
|
|
Re b) I think at the most Kickstarter should provide notice to the other backers of the suit, but they should not share contact information or facilitate direct contact. I don’t know what criteria KS would use to decide when it was appropriate to send out the notice. (If the complainant had a legal right to the contact information then they could sue for it specifically, right?) Re a) having them navigate the various corporate registries and jurisdictions seems like a lot, especially when DBA rules in some places are just “use that name in business”.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2018 12:26
|
|
|
I don't think either of the KS aspects are going to hold up or are even good ideas. A much better critique is KS should have hard limits about how many projects someone can start in a certain period of time and do some additional examination when someone who has existing campaigns in the fulfillment stage starts a new one, to make sure they're actually fulfilling their prior commitments. And to be more aggressive in booting scammers in general. All of which KS has improved on in the years since Whitman did his thing. They could stand to improve further and be more transparent about their process, but honestly KS seems to be pretty above-board.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2018 13:51
|
|
|
Helping facilitate a backer-driven lawsuit in cases where one is appropriate seems like the least that kickstarter could do to combat grifters on its platform. That doesn't mean giving out contact information to anyone who asks but allowing messages to be sent to backers in cases of that seems totally reasonable.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2018 16:28
|
|
|
Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Helping facilitate a backer-driven lawsuit in cases where one is appropriate seems like the least that kickstarter could do to combat grifters on its platform. That doesn't mean giving out contact information to anyone who asks but allowing messages to be sent to backers in cases of that seems totally reasonable. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2018 20:13
|
|
|
Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Helping facilitate a backer-driven lawsuit in cases where one is appropriate seems like the least that kickstarter could do to combat grifters on its platform. That doesn't mean giving out contact information to anyone who asks but allowing messages to be sent to backers in cases of that seems totally reasonable.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2018 20:42
|
|
|
Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Helping facilitate a backer-driven lawsuit in cases where one is appropriate seems like the least that kickstarter could do to combat grifters on its platform. That doesn't mean giving out contact information to anyone who asks but allowing messages to be sent to backers in cases of that seems totally reasonable. I would not want to be the person at KS who was deciding when it was appropriate to have a lawsuit, I tell you what.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2018 02:00
|
|
|
There's that too. Having a forum that isn't directly moderated by the project creator is probably something KS should do, but past that KS is not only exposing themselves to a lot of liability, they're pushing into territory I wouldn't want them making decisions on, even if was trying to deal with a scam project.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2018 03:12
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:I would not want to be the person at KS who was deciding when it was appropriate to have a lawsuit, I tell you what. Yeah you're right. I wouldn't want to be the judge or juror who had to draw the line between good faith misallocation of funds and malfeasance either. It's certainly not kickstarter's job. I think they are obligated to facilitate backer collusion in some way though. Maybe they do in fact need forums but I bet they'd be a poo poo show.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2018 08:15
|
|
|
Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:I think they are obligated to facilitate backer collusion in some way though. I don’t think they are. If I want to sue an Amazon seller, Amazon is under no obligation to help me do that, by messaging other customers of that seller or otherwise. It’s just not their role. There’s already the comment system. Project owners can’t delete from there, only KS admins.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2018 12:39
|
|
|
Harmony Gold’s Case Against Harebrained Schemes Dismissed!quote:The document, titled “STIPULATION OF DISMISSAL WITH PREJUDICE,” confirms that the judge has dismissed the suit between Harmony Gold and BattleTech creators Harebrained Schemes. The news is fantastic for all BattleTech fans and even better for Harmony Gold haters around the world. By dismissing the charges with prejudice, the judge has effectively barred Harmony Gold from bringing forward a similar case in the future. In other news: it turns out that Harmony Gold probably doesn't actually hold the rights to Robotech at all, since the company that licensed it to them in the first place did not have the authority to license out the IP, just distribution.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2018 20:51
|
|
|
GIMME DAT MARAUDER! Oh sorry. I mean...that's great news everyone!
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2018 21:22
|
|
|
Would be fitting to see their saga of Robotech rights' dickery end in them never even having the IP rights in the first place. FREE THE FRANCHISE
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2018 21:41
|
|
|
I have never had more than the most passing interest in Robotech, but I still relish seeing shitheels like Harmony Gold getting shoved into a sandtrap and buried under old beer cans.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2018 21:43
|
|
|
I told you all HG was eventually going to shoot themselves in the foot.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2018 21:44
|
|
|
I just want to see some good macross/macross-inspired board games. Took too long, would've been nicer if it was at least a decade ago, but better late than never.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2018 21:47
|
|
|
SilverMike posted:Would be fitting to see their saga of Robotech rights' dickery end in them never even having the IP rights in the first place. FREE THE FRANCHISE This is how it was explained to me. Studio Nue made Macross, but their publisher Big West owns the images, technical designs, and general IP. Another company, Tatsunoko Productions, helped with the animation and some financing, and they own the international distribution rights for the original Macross show. They licensed international distribution to Harmony Gold, who made Robotech (that's all legal and okay). However, Tatsunoko doesn't own any of the designs or IP, and therefore could not license that to Harmony Gold. There was a big lawsuit in Japan between those three Japanese companies back in 2003, and now the documentation about copyright is online, easily available, and translated into English.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2018 21:56
|
|
|
Kurieg posted:This is how it was explained to me. Complicated by the big involved companies don't seem to like each other very much and none of them really care about forming like Voltr- er, GoLion to sort out international distribution rights.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2018 22:03
|
|
|
Bear in mind there's still the suit from Harmony Gold ongoing regarding Battletech games against PGI / Piranha Games, and there the similarities are much more striking, so we'll show how that works out.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2018 22:48
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:I would not want to be the person at KS who was deciding when it was appropriate to have a lawsuit, I tell you what. Were I KS the stance I'd take is that we do not make the call on behalf of backers on whether or not a lawsuit is appropriate - but if a backer notifies us (with appropriate substantiation) that they've taken appropriate steps to prepare a lawsuit and that it may benefit from the involvement of other backers then we'll use the update system to let the other backers know and give them a means of contact for the person who's preparing the lawsuit. That way you are not saying "there is a legally actionable case here", all you are saying is "this backer has taken this steps, they have reached out to us to ask that we distribute their contact details to you in case you are interested in coming onboard".
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2018 11:56
|
|
|
OneBookShelf (the folks behind DrivethruRPG and its various cousins) recently published a blog post on price data regarding roleplaying games. I've only skimmed the post and don't quite follow the statistics, but there seem to be some interesting points in there. Also, actual statistics are so vanishingly rare in this business that I thirst for them like a man lost in the desert.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2018 08:50
|
|
|
Kevin Crawford's comment on that post posted:I can confirm a significant sales boost when POD releases are simultaneous with PDF, as compared to getting the POD up a week or two later. With some of my early products, I impatiently put up the PDF before the POD proof had cleared; sales there took a noticeable hit compared to simultaneous releases.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2018 09:04
|
|
|
Huh. You know how Pelgrane always does print versions before PDF versions, if there are going to be both -- unless you pre-order? And Simon Rogers is very confident about the numbers? Kevin Crawford's data suggests that Pelgrane is absolutely correct.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2018 05:10
|
|
|
So, Green Ronin and that STOP Harassment policy thingy they cooked up. Supposedly, they were going to present it at GAMA and try and push it. Well, GAMA's come and gone. Are any minutes etc. of the industry meetings there available yet? Is there any reporting on Green Ronin's proposals and how they went down? I can't seem to even substantiate that they actually went through with making the proposal in the end.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2018 16:44
|
|
|
I don't think anyone here would deny that there is a certain lack of diversity in designers working in the industry today. There's a lot of reasons for this, that boil down to a lack of effort to uproot certain systems that ease access to industry assets to folks who aren't white cis dudes. Jason Morningstar recently signalled boosted the More Seats at the Table patreon which seeks to promote marginalized designers. Its primary output is a newsletter consisting of links to newly developed and published material of those designers. You sign up for free! The pateron is entirely there to help support the program and has no exclusive content at the moment.
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 03:36
|
|
|
Maybe it's because I am a straight white hetero dude, but I honestly don't really feel like ethnicity should really matter too much when it comes to elfgame writers, so long as you can write a game that's actually worth your time to read, if not actually play/run. If it's good, people will praise it; if it ends up being a wet shart (like Myfarog, for example), then it should be poo poo on appropriately, regardless of how much melanin the writer has. I dunno, it might just be me, but I think if people want to promote work, it should be work good enough to stand on it's own, without being propped up by some physical aspect of the writer themselves.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 06:25
|
|
|
The purpose for said organizations is to ensure that the product has the appropriate amount of promotion regardless of the author's melanin content/whatever, which they think is being denied due to said whatever.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 06:31
|
|
|
Aniodia posted:without being propped up by some physical aspect of the writer themselves. youre right, there is no such thing as differing cultures or lived experiences, or prejudiced (positive AND negative) treatment based on skin color
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 06:32
|
|
|
Aniodia posted:Maybe it's because I am a straight white hetero dude, but I honestly don't really feel like ethnicity should really matter too much when it comes to elfgame writers, so long as you can write a game that's actually worth your time to read, if not actually play/run. If it's good, people will praise it; if it ends up being a wet shart (like Myfarog, for example), then it should be poo poo on appropriately, regardless of how much melanin the writer has. I dunno, it might just be me, but I think if people want to promote work, it should be work good enough to stand on it's own, without being propped up by some physical aspect of the writer themselves. To present the opposing view, a variety of writers means a variety of perspectives and experiences being brought into the artistic space. The more mainstream RPGs lack voices that represent a wider variety of experience, the less they'll be able to effectively represent those viewpoints within the game. This is especially important in RPGs, honestly - players need resources to play as characters not at all like them, and if all of the people writing have the same body of experiences to draw on, then there will be widely repeated flaws. This isn't very desirable for players, and that's entirely before considering the fact that, in any industry in our society, marginalized folks will have a harder time attaining prominence in the field than white guys. And this means more, not fewer, mediocre authors, as mediocre white guys get acclaim, support, and fan interest that more interesting and daring, if not strictly superior, marginalized creators might deserve. Even in a pure meritocracy, a diverse set of creators would be valuable to have access to through this kind of promotion (which is only that, as I understand it, a promotional newsletter) - but we don't live in a meritocracy, which makes these kinds of things even more valuable, morally and pragmatically. EDIT: I think I took the quoted post as being in more good faith than it deserved, on second read-through. Double edit: Whoah Nelly is that a Gamergate reference in that signature? Joe Slowboat fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Apr 25, 2018 |
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 06:36
|
|
|
Aniodia posted:Maybe it's because I am a straight white hetero dude, but I honestly don't really feel like ethnicity should really matter too much when it comes to elfgame writers, so long as you can write a game that's actually worth your time to read, if not actually play/run. If it's good, people will praise it; if it ends up being a wet shart (like Myfarog, for example), then it should be poo poo on appropriately, regardless of how much melanin the writer has. I dunno, it might just be me, but I think if people want to promote work, it should be work good enough to stand on it's own, without being propped up by some physical aspect of the writer themselves.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 06:38
|
|
|
Basically, judging content on its merits is fine and dandy - but if you never get a chance to judge the content because the author was black/gay/whatever, that's a shame. Take female authors of the 1800s. At the time, they weren't taken terribly seriously and had a seriously limited range of poo poo they could 'acceptably' write. So you don't really read their stuff because, eh, if it was good it'd be everywhere, right? Well maybe you miss out on Bronte, maybe you miss out on a steaming piece of poo poo, but because of the cultural biases in play you don't get a chance to find out.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 06:45
|
|
|
Aniodia posted:Maybe it's because I am a straight white hetero dude There's no maybe there, Blevin.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 06:50
|
|
|
Mr. Maltose posted:There's no maybe there, Blevin. woah i'm a straight white hetero dude and i think he's a dumbass, he has dumbass opinions cause he's a dumbass.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 07:11
|
|
|
Hashtag notallstraightwhiteheterodudes indeed.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 07:21
|
|
|
"A work should be judged on its quality, as determined by my life experiences as a straight white dude" often also results in dismissal and denial of the works of people outside that experience. It's phrased in some kind of coded language to pretend it's some quality of the work that's being dismissed when it's ultimately the lived experience of difference that is being judged--basically howtosuppresswomenswriting.txt. There's also often the difficulty in explaining why, for instance, it might be interesting to have a game be about a group of African superheroes defending their secret hidden country and the issues they are facing in deciding (or not) to engage the outside world to someone who has only ever sought the American experience. The worst conclusion to draw from any misfire is that "things with X" don't sell, like saying Catwoman is proof that black (female) action leads can't draw audiences.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 11:42
|
|
|
'It should be based on merit! I don't even see colour or sexuality!' is just code for 'everything is just fine the way it is right now'. Also 'how much melanin the writer has', yes, you got it, that's the only difference between the experiences of white people and the experiences of other kinds of people.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 11:59
|
|
|
Terrible Opinions posted:The problem is non-white dudes getting hired by the larger RPG making companies and getting access to distribution tools for releasing the games they have made independently. This is a fairly overt problem caused by systemic racism/sexism. Obviously once a work is made a distributed all you really have to care about is the quality therein, it's just getting to that point as somehow who isn't a white dude. So, encouraging diversity in larger RPG companies is a straightforward (though not easy) approach. Same with something like the newsletter, in essentially helping with visibility of more independent games. But how do you facilitate "access to distribution tools", in this context? That seems like for our weird little nerd hobby to be pretty critical, given the importance of the kickstarter/POD/pdf approach to sales these days, but I'm not sure what would be helpful in this frame. I suppose at least one approach would be to do something like the indie music label/publishing house routes of yore, and try to set up a collective oriented specifically towards publishing and promoting more diverse materials. Getting the company name up as one of the "big ones" on drivethru might help. At least, assuming the whole thing doesn't implode; my experience with some of those indie groups back in the 90s (for punk music and rabble lit anyway) was that they were notoriously volatile.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 12:42
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 17:33 |
|
|
Side note, if you think the big issue with Myfarog is 'it's not very good' as opposed to 'it is written by a literal Nazi and murderer' you got some problems.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 13:06
|
|
