VMK Unleashed!

[Imagineer_Tech]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Zev

A group called Falling Star Productions is making VMK with moving characters, chat, exactly as VMK. Not sure if it is going through but it currently isn't illegal because Disney does not own the copyright to VMK any longer, they can make the game called VMK. Falling star productions also called Disney and confirmed it. I'm excited to play again If it does open at least..

-Zev

This is from Zev on VMKMagic, The above is not me. For more information on this topic it is on VMKMagic in the closing the kingdom section.
I put this on this board because I feel that VMK used to and always will be a Disney Game. Mods please move if needed.


ALL OF THE ABOVE EVEN THOUGH MAY SOUND TRUE MAY NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPEN.

[aengus]

Hate to say this Ill

never happen

VMK is the distinct property of Disney, Disney does indeed own the copyright despite what was written there. It's simply false.

[WWEDUDE]

Just wanted to share this, which was on one of there sites (both from FSP's website).

FSP would never want to break the law, and it is not our intent to do that with VMKU. We are contacting Disney on the matter, and our hope is that they understand our plea. If any of you are still worried about the law if it opens, then the simple answer to your problem is just to not play the game. We do promise that if the game opens to the public, it will be legal. Right now, the game is still in development, but our mission is to bring back most of VMK, and then some. It won't exactly be the same VMK you all knew, but changed for the better

Yea I cant give too much about it because we are striving to keep it secret. Though, I can tell you that their will be chatting and it will be an MMO. There have been various things revamped in the game like the toolbar and stuff to make them more eye popping. Also, no it will not be a full remake of the game. We are planning on getting as far as we can but it will be too hard to go full way into what VMK did. Unlike Disney the coders of this game are teenagers and we are doing our best.

They seem.. to be too confident about Disney's cooperation.

[Imagineer_Tech]

Originally Posted by aengus

Hate to say this Ill

never happen

VMK is the distinct property of Disney, Disney does indeed own the copyright despite what was written there. It's simply false.

Aengus, you know I respect your opinion and your thoughts always along with everyone elses, but may I ask that we keep this thread to discuss the this and the possibilties?

[aengus]

Originally Posted by WWEDUDE

Just wanted to share this, which was on one of there sites.




They seem.. to be too confident about Disney's cooperation.

I don't see any statement from Disney Dude.

Originally Posted by Imagineer_Tech

Aengus, you know I respect your opinion and your thoughts always along with everyone elses, but may I ask that we keep this thread to discuss the this and the possibilties?

For now yes. But lets not be posting links to their site ok.

[Imagineer_Tech]

For now yes. But lets not be posting links to their site ok.

Will do.

[aengus]

I am tempted to post the person who made its phone number so you can all call him and he can explain his great plan to you.

[WWEDUDE]

Originally Posted by aengus

I don't see any statement from Disney Dude.

I was saying that was a statement from Falling Star Productions, and that they are too confident that Disney will allow this.

Personally I don't think they have a plan, or even the experience to make a game like VMK. They said themselves that they are teenagers, unlike VMK's staff. Now I don't have much experience with construction of virtual worlds but I would have to assume it would take quite a bit of education on this subject. I am not trying to pass judgement on them, for all I know they could have had education on it. But I hope they are not just thinking they can find a tutorial online on how to make it. (Not to mention if they use flash, which I would think they would need to, it would be 700 dollars on top of server space.. but again I don't know that much about the creators.

[Bugdozer]

I really wish people would just lay VMK to rest. Simply put it is gone and it won't be back. It is time to move on to move forward. It only prolongs the sadness when things like this happen. Like the big rumor that VMK was coming back in October. I feel bad for all the kids that get their hopes up. I know it will not be back but the kids don't understand and fall prey to all the rumors. It is time to let go...

Bug

[Dreamytime]

I don't believe in letting it just go...
I think that it is healthy for Disney and all other MMORPG owners to realize that they are responsible for PEOPLE not merely AVATARS.

I agree that this is not going to happen. Sulake and Disney couldn't come to an understanding so how is some group of teenagers going to get Disney to allow their intellectual property go.

But, I believe (as I email WDIG every Monday and send a letter each Tuesday) that they need to know how their decisions effect real people...the people who they are supposed to be making 'dreams come true' for each day.

(also, Falling Star hasn't been able to put together their OWN website more than a flash presentation in the last year, what makes us believe they can put together a fully functioning MMORPG with the attributes of VMK?)

[PrincessNoelle]

As much as I would like this to be true, VMK was all about Disney. I can't believe that Disney would not maintain control of the copyright.

[Dreamytime]

Copyright law stays it is ok to use someone else's work only if:

a. You have permission;
b. The work is in the public domain; or
c. What you do with the work amounts to "fair use."

It doesn't differentiate for-profit and not-for-profit.

Technically speaking, if they didn't get permission to use the VMK logo, like they did in the Unleashed logo shown in the first post, they can go to jail before writing 1 line of code.

[aengus]

Sorry for doing a little clean up, but I had a feeling of deja vu all over again.

We have seen this routine before.

[IHearAVoice]

Hi, folks. Voice here.

Being a software developer myself, I've had keen interest in ownership rights for a couple of decades and keep up with the tides of public law with respect to copyrights and ownership... at least in some regard.

A work such as VMK has many legal facets about it; branding, sounds, source code, gameplay concepts, and so-on. Each of these are elements that have some sort of ownership claim. For example, the likenesses of the characters are artwork in the legal sense, and although they may be incorporated into the game, they are still works of art that in and of themselves can carry copyright and ownership protections.

So, therefore, it becomes a problem if one were to create their own work (a web game, in this case) and use these pieces of artwork without permission. A complete change of artwork would be necessary... an expensive proposition. It's not impossible... the owner has many options to allow the use of their creations; licensing, royalty agreements, or even agreements for royalty-free use. But, that is up to the creator of the work.

Then there's the issue of look and feel. This is an area I can say that I am somewhat of an authority on due to a lawsuit that the company I work for got involved in... in fact, it set legal a number of precedents for creating look and feel in commercial software. The bottom line was the ruling in Federal court was that look and feel was considered a created work and that public display of the look and feel did not constitute a submission into the public domain. It would then be quite risky (in the legal sense) to create a work that is substantially based on the look and feel of another work, especially when there are references to that fact in either private design documents or public discussion.

Now, all of this came into question in 2006 when the Library of Congress (who is tasked for research for Congress, and thus the decisions of the Patent and Trademark Office) decided that they would make an exception to copyright claims for what they termed "abandonware", which was loosely defined as software that was created and protected under copyright, but which was not actively being produced or marketted anymore. Their decision allowed for the archival (copying) of the software, but did not go so far as to declare the software (including the elements of the software such as images, sounds, and look and feel) as public domain. This was a very loose decision, but the spirit of it was basically to allow enthusiasts and collectors the ability to circumvent copy protection and avoid licensing restrictions, but only in the capacity of preserving it... not for redistribution or sale.

So, what does all of this mean in relation to VMK?

Basically, VMK is still the property of the Walt Disney Company (or whomever they licensed it from... I'm not up on that aspect of it). They still own the likenesses... they still own the look and feel... they still own the source code. So at a minimum, to avoid a legal issue, agreements would have to be made between them and potential new developers for use of those elements individually. And while VMK might very well fall under the "abandonware" category, it would be in the sense of the work as a whole (executable code and all), which is not likely in the hands of anyone outside of the organization. And even if it were, to create a new usable version of the site wouldn't fall under the "preservation" decision of the Library of Congress.

Therefore, it appears, that unless the Walt Disney Company entered into agreements for the continued development and marketing of the site, it is highly unlikely this will happen. And if it does, the developers are easily setting themselves up for legal struggles... and those don't come cheap.

[NedsTJ]

I probably shouldn't as I'll most likely get smacked for this but....
(Note: defintily taken out of context....)

Originally Posted by WWEDUDE

...But I hope they are not just thinking they can find a tutorial online on how to make it. ...

Why not? Obviously precedent has been set that it is possible to create a cutting edge, graphic intensive, interactive MMOG that delivers quality user experience, online gameplay and social interaction from an online tutorial in just 1 month???! How else could certain other VMK imitators have gotten off the floppy disk..er...hard drive...er server!