fizzjob Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 http://www.uniwatchblog.com/?p=411 One of my White Sox mods, one of my Braves mods and one of Royal Blues' Brewers/Pilots mods get linked to in Paul Lukas' uniwatch blog today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac111 Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 The uniwatch blog is a great blog, that I have to admit to reading daily! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleMo Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 I've had 2 people tell me about this blog. Why? What do you go there for and why do you guys like it? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean O Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 It's nice to have a blog dedicated to a really insane, esoteric subject matter. It's kind of cool stumbling on a community of people who all follow such a random part of sports, while also uncovering much that would've been hidden. I used to read it regularly on espn.com, and it was consistently entertaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirate Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 I am a regular reader and contributer to Paul's blog. Yes I am a geek. I have offered to write this entry for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angryrat Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 I have a question about being noticed.... is it really a good thing? I always wondered the legality of the Mods.... I mean, technically they consist of useage of the MLBPA that was not consented? I've always been curious, whether or not EA or MLB knew about MVPmods, and what would happen if they found out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeuceBlades Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 All I have to say is that IMHO, the rules should not have to apply to the modders, because the original MVP series stopped with EA sports. I have never seen anything where it says that the users of the game cant create anything for the game itself. If anything, they should take notice, because the garbage thats out there now, is quite frankly, ridiculous. I love the MVP series, even when it was Triple Play. There is no game for the PC, and until there is, I will continue to play this one. The modders do an excellent job of recreating everything. I think if I were EA, Id be taking a look at guys like Hory, Big-O, Pirate, UncleMo, Kraw, Shmooze, KG, KC and a whole lot more that I have forgotten. You guys are the backbone of 2005 now. If it were not for you, or Trues hosting this site, nobody would be playing 2005 at all. Im really glad to be apart of this collection of people, and at last count, I believe it was somewhere around 43,000 people. That is saying something, and if anything, the ones who should take notice, are not noticing, and that is EA, for not putting up a fight to keep their rights to the game of baseball. I hope that they do come back with MVP again someday, because what they have is alot better than what I have played over the last year, and you modders are a tribute to that, and I thank all of you that have been apart to the continuation of the legacy of MVP 2005. Thank you all modders, your work is brilliant! ! ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleMo Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 Legality is not an issue because we are not profitting from it. If anything, they'd go after the site owner who could someone prove he isn't making a dime as profit. Most likely he'll get a cease and desist letter of which they'll just shut this site down. But come on. This isn't going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJEagles Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 Legality is not an issue because we are not profitting from it. If anything, they'd go after the site owner who could someone prove he isn't making a dime as profit. Most likely he'll get a cease and desist letter of which they'll just shut this site down. But come on. This isn't going to happen. If they did that, they would probably go after EAMods, and DMHD, NBA-Live.com...all of them. I don't suspect they would go after Trues and no one else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeuceBlades Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 I dont think so either. Its to much money to drag something like that into court, and its not hurting anyone anyway. Im not a betting man, and if I were, I would have to side with DJ and UncleMo on this. You cant fault a bunch of guys trying to make games just a little more enjoyable, and since there is no profit being made, unless by volunteer donation, which as soon as I get some money on my card, I will be donating, there is nothing they can really do. There are just to many other important things to deal with, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royal Blues Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 This is very, very cool. It's really nice for us modders to have some positive exposure. Pirate, I'm sure that would be right up your alley. I have four years of newspaper experience, including a year writing sports for my home town in Gulf Coast Texas. I'd love to do it too, but time has become something of an issue for me. fizz, thanks for clearing up the helmet issue As far as legal issues, like others have said already, there shouldn't be much to worry about. I used to be a modder for a site called Freedom Reborn, which modded an older game called Freedom Force (a super hero game, for those who don't know). Another modder ran his own site that consisted of skins for both Freedom Force and the original Sims series. His site was attacked by Marvel, who sent him a C&D letter with the threat of a lawsuit if he didn't comply. Of course that had everybody at Freedom Reborn extremely worried, but nobody else's sites were attacked, nor was Freedom Reborn itself (which actually garnered an artical in Game Pro or one of the other high-profile mags). Marvel was having its own legal problems at the time, which is probably what started the ball rolling on that particular site. Aside from that, DC and Image never sent any such letters to anybody. Long story short, we shouldn't have anything to worry about here, as long as nobody's being officially paid for their mods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean O Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Folks, there's no way in hell EA is unaware of everything we've done over the past 3 or 4 years. Some additional media attention won't make the slightest bit of difference. If Trues started charging each visitor to download files, EA would be on us in a heartbeat. Same with any modder taking money in exchange for work, in the commission sense, not the paypal donation sense. Especially not for a 3 year old game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardcoreLegend Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 EA isn't who you have to worry about. It's MLB and MLBPA. They will shut down anyone for anything and unless you have the money to fight them there is nothing you can do about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superciuc Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Here's my question:MLB and MLBPA knows about this site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardcoreLegend Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Here's my question:MLB and MLBPA knows about this site? I don't know. They pay people to scoure the internet to look for instances of copyright infringment and unpaid royalties. They regularly scan eBay, YouTube, Craigs List, etc. Sometimes unauthroized graphics, etc have been forced down by the ever dreaded MLB 'Cease and Desist' letter. MLB may not care. If 2kSports went to them and said that this site and sites like it caused them major financial problems and hurt their exclusivity, MLB could sent the letter to the admins of this site and have it shut down. Would they have justification? Maybe, maybe not. But do the admins have the funds to fight their on retainer lawyers in court? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizzjob Posted March 22, 2007 Author Share Posted March 22, 2007 I have offered to write this entry for him. So did I, since two of the three jerseys he linked to were mine. When I clicked on the links and saw my 1901 Sox road jersey and the Braves 1976 sleeve detail shots, I just about plotzed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirate Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I was so excited too. I know he'll get a kick out of all the details you guys put into them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean O Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 MLB may not care. If 2kSports went to them and said that this site and sites like it caused them major financial problems and hurt their exclusivity, MLB could sent the letter to the admins of this site and have it shut down. I mean, this raises an interesting question. Baseball Mogul is sold over the 'net, and that still uses all the real names and players in its product, without repercussion. Even without that, these are all modifications to a pre-existing product. It's not like the sale of MVP becomes illegal once the exclusivity contract comes into play, nor should it affect any mods made to that product. While we obviously wouldn't have the money to fight off a huge corporation like 2ksports, how exactly would we be injuring their rights by modding the game? The only possible logical argument I can see is people holding off on purchasing a 2ksports title because of the continual "freshness" added to the game, but the PC and console markets do not have a ton of overlap. I do not expect any difficulty on any of these counts, since there is so little to be gained. There is no victim in this, and plenty of potential downsides if anyone attempted litigation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardcoreLegend Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Yes, but there is no victim on YouTube when people upload videos from their personal collections of classic MLB stuff that was once broadcast, etc yet MLB forces it down. You can't even save YouTube video to your desktop. Baseball Mogul may get away with it because the courts ruled that players names and statistics are not copyrightable. They are pieces of information, like the news, that can be used without rights reserved. If it uses logos, graphics, etc, then I don't know what it is allowed to be used. Unless we are creating the logo, photos, wordmarks and advertisements from scratch, we are using copyrighted material. I personally don't think MLB cares very much about this site or that they would win in any kind of legal battle. However, all they have to do is put the wheels in motion and they have the money to basically crush anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royal Blues Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 One potential downside of an attempt at litigation would be the fact that EA gets a lot of attention from this. Sure, they're not making money from any sales of MVP '05, but is it unreasonable to think that they see a sales increase in their other sports titles, either directly or indirectly, from people coming here and seeing what EA has to offer? On top of that, EA has to know they still have an incredible market with us if 2ksports does wind up eventually going under, and they'd be able to continue the MVP line. That being said, we could have a potential ally in EA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean O Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Yes, but there is no victim on YouTube when people upload videos from their personal collections of classic MLB stuff that was once broadcast, etc yet MLB forces it down. You can't even save YouTube video to your desktop. Ah, but the difference is that the simple act of being able to view it free means that the person is unlikely to pay MLB for the access to the clip in question. In our case, we have already purchased somebody's product, and are distributing changes to it free to others. If we were trading copies of 2ksports' game that were fully playable as often as you wanted without their permission, that would be another story. If EA decided to get into the modding business and were charging $20 a season or whatever for complete updates, then we would be in direct violation. As it is, we're making changes to a product that already has logos, graphics, et al. from before the exclusivity, without any alternative route. Also, if 2ksports decided to offer a PC version we'd be in a much worse spot, since we are doing something that directly obstructs the potential purchase of another product with a copyright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royal Blues Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I personally don't think MLB cares very much about this site or that they would win in any kind of legal battle. However, all they have to do is put the wheels in motion and they have the money to basically crush anyone. That's a good point, too. If MLB did care, we wouldn't have half the reference material we have, such as sportslogos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superciuc Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 MLB doesn't cares.It's 2K sports that can lose some money here, because MVP 05 is still played because of the modders.If they know about this site,they will shut it down. We don't have to worry for know because they did nothing the last year and i think that they won't do something this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardcoreLegend Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 You don't have to pay to watch MLB clips on MLB.com, it's free. Full games, yes, but that isn't what they are continuely forcing off of YouTube. Listen, I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but to think that MLB won't step in and do something isn't looking at it realistically. I hope every modder on this site gets as much pub as they can because you all do fantastic work here. That isn't what this is about. This is about the liklihood with more 'conventional' exposure of the site, the increased chances of catching MLB's attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean O Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 You don't have to pay to watch MLB clips on MLB.com, it's free. Full games, yes, but that isn't what they are continuely forcing off of YouTube. Listen, I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but to think that MLB won't step in and do something isn't looking at it realistically. I hope every modder on this site gets as much pub as they can because you all do fantastic work here. That isn't what this is about. This is about the liklihood with more 'conventional' exposure of the site, the increased chances of catching MLB's attention. There are obviously two different things at play here: the fact that a corporation in America can do nearly whatever they want without any justification or repercussions, and whether or not they'd have a leg to stand on. On the first count, it's clear that they can do anything they want, since the government has even let them be a monopoly without a problem. It's the second point where I'm arguing, that they would be in the wrong if we had the magical ability to throw millions of dollars up against their lawyers. I would put the chances of mlb being unaware of us at around 1%, and nothing has happened, so I'm not worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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