Let’s start at the beginning. Foxing is a term associated with Fox who, in a time before mods were big and games were cool, stopped a small team of fans from distributing Aliens Doom, a pinnacle in early mod development. Basically they were protecting their intellectual property, but it soon became clear that this action was just stupid. What possible harm could the mod have done to the franchise, except perhaps looking bad and making Aliens look bad? Obviously the Fox executives didn’t have this in mind when they approved the script for AVP…
Still, it’s a forgivable oversight. Companies in general are a bit more savvy these days when it comes to their property and what fans get up to. While Paramount still seems intent in protecting the ailing Star Trek franchise, most entertainment hubs allow for fan art, fan fiction and so on – as long as you don’t make money off it.
Game companies should be at the forefront of this ideology. Making mods is something that started in games and developers love the appeal it carries: an active modding community really extends the lifespan of your game; would Quake 3 still be around if new levels didn’t arrive every now and then? Granted, it was a CPL and WCG-chosen title, but in general modding is a good thing.
Did I mention that no-one makes money of these?
So what is up with 3D Realms when it opted to stop the Duke Nukem 3D mod being developed? Apparently it’s to protect intellectual property. If that’s true, then answer me this: aren’t the people making the mod likely to be fans of Duke? Didn’t they pay money for 3D, funding Forever’s development (or at least creating the demand?)? Isn’t this homage to the game series? Apparently not.
Yes, I’m pretty angry about this, because it’s stupid. Would a mod actually cause Forever to sell fewer copies? Not unless Forever sucks (and after all those years it had better not). Maybe it’s because it was being built on the Source engine, but that would just be petty. But this whole episode is petty; mods are a community effort – they are a way for gamers to give back to the industry. There is no harm in a Duke mod being made, unless you listen to lawyers and I suspect 3D Realms has…
3D Realms, you suck. I can’t say that more honestly. Your game development is a laughing stock and now you gave a big “Up Yours” to the fans of your games. That and you guys owe us sequels to ROTT and Terminal Velocity for far too long now. But don’t worry, your precious territory won’t be hampered by dangerous fan creations – you’ve made sure of that.
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