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After toy corps move to remove online games, creators and fans strike back
Ready to hit back: The creator of online game Bogglific has a tongue-in-cheek response for the toy corporations.
CHENNAI: A day after the online community raged over the attempts of toy corporations Hasbro and Mattel to remove the free online versions of their games Scrabble and Boggle from social networking site Facebook, creators and fans are finding new ways to keep their old passions alive.
For online addicts who are suffering withdrawal symptoms, relief is on the way. Roger Nesbitt, the creator of Bogglific, had a note of promise for his fans on the game’s website on Thursday, asking them to check back on January 24. He also had a tongue-in-cheek response to the toy companies – he has renamed the game ‘B-lific,’ smudging the first part of the game’s name in an apparent reference to Hasbro’s accusations of stealing Boggle’s name.
“Today has been such a rollercoaster of emotions,” wrote Yin-Ling Fock from Singapore on the game’s website. “From the abject despair at the thought of the pending demise of Bogglific to the wild euphoria and thrill of anticipation on hearing of B-lific. I can’t wait!”
Scrabulous’s creators, Kolkata-based brothers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, said they could not comment on their next move or the allegations, although they indicated their lawyers were assessing the matter. They have also said that they made several attempts to get in touch with Hasbro in the past. Jayant Agarwalla told The Hindu that the brothers would soon release a Chess application on Facebook to satisfy their fans’ cravings. They also have “five or six surprises” up their sleeves.
Under U.S. Copyright Law for games, the “idea” for a game is not protected by copyright. However, it states that “the text matter describing the rules of the game, or the pictorial matter appearing on the gameboard or container, may be registrable.” In the case of Scrabulous, its resemblance to Scrabble is obvious – besides the similarity in names, the design of the board and word tiles are almost identical.
Blogger Matt Dickman, director of U.S.-based company Digital Marketing, writes in his blog that a compromise is perhaps the best solution. “Clearly this is a trademark violation, but just look at the reach that this single application is having,” he said. “Personally, I never really thought about Scrabble until I saw… this little application. I know people who did buy it after this Facebook app reinvigorated their passion for it.”
Fans fight
Many of the 2.3 million registered fans of ‘Scrabulous’ have not given up the fight. At last count, 18,029 people had already signed up to a ‘Save Scrabulous’ group on Facebook and 2,331 people have signed a petition to plead the game’s case to Hasbro.
Scrabulous user Linda Neuman from Washington D.C. wrote on the group’s wall that while the game did indeed “rip off” Scrabble, it deserved credit for spreading it in the online world – a sentiment shared by many. “Why can’t we all share in its success and be happy? Why should Scrabble shut it down and shoot itself in the foot?,” she asked.
For many fans, the real concern was more than the ethics of the controversy. Bogglific fan Katrina Shepherd voiced their desperate needs best: “I’m absolutely devastated,” she wrote. “How am I going to waste my time now?”
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