"White Dwarf Issue 5 - mild irony" Topic

I've just uncovered issues 2-7 of White Dwarf amongst the stacks of old mags I've got and I was amused to read the editorial in issue 5 (by Ian Livingstone, Whom God Preserve).

It addresses the subject of copyright laws and how the burgeoning Fantasy/SF market is attracting the attention of large media organisations and sums up as follows;

"It seems evident that nobody will gain from this strict enforcement of copyright laws, but the SF/F hobbyist will definitely lose. Let's hope that such problems can be resolved so that in future the wargames table will welcome the presence of Darth Vader with a light sabre, rather than a lawsuit, in his hands."

Now that has to be a little ironic doesn't it…?

Doug

Ah those innocent days.
Very noble until of course you have things you want to copyright yourself.

Irony knows no bounds in the hands of attorneys.

That's why GW the corp got rid of all the original staff… Some of them had judgement.

Clearly there should be little copyright enforcement of game companies borrowing from the likes of Terminator or Aliens, but game companies who grow large enough to afford the lawyers should stomp anyone borrowing their own derivative work into the dust. ;)

Couldn't help but chuckle on this one.

Did he seriously expect that it would be ok for someone to help themselves to other people's creative efforts? This is not oppression of the little man, it's protecting what you've done from being exploited by the unscrupulous or the lazy. No personal stake here, I hasten to add.But occasionally there's an inclination to suggest it's alright, because I'm a wargamer, and a good chap, and Lucas or whoever is rich, so it doesn't matter.

Taking it down several degrees, suppose you'd created,say, nothing as huge as Star Wars, but maybe your own webcomic or something.
Wouldn't you feel really cross if someone lifted your characters etc and did as they wished with them?

Doug, could be a Christmas bonus for you. I saw WDiss 2 on Ebay for £50 the other day.

Well he got his wish, there's several versions of Darth Vader that could end up on the table- all officially licensed.

Ahh… The good ole days.

i have white dwarfs from about issue #12. i love looking through them. those guys were so full of energy and love for gaming. then they started to think "hey, maybe…".

Nothing inconsistent here, truth be told. It's GW doing what's best for GW.

Many of their "original" army and model ideas are highly derivative, so when they were establishing these they argue for freedom of expression over protection of copyright.

Once they have established major lines of these (highly derivative) models, they fiercely protect them from the same sort of idea-poaching that they used to make the lines in the first place.

It's GW doing what's best for GW.

To read similar attitudes as held by Steve Jobs, read the new biography of him by Walter Isaacson. He flies into furies when people rip off "his" ideas, which of course are just ideas he ripped off from someone else (for instance, the computer mouse).

Read an alternate view of Jobs' behavior a while back, but that is not on-topic here.
(and I can't find the article again to link to it…)

Dudes like Ian Livingstone and the British Steve Jackson were out of Games Workshop as soon as 1985 or -6.

Btw there were Citadel miniatures of the likes of Elric of Melniboné and Corum and Dorian Hawkmoon in the 80s and I don't know if they were licenseb by the Michael Moorcock estate (provided one exists).

I rather doubt there's a Moorcock estate, seeing as (happily) he's still alive. That's not particularly helpful with the licencing issue, though. We could ask him?

GW was still a licensing house back then. The 80's era Eternal Champion minis were probably attached, legally or otherwise, to the sub-license GW/Citadel had from Chaosium, who had just started publishing Stormbringer, the Elric RPG. Considering the multiple editions and expansion of the RPG line to include other Eternal Champions, MM was probably happy with the arrangement with Chaosium, but the extension to GW/Citadel and miniatures is an open question. That GW then borrowed a lot of those elements for Warhammer's Chaos is… obvious.

"That GW then borrowed a lot of those elements for Warhammer's Chaos is… obvious"

Amen to that.

As it is obvious that GW plundered ideas from everywhere to fuel her gaming universe/universes with…Tyranids and Genestealers come from Alien/s, Necrons come from Terminator, lots of concepts were completely lifted from sources like 2000 AD and other comics of the 80s…they grabbed everything they could get at, then when they turned rich and powerful (and twisted and corrupt and more of machines than men) they started to sue everyone and everything.

It isn't plagiarism if you steal it from everyone.

You see 'homages'. Johhny the Strontium Dog appears in the Spacefarers range, Cerebus the Aardvark in Weird Fantasy range, The Red Redemption in both Spacefarers and Warhammer (lifted from Druillet' Lone Slone), homages to Megacity Judges appear in the Traveller range and later in 40k Arbites- Arnie himself appears in the Barbarians along with a model that is clearly Subotai from the film. Possibly hundreds of examples that are grey IP.
Back then though, spotting homages was all part of the fun and was reflective of the wild, exciting, expanding SF culture… with 2000ad definately leading the charge. Brit fantasy was a sort of punk, counterculture movement.

Kinda sad thats not really how things roll anymore.

Anyway, I will continue not to use the term CHAOS in my products out of respect for Mr Moorcock… not because someone slaps a copyright on it.