KickStarter Shroud of the Avatar - Lord British's Not-Ultima Online 2

[Clockwork Knight]

To this day, I've seen that pic a thousand times and I still laugh at how everyone is still roleplaying while one guy is going HE DIED in allcaps

The text overlay makes it even better.

Foolish man, did he think he could survOH MY FUCKING GOD HE DIED I CANT FUCKING BELIEVE THAT WORKED HOLY SHITtish is dead! Zounds!

 

[Zeriel]

Is his... my god, his twitter account is really just a massive brag. "FIRST SECOND-GENERATION HERP DONG IN SPACE". And his picture is so trolly that if it were any one else I'd assume it was a joke.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Well, shit, this crap might have a negative impact on the Torment Kickstarter if they start around the same time

Edit: Paging Faggot None. Delay, delay! Or start now!

 

[Xavier0889]

It's said that he spent most of his money on his space adventure, yes.

He was pretty much broke after the space trip, is the common rumor. But afterwards he did successfully sue NCSoft for $28 million, so uh...I think he has enough money.

Keep in mind legal costs.

As far as I know he also had to sell his larping mansion.

Richard Garriott @RichardGarriott
What waits beyond for Lord British? http://www.lordbritishpresents.com/ #LordBritishPresents pic.twitter.com/yig8ItoYBt

So... Avatar.... and Moongates. Can he actually use... stuff from the Ultima IP even though he does not own it?

Those aren't moongates... those are lunar portals
I wonder if RG's still owns some rights over the Ultima franchise. Copyright and all the legal stuff around it is always a mess.

 

[Jaesun]

My understanding is Gariott handed over everything to EA (The Ultima name, IP, everything) EXCEPT Lord British™ , thus the reasson the new shitty Ultima MMO had lady British/ That is so fucking retarded.

 

[Excidium]

My understanding is Gariott handed over everything to EA (The Ultima name, IP, everything) EXCEPT Lord British™ , thus the reasson the new shitty Ultima MMO had lady British/ That is so fucking retarded.

So he only owns his larpy name? I thought he had kept more stuff like the other characters' names. Can't EA find a reason to sue him about this, then? I mean "Avatar", same Ultima font...

 

[Jaesun]

My understanding is Gariott handed over everything to EA (The Ultima name, IP, everything) EXCEPT Lord British™ , thus the reasson the new shitty Ultima MMO had lady British/ That is so fucking retarded.

So he only owns his larpy name? I thought he had kept more stuff like the other characters' names. Can't EA find a reason to sue him about this, then? I mean "Avatar", same Ultima font...

THAT is what I am wondering. Using "Avatar" they can't do shit. They don't own a copyright to "Avatar". They DO own all the story, characters and places in all the Ultima series, like you will not see Dupre (or even the "Guardian") in his new game (though I'm not too sure on how IP laws work). From Fargo's The Bard's Tale I just know he could NOT mention any character in the original (because EA owns them) or any of the story from the originals. Something like that.

 

[Alex]

Oh my God! Oh my God!

I know most of you don't hold any hope for Garriot making a good game again, but I do. I can only hope we have very good news one week from now.

 

[Xavier0889]

My understanding is Gariott handed over everything to EA (The Ultima name, IP, everything) EXCEPT Lord British™ , thus the reasson the new shitty Ultima MMO had lady British/ That is so fucking retarded.

So he only owns his larpy name? I thought he had kept more stuff like the other characters' names. Can't EA find a reason to sue him about this, then? I mean "Avatar", same Ultima font...

The font thing would work if it was specifically created for the series. Now that you mentioned that, it always pisses me of the ammount of games that use this Diablo font with crosses in the "o". It is so fucking annoying.
Something similar happens with the Avatar word, because is that, a word. Besides, there are other products with the word Avatar in them (the Cameron movie, the cartoons, etc).

 

[evdk]

Oh my God! Oh my God!

I know most of you don't hold any hope for Garriot making a good game again, but I do. I can only hope we have very good news one week from now.

o_O May I interest you in a bridge..?

 

[Alex]

Oh my God! Oh my God!

I know most of you don't hold any hope for Garriot making a good game again, but I do. I can only hope we have very good news one week from now.

o_O May I interest you in a bridge..?

Depends, did you work in any classic RPGs I know of?

 

[Excidium]

My understanding is Gariott handed over everything to EA (The Ultima name, IP, everything) EXCEPT Lord British™ , thus the reasson the new shitty Ultima MMO had lady British/ That is so fucking retarded.

So he only owns his larpy name? I thought he had kept more stuff like the other characters' names. Can't EA find a reason to sue him about this, then? I mean "Avatar", same Ultima font...

The font thing would work if it was specifically created for the series. Now that you mentioned that, it always pisses me of the ammount of games that use this Diablo font with crosses in the "o". It is so fucking annoying.
Something similar happens with the Avatar word, because is that, a word. Besides, there are other products with the word Avatar in them (the Cameron movie, the cartoons, etc).

Yes, but there's the relation with Ultima IP, being a "Lord British presents" project, and virtues...It's not just Avatar thrown around in something completely unrelated.

 

[Jaesun]

Yes, but there's the relation with Ultima IP, being a "Lord British presents" project, and virtues...It's not just Avatar thrown around in something completely unrelated.

I would *assume* he has already gone over this stuff with his lawyers. Or if he has not, he is a complete fucking idiot.

You should really watch and listen carefully to this Alex: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=v4xfrVUj_c0#t=1520s

Listen very carefully.

 

[Saduj]

BTW - It was $30 million he paid to go into space.

 

[Jaesun]

Imagine, if he really was passionate about a video game, what he could have done with that 30 million......

 

[BigWeather]

I really, really want to believe. I'm not stupid enough to dream of a single player, party-based, turn-based RPG a la Ultima IV or V -- that's just setting myself up for disappointment. Listening to that link Jaesun provided it doesn't sound like my cup of tea (social casual games) but... it can't be worse than what Ultima Forever is shaping up to be, can it?

It's probably a good thing he doesn't have access to the Ultima IP directly -- my wallet would empty for that Kickstarter. Especially if Denis Loubet was on board.

 

[Excidium]

I'm p. sure it will exceed all expectations.

 

[Jaesun]

The only thing I can think of, is he will rip off what the Star Citizen thing is doing. An MMO... with single player? Something like that.

Except Chris did it first. Gariott is late to the party.

 

[BigWeather]

I do have some hope. Ultima Online does have a lot of neat non-adventurer roles, maybe he'll pull it off should he (almost certainly) go the non-single-player route.

 

[tuluse]

The font thing would work if it was specifically created for the series. Now that you mentioned that, it always pisses me of the ammount of games that use this Diablo font with crosses in the "o". It is so fucking annoying.
Something similar happens with the Avatar word, because is that, a word. Besides, there are other products with the word Avatar in them (the Cameron movie, the cartoons, etc).

Context matters when it comes to trade marks and copy rights. You can't just take the word avatar forever, but I think within the context of a computer roleplaying game, when associated with Lord British and the virtues, that EA would have a pretty strong case for creating brand confusion.

 

[BigWeather]

Denis Loubet tweeted about art coming soon. I'm screwed, I know I'll succumb.

 

[MisterStone]

I though Zynga was backing this?

:claws out eyes:

 

[Excommunicator]

The sooner it begins the sooner it can end and he can wake up to the reality of what people do and do not want

 

[MisterStone]

If he's gone Zynga, might as well write him off and move on to current gen of independent developers

 

[Tytus]

Ultima series is a hoax it never happened. You were duped by NASA and American goverment. They created this hoax so people would think USA had better games than USSR.