Comic for Monday 4/17 (Early High Res)
Added 2023-04-16 16:28:18 +0000 UTCDark and Darker is a pretty fun medieval fantasy dungeon dive loot and extract game in rather early access. Think Tarkov, but with swords and wizards. I participated in the (free, they aren't selling the game yet) playtests and found it to be pretty fun, if a long ways from being finished.
Anyway, it recently got yanked from Steam amidst a lawsuit that may be valid, or may be corporate jealousy/bullying. Who knows, you can read about the messy situation here. https://kotaku.com/dark-and-darker-nexon-ironmace-pc-korea-police-legal-1850267232
Since then, Ironmace (the developers) have attempted to continue playtesting, and the process of getting the game build into people's hands sans Steam as been... a rather interesting journey to follow. https://kotaku.com/steam-pc-rpg-dark-and-darker-ironmace-torrent-playtest-1850338181
Comments
The various anti-SLAPP laws help, but especially as they are only state-level (in the US), it's woefully insufficient, especially when dealing with international courts. In this case, though, I believe it's purely in Korea's court, since both companies are Korean. No idea what their anti-SLAPP laws look like, or if they even exist. As for the US, the fundamental problem is that lawyers, as a generalization, have a vested interest in *permitting* SLAPP lawsuits, because it's simply more business for them. If anti-SLAPP laws were strengthened (ex. a federal law mandating that if an anti-SLAPP measure succeeds or if the lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice (ie. they cannot file the same suit again), the plaintiff *automatically* has to reimburse the defense for reasonable legal fees), it might be more lawyers willing to work defense against SLAPP cases pro-bono, and thus more cases that go to court rather than settle, but the long-term effect would be less companies abusing SLAPP lawsuits. That'd be great for, you know, regular people. And smaller companies. But it'd cut into those juicy copyright claim payouts. It's a bit like medical injury and medical malpractice lawsuits. Are they fundamentally about something useful? You bet. But then an entire industry of lawyers ensconced themselves around it, and now they roam the wilds like biker gangs, looking for new victims with which they can force a provider or medical establishment to settle for damages, because *fighting* those types of lawsuits is invariably more expensive than settling them. It's a nearly guaranteed payout just by bringing the suit, and ultimately that cost trickles back down to normal people, via their medical bills and insurance bills and tax bills.
Kaedys
2023-04-17 05:16:56 +0000 UTCThere needs to be an honest-to-God repercussion for SLAPP suits like this. As it stands, companies who issue a SLAPP suit will win, even if the slap is fraudulent or unfounded.
RivCA
2023-04-16 21:55:37 +0000 UTCIf it's a bluff...it's the absolutely stupidest bluff they could have *ever* made. That definately leans me more towards the "Ironmace is legitimate" than anything else they could have said.
Robert
2023-04-16 19:37:11 +0000 UTCI was a bit torn on who to believe, right up until the last part of Ironmace's longer statement there. > If they would like to compete on merit, we welcome Nexon to promptly accommodate the comparison of source code, custom assets, and design documents with the police to quickly and decisively put an end to this matter. That's...not the sort of thing a company says just to bluff. They're directly asking for police comparison of the salient details. I feel like Ironmace's legal guidance would only have let them issue that statement if they were really sure they'd win at such a comparison, and Nexon would certainly damage their position if they refused such a police investigation.
Kaedys
2023-04-16 19:00:56 +0000 UTC
