Fellow forumites, read this and despair:

http://ageofwonders.com/forums/topic/stealing-design/



Devs, do not read that. We need you to not despair at human idiocy erh I ment to say alternate perceptions of reality



Though I am glad to see everyone else in the AoW community being just as surprised

I don't know what there is to despair about . . . there's a stupid person on the AoW forum . . . no big deal =)



We have a saying in trademark law . . . 5% of consumers are ALWAYS confused. This just proves the rule.



As for any potential legal action, it would sound in one of three areas: copyright (which protects software as a work of authorship, games included), trademark (which protects source identifiers), or trade secrets (or, more broadly, unfair competition).



There's almost certainly no possible copyright-based cause of action because nothing that is similar between the two games is inherently copyrightable; i.e. you can't copyright basic facts or pure ideas (even a game mechanic, despite what someone in the discussion chain claims, wouldn't be subject to copyright--only the specific coding that creates it would be).



There's almost certainly no trademark-based cause of action because images of the game as it is being played essentially cannot serve as source identifiers (no valid trademark to infringe). Even if they could, the relevant market (computer gamers) is sufficiently sophisticated that there's no likelihood of confusion. At most they might be able to make out a claim for trademark dilution, but that's a total stretch and would require demonstrating that AoW is famous. No jurisdiction in the world seems to recognize niche market fame, so this fame would have to be "fame with the general public"; the vast majority of people have probably never heard of AoW (just gamers). Therefore, there would be no cause of action for trademark dilution.



A trade secrets misappropriation claim would also fail because what's in AoW that looks similar to anything in EL isn't a secret.

It is too early in the morning for me to be able to handle stupid people

True, maybe I should not be on the internet then...

HAHAHAHAH, I'm saving this quote for when I make the mistake of reading comments at the end of news stories.

Thanks, now I'm interested in both Endless Legend and Age of Wonders III.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, DMT, you only have to wait ONE more week to get your hands on AoW3 lol. It looks like a suitable heir to the franchise and I'm sure it will be fun to play--AoW and AoW2 both were. I'd certainly have liked it if it had a more epic feel to it and I'm not a fan of this iteration of the Draconians, but I expect it to be more than worth the money.



On the additional upside, it will help pass the time until EL comes out =)

That's even better news, thanks Varadhon.

Yeah I pre-ordered it the moment it was available for pre-order. AoW is one of my favourid series. The game looks awsome.

I don't mind the draconians all that much, but it saddens me quite a bit that it will only have 6 races at launch

Endless Legend, Warlock 2, Age of Wonders 3.



All are 4X games in a fantasy setting - None of them outright steal features from each other. They all make use of ancient, tried and tested mechanics and add depth to them as needed.

Mansen wrote:
Endless Legend, Warlock 2, Age of Wonders 3.



All are 4X games in a fantasy setting - None of them outright steal features from each other. They all make use of ancient, tried and tested mechanics and add depth to them as needed.

You got it! I guess my point is that even if they were outright copying each other as to these mechanics, none of those things are subject to any legal protection (the OP in the AoW3 message board was encouraging legal action).

melkathi wrote:
Yeah I pre-ordered it the moment it was available for pre-order. AoW is one of my favourid series. The game looks awsome.

I don't mind the draconians all that much, but it saddens me quite a bit that it will only have 6 races at launch

Well, you know, you have to leave room for expansions these days lol I think the Draconians, this time around, just look too monstrous. They look insufficiently dragon-like/reptilian..

a real humanoid dragon race should have wings and breathe fire, just my opinion.

Adventurer_Blitz wrote:
a real humanoid dragon race should have wings and breathe fire, just my opinion.

I think that's the default for their military units actually.

all of them should though not just the military, how can only one branch of a humanoid dragon species have those biological and not magical abilities?

Some of their units aren't yet adults =)

If we are going to throw baseless accusation then.. Civ 5 ripped off Warlock:Master of the Arcane. W:MotA did the 1upt and hex grid first. It's based on an Ardania world which has been in many games long before Civ5 stole the idea.



Having said that.... I've been playing a lot of Civ lately!!!