From: ross@spam.adelaide.edu.au (Ross Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.games.diplomacy
Subject: Legality of network Diplomacy games.
Summary: Legality of network Diplomacy games.
Keywords: diplomacy game legal issues lawyers avalon hill copyright
Date: 22 Nov 92 13:55:21 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.diplomacy
Distribution: world
Organization: Statistics, Pure & Applied Mathematics, University of Adelaide


#It's not illegal for a bunch of guys to get together and play a game
#regardless of whether or not they have the original game.  Avalon hill
#can register their trademarks and copyrights, but they cannot patent the
#game.  As long as we don't use copies of their maps, copies of their rules,
#copies of their descriptions, etc...  we should be ok there.  The only
#remaining question is the name...  Avalon hill has a trademark on the name
#'Diplomacy'...

I asked about all that, but was told by the lawyers that under
copyright law the computer program itself could be considered to be a
"derived work" based on the Diplomacy rules.


#Since we would not be capable of playing Diplomacy the normal way (in person),
#I think it is to Avalon Hill's advantage that we play over the net.  It will
#spark interest in those who have not purchased Diplomacy to do so, and it
#provides free publicity for them.

There has never been any question in my mind that network games of
Diplomacy could ever hurt Avalon Hill. It's hard to see how it could
possibly hurt them, and it could boost their sales a lot. My server was
experiencing exponential growth in users at the time I shut it down.
The trouble is that companies can behave strangely, and you have to be
careful.


#I suggest that you simply write to Avalon Hill and explain the situation
#to them and ask for their permission to use the name 'Diplomacy'...  If
#they refuse, just change what you call it...  rec.games.subterfuge has a
#nice ring...  ;)  But if you explain it fully, and assure them that there
#is no way money can change hands (being the internet and all), and that we
#are basically a long distance gamers group...  I think they'll cooperate.

I didn't want to write to them just after I shut down my server
because I was advised not to for a while. And then I got back to real
work and forgot about it. I suppose I could write to them now.

Actually, it's very easy for money to change hands on the internet.
All you do is get a merchant credit card facility (with non-signature
authorization allowed) and then people can email you their credit card
number. I currently have such a merchant mastercard and a merchant
visacard. This mechanism of paying actually makes the idea of setting
up a self-funding judge quite feasible. Perhaps I could set up a
server and charge $10 a game and send Avalon Hill a royalty and even
make a (gasp) PROFIT! Or would that be an internet naughty (I've never
been quite clear on this point - can anyone tell me?).

My Diplomacy move resolver used O(n^4) algorithms and took about one
minute to resolve each move on a Vax 750, but I am convinced that if I
recoded using linear algorithms, I could get a resolution down to less
than one second. Once you get to that stage, it's really the email
load that determines how bogged down a game server is. So what we
really need is a really intelligent router :-)

#Just be careful not to use any of Avalon Hill's material without their
#permission...

I am! I am! You'd have to be wary of any company that could come up
with a game like that! :-)

Ross Williams
ross@spam.adelaide.edu.au