RvR, So Sue Me

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1. Daily Column

Legal wranglings are not new to the game industry. One company flexing legal muscle against another usually gets top billing on every MMOG website. Strangely, a recent tussle seemed to fall through the cracks. This post by Adam Carpenter, the Lead Designer on Fury sums it up,

"I wanted to let everyone know we have been informed that the term "REALM vs. REALM" is trademarked and we need to stop using it to describe Fury’s Server vs. Server vs. Server competitive gameplay. Apparently using the term may confuse gamers. We don't think it will and believe our use of the term is purely descriptive. Nonetheless, we've decided not to use the term any more as, basically, we don't like lawyers and don't want to deal with them - we just want to concentrate on making this great game! To assist us, we’d appreciate it if you could stop using the term on the forums. As a related note, we will continue to refer to each of Fury’s unique 'servers' as "Realms" as that is ingrained in Fury’s backstory and is an industry standard term for a server."

Realm versus Realm was a term first used by Dark Age of Camelot and although it holds a very different meaning in DAoC it still needed to be protected according to the legal eagles. You can read the whole thread here.

At what point does a term like 'Realm versus Realm' become public domain? MMOG servers are called realms. Some players even refer to 'Faction versus Faction' PvP in World of Warcraft as realm versus realm.

Legal opinions welcome. Gamers' opinions even more welcome.

Comments, questions or naughty pictures? Hit the blog or hit my mailbox. --Boomjack

2. New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

AGDC: Fallen Earth Interview With Lee Hammock - Cody "Micajah" Bye Blog: Post Patch Hate - Cody "Micajah" Bye EverQuest 2: Bard Achievement Abilities - Savanja Gods and Heroes: Roleplaying - Todd "Charabis" Davis Lord of the Rings Online: Lore-master Traits Guide - Stacy "Martuk" Jones Lord of the Rings Online: Developer Interview, The Conclusion - Stacy "Martuk" Jones Tabula Rasa: Leveling Guide Part 3 - Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle Vanguard: Monster Project - Shade of the Great Worm - Danny "Ralsu" Gourley World of Warcraft: U.I. Updates - David "Xerin" Piner World of Warcraft: Hellfire Peninsula Reputation Guide - Gabriel "DarkFact" Zamudio World of Warcraft: Articles / Editorials Page Updated - Byron "Messiah" Mudry

3. Hot Content - What our readers viewed the most yesterday! Did you miss anything?

Comics: Listing Leipzig 2007 Awards Ten Ton Hammer Gallery EVE Online: Ambulation Unveiled at PAX 2007 Warhammer Online: Interview With Mark Jacobs EVE Online: Avatars Video From GDC 2007 Aion: Reveal Video at Leipzig 2007 World of Warcraft Overview Lord of the Rings Online: Balrog Announced at Leipzig 2007 Stargate Worlds: Tollana Screenshots

4. Real World News

Computer Nerds Auction Tech Skills For Dates [Thanks Danny]
The millionaires of tomorrow are the geeks of today. More Men Busting Out With 'Man Boobs' [Thanks Pat]
Kramer's 'brossiere" selling out everywhere. School Buses' Top Speed Fixed at 57 MPH
Sandra Bullock staples her foot to the pedal.

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com

- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team