Alganon steals press release from BioWare

I believe the source gave Obama the permission to use that speech, thus it wasn't really plagiarism per say....though not very original, I agree. However, it is highly unlikely Bioware gave Quest Online permission to use theirs. Thus, this is most likely plagiarism at best.

I don't know wtf you're going on about or what motivates your ire (at least I have an excuse), but wtf does the announcement (in the news you linked to on MMORPG) about the game being released have to do with this discussion?

Of course I knew about the release. But how the hell am I supposed to know if parts of it were either plagiarised, referenced without credit to the source, based on homage or whatever if I didn't compose it? Do we have to now go out and fact check press releases? Seriously?

More importantly, what has this got to do with Google Alerts? You do know how that actually *works*, right? Right? My guess is that you don't. And even if you did, you're trying to claim ignorance in order to continue your net rage ire.

The first I even heard of this issue was when Warcry sent me an RFC which I was greeted to this morning when I opened my email. Then I got one from Massively and others. Most of us with families and jobs, actually have *lives* beyond the Net. So its not like we're no-life-having cretins looking to stir up trouble at every opportunity. So excuse me if I wasn't trolling the net on Saturday when this was first posted.

I am waiting to get an official answer back from the PR firm, but from where I'm sitting, this is a non issue and I'm not throwing anyone under the bus.

Anyone with more than two functioning brain cells can read easily see that the opening commentary is nothing more than a reference.

Even running the original link* through www.copyscape.com doesn't yield anything other than similar phrases being used in both releases.

The reference to "pillars" is a commonly used phrase in various structure driven arenas (e.g. the government). And the bit that preceded my commentary is a single line that the firm chose to use in order to make their point and precede my commentary.

"Traditionally, massively multiplier** online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars – combat, exploration and character progression,”"

Nothing beyond that is remotely the same. Since John Smedley made similar remarks in a talk he gave, go find out who first uttered those words, source it, then go back and accuse anyone else who uses it of plagiarism.

And if you really want to have fun with semantics, go ahead and run "Traditionally, massively multiplayer online games" through Google. Have fun with that.

This is just stupid and why it even made the news is beyond me. But it just goes to show that sites - trying to scrap a few dimes together - will do anything for hits. And since we're the latest flavor of the day, here we are.

You clearly have an axe to grind and have no common sense whatsoever; so arguing with you is going to just be a lesson in futility. So go ahead, have fun. I'm sure you need to validate your otherwise inconsequential [anon] existence.

* http://www.swtor.com/news/article/press-release-001

** sp due to spellchecker

"But how the hell am I supposed to know if parts of it were either plagiarised, referenced without credit to the source, based on homage or whatever if I didn't compose it? Do we have to now go out and fact check press releases? Seriously?"

When it's a release quoting your words, erm, yes?

"Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars - combat, exploration and character progression," ***Derek Smart continued***. "In Alganon, in addition to these we've added the fourth pillar to the equation; a story. We delivered a fun, immersive adventure that gamers expect in a top quality massively multiplayer online game."

So.. you're saying now that you *didn't* make that official statement?
Oh wait - I get it; it's David Allen's fault somehow, right? (lol)

Nevertheless we, the gaming community, have a gift for you:
http://www.yourprops.com/norm-479d28b8d48a0-Back+To+The+Future+2+%281989%29.jpeg

Mr Smart,

I represent the more scathing of the people who comment here at Massively, I have very high standards, some would say unreasonably so.

But I have to say, if you think you are going to come here an accuse people of having 'no life' you can get right back on that horse you rode back on, and fuck off.

Attacking your prospective customers just really shows that you have no self control and no excuse, there are always going to be trolls, how do you think people at Funcom and SOE (who have had bad press) have reacted with these same people, with stoic silence and got on with the job at hand...

I understand you are under pressure, but how does this look to your investors, or all the people who stood by the project and worked very hard to turn things around? Do you ever see anyone else in this industry act in this manner or reprimanding people on the internet?

Sure the press release was a mistake, it was plagiarized, and that's for you to work out internally, don't come on here and take it out on people. This is a site for people interested in MMO news, regardless of the type of news. You don't like that, well, it's too bad.

From where I am sitting, this is an issue, someone took the words written about another game and applied them to yours. I don't think is just an issue I have, I think Bioware might have an issue, maybe not a legal one, but are probably concerned to see their marketing material reworked in this fashion. Yes Mr Smedley did use these terms in the past, and this same quote has come up when a player complained about treatment in EQ2, unbeknown to the moderators in the forum to much hilarity.

However, do you want these same words used to promote your game? Given the hard work and content produced, do you just seek to emulate what the industry has already writen, or are you really treading new ground here? Your game is accused of being a WoW clone, and so I wanted to give it a chance. Now the next thing that comes up is a reused quote for your marketing material. I'm struggling to give you guys a shot here....

So to sum up, you're aggressive tone is not welcome here at Massively, you want to get angry, direct this towards the people who let down your organization. It's no coincidence that many commenters out there also recognized the quote from SWTOR, while you may not have done. This is nothing to do with 'having a life', it's just knowledge, an appreciation for what has been said by fans of MMO's.

You seem to constantly create new mountains for yourself to climb, with the embarrassing showdown with ex-employees as a significant source of news. I think you owe yourself a break to be honest, before you get too wound up. If you think this outburst has done any good, then take notice of how people rate posts, this feedback alone shows you that a little humility goes a long way.

Hey look, we got us one of our own Derek Smart rants. I feel justified in my life now.

"This is just stupid and why it even made the news is beyond me. But
it just goes to show that sites - trying to scrap a few dimes
together - will do anything for hits. And since we're the latest
flavor of the day, here we are."

I'm not sure if being so discourteous to a MMO news outlet that
features articles on your current project could be considered
"smart".

Perhaps you already know that deep down this will just become another
name on your list of buggy, incomplete games.

"You clearly have an axe to grind and have no common sense
whatsoever; so arguing with you is going to just be a lesson in
futility. So go ahead, have fun. I'm sure you need to validate your
otherwise inconsequential [anon] existence."

Take a good, hard look in the mirror.

dude, you must truly be a sad little nerd if you have nothing to do but troll people with actual jobs and lives.

what did this guy do to you? gank you while you were eating Doritos off of your chest?

I find it disturbing that we the comment gallery are giving a game CEO good sound advice on how to run his company. This like a neurosurgeon getting good sound advice about to operate on brain from 4chan. This is not to say we're wrong (I don't believe we are) ...it just reflects that perhaps Mr. Smart is on the wrong career path. :(