A Sad Announcement

[Straight Up Jumpshot]

@Ngugi as far as my understanding of copyright and trademark law in the United States, the owner cannot pick and choose what they want to remove or keep. They either have to remove all instances of people copying or using their intellectual property or allow all forms of it. So sadly, I doubt a chat with GRRM or his legal team will amount to anything productive. The community will hopefully just have to move to a domain which doesn't earn any add revenue.

[Korpskog]

This freaking sucks!!

[PandaChef]

What does full membership mean? Why exactly, is it being taken down? I mean the forum hardly uses any copyright stuff, is the mod being taken down as well?

[Korpskog]

I supose this means that us submodders have to move aswell?

[Kiliç Alì]

Submods and Hotseats future are at the moment our major concern; It is still unclear if we have to "just" shut the main mod down, or the entire W:TW forum; and while HS may have some chances, submods will very likely have to be shot down.


2k+1! I'm gonna miss this...

[ccllnply]

Is someone looking into the legitimacy of this? I mean Cozur from the Mount & Blade Warband mod, "A Clash of Kings" has said he's not been contacted by these lawyers and he feels the whole thing is sketchy. While the "A Game of Thrones" mod team for Crusader Kings II don't seem to have any issue either as this topic hasn't been brought up on their official forum or their Paradox forum. While WTW does seem to have a fan activity level equal to or even great than that of the CK2 mod in terms of release progress they are quite far behind the other ASOIAF mods (no disrespect to the modders of WTW intended there) so it makes me sceptical as to why only this mod was targeted.

Although in typing this, the idea came to me that maybe that is the reason they only targeted this mod. Since it's still in beta, perhaps they saw a chance to stop something big before it got going. Just like with Middle-earth Role Playing for Skyrim and they way that was closed down while Third Age Total War was left alone.

[krste]

Is someone looking into the legitimacy of this? I mean Cozur from the Mount & Blade Warband mod, "A Clash of Kings" has said he's not been contacted by these lawyers and he feels the whole thing is sketchy. While the "A Game of Thrones" mod team for Crusader Kings II don't seem to have any issue either as this topic hasn't been brought up on their official forum or their Paradox forum. While WTW does seem to have a fan activity level equal to or even great than that of the CK2 mod in terms of release progress they are quite far behind the other ASOIAF mods (no disrespect to the modders of WTW intended there) so it makes me sceptical as to why only this mod was targeted.

Although in typing this, the idea came to me that maybe that is the reason they only targeted this mod. Since it's still in beta, perhaps they saw a chance to stop something big before it got going. Just like with Middle-earth Role Playing for Skyrim and they way that was closed down while Third Age Total War was left alone.

Most likely they don't even know about the other mods. This one most likely caught their attention by the subforum on Westeros.org.

[Butan]

Poor show of legal/morale skill lawyers of G.R.R.M. ...

[Silenced Ape]

This is sad....

[Murfmurf]

Doubt it's GRRM. Much more likely his legal time and publishers.

They just moved up to 2nd after football agents as my least favourite profession.

[atheniandp]

what is more peotic is that we were releasing the full version in approximately a month. everything is done, we are just doing some polishing now and we were going to do a surprise release though I think that is ruined for now...

Please, just find a way to release this mod asap. The longer the release is the delayed, the higher the chance that the mod will never see the light of day. Look at MERP.

[Lord Derfel]

This is very sad news


I have been waiting for this mod since 2010. Does this mean the entire mod is now scrapped? The same thing happened to the LOTR Skyrim mod. It is a shame to let all the hard work go to waste. Does the team plan on continuing with the mod and release it at some point? Will it be possible to release what has already been done? Sorry to ask so many questions just very disappointed, as if he (or his legal team) did not make enough money from hbo already. For shame, very sad news.

[SoulGamesInc]

Does this mean the entire mod is now scrapped?

The mod will live on, but unfortunately cannot remain here on TWC.

[Mr.IAmHere]

The mod will live on, but unfortunately cannot remain here on TWC.

Do we know where this mod is migrating?

[Butan]

Do we know where this mod is migrating?

It might be better to inform people on a private/individual basis where it will migrate to.

Will rearranging letters work? For example Westeros become Southeros and Ned Stark (for example) become Nick Stack?

Might work (as stupid as it sound, but then its as stupid as the whole affair), I trust the guys responsible for this mod to choose the lesser evil.

[Wallachian]

Yes please, we need to find out somehow where the mod is migrating. Would it be illegal for the new destination to be disclosed on TWC?

[LestaT]

Will rearranging letters work ? For example Westeros become Southeros and Ned Stark (for example) become Nick Stack ? Rather than disbanding or moving the mod from here. You can still say it's inspired by the books/HBO series whatsoever just to have the tie-in somewhere. Reminds me of the movie Willow few decades back which is obviously a story base on LOTR yet due to maybe copyright issues the names have changed even the basis of the story is the same.

[megells]

I think one of our best options is to show them just how many people they've offended and angered. I plan on somehow writing to Martin and I encourage others to do so in a respectful yet determined manner. If they know that they've stepped into a community of dedicated and united people who are some of the biggest ASOIAF fans out there, then perhaps they'll know they've gone too far. Any effective arguments that can be come up with will be needed, and please don't take this as encouragement for hate mail. If Martin truly isn't involved himself, then maybe he will be more sympathetic to us, and especially if they're flooded with even hundreds of separate correspondence. We do have a voice and this is a time to use it. We are doing nothing wrong and they must know that. When I've found my way to contact him in some way I'll share it with the rest of you

[Kiliç Alì]

Is someone looking into the legitimacy of this?

No, and nobody will. TWC simply cannot afford a trial, so whether their claim is legit or not is inconsequential: W:TW and submods have to move off.

[Andytheplatypus]

Wow guys this is terrible. I was afraid something like this would happen one day although I expected tatw not wtw. In any event I offer my paid mediafire account to anyone who wants to upload any of their mods/submods if you need a place to store it until you find a new home.