Splitting hairs. Trademark is nothing more than copyright as it applies to a franchise instead of a single item. It's all the same copyright law.
Quote from mjerome
Whats funny is people think that the company that designed the game which is different then the company that sued mojang are dicks when really Tod Howard and Notch are friends thats why they put Notch's pick axe in the game...
Absolutely true. I wouldn't doubt that somewhere in the mix, Bethesda expressed that they had no worries about the use of the title or desire to sue Mojang. That's probably why Mojang never got a direct answer when asked Zenimax why they were being sued. Kind of hard to explain in non-legal or non-legislative terms: "Well, our clients don't want to sue you, but we have total executive control of legal matters for their company. So, we're forcing them to sue you anyway."
And this is why lawyers are not issued firearms.
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I am really liking 1.9. One of my biggest gripes with the game was that weapons worked just like tools, for all intents and purposes. I had sort of resigned myself, years ago, that it wasn't really a game about combat, so simple was just the way it was going to be. Now there's some "game" involved in combat. And I'm loving shields.
I can't really see why anyone would dislike these changes aside from "it's different".
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This joke is tradition! It doesn't need to be funny, it needs to be honored.
Besides, never forget that every day sees new people discovering Minecraft for the first time. Would you really want to leave them out of all the past Herobrine humor?
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Splitting hairs. Trademark is nothing more than copyright as it applies to a franchise instead of a single item. It's all the same copyright law.
Absolutely true. I wouldn't doubt that somewhere in the mix, Bethesda expressed that they had no worries about the use of the title or desire to sue Mojang. That's probably why Mojang never got a direct answer when asked Zenimax why they were being sued. Kind of hard to explain in non-legal or non-legislative terms: "Well, our clients don't want to sue you, but we have total executive control of legal matters for their company. So, we're forcing them to sue you anyway."
And this is why lawyers are not issued firearms.
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A request for a little more consideration, please. Jeb is doing a fantastic job, but I would say it's in pretty poor taste to bash the man who single-handedly created the game in next breath. Besides, Jeb has been given executive control of the game--it's not like Notch is totally uninvolved.
So, can we all try to avoid ignoring all of the good an individual has done because they make a few decisions we don't agree with? Give the credit where the credit is due without slamming someone else at the same time? Simple manners, people.
Try to look at it this way: sometimes when you truly focus on a project that's important to you, you lose objectivity. It becomes too important in your own mind. You aren't able to step away from it and say, "Hey, maybe it would actually be better to do this instead of what I really wanted to do." And it's all opinion, anyway. Don't like a feature or a new game mechanic? Express your opinion about the feature or game mechanic--not the person. Like a new addition to the game? Express your approval of the new addition--not the person.
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Yes, I have. I understand the argument. But I really don't see that it's that "ugly", as it's supposed to be a swamp. Looks good enough for me.
Edit: In fact, I've just compared a few screenshots of the old and the new swamp textures...and I have to say that the original textures didn't even look like swamps. More like a series of weeping willows and puddles surrounded by healthy grass. (Puts on flame-retardent suit. Sound of a zipper and several snaps being fastened. His voice is muffled behind the thick oxygen mask.) I like the new textures better.
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First, each world would be limited in size instead of infinite. They could still be huge, say several hundred-thousand blocks in each direction from the spawn, but when you reached the "edge", there would be an impenetrable fog (Here there be dragons) that would kill you similar to drowning. Not only would this incorporate all of the present features, but it would allow for a sense of "completeness" to each world. It would also almost guarantee fewer bugs and wierdness when maps get extremely big.
Second, biomes would follow a rough equation in their placement. As an example: tundra in the "north", followed by taiga, then temperate forest, then grassland, and desert in the extreme south. Swamps could be found in clumps throughout the taiga, forest, and grassland. Mushroom forests would always border or be found within swamps. Mountains would exist primarily on the borders of different biomes.
I know this is possible, but how difficult would it be? It would be great to spawn somewhere and know roughly where you had to go to find the environment you were looking for, and then you would have a huge expanse of that continuous environment to explore.
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Nope. I'm naturally facetious.
Yay!
(Sound of sheep dying.)
Hurry with the official release!
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And for what? A few measly bales of wool that cannot begin to cover the demand for carpeting, artistry, and decoration demanded by most Minecraftian cultures.
I say stop the madness! Add regrowing wool to vanilla sheep and save the lives of countless numbers of bleating natives.
(Or add a formula or something: Bone Meal + Red Stone = Sheepy Rogaine)
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Awesome news. (Naturally, I'm stuck in a cheap-o apartment in the Middle East with no way to plug my laptop in and more work to get done than I can reasonably think about without panicking. But the first free weekend I get, I'm gonna seed a world using my favorite book title and pop a creeper in the face with an enchanted hoe.)
*Wind-up and...* WOOT!
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What did he fail to do? When did anyone at Mojang ever say that they were directly competing with major developers? (They don't have to compete--they ushered in a brand new style of gameplay.) What "behavior" are you referring to?
At the beginning, Notch said that he would like to build the game as a creative sandbox with an option to engage in a sort of light RPG. Once Mojang was formed, they began dveloping ideas to implement into the game to give players even more options and variety. They announced several features that were going to be added at certain points, and added them. They set a date for the official gold release, and have made fantastic progress on bringing in all of the necessary features.
Nothing that was ever confirmed as an addition to the game has ever failed to be delivered. There has been no talk of competition, nor did anything added to the game ever attempt to directly compete with another title. And throughout the process, Notch has behaved...the same as ever?
You must have forgotten that you were playing unoffical pre-release builds designed for debugging, not official release betas in stable condition designed to show off completed features. I wouldn't bank too heavily on all of the meaning I have added to your cause.
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Oh for the love of...
I would like to see any of the people ranting and complaining do the following:
1.) Single-handedly write the computer code for a software title that not only immediately captures the interest of an enormous body of people, but also allows for an incredible amount of design freedom, expandability, and modabilty.
2.) Work your present full-time job while simultaneously improving a complex computer program involving technologies that you have to self-educate yourself on as you go.
3.) Have the wherewithal to recognize the potential of the game you've been developing as a hobby, then have the balls to quit your full-time job and devote your efforts to a startup software development company with only 2 titles in the works.
4.) Convince several of your friends and work associates to do the same and join your new company on faith.
5.) Release your software as open beta to any who wish to pay a small amount upfront, automatically cutting your profits by a wide margin when the game reaches the market at full price.
6.) Devote your efforts to listening to the desires of fans while simultaneously keeping your original vision for the game intact.
7.) Work for an additional year, managing a quickly growing company while traveling all over the world to promote publicity, dealing with your upcoming wedding and new marriage, being suprised by a coporate-level lawsuit, and finishing a software development project by a set deadline.
8.) Remain professional in the face of a horde of people that you've been working hard to please as they rant and complain about your incompetence and foolishness simply because a few features may not be at 100% at the game's release. (Because that never happens in software companies that staff hundreds of developers and invest millions of dollars into a title's production.)
Posts like the original here show absolutely no understanding of the work and time that Mojang has put into every aspect of this game. If only people were machines that could operate 24/7 because others paid $20 for the right to beta-test their product. These complaints are more than a little bit spoiled.
Why don't people who have a major problem with the state of the pre-releases boot up Minecraft Alpha and compare the two? So terribly sorry if the NPC roads have a pothole or two.
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Why does everyone focus on the the Quake 3 idea? Granted, this looks a little immature, but (as I've expressed before) was actually one of the only adult and proactive suggestions in the entire process. What I find ironic is that Mojang had previously offered to withdraw their application for a copyright on the word "Scrolls", which Zenimax/Bethesda refused to accept, but many people fail to remember or mention this part. Mojang's hands were already tied when Notch suggested the Quake 3 match.
Regardless, I stand by my orginal prognosis. The court will decide:
--that no infringement was made against Zenimax's/Bethesda's existing copyright.
--that it is not legal to copyright a non-coined word for use as a media title.
--that Mojang is free to use the word "Scrolls" for its upcoming title without copyright.
Then, I think Mojang will simply copyright a different title, like "Mojang's SCROLLS" to secure their market title.
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"Absolutely dragon free! Mostly."
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What is the argument you're presenting here? You want the developers to stop pursuing their vision until you are satisfied that the game is progressing according to your own vision?
I would be in complete agreement with you if the game were released gold in this state and Mojang did nothing for months afterward but alter the textures of the Snowmen's buttons, but this is not the case. The game is still in beta. The releases you are referring to are not there to entertain people or show off the final version's features--they're being released to fix bugs. Period.
It's perfectly sensible for Notch and Jeb to purposefully leave features out of the pre-releases (giving users a sense of uncertainty about certain elements) because they do not want to reveal all of their secrets until release.
Most of what you are saying here is based on your own, personal feelings about the content (which you are entitled to), but you're also saying that because Mojang isn't handling things the way you would prefer (regarding content, features, new game devices, etc.) they're somehow acting irresponsibly or illegaly. It sounds like you don't like what's been added to the game. That's fine. But you cannot turn around and say, "I knowingly paid for an unfinished software title, and now I don't like how it turned out, so Mojang has a responsibility to give me what I want."
This is art, man. Creativity. Design. Not to mention hard work. If you don't care for it anymore, you can't make demands of the artist. Go find other art.