Does this change anything? I saw it yesterday morning, but I didn't think to post it until I read this thread:
Scrabulous Comes Back to Facebook as Wordscraper: http://freeculturenews.com/2008/08/01/scrabulous-comes-back-to-facebook-as-wordscraper/ ~Conley Ringo Kamens wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > FreeCulture.org - Students for Free Culture wrote: > >> Writes Nelson Pavlosky on our blog: >> >> Do you feel that Hasbro's lawsuit against [Scrabulous][1] was rather >> heavy-handed? Did you enjoy Scrabulous's revival of a 60-year-old game, >> and do you resent Hasbro's [free-riding off of the innovators who made >> Scrabulous][2]? Is it uncool that Hasbro used Scrabulous to make >> Scrabble more popular, and then sued the Scrabulous developers once >> Hasbro developed an official Facebook app? >> >> Then perhaps it is time that you began boycotting Hasbro's Scrabble, in >> all its forms. Why not: >> >> * **Refuse to use official Scrabble online games -** Let's face it, >> they're [not as good as Scrabulous was][3], anyway. You can join the >> Facebook group [We refuse to use official Scrabble app since Hasbro shut >> down Scrabulous][4] or probably a dozen others like it. >> >> * **Continue playing Scrabulous anyway - **Hasbro does not own the >> copyrights to Scrabble outside the USA and Canada, some other company >> does. So, if you connect to Facebook from an IP address located outside >> the US and Canada, then you can continue playing Scrabulous just like >> the good old days. [This Facebook group][5] has easy instructions on how >> to do so, by connecting to Facebook through a proxy server. A silver >> lining to this lawsuit might be getting more people using the [Firefox >> web browser][6] and the [FoxyProxy][7] add-on. >> >> * **Avoid buying products from Hasbro - **Do you really need a new >> Scrabble board? Aren't there a gazillion Scrabble boards floating around >> people's attics and garage sales that you could pick up for a song? Same >> thing goes for other Hasbro games! Exercise your first sale rights and >> buy used games instead. >> >> * **If you have a Scrabble board, don't play Scrabble on it, play a >> different word game -** What's so good about the exact copyrighted >> version of Scrabble anyway? The Scrabulous developers realized this and >> [released the more flexible Wordscraper][8], a Scrabble-esque game that >> lets you change the board/rules. If you have a physical Scrabble board, >> there are innumerable word games you could play with it. You could use >> the tiles to play [Anagrams][9], a lovely fast-paced party game that >> predates Scrabble, or perhaps even [Bananagrams][10]. Or, create your >> own entirely new word game, and go down in history as the inventor of >> something even better than Scrabble! >> >> * **Make your own Scrabble-esque boards -** Why buy it when you can >> make it yourself? The tiles might be a bit tricky (although a [RepRap 3d >> printer][11] would probably make short work of it once it's generally >> available to the public) but it should be child's play to draw a grid >> and fill in the boxes with double word scores or more interesting >> variations. >> >> Honestly, Hasbro's rent-seeking with the Scrabble copyright is a really >> annoying example of how copyright can hinder creativity rather than >> encouraging it. Scrabble was invented in 1938, and sold by the creator >> in 1948 to someone who could commercialize it (not Hasbro, Hasbro bought >> the copyright much later around 1986). How much real innovation has been >> done since then with Scrabble by people who benefit from the copyright >> royalties? Isn't it telling that the innovators here innovated without >> benefiting from copyright controls or copyright royalties? This is a >> clear case of copyright outlasting its usefulness. Perhaps more >> importantly, I think it's rotten that Hasbro is shutting down Scrabulous >> for bringing Scrabble to life again for a new generation… that's not a >> proper reward. I'd love to send a message to Hasbro that their behavior >> is really uncool. Just because Hasbro has the legal power to shut down >> Scrabulous doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, either for their >> bottom line (see [the Economist's cautious endorsement of piracy][12]) >> or for creativity in the field of gaming. >> >> [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabulous >> >> [2]: http://freedomforip.org/2008/07/31/hasbro-v-scrabulous-tm-in-a >> -user-generated-world/ >> >> [3]: >> http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/29/1455219&tid=202 >> >> [4]: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25544341610&ref=nf >> >> [5]: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22388656294&ref=nf >> >> [6]: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ >> >> [7]: http://foxyproxy.mozdev.org/ >> >> [8]: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080731-scrabulous-goes- >> for-bonus-points-relaunches-as-wordscraper.html >> >> [9]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagrams >> >> [10]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bananagrams >> >> [11]: http://reprap.org/ >> >> [12]: >> http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11750492 >> >> URL: >> http://freeculture.org/blog/2008/07/31/ideas-for-boycotting-scrabble-and-hasbro/ >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> > Cool ideas, I'm certainly never using the official version anymore. I > with the developers would release the source code so we could to a mass > civil disobedience : ( > CRK > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) > > iD8DBQFIkoHXmBTzXUpNYqQRAk5RAJ9favcTm1FAkLjWBKlkJ2iXHXOP0gCgua0b > w3TKmVyCnIlIT6Pgs9VlbfI= > =EKU3 > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
