An open letter to Frontier Development
- Thread starter CMDR Kai Zen
- Start date
Just want to clarify real quick because I missed it the first time I read your post. Thanks so much for the very kind words but want to make sure that I clear up any confusion. I am Kai Zen cohost of the Loose Screws Podcast and not the famous "Dr. Kai" of Distant Worlds (and many many other things) fame. Sadly I'm not 1/10th as cool as him. But again thank you for your kind comment!
Speak for yourself- I want it all, all of it with sprinkles and whipped cream!
The problem with Galnet is that it gets dry very quickly- player news has a place but at the end of the day its restricted to what players can do while fluff can be anything from ED.
As an example, when I used to help others write Ganlet submissions it became hard to make another PMF war sound exciting after the 100th time within the word limit. You need fluff like meat needs gravy sometimes- what was dry becomes moist and juicy. The only lingering thing then is to ensure whats in game and whats fluff is easily identifiable.
Same here. This seems to be one of the few times, where i completely and without limitations agree with Rubbernuke! That by itself is worth noting down as something very special.
I really, really liked the GalNet fluff. In my eyes it very much enrichened the game and i miss it. Of course, it's absence is not gamebreaking. But it just added another layer to the game. It's really like the cream on top of the cake, not required at all, but when you have it, it just makes it even better.
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Originally, I'm sure the ability for a player submit articles and events were something that was supposed to be part of the DDF rewards. I think there was only one event that was submitted, as as soon as it happened it was leaked to the rest of the community (one of the reasons for the shutdown of the DDF IMHO). However as far as other players submitting content, there are a few issues fdev would have to consider ;- Copyright, Validation and Translation.
Yes, I'm just as frustrated as the OP by the lack of Galnet news, and especially the CGs and IIs but to be honest, we've tried raising this point before and got no response. The previous open letter demanded Bug fixes and Open Betas and I feel that resources are so low for the running of the game that it's a case of either choose Bug Fixes, Open Betas and Fleet Carriers or Galnet, CGs and IIs. They think the community demanded the former but I don't think they people who put that open letter together didn't understand the knock on effect it would have with the game.
- Copyright - Pretty straight forward that you can't use any characters, vehicles or locations from any other fictional and non-fictional source. When I worked for a Media firm, it was one of my responsibilities to check this and it was a nightmare and very time consuming. There will always be some joker that will see if they can slip in something that will break the rules, not realising that if you miss it, it could cause financial penalties for fdev that wasn't really their fault.
- Validation - This is where fdev would have to examine the content to make sure it has the right feel for the Elite Galaxy. As much as we all love Cmdr Wotherspoon's Gal Net News, it doesn't have the 'Neutral' Tone that would be acceptable to fdev (I'm not saying Cmdr Wotherspoon would adapt, I'm just saying I don't think that fdev would accept it as is). This process can also be time consuming.
- Translation - This is the most overlooked factor. Translation into all the languages that Elite supports costs money and translation services are not cheep. Yes, you could crowd source it but then you'll be back to checking copyright and validation in the above languages.
Yes, I'm just as frustrated as the OP by the lack of Galnet news, and especially the CGs and IIs but to be honest, we've tried raising this point before and got no response. The previous open letter demanded Bug fixes and Open Betas and I feel that resources are so low for the running of the game that it's a case of either choose Bug Fixes, Open Betas and Fleet Carriers or Galnet, CGs and IIs. They think the community demanded the former but I don't think they people who put that open letter together didn't understand the knock on effect it would have with the game.
Great post!
While I don't play as much as I use to, I can absolutely see what you're saying.
Can't they just put one or two people on this, considering they have over 100 people working on Elite? Or even hire some fans to write part time, and have one staff member work as a part time editor?
Anyhow, thanks for sharing!
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This one, as explained just before your posting, is very dangerous for a company. As long as fans write non-profit stuff on eternal sites, things are all fine. But once anything related to a big IP ends up as in-game content, the vultures are there. And i am not speaking of the spaceship, but the kind wearing suits and briefcases.
Actually controlling fan-written content before putting it into the game can easily be several times the effort to just write things yourself. When writing things yourself, you have the names under control and don't have to be afraid with any new name appearing in an article to be related to some "random" IP, making some lawyers come for you. Having to cross-check every name and reference in any fan-written article can turn into a lot of work quickly, making it much more cost efficient to have one or two people on the team, who just all by themselves write just a few articles every week.
And those i really do miss. It didn't require piles of them. Just one or two a week already added so much to the game and i'd really have them back.
hence we see in the Terms & Conditions for this very site (link at the foot of each page) :
What you've extrapolated from my comment about "hiring fans to write part time" would require the people hiring and managing the "part time writers" to be of very little competence.
You're welcome to your opinion about the dangers of hiring fans as freelancers, but my opinion has not changed - in fact every day competent adults easily distinguish between "not for profit fan lore" and "official ip lore," and hiring part-time freelance writers has become a great solution for many companies and writers.
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Doesn't cover what i refer to. In short non-lawyer-language, what you quotes regulates that you give up any rights on anything you submit to FD. It becomes their property.
Technically this means that i can use weeks and weeks to paint the most pretty unicorn on a rainbow and submit it to them, to have it as squadron logo. The moment i send it, it belongs to FD, i can't go back and say "buy i painted it, it's mine, you have to pay me for that".
Unfortunately, i could also go ahead and look through some Disney movies, if i can find a pretty unicorn there for the same purpose. I still submit it to FD. But as i didn't have the rights for it when submitting it, i also can't transfer them to FD. If FD then uses it, they have problems. Of course, they didn't actively take the IP and use it for themselves. But that's no "get out of jail for free" card for them. If it was, it could easily be abused. So despite the clause you posted, FD would still have to expect plenty of trouble.
The same would be true, as given in the example above, if a character named Harry Potter would repeatedly turn up in the headlines. Luckily no pilot here would be known to fly under that name..
As long as the user entered the name, it's hard for lawyers to pin FD down on it. But once the name keeps appearing on in-game news or something like that, it'll be much harder to defend that.
I know what you mean. But i disagree on the little competence. There's way too many wild and obscure IPs out there, making it really hard to crosscheck everything. Also, i might be a little paranoid, but i've seen something along the lines (with graphics donated by the community, but still) happen to another smaller gaming company. Since observing that, i am along the "better save than sorry" line here.
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There have been films recently (The Hustle comes to mind) where people have signed off their rights to their story, then once there was a profit decided they were misinformed and started a lawsuit. I'm sure the same could be true of other more minor works - submit something, then turn around and claim it drove purchases and claim a share. Might not win in court, but the company still has all that hassle to deal with, and may well end up settling out of court just to make it go away
So yeah, not exactly the same, but basically 'it's a mine field'
Agreed Kai Zen, and a well-written post as well, very constructive.
As others have pointed out, legal difficulties are present, but they are not insurmountable. It comes down to a question of will (lowercase w) and resources.
But Elite Dangerous needs its story back; INRA, Thargoids, COL70, permit locks, Halsey, the Dark Wheel, Raxxla, even the machinations of the Power Play characters. It's a vast canvas upon which incredible stories can and should be told. Lore and narrative is an essential backdrop for player activities.
The Elite series of games had perhaps one of the most well documented and rich heritages that any game could aspire to, regardless of genre - a story that can trace its origins back over thirty years. It is a huge resource of material which could be exploited for greater player engagement, new sales and the retention of the existing playerbase. Such a heritage can not be built overnight, but its value erodes if not curated effectively.
There are plenty of proven community contributors who understand the legal issues and have provided engaging and worthwhile content in the past. Please consider investing in the curation of the lore and creating/collaborating on new narrative with end goals and purpose in mind.
Cheers,
Drew.
PS. Frontier have acknowledged this thread on their recent livestream, a good first step.
As others have pointed out, legal difficulties are present, but they are not insurmountable. It comes down to a question of will (lowercase w
) and resources.But Elite Dangerous needs its story back; INRA, Thargoids, COL70, permit locks, Halsey, the Dark Wheel, Raxxla, even the machinations of the Power Play characters. It's a vast canvas upon which incredible stories can and should be told. Lore and narrative is an essential backdrop for player activities.
The Elite series of games had perhaps one of the most well documented and rich heritages that any game could aspire to, regardless of genre - a story that can trace its origins back over thirty years. It is a huge resource of material which could be exploited for greater player engagement, new sales and the retention of the existing playerbase. Such a heritage can not be built overnight, but its value erodes if not curated effectively.
There are plenty of proven community contributors who understand the legal issues and have provided engaging and worthwhile content in the past. Please consider investing in the curation of the lore and creating/collaborating on new narrative with end goals and purpose in mind.
Cheers,
Drew.
PS. Frontier have acknowledged this thread on their recent livestream, a good first step.
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Good post !
I have to admit, I did enjoy listening to Galnet when jumping around doing stuff. Which seems to have just gotten a tad boring now
The story feels like it has died, I had been hoping that given the almost total lack of new content until sometime toward the end of this year we would see some narrative development to compensate but the reverse has turned out to be the case. We really have to accept that the end (suspension) of Interstellar Initiatives (themselves a wasted opportunity to advance the grand narrative) and with them the effective death of Galnet the game is effectively in maintenance mode until the next big update, I too am a huge fan of this game and what FDev have created since 1984 but I'm afraid what we've seen since Beyond ended has simply not been good enough.
I wholeheartedly agree that Galnet being absent brings the game down a notch. I did not always read it but I would catch up when I had time. The news reader was one of my favorite updates and some of the stories had me and my wingmates debating what was going to happen next. Bring back the stories. Please. Pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry on top!