posted 03-30- 03:49 PM               

There seems to be little support for a suit against Activision. But there might be support for a formal letter signed by all interested community members.

Before a letter is drafted to Activision (if at all), I thought I might see how much support there was for such a letter.

The letter itself would basically start out praising Activision for its past successes. Informing it of our collective belief that the Activision name was synonymous with quality. That it was upon this foundation we purchased SDOE.

That we were pleased that a CD patch was made, but that it seems support for the sim has dropped off. That we as a community wanted to urge the company to come to our aid.

It will tell them that the greatest issues we see that need correction are;
1) online lag
2) online damage is lower than off line damage
3) The bombers have a specific bug

The letter will also state that there are other issues we would eventually like to address, such as additional features for different time periods, dynamic missions, and random mission generation.

It will state that the creations of the community have continued to bring sales of the original product. It will state that we would like to see SDOE survive the WWII sim flood of last year to be the highest regarded sim in history. That we as a community plan to back SDOE to that end.

We would then ask that the company fund these changes and continue to support the project. Otherwise, we would ask that the source code be released in whole or in part to the community so that we may create these changes out of our love for the sim.

The letter will state that the community is dedicated to seeing these changes occur. That if Activision does not respond at all, we will be forced to inform the entire global gaming community of the lack of support given to SDOE, the lack of customer care, and the indifference to the company toward all gamers. We would have to do so in all game related media. We would seek petitions to ban Activision products by gamers worldwide. That we may also consider a class action suit based on deceptive trade practices.

It would end stating that these dire acts are not ones we are want to take. That we would much rathe work with Activision under its full ownership of the rights to the product to improve the product. That should Activision agree, it would be a first of its kind advertising bonanza to the company. Not only would they garner our eternal respect, gratitude and loyalty. That we would support Activision in its future endeavors, and they would have a way to state that they had made a first time in history cooperative outreach to its customers, in support of their joint love of a product. That we hope they will choose the latter path. One of mutual benefit to all parties. One that would lead to greater goodwill, advertising, sales, and shelf life to their product. Over one that would lead to bitter conflict, lifelong strife, economic hardship, and a negative advertising boondoggle.

posted 03-30- 04:30 PM               

Goth, my hat is off to you sir for turning my vitriolic gob-shite into something that has class stamped all over it. If THAT doesn't get a result nothing will. Except suing the bastards. Or executing the CEO.

ME, ME, with a silenced Ingram!

posted 03-30- 04:32 PM               

K some of this stuff is sounding great. I have to mention one thing though.

As far as I know. Activision owns the UI and networking code. Plus some more. BUT Parsoft owns the engine that powers the game.

So they could not release the source with out Parsofts/inertias permission.

Also about Parsoft/Inertia not getting paid.

I don't think MH ment they never got paid. What he ment was they were paid a one time fee. They don't get any royalties. Helping to push more PR for SDOE doesn't help them. Well it does (there reputation, Highly important in the feild of flight sims) but not right now.

posted 03-30- 05:48 PM               

My guess is that the release of the source code may not actually be a problem with Activision. It may be an issue on OpenPlane and intellectual property rights. If the source code were released without qualification, it would make it public domain. Anyone could do anything with it they wanted to.

The "semi" in SOS probably means a limited release to a few trusted individuals who sign contracts stating they will protect the intellectual property of Parsoft and any other right holders in the code. Not that the code would be only semi-open (some features hidden or disabled). If the code is owned by Parsoft, then the legalities may lie more with thier lawyers than with Activision's lawyers. Although Activision may still have some legal control over the code as it relates directly to their particular manifestation of the code.

A letter to activision would only help if Activision were the culprit. I now think the culprit is anal retentive attorneys fearing whether the contract drafted to protect the rights of control and distribution of the source code is enforcable and strong enough to protect the interests of its developers, and not a hold up by corporate decision makers.

Therefor, it may be best to sit and wait it out. We might have to bide our time, be patient, and see where it all ends up.

There is still time for any other action. In Texas at least, the statute of limitations on a contractual action is 4 years.

If this scenario of a SOS release to a few trusted individuals is accurate (and the most plausible), then we will all suddenly find ourselves deeply indebted to a select few chosen people. Who will be re-creating this sim for free to our custom desires. If so, I thik we would all feel rather...bad... if we had rattled our sabres too early.

By the way....you did just read that right... a lawyer, a Texas Lawyer, A Texas Trial Lawyer, just said waiting might be best at this time. See, we aren't all the blood thirsty, back stabbin', money grubbing, ambulance chasing, cheap suit wearin', sweaty palmed, bastards you thought we were.
*grinning, but carefully so as to not let the shark teeth show*

posted 03-30- 06:02 PM               

We have a secret weapon, our very own US lawyer!

Goth, me old pal, buddy, best mate...come into my office...

Goth is on the point, yes, he carries the M60 AND HE KNOWS HOW TO USE IT.

I've always said, a letter on headed paper, from a brief, is worth a hundred hand-grenades.

Ok Goth, you reckon we should wait a bit. You're the expert so I'm amicable to that course of action. Let's see where SOS takes us (probably up shit-creek) and come back to letters and litigation at a later date. Tomorrow at noon sound ok?

posted 03-30- 07:01 PM            

OpenPlane is Inertia's bread and butter. They would no more give OpenPlane away for free than Adobe would give away PhotoShop.

posted 03-30- 10:20 PM               

I'll abstain from lawyer jokes at this time.