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My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

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Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#51

Post by snogglethorpe »

jeffgreco wrote: post #4

What likely happened: Developer needs an official MBTA map. They do an image search. That map is one of the first five results. They take it from there and use it. Seems like getting " fucking furious " is a bit overkill.

I agree. It's understandable that he's annoyed, and by all means he should pursue the matter and get due recompense, but still, his reaction seems a wee bit over the top. If he were to be polite and businesslike, and arrange a mutually agreeable deal, who knows, maybe he could find himself as the go-to guy for game companies that need a transit map....

I wouldn't be surprised if N.D.'s official policies are much stricter, and would normally call for any art to be freely-available/purchased/redrawn/etc, but in this case the artist found a map, had a tight deadline, and thought to himself "oh, all these maps look the same, who's gonna notice"...

[The answer obviously is: "Transit map nerds are gonna notice, that's who...especially the one who drew the map..." :]

I've read the Transit Maps blog for ages, and it's a great blog; over the top or not, the reaction's kinda in character... oO;

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#52

Post by ChuckMcM »

nitrogen wrote: post #50
ChuckMcM wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side note. It is actually kind of lame when people post their own blog posts to HN, so I never assume the person posting the link is the person who wrote the article. In that regard the personal pronoun is not ambiguous. That said, I totally understand the desire by people writing blog posts wanting to get HN's take on it. But that is a different problem.

Not being able to submit your own blog post presents a bootstrapping problem for new, potentially useful blogs. Also, HN's guidelines recommend submitting a blog post if you want to add your own commentary to an article (or at least they used to). As someone who occasionally posts a Show HN from my own blog, and whose current career was heavily influenced by one such post making the front page a couple of years ago,…

I don't oppose it per se, it's just somewhat awkward. It is annoying when the only contribution some user on the site has is to submit their blog entries to it. For folks who are contributing members that annoyance doesn't apply.

And to be perfectly clear this is just my own take on it, I also think it is awkward when someone at a meeting opens the conversation with my by pitching their company or project.

Thinking about it a bit more deeply as I write this I think that is the crux of the issue. Amongst people I know, having them suggest something they have done, or are working on, sort of out of the blue feels like "catching up" whereas for people I don't know that feels more awkward. I don't have a lot of context to evaluate what they are pitching and for me, perhaps for others, it's uncomfortable.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#53

Post by benguild »

LoganCale wrote: post #17
benguild wrote: post #13

I think this is a load of baloney and a huge flaw in the "copyright" system. Those maps are everywhere in Boston … in tourists' photographs, floating around on the street, on peoples' phones. If that's not public domain, I don't know what it is. It seems like this guy is just upset that he feels entitled to additional compensation when in reality he's already had his work licensed by the MBTA for their system … which…

This is not the official MBTA map, this is an unsanctioned redesign he made of it to demonstrate his idea for how to improve the official map. It is his property alone.

Got it, well then it was probably unintentional. Furthermore, the actual damages in this are, I imagine, nil as long as they replace the texture in a patch.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#54

Post by alexqgb »

donutdan4114 wrote: post #33
to3m wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acceptable standards of behaviour are very different for corporate entities. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels they could demand a corporate entity to behave with a certain amount of class when looking out for what its owners see as its interests. By contrast, I think it actually perfectly acceptable for an individual to call out a corporation's poor behaviour, without warning, in a public post, with profanity.

They might seem like a large company, but there was probably one person, probably an intern, who had to find some textures for that part of the game. That person made a mistake. Obviously there should be checks/balances in place to make sure unauthorized imagery isn't used. But people make mistakes. The author is basically directly attacking some poor bastard who works at Naughty Dog. I am sure Naughty Dog will fix t…

"The author is basically directly attacking some poor bastard who works at Naughty Dog."

No. Decisions about IP are never "just one person". They involve layers of approvals and sign-offs, some creative, some financial, some legal. That's not to say that mistakes don't happen. Of course they happen. But you're not dealing with one person here, you're dealing with a system. And clearly, it's a system that could stand to be tighter than it is.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#55

Post by alexqgb »

mortenjorck wrote: post #45
alex_doom wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah he's selling copies of it; http://www.cambooth.net/for-sale#bostonrail

Interesting. Looks like he still thought it out, though: The T logo is missing in the wall prints.

Judging from the exchanges in his blog's comments, he's a guy who knows his copyright, and has been careful about using the MTA's logo only in situations where Fair Use allows it to appear, and not using in situations where it doesn't.

I can see why he's so pissed, by the way. Having taken the time to understand the rules and operate within them, he's going to take an especially dim view of others who should have, and didn't.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#57

Post by fuzzywalrus »

tylerritchie wrote: post #28

I don't understand the commenters saying that it's cool that a large company flush with cash shouldn't be expected to pay for copyrighted works it uses to make a profit. I'm a biologist, not a lawyer, but it seems like our system is setup pretty well to protect the rights in this case. He should have consulted with a copyright attorney and started with a bill and cease and desist for $10,000 or whatever makes him hap…

Indeed, Naughty Dog copy protects its work, it should respect others. There's a lot of speculation be it: interns, lazy artists, bad production managers etc. What I'd like to know is if any other work is directly derivative in the game.

Re: My Boston T map used in “The Last of Us” PS3 game

#58

Post by hackinthebochs »

fuzzywalrus wrote: post #57
tylerritchie wrote: post #28

I don't understand the commenters saying that it's cool that a large company flush with cash shouldn't be expected to pay for copyrighted works it uses to make a profit. I'm a biologist, not a lawyer, but it seems like our system is setup pretty well to protect the rights in this case. He should have consulted with a copyright attorney and started with a bill and cease and desist for $10,000 or whatever makes him hap…

Indeed, Naughty Dog copy protects its work, it should respect others. There's a lot of speculation be it: interns, lazy artists, bad production managers etc. What I'd like to know is if any other work is directly derivative in the game.

>What I'd like to know is if any other work is directly derivative in the game.

You mean besides Ellen Page's face? (http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/06/24/video-game-stole-my-f...)

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