Blogs - mikejkelley

The semester's well under way, and things are going well!

Under expert tutelage, CSIT 291 Game Development's project proposal entry has tied for first place in competition. They'll be showcasing their entry and accepting their prize March 23rd at SUNY Fredonia's American Play Ethic Symposium. Theirs is an augmented reality app that offers a gamified solution to the problematic question, "how can we reinvigorate the American print industry?"

Congrats guys!

Well, not entirely perhaps, but I've made great strides!

My father, by way of his attorney, introduced me to the head of SUNY Fredonia’s business incubator program. I gave him a DCD powerpoint presentation and he seemed interested. I drew up a business plan and filled out the tenant app. When I went in to sign the agreement I pitched him on a 4th, top secret, totally brilliant game. Suddenly the estimates of being funded with x amount of dollars (Navid: “x amount of dollars, that’s very good!) within a few months shot up to x times 10. For a day job he alluded to the possibility of an adjunct professorship for me. Quite chuffed!

At the conclusion of our last meeting we shook hands and he said, “we’re going to make a lot of money, we’re going to have a lot of fun, welcome to the club.”

Long live the dream!

My personal summary states "I'm mikejkelley, currently in the midst of a life-reformat." I think I typed that out 2 years ago... and it seems the reformat is not yet complete.

I wrote it after realizing that I had moved once a year EVERY year since I first entered college. I'd lived in ghettos in probably a dozen different cities on several different continents now. Sometimes I didn't even have a place to live. As a result of such sundry misadventures I'd learned to say "it's a long story" in seven different languages.

Upon returning home I'd decided a life-reformat was in order. A new beginning. Knowing that I probably wouldn't be settling down anytime soon, I sold off nearly everything I own. The remainder, along with my snowboard and motorcycle, fits in either 4 small boxes (two of which are tool boxes) or the two large suitcases I take with me. If you're thinking, "I can fit everything I own in 4 small boxes," you're fooling yourself. I don't even own a game console or TV anymore! Shocking horror, huh?

I still have my Capcom mini-cute, but that goes without saying. It's a rarity I'll prolly never part with (how rare? google "capcom mini-cute" and mine is the first image that comes up!).

And much like my life, the Capcom mini-cute sits in the corner, mummified in bubble wrap and packing paper, waiting for the day that I'll have the time and money to do something about it.

So the refromat continues to hang.

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Dream Casters' Duel is being copied. I'll put aside the cartoonish-dream-themed and future-tech+lucid-dreaming mods being made by ex-DCD watchers for now, and jump right to specifics.

Compare this from the dcdDesignDoc.doc, publicized once again less than 3 months ago...

Marrish:
Zombie Hands: To accomplish this attack, the Marrish invisibly marks a section of the map. When an opponent wanders into the proximity of this affected area, zombie hands reach up from the ground and detain the opponent until he or she is able to struggle free or the attack expires. While being detained, the opponent is unable to defend him or herself.

with this from the latest Naruto: Naiteki Kensei Mod...

Tsuiga no Jutsu is a non-damaging technique that roots your opponent in place. After casting the proper seals Kakashi summons Pakkun. Any nearby enemies will be chased by Pakkun for a short time. If they are unable to avoid their pursuer Pakkun will take hold summoning the rest of the dogs to clamp onto their target holding them in place.

Here's my case for having been infringed upon (the design document is copyrighted as well as being registered with WGWa as WGWa #1109915 as a treatment under the title "Dueling Dreams")...

1. The Naruto mod (which has very good animations btw) is infringing on copyright to begin with, so obviously they've no moral objections to the practice
2. As they are both anime and cel-shaded, the Naruto mod and DCD both share an audience and are regular features in the Anime Group. They would be familiar with DCD and would have motive for copying the DCD design doc.
3. Until recently, the Naruto mod has expressly ruled out the use of summons, leaving fans such as V.Metallic to comment "I thought you are not planning to add Summons, but nevermind."
4. I don't know of a single other "detainment summons" in all of fighting game modding until I added it to the DCD repetoire. Now shortly after I publicize the dcdDesignDoc, the Naruto mod reverses its' decision to not use summoning and uses a "detainment summons"? Seems like more than coincidence.

While it may not seem like much, original ideas like a "detainment summons" are the foundations of Dream Casters' Duel. Playing by the rules and honoring copyright law puts my mod at a great disadvantage to begin with. The Naruto mod, through theft, has capitalized on the years of marketing, years of professional design and development, professional full-time artistry, and world-wide fan base that Masashi Kishimoto and his team have worked for more than a decade to cultivate. Now the Nartuto mod wants to steal my ideas too? Fuck that. Not without a fight.

I'd like to think that the modding community would be as against using other ppl's ideas as much as it is against using other ppl's models without permission. I've seen people get into huge flame wars about gun models and character models (whose original creator had ip-thieved ironically enough) that looked the slightest bit similiar. I would like to think stealing ip from other modders would be made as socially unacceptable. Given this community's track record of allowing copyright infringement in all things however, should I hold my breath? You tell me.

I'm trying to be less negative, so I'm not going to harp on the subject, but I thought I'd post this to demonstrate how much the game has changed since 2007.

MOTY 2008

10. Licensing rip-off*
9. Licensing rip-off*
8. Age of Chivalry
7. Eternal Silence
6. Pirates, Vikings, & Knights 2
5. Zombie mod
4. Licensing rip-off*
3. Licensing rip-off*
2. Zombie mod
1. Guns and planes and tanks (and potential Licensing rip-off* )

Compare with my MOTY 2007 blog;

MOTY 2007, the abridged version Top 5 unreleased;

5. Licensing rip-off*
4. Licensing rip-off*
3. Licensing rip-off*
2. Licensing rip-off*
1. Zombie mod

Top 5 released;

5. Licensing rip-off*
4. Guns and planes and tanks
3. Guns and planes and tanks with a twist
2. Guns and planes and tanks
1. Guns and planes and tanks

Seriously, add an originality category.

(*violate copyright law and moddb.com's TOS)

As you can see, not much has changed, but this year we get to see a repeat Zombie mod and a repeat Guns and planes and tanks mod make the top ten. At least PVK2 made it!

I've recently researched and written an article regarding copyright infringement as it applies to modding (and, briefly, the legal repercussions of hosting copyright-infringing materials). I completed it with the input of several lawyers and a professional game designer.

I realize that the "soapbox" feature's establishment is probably not coincidental with the "IP in mods" debate and that the article may seem a good candidate for inclusion in the "soapbox" feature. However, as the article contains a much higher ratio of legal citation than opinion (it contains a singular conclusion that is the reflection of a multitude of statutes and legal precedents), putting it in an oped feature would tend to undermine the amount of research and professional input it includes. As a result I would only be willing to let it run as a feature.

I'm sure the staff and users of moddb.com are just as concerned as I am about the survivability of modding. Hopefully, understanding the legal repercussions of making and distributing copyright infringing materials will result in change for the better and help to ensure the survivability of modding for years to come.

Mikejkelley.com

Thanks for your time and consideration and I hope to see the article featured soon.

Sincerely,

Michael Kelley

How many people have read the moddb.com TOS?

"Must not contain copyright material "

"The mod is unique and original and not in violation of anothers intellectual property."

I've been watching the scoreboard for a little while, lots of votes for Stargate Mods, awesome.

I'd rotflol if it weren't such a sorry state of affairs.

안녕하새요...

070603
I clean, attempt to unpack, and later, attempt to purchase furnishings for the very meager squares of feet of space that is my apartment. My apartment is too small to accommodate the contents of my two suitcases in a civilized manner. Everything requires stacking, packing, and piling away. Retrieval of books or clothes or electronics requires rummaging through one of the few cabinets or drawers provided and purchased. The watchword will be 'hassle'.

070602
I woke up today, Saturday, feeling less like having taken a flight half-way round the world and more as if I had stumbled upon a very secret door in the back of a magical bureau. Opening it upon a half-forgotten world, I am saddened to realize it is also somewhat familiar to me.

On my first visit I had landed on the very southern tip of the peninsula in a small airport made of cinder blocks. It was hot, and everything hummed electric in iridescent amber hues through my saucer-sized shades, of the type favored by dictators in this hemisphere. We passed by rice patties in the valleys of mountains and hills on our way to the small sea-side town of XXXXXXXXX.

Nearly 3 years to the day, and it is once again remarkably hot. XXXXXXX is land-locked. The woman who dropped me off last night, I am not yet aware of her position at the school, neglected to tell me where in the city of XXXXXXXXXX I am, nor where anything of necessity might be. I have her number, but no way and no reason to call her. The other foreign teachers, of which I am told there are two, do not stop by to welcome me. I go out wandering.

070601
I begin by calculating the time in XXXXX, Greenwhich mean +9. I leave the house at a little after 5am EST, about 6pm in XXXXXX. I arrive one day and four hours later at what is to be my apartment for at least the next year.