I've never been a huge fan of Scrabble. I have nothing against the game itself, but tragically, I was born without the ability to spell words correctly (I also dont know no grammar). The result for a "pre spell check era" Stub was a lot of red ink on elementary school papers and a disturbing number of emotional let downs. Do you know what its like to nail a triple word score double toe loop, only to find out that "desision" is actually spelled "decision" or some other thing? And when you combine an inability to spell with a competitive, trash talking personality, playing Scrabble is a delicious recipe for no-bueno sauce. To this day, I am completely and totally unable to spell "congratulations" without using a "d", and thats just the tip of the iceberg.
So when Scrabulous (a Facebook version of Scrabble) hit the scene, I decided it would be in my best interest to pass. I've loaded up the app to see just how it worked, but in the end decided that it was probably for the best that I not go out of my way to humiliate myself.... <thinks about it>.... ok, its probably best if I don't add yet another way to go out of my way to humiliate myself. Ah, much better =)
But there is no denying that Scrabulous is huge. Its only been around since about the middle of '06, but with more than half a million daily users, it has long since locked itself in as one of the most popular applications on Facebook (I'd give you the exact numbers, but Facebook seems to be broken at the moment).
So imagine my surprise when I opened my RSS reader this morning to find that Facebook has been asked to pull Scrabulous down, and that the suits from Mattel and Hasbro (owners of Scrabble) have filed a cease and desist order against the Scrabulous creators.
To capture my feelings on the subject, please allow me to show you a brief photo montage. It is also an example of how to splice photos together really poorly in 20 seconds or less.
Yes. That will do nicely.
To be fair, I can respect the position of the toy companies. In the immortal words of Under Armor commercials, you most certainly have the right to "protect this house". Copyright is copyright and as a business, you have a right to insure that others don't simply steal your ideas or IP and build on it at your expense. But thats where the sympathy ends. Because there ways to protect ones livelihood, that don't involve all the tact of an angry, sleep deprived 2 year old. (Tangentially, I had a lot of fun imagining the board of directors for Mattel and Hasbro reenacting that Under Armor commercial. Jolly good!)
To my knowledge, there is currently no online Scrabble game which is supported by Mattel/ Hasbro. Supporting something like this would cost money. To my knowledge, there is currently no online Scrabble game under development by Mattel/ Hasbro. Supporting something that that would cost money.
Meanwhile, a third party has come along, created a game which is true to the standards of the original, build an enormous following, exposed Scrabble to an entirely new demographic, re-energized enthusiasm for the brand and potential increased your sales, all at a whopping cost to you of... zero.
The owners of Scrabble could have worked together with the Scrabulous developers toward a mutually beneficial arrangement - one that would allow Scrabulous to continue their work and Scrabble to reap the many benefits of the wildly popular Facebook version. But instead of leveraging the entrenched popularity of Scrabulous to their advantage or being open minded toward the potential that could come from withing with, not against, this third party, Mattel and Hasbro have chosen to play by the old rules. Its ours. Don't touch it. Get out. And in doing so they've shown that they are living in the past and greatly disappointed this Stub.
Regardless of how this situation turns out, I think it makes for a very interesting example of the clash between two extremely different worlds, and has reaffirmed in me an understanding that walled gardens of knowledge are not the answer.
But then what do I know. I can't even spell ;-)
Images from wow.alakazam.com, and realtshirt.com and wikipedia.com
So when Scrabulous (a Facebook version of Scrabble) hit the scene, I decided it would be in my best interest to pass. I've loaded up the app to see just how it worked, but in the end decided that it was probably for the best that I not go out of my way to humiliate myself.... <thinks about it>.... ok, its probably best if I don't add yet another way to go out of my way to humiliate myself. Ah, much better =)
But there is no denying that Scrabulous is huge. Its only been around since about the middle of '06, but with more than half a million daily users, it has long since locked itself in as one of the most popular applications on Facebook (I'd give you the exact numbers, but Facebook seems to be broken at the moment).
So imagine my surprise when I opened my RSS reader this morning to find that Facebook has been asked to pull Scrabulous down, and that the suits from Mattel and Hasbro (owners of Scrabble) have filed a cease and desist order against the Scrabulous creators. To capture my feelings on the subject, please allow me to show you a brief photo montage. It is also an example of how to splice photos together really poorly in 20 seconds or less.
Yes. That will do nicely.
To be fair, I can respect the position of the toy companies. In the immortal words of Under Armor commercials, you most certainly have the right to "protect this house". Copyright is copyright and as a business, you have a right to insure that others don't simply steal your ideas or IP and build on it at your expense. But thats where the sympathy ends. Because there ways to protect ones livelihood, that don't involve all the tact of an angry, sleep deprived 2 year old. (Tangentially, I had a lot of fun imagining the board of directors for Mattel and Hasbro reenacting that Under Armor commercial. Jolly good!)
To my knowledge, there is currently no online Scrabble game which is supported by Mattel/ Hasbro. Supporting something like this would cost money. To my knowledge, there is currently no online Scrabble game under development by Mattel/ Hasbro. Supporting something that that would cost money.
Meanwhile, a third party has come along, created a game which is true to the standards of the original, build an enormous following, exposed Scrabble to an entirely new demographic, re-energized enthusiasm for the brand and potential increased your sales, all at a whopping cost to you of... zero.
The owners of Scrabble could have worked together with the Scrabulous developers toward a mutually beneficial arrangement - one that would allow Scrabulous to continue their work and Scrabble to reap the many benefits of the wildly popular Facebook version. But instead of leveraging the entrenched popularity of Scrabulous to their advantage or being open minded toward the potential that could come from withing with, not against, this third party, Mattel and Hasbro have chosen to play by the old rules. Its ours. Don't touch it. Get out. And in doing so they've shown that they are living in the past and greatly disappointed this Stub.
Regardless of how this situation turns out, I think it makes for a very interesting example of the clash between two extremely different worlds, and has reaffirmed in me an understanding that walled gardens of knowledge are not the answer.
But then what do I know. I can't even spell ;-)
Images from wow.alakazam.com, and realtshirt.com and wikipedia.com
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