Social Media

[leeor_net]

I know there's been a general resistance in the past toward social media sites but I was wondering if we, the userbase, would be interested in linking OPU with social media sites? In particular, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

Thoughts?

[Hooman]

Don't forget LinkedIn. Some of us have made a career out of this.

I probably wouldn't participate much on social media. Personal choice. Games don't seem to be a big part of my social media crowd.

[Arklon]

I don't think LinkedIn is really appropriate since it's focused on professional networking.

[lordpalandus]

I don't think that is a good idea for two reasons:

1) Link = https://www.facebook.com/WH40kHumor/photos/a.520520287993607.1073741826.520518114660491/1166879946690968/?type=3&theater ; This sums up the negatives of getting a whole bunch of new blood to come here.

2) The more media coverage our niche community gets, the more likely almightly Activision will come say hello. It is Activision, right, that acquired Sierra? Have you seen what Activision has been doing lately to Indie communities of even Non-Profit ventures, the moment those communities went public and got tons of media coverage? As much as I think having more coverage would help bring in newcomers or oldcomers that gave up on Outpost 1/2, it may backfire and bring death and destruction as well. Thus far we've avoided it by being basically invisible except to those few who know outpost universe's existence.

Basically, think carefully before you do anything. Something innocent could be a Tumblr account though. Almost everyone uses Tumblr these days, and unless you know what you are looking for be quite hard for a big corporation to crack down on. Basically, the more visible we get, the more likely Activision will pay attention/notice us. Now some may be feeling I'm a bit paranoid, and maybe I am. However, at the same time, I've seen too many really cool projects over the past few years get crushed by Cease and Desists by Activision the moment they noticed them and would hate for the same to happen here.

[leeor_net]

The first link seems a bit unrealistic. This is an online community, after all, and we've seen the naysayers try to rip it apart before and it still stands. So while entertaining, probably not reality.

The second point, though. Activision is the current owner and that kind of sucks. BUT, I somehow doubt they're even aware of their IP. Plus, as far as I can tell, their trademarks for the game have expired a long time ago without being renewed so I think it's safe to say that they're uninterested. Their interests appear to lie with the money makers that Sierra produced -- Kings Quest among others. If we were a Kings Quest community I'd be holding my breath but Outpost really didn't bring Sierra much, even Outpost 2 within a few months of being published got dumped down to $15 just to get the manufactured copies out the door and break even on it.

So suffice it to say I'm not terribly worried about Activision. Besides, a CnD doesn't require us to shut down the community so even if we did receive such a notice OPU will still stand as will the many non-infringing projects.

Anyway, my interest is less in bring more people into the fold (though that would be the ultimate goal) and more to continue to foster a sense of community. Obviously this doesn't require social media but SM is the going trend at the moment.

[Hooman]

Yeah, we should avoid making decisions based mainly on fear. Be as respectful as we can concerning other people and their interests, and try not to fear things until something bad actually happens. Chances are it won't be that bad, assuming anything ever happens, which doesn't seem too likely right now. Not unless we go out of our way to offend people or put them in awkward positions.

To add an example to that, if we created an account on social media, we should name it after Outpost Universe (no copyright issue), rather than Outpost 2 (copyright issue). Putting fan based projects up on other sites for more exposure would be fine. Putting Sierra made copyrighted material up on other sites is a bad idea. That creates an awkward situation with potential liability for the other site, possibly causing trouble with not just the current copyright holder, but also the third party site.

Personally, I don't see a problem with promoting Outpost Universe on social media. I just don't think I would participate in that arena.

[leeor_net]

You can't copyright a name. You can trademark it. But the Outpost trademark for this specific series expired in 2008 and hasn't been renewed. They'd be hard pressed to do anything about it.

Your final remark is what I've been looking for -- kind of fielding everybody here to see if it's something that would really add value to OPU or if that time and energy can be put to other uses.

[Hooman]

You can't copyright a name. You can trademark it. But the Outpost trademark for this specific series expired in 2008 and hasn't been renewed. They'd be hard pressed to do anything about it.

Hah, I'm not even using the right terms. What can I say, I'm no lawyer.

Still, I think it's a better idea to use a modified fan-made name rather than the original, and perhaps mention the original name in some kind of tag line so people know what it's about, and that you're a different entity than the original. This is part of the respect thing.