On: Bethesda suing Mojang AB for "Scrolls"

[jameskilton]

So are Bethesda's lawyers taking a page from Monster Cable's play book, even up to the point of attacking a small indy developer who's games would never be mistaken for any of Bethesda's games?

Hopefully this is just lawyers being lawyers, and the Internet backlash gets someone's attention at Bethesda quickly.

[masklinn → jameskilton]

> So are Bethesda's lawyers taking a page from Monster Cable's play book

So far, it reads like Langdell's book more than Monster's.

[jameskilton → masklinn]

I had not known about Tim Langdell, yes this is definitely closer to his shenanigans than Monster's.

For the others who don't know Tim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_Games

[masklinn → jameskilton]

> I had not known about Tim Langdell

You've missed out. I recommend browsing the archives of ChaosEdge[0] to get the backstory. It's really quite amazing. In gaming communities, Langdell is the One True Trademark Troll.

[0] http://chaosedge.wordpress.com/

[ugh → jameskilton]

… well, I don’t think hyperbole is the right way of approaching this. Mojang is most definitely not a small developer. Not by any stretch of the imagination. It’s bad enough as is, there is no need to exaggerate for dramatic effect.

[masklinn → ugh]

> … well, I don’t think hyperbole is the right way of approaching this. Mojang is most definitely not a small developer. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Really? Mojang AB is 8 people, no sales, no game officially released yet. How is that not "a small developer"? Because they've already accrued millions of sales due to making something people like?

[ugh → masklinn]

Just because they are effective doesn’t mean they are not big.

They certainly are one of the smaller developers. What they are not, however, is a small indie developer. They are a huge indie developer.

[masklinn → ugh]

> Just because they are effective doesn’t mean they are not big.

But just because they're effective doesn't mean they're big either. As far as game development companies go, Mojang is positively tiny. Efficient (or, really, in possession of a very popular IP), but tiny.

> They certainly are one of the smaller developers. What they are not, however, is a small indie developer. They are a huge indie developer.

Right, they're pretty big as far as indies go. But they're still a small gaming company.

[RickHull → ugh]

Oh, you mean small or huge among indie developers. I'm not sure that's an important distinction. My understanding is the universe of discourse is all game developers, and that small and indie were independent qualifications.

[trobertson → ugh]

I disagree. Mojang is a small indie development team with a small game, and a huge fanbase. Being popular does not make them big. It makes their market big.

[ugh → trobertson]

€135,000 revenue per day (!) makes them a huge indie developer. To pretend otherwise is completely absurd.

[ristretto → jameskilton]

I think minecraft is past the bar of a "small indy game".