Thom Speicher

My final was a game concept for a platform style game inspired by conker's bad fur day for N64. My project focused on character designs and storyboards for my game "Thom Speicher in escape from bizerkeley"

So I have priced my account by comparing my character to other for sale on the Internet. There are several over-seas companies with website that not only sell WOW gold but also sell accounts. After looking at the pricing I guessed that my account is worth about $1000. On these websites you also can sell your account to the company but only for 10% of the amount they will sell it for. The other option is to sell through eBay or Craig’s list. So I posted an ad on Craig’s list, the first reply I got from the post was from blizzard.
They request this information because they do not have anyway to trace me from the posting. The email is different then my accounts, I did not give my characters name or realm name, and there are 7 million players…. Good luck looking. The thing I found interesting is that if I got a hit from blizzard after hours from posting, how do company websites stay up? There has been new of blizzard cracking down of these websites with lawsuits. But yet these sites still exist. My question is why doesn’t blizzard jump on the bandwagon? They obviously see that amount of money that is being pulled in from these companies but it’s surprising to think that they could be making that money. I guess since they are already making money over hand and fist they are not concerned. This isn’t the first time blizzard has been involved in a lawsuit against outside game commerce,

March 24, 2006
Software Company Wrongfully Interfered with Sale of Guide to Popular Video Game on eBay
Florida Resident’s Unofficial Guide to “World of Warcraft” Does Not Violate Copyright, Infringe Upon Video Game Maker’s Intellectual Property
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Florida resident should be allowed to sell a guide to playing the popular online video game “World of Warcraft” because it does not infringe upon the video game maker’s copyright, trademark or other rights, Public Citizen said ina lawsuit filed late Thursday in a federal court in California.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, seeks to restore the right of Brian Kopp of Bronson, Fla., to sell the guide. He was blocked from selling it on eBay after the video game maker, Irvine, Calif.-based Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., invoked the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by claiming that the guide violated its copyright in the game. The suit also seeks to prohibit Blizzard, its parent company Vivendi Universal Games Inc. of Los Angeles, and the Washington, D.C.-based Entertainment Software Association (ESA) from further interfering with the sale of the guide, and to recover damages for lost sales.
The companies also have threatened to sue Kopp for copyright infringement if he sells the guide at all, although he is still selling it on his personal Web site. If the companies’ interpretation of their copyright were allowed to prevail, it would threaten the publication of future how-to guides about any subject and a wide variety of other speech that merely comments on a copyrighted work.
“Copyright laws are designed to promote creativity and innovation, not squelch it,” said Greg Beck, the Public Citizen attorney representing Kopp. “A video game is copyrightable just like a book, and just like a book you should be able to comment on it, create new works inspired by it, teach about it in classes, write newspaper articles about it and so on. It is this kind of innovation and open discussion that the copyright laws are supposed to foster. By claiming that mere publication of a how-to book about its game infringes its copyright, Blizzard has interpreted its intellectual property rights in a way that would prohibit legitimate commentary that is protected by the First Amendment.”
Kopp wrote and published a guide to the electronic video game “World of Warcraft” – currently the most popular online game in North America – and began selling copies of the guide on eBay on Aug. 18, 2005. During the next few months, Kopp sold several hundred copies of the guide book, “The Ultimate World of Warcraft Leveling & Gold Guide.”
The guide book contains tips on how to play the game but does not contain any copyrighted text or storyline from the video game, according to Public Citizen’s lawsuit. Kopp includes disclaimers in the guide stating that it was not an official guide and clearly noting that he was not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment, the developer and publisher of “World of Warcraft.”
After Kopp began selling his guide, Blizzard Entertainment, Vivendi, and the ESA filed several notices of claimed infringement under the DMCA, asserting that Kopp’s guide violated the video game maker’s intellectual property rights.
EBay terminated auctions for the guide as a result of the notices. EBay terminates auctions if intellectual property owners that are part of eBay’s “Verified Rights Owners” program – in this case, Blizzard, Vivendi and the ESA – file notices of claimed infringement against particular auctions in accordance with the DMCA. When a certain number of auctions are terminated – the exact number varies from person to person – eBay suspends the seller’s account. Kopp’s account has been suspended, meaning he is unable to sell his guide on eBay and has lost profits as a result.
“Companies are increasingly using the DMCA and eBay’s Verified Rights Owner program to interfere with legitimate competition by small online retailers,” Beck said. “Overaggressive application of claimed intellectual property rights by corporations not only interferes with free speech protected by the First Amendment, but ultimately hurts consumers by reducing the choices available to them.”
Neil Greenstein of TechMark, a California intellectual property firm, serves as local counsel for Kopp. To view the lawsuit, click here.

But in this case blizzard has lost. Online commerce within video games is becoming a big issue and is turning out to be a big problem with copyright laws. This is a complex problem that will take the lawmaking process many years to figure out.

Recently I have decided to stop playing World of Warcraft. The game is to time consuming to have a normal life. The question now is what to do with my character. Blizzard has stated that selling and account for a profit is subject to account ban. Meaning that all characters in the world of Warcraft are owned by blizzard. But after developing a character for several years a sense of entitlement starts to arise. It can be argued that the program World of Warcraft is a tool, and what one person creates in the game is there intellectual property. Since there is a contract that Blizzard makes all players sign so blizzard is in its full rights. Even though it is wrong I cant look at all the work I have accomplished as blizzards property. Another effect that comes up in developing a World of Warcraft character is that the character becomes an extension of the player, like raising a pet. At least for me I would rather have someone keep building on the progress that I have started then to have the account go unplayed. So what would you do; stop playing and let the account sit dormant in blizzards servers, or sell the account to another player who will use it?

So what I want to do is a character design and storyboard of a mod for the N64 of the game conker's bad fur day. This game is the most offensive gross and crass game I have ever played. The character will be loosely based on myself. If I have time I will try to get some modeling of the character.

in the spirit of hallween I found a great game,where you can kill zombies and improve your typing skills. it takes the orginal house of the dead game but you have to type to overcome the zombies.....

demo at
http://downloads.gamezone.com/demos/d2037.htm

Man what a fun game. I found it hard to pull myself away to write this review. I have always been a fan what I call the Cine-a-game genra, which I describe as a game that plot plays out more like a movie; the games focus is on telling a story and not about the interactive aspects as much. This is in no way the funnest game I played, the interface and game play is something to be desired. I have yet to figure out the proper way to handle the mult-color arrow controls and the camera angles in game are a little odd. All of this didn't bother me because as soon as the game starts I was caught. The graphics of the game arn't the best and I cant help but wonder what a updated version might look like say if the game was made for xbox 360.

I enjoyed the unique health bar which is desplayed in stress levels. This is very simmaler to one of my favorite games I have played in my made up cine-a-game catagory, eternal darkness of the gamecube, in this game the health bar was shown by your sanity, and the more insane you became the more the game would mess with you, by haveing fake flys crawl over you screen, to haveing you screen turn off, or giving you a error message were all your files are erased.

This game is just one of a great example if you have a good concept and Idea for a game, and if its exacuted fairly well, it will be a sucess. I think that even having a tiny part of interactiveness in a plot driven game has the power to compeletly emeres yourself in the of the game

What could make a force more powerful, better?

I honestly think after view this game, the point is to prove that the establishment will win. In my campaign I played I believe I was trying to convert communist. After 3months of had work I successfully got 5 members of my team arrested and newspaper adds declaring that no one is for our cause. The sticky note interface and boring sky view of an uneventful city just reinforces the fact that being an activist is un-important, and in the end nothing changes. The interface alone is so crude that I viewed it as a stereo type of “well that’s what a sloppy liberal pothead would respond to right?” The all-star boredom continues with long text boxes of uninteresting reading about your cause. The lack of movement or the inability to move anything in the game makes a tomagoi keychain more exciting. The best plan I can think of to make this game better is to re-call all copies, burn them in a pile and start over.

this is a rap video about gold farmers in china, that sell gold to World of Warcraft players. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KLKj7ETsB0&mode=related&search=

I have noticed that it is a very risky move to make a serious game, because some cases have a chance to rob you of what I think the reason people play games in the first place; to escape from real life. This is one of the main reasons AFMP fails. One of the missions you can had out flyers, I can hand out flyers in Berkeley all day its not fun! I play warcraft because I don’t have magic power, I can’t heal people in real life. I was talking to my friend next door who is a lobbyist in politics and after he described his job it sound a lot like the game AFMP. So I told him about the game and asked him if he would play it, his response was “no, I hate my job”.

This doesn’t mean that all serious games are bad. For example, growing up I play a game call Colonization. It was a turned base game where the point is to discover America, build a colony, and at the end survive a revolutionary war against your mother country. The darkest part of this game was your ability to wipe out Indian tribes. I you were the Spanish you could kill them quicker and convert them to farmers and slaves with a missionary. All in the name of learning

for a free version
http://www.bestoldgames.net/eng/old-games/colonization.php

http://youtube.com/watch?v=N3fuj5ychUk&mode=related&search=

In the theme of showing a artistic game, I dont think you get more artistic that this. Fatel Frame2 is a story about two sisters that end up in a ghost town. this clip is the ending which after playing several times still creeps me out. the game has amazing directing and is very simmaler to playing your way through a horror movie. unlike other games with blood and gore this game does not focus on it, instead you find clue of the evil ways of the village. also your only weapon is a camrea that can stop ghosts. soo trippy I do not recommed you play this alone