Category: Media

The NY Times on How To Be A Troll. Though, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, there’s a distinction between being a curmudgeon/pill (being contrary because of general anger at the universe or because of ignorance) and being a troll (being contrary to get a rise out of folks).
Still, these sorts of things see to take up about 85% of the bandwidth on the boards, which is one reason I don’t read much except for the Dev repsonses and occasional explicit research into player guides.

1. Use the strongest language possible. Calling names is always effective, and four-letter words show that you mean business.

2. Having a violent opinion of something doesn’t require you to actually try it yourself. After all, plenty of people heatedly object to books they haven’t read or movies they haven’t seen. Heck, you can imagine perfectly well if something is any good.

3. If it’s a positive review that you didn’t like, call the reviewer a “fanboy.” Do not entertain the notion that the product, service, show, movie, book or restaurant might, in fact, be good. Instead, assume that the reviewer has received payment from the reviewee. Work in the word “shill” if possible.
Etc.

Note to self: The “review posts since your last visit” function on the AoC boards is moderately flaky, especially when there’s amount of activity. I’ve spotted (fortunately, by cross-reference) several notes that never showed up in the display only by going out and actually spotting them there. Rrg.

I’d not been aware that CoH was expanding to Asian markets (though it makes tremendous sense). Here’s an update on the new “big” heroes being rolled out with it — including a nice video.
Though … “City of Hero“? That sounds a bit … Engrish. (Note that the site renders pretty poorly in Firefox.)

Create your own legal City of Heroes CCG card of your own character. Fun.

My review.
Short summary: Borrow it from someone who already owns it, and don’t expect a whole lot more than a few interesting backstory tidbits.

1. “I am a dev. Here’s what’s going on.”
2. “Nerf! Doom! Doooooooooom! DOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! I am so sad!”
3. “Nerf! Damn devs hate us. They are laughing at us! We hates them! Hates them forever!”
4. “Nerf! I quit!”
5. “You nerfed X, but didn’t nerf Y! You helped Y, but didn’t help X! I’m so sad. I quit!”
6. “It’s not really that bad, people. Actually, some good stuff there. Thanks, devs!”
7. “You guys who thank the devs are super-gullable fools! And you’re insulting those of us who know that the devs are laughing at us! You’re fools! And lackeys! And evil minions! And fools! Nerfed evil lackey fools!”
8. “Hey! Cool icon!”
9. “The new issue has too much stuff I’m not interested in. Nice going, you evil nasty laughing-at-us devs! Steal more of my money, please!”
10. “The issues are coming too quickly! The devs are desparate!”
11. “It’s been too long since the last issue! The devs don’t care any more!”
12. “The devs promised feature X months ago. It hasn’t show up! They lied! They hate us! They’re lauging at us! Bait and switch! Nerf! Poit!”
13. “Here are my questions A-M and concerns N-Z …”
14. “I am a dev. Here is the answer to your question J. Or a partial answer, at least.”
15. “The answer to all your questions, even question J, is that we’re doooooomed! The folly of all your concerns is that the devs hate us! And they laughs at us, they does, my Precious! Nerf! Quit! Fool! Doom!”

Sure seems that way, sometime. Jeez.

Troy Hickman will be taking over the scripting on the City of Heroes comic for the next three issues. Hickman is the writer of the Eisner-nominated Common Grounds comic, which is a fave of mine, so I’m hoping it will be a better arc than the okay-but-disappointing Waid run.

This isn’t happening in CoH (as of yet), but I expect it’s a trend that will continue in the online gaming industry: ad placement in virtual environments.

After updating my version of SWAT4 to the latest patch from Vivendi, I soon discovered that the game was phoning home to grab posters to place in the enviroment of the game’s levels. Not only did it do this for every level that was played, but it also informed the advertisers of how long each poster was viewed, and by which gamer. Expect to see this kind of advertising and brand placement becoming standard fare in the very near future.
Now, I don’t know that this is an intrinsically evil thing. My biggest worry, in fact, is that it will cause a hit in performance. But it’s still vaguely … disturbing.
(via J-Walk)

Marvel has signed up with Microsoft to develop a Marvel-oriented MMO (as opposed to a MMORPG?) for the XBox 360.
(via Scott)

Nice.
Most amusing — hearing the “standard” sound effects in conjunction with the spiffy CG.

I suppose it’s very nice that City of Heroes is going to be turned into a conventional role playing game, but I can’t say I’m terribly excited by it. I mean, there are any number of keen supers RPG systems out there (which I’d enjoy playing), and I’m not sure that either the online-engendered limitations or the setting of Paragon City would be what I’d be looking for in a supers campaign.
Not to mention that combat resolution would seem (if like most RPGs) so slow, compared to the online rendition.

From the official NCSoft press release (emphasis mine):

LOS ANGELES, March 11, 2005?A U.S. district court judge in Los Angeles dismissed several key claims by comic book publisher Marvel Enterprises, Inc in the company’s trademark and copyright infringement case against online computer game publisher NCsoft® Corporation and game developer Cryptic Studios?. Marvel sued NCsoft and Cryptic Studios in November of last year, claiming that the City of Heroes® online computer game allows players to imitate comic book characters owned by Marvel.

In a March 9 order, U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner agreed with NCsoft that some of Marvel?s allegations and exhibits should be stricken as “false and sham” because certain allegedly infringing works depicted in Marvel?s pleadings were created not by users, but by Marvel itself.

The judge also dismissed more than half of Marvel’s claims against NCsoft and Cryptic Studios, including Marvel’s claims that the defendants directly infringed Marvel’s registered trademarks and are liable for purported infringement of Marvel’s trademarks by City of Heroes’ users. In addition, he dismissed Marvel’s claim for a judicial declaration that defendants are not an online service provider under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The judge dismissed all of these claims without leave to amend, meaning that Marvel cannot refile these claims.

Although the judge allowed certain claims to survive the motion to dismiss, NCsoft and Cryptic Studios are pleased with the result and are confident that both the law and the facts will support their case. In fact, citing a 1984 Supreme Court case holding that the sale of video cassette recorders did not violate copyright law, the Court noted that “It is uncontested that Defendants’ game has a substantial non-infringing use. Generally the sale of products with substantial non-infringing uses does not evoke liability for contributory copyright infringement.” Only “where a computer system operator is aware of specific infringing material on the computer system, and fails to remove it, the system operator contributes to infringement,” the Court stated.

The defendants have 10 days in which to answer and dispute Marvel’s allegations and to assert legal defenses to the remaining claims as well as to assert any counterclaims.
I’ll be keeping my eye out for the responding Marvel press release.

CoH has been named by CGW (Computer Gaming World) as the MMORPG of the Year. World of Warcraft got Game of the Year, with CoH getting the other award, but …

We don’t mean that in a “second place” sort of way, either — City of Heroes flies high above the competition, thanks to its staggering character-customization options, its immersive setting, and hands-down the most creative use of source material we’ve ever seen in this type of game. And, perhaps most importantly, it really makes you feel like a superhero.
Yay.

NCSoft has filed for dismissal in the suit brought against them by Marvel, which suit claims that City of Heroes allows folks to generate clones of Marvel’s trademarked and copyrighted characters. The horror!
Some choice bits:

Kids with wandering imaginations have long decorated school notebooks with pictures of fantastic and supernatural beings of their own design. The ingenuity of individuals, as expressed through the creation of characters incorporating timeless themes of mythology, patriotism, ‘good,’ and ‘evil,’ has been a source of entertainment in the form of role-playing games for ages. In the face of technology that enables individuals to engage in such activities in a virtual, on-line context, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. and Marvel Characters, Inc. (collectively, ‘Marvel’) have taken the unprecedented step of attempting to appropriate for themselves the world of fantasy-based characters […]

City of Heroes is a tool that encourages originality, not slavish copying. It allows young and old to exercise their imaginations to create super-powered beings and send them off to interact with the creations of other individuals in a virtual world called Paragon City. If it should be banned, then so should the #2 pencil, the Lego block, modeling clay, and anything else that allows one to give form to ideas …
Hearing on the motion is scheduled for 7 Feb.
(via Thought Balloons)

Hey, here’s a swift move that will no doubt make Marvel the favorite company of any number of fans and potential fans. Marvel is suing the City of Heroes folks because players of the online game can use its extremely flexible character design to design characters that look and act like … well, Marvel super-heroes.
How … adult of them.
It’s not that CoH has Marvel characters, or knock-offs thereof, inherently in it. It’s just that there’s nothing to stop players from creating big, strong, angry characters with green skin and purple pants. Or agile fighters with claws coming out of their hands and yellow/black/blue costumes. Or … well, you get the idea. And, in fact, players can name their characters … well, whatever they want. Including names that are trademarked by Marvel.
This is, of course, the fault of the software publisher and the company that hosts the game on their servers.
Feh. I think Scott Kurtz’s commentary on the subject is spot on.