Clok, I want to bring you onboard this in an official capacity. You sound like you have some expertise in this area. If so, let me know. I don't want to "go it alone" when there are people here with more knowledge than I have about this stuff.
not an expert in any sence of the word, just full of it, ideas I mean, mostly bad ones, but a good one here and there.
I do agree with Rob, they deserve it, but as somebody who has delt with companies on MOD's for games and such, even when you are making NO MONEY and doing it as a labor of love, some lawyer out there is looking at $$$. The reason I went with charity is simple. This works or fails, there should be NO lawyers looking for a piece of the pie, NO right holders complaining that they own the rights. Most games while ABANDON are still owned by some entity, they may or may not (most likley not) have any planned use for them, but if you Make money (even donations) you can bet one or two will crawl out of the woodwork and want some part or even worse, just not want to hassel with it so they will say "leave my game out of it".
I do think Ideally maybe the money could be earmarked for specific people and they can chose to give to charity or ??? but again, since its "income" then you gotta start looking at keeping track, paying taxes, etc.. Charity just eliminates alot of LEGAL issues. But I do agree as I said, it would be great to just give the money to the people and let them decide. But in that case I would suggest talking with some people who know alot more about that type of stuff.
I think the KEY to all this is the games, the Images/screenshots/video to make people feel that nostelgia and want to give back. I know the Game MAGIC CARPET, I know BULLFROG, but I dont know the develpers so a picture of them and some text under it saying they created it wont mean much to me. And that is where the real gray area is, and once again why I said Charity. Donations would keep the donaters in the clear, but the people recieving it, if images and likeness of past games is used (and I really see that as a requirment) sombody is going to say they are "makeing money" off it and that wont fly, but charity, no money being made, etc, no reason to cry foul.
It would have to be worded very well, we cant be "paying" for anything.. past crimes, whatever... its as Matt said Redemption, feel better, fix a wrong.. BUT it cant be PAYING! Maybe somebody who is much smarter than me (99% of the worlds population :) ) can come up with a DONATE to the people thi was intended to help, or not even help, but to say THANKS.. my point is, if we give the money to the people who made the games, we gotta make sure its not a HEADACHE for them.. taxes, records, etc.. WORK for them.. that also assumes that their are enouhg people who would GIVE to a thing like this.
As I say, giving the to the specific people is what we would all want I'm sure... And if somebody who knows alot more about legal stuff can figure out a way we can do it without makeing it a hassel for them (and us), please point us to it. Charity is just (yes) the easy way out, we can give something back, and skip alot of legal stuff.
Its a real hard thing, but a WONDERFULL idea. How do you pick who to start with, let alone contact them. I cant see listing every old game... so how do you pick and start that?
And of course a snappy name.. I like the REDEMPTION angle And matt is creative (seen that in his game). I love the idea.. now how far can it be took, and so on..
And Matt I will help any way I can, not alot of knowledge on this type of stuff, but as a ex software writer, comic book artitist, and MOD team member I know the LAWYERS will come out of the woodwork if money is being brought in and they can find a legal way to get some of it. The bad part is alot of them wont come out untill you are in full swing and you cant just "stop" easy.. they love to make your life nasty... a year into soemthing like this they will pull up, ask for accounting of all cash and demand "backpay with interest"... So things have to be done very carefully.
Clok, I want to bring you onboard this in an official capacity. You sound like you have some expertise in this area. If so, let me know. I don't want to "go it alone" when there are people here with more knowledge than I have about this stuff.
not an expert in any sence of the word, just full of it, ideas I mean, mostly bad ones, but a good one here and there.
I do agree with Rob, they deserve it, but as somebody who has delt with companies on MOD's for games and such, even when you are making NO MONEY and doing it as a labor of love, some lawyer out there is looking at $$$. The reason I went with charity is simple. This works or fails, there should be NO lawyers looking for a piece of the pie, NO right holders complaining that they own the rights. Most games while ABANDON are still owned by some entity, they may or may not (most likley not) have any planned use for them, but if you Make money (even donations) you can bet one or two will crawl out of the woodwork and want some part or even worse, just not want to hassel with it so they will say "leave my game out of it".
I do think Ideally maybe the money could be earmarked for specific people and they can chose to give to charity or ??? but again, since its "income" then you gotta start looking at keeping track, paying taxes, etc.. Charity just eliminates alot of LEGAL issues. But I do agree as I said, it would be great to just give the money to the people and let them decide. But in that case I would suggest talking with some people who know alot more about that type of stuff.
I think the KEY to all this is the games, the Images/screenshots/video to make people feel that nostelgia and want to give back. I know the Game MAGIC CARPET, I know BULLFROG, but I dont know the develpers so a picture of them and some text under it saying they created it wont mean much to me. And that is where the real gray area is, and once again why I said Charity. Donations would keep the donaters in the clear, but the people recieving it, if images and likeness of past games is used (and I really see that as a requirment) sombody is going to say they are "makeing money" off it and that wont fly, but charity, no money being made, etc, no reason to cry foul.
It would have to be worded very well, we cant be "paying" for anything.. past crimes, whatever... its as Matt said Redemption, feel better, fix a wrong.. BUT it cant be PAYING! Maybe somebody who is much smarter than me (99% of the worlds population :) ) can come up with a DONATE to the people thi was intended to help, or not even help, but to say THANKS.. my point is, if we give the money to the people who made the games, we gotta make sure its not a HEADACHE for them.. taxes, records, etc.. WORK for them.. that also assumes that their are enouhg people who would GIVE to a thing like this.
As I say, giving the to the specific people is what we would all want I'm sure... And if somebody who knows alot more about legal stuff can figure out a way we can do it without makeing it a hassel for them (and us), please point us to it. Charity is just (yes) the easy way out, we can give something back, and skip alot of legal stuff.
Its a real hard thing, but a WONDERFULL idea. How do you pick who to start with, let alone contact them. I cant see listing every old game... so how do you pick and start that?
And of course a snappy name.. I like the REDEMPTION angle And matt is creative (seen that in his game). I love the idea.. now how far can it be took, and so on..
And Matt I will help any way I can, not alot of knowledge on this type of stuff, but as a ex software writer, comic book artitist, and MOD team member I know the LAWYERS will come out of the woodwork if money is being brought in and they can find a legal way to get some of it. The bad part is alot of them wont come out untill you are in full swing and you cant just "stop" easy.. they love to make your life nasty... a year into soemthing like this they will pull up, ask for accounting of all cash and demand "backpay with interest"... So things have to be done very carefully.