OpenMW Faq Video

[jvoisin]

I've seen so many people asking "multiplayer ?" that I think you should talk about it in the first video. This is the most asked question (and by far), and I'm getting tired of answering "nop, maybe later, in a very distant future".

I know that this is post-1.0, but I think the whole PR team is fed up with this question :/

[WeirdSexy]

I've seen so many people asking "multiplayer ?" that I think you should talk about it in the first video. This is the most asked question (and by far), and I'm getting tired of answering "nop, maybe later, in a very distant future".

I know that this is post-1.0, but I think the whole PR team is fed up with this question :/

This question gets asked so much that it deserves its own video. Still I think it would fit better in a video with other questions along the lines of:

Will you support other games like Fallout and Oblivion in the future?
Why not just make it in Skyrim?
Will it have shiny dx 11 HDR god-rays, depth of field, and object motion blur?
Can see feet?
Make new animations!
Morrowind is so bad, implement the combat from Skyrim!
Fix the character height! How could you guys ignore this!?

However, your voices carries weight. If some more of your want to vote towards putting the multiplayer question in the first video, I'll do it. But I think it's bad decision made out of frustration.

EDIT: Also, I hate to say it, but these videos aren't going to change much of anything. People are still going to ask. Perhaps this is our lot in life.

[ElderTroll]

If you mention "click on the links here for our team's answers to commonly asked questions" at the end of the video it should cause some decrease in questions. Not everyone is so stupid/self centered to think "Once they hear my question about multiplayer they'll wonder how on earth they hadn't thought of it sooner. I'm going to blow these guys's minds and they'll probably want to give me a designer credit."

[WeirdSexy]

ElderTroll, you mean say that at the end of release videos? That's the plan. Sure there will be some decrease in asinine questions. I said it wouldn't change much of anything. Perhaps that is a bit pessimistic, I just mean that people aren't going to stop asking about multiplayer.

Well if no one has any more suggestions, I'll get started making the video. I was just planning on editing together a bunch of scenic panning shots of Vvardenfell while I'm speaking. If I can show something relevant to what I'm saying (like the alchemy window), I'll show that. While I'm reading the question I was just thinking of a blank screen with the text:
Q: the question
A: very short version of my answer before I start answering the question

If anyone is more creative than me, I'm open to suggestions. But, the point of this video is basically to spoon feed the FAQ to the masses since most are too lazy to read for themselves. I don't really see what more we could do.

[sirherrbatka]

well, I can try to slowly explain "some" of the issues like multiplayer and so one with weekly posts.

[Tarius]

Maybe you should just have a sticky in the ideas forum that says "Read About Multiplayer"

[veepee]

In the past Bethesda lawyers seem to have been quite trigger happy about their trademarks (like "The Scrolls"). So possibly even regarding spoken text, it might be a good idea to refrain from phrasing "Open Morrowind". Or maybe i'm just paranoid. Around the time when OpenMW first came into public, people involved used to make a big deal about it.

[Sslaxx]

Q: Is OpenMW legal?
A: OpenMW is definitely legal in the U.S. Copyright laws vary by country, but to our knowledge, OpenMW is legal everywhere. Any code in our engine that replicates the functionality of the original has been written as a product of clean reverse engineering. OpenMW does not distribute any content whatsoever belonging to Bethesda Softworks, or Zenimax Media. Zenimax would have a very weak case if the wanted to sue us for some reason, but it would be hard to think of a reason why they'd want to. If anything, OpenMW will encourage a few more people to buy and play Morrowind. It certainly doesn't give you any way to play it for free. We've asked Bethesda to release the formulae for various game mechanics in the past. Representatives of the company politely denied our request but nodded their heads and wished us luck. Legal action isn't something we are particularly worried about.

Do not include that highlighted part. However weak it may seem, it may be construed as "bad-mouthing" Bethesda/Zenimax, when you want and need to maintain their good will (legal cases and legal standing aside, being driven underground ala Morroblivion would be a bad thing).

[Greendogo]

I agree with the above comment. Do not tell Bethesda/Zenimax if it has a weak case against you, their lawyers can decide that for themselves. Their legal team seems to act automatically without regard to what the game making part of the company says or thinks (see the trouble they got into with Mojang).

I'm sure the people who worked on Morrowind are very flattered by OpenMW in general, but that doesn't mean we need to tell their lawyers that they have a weak case, in a public FAQ video that will be widely seen by the community. That's just asking for it.

It would be best if we never have to find out if that is true.

[psi29a]

What should probably work is listing all the FOSS engine replacements that already exist and are still available. Gemrb (http://www.gemrb.org/) for example, lets you play the Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment games and Balder's Gate games because it is an engine replacement. There are more (SCUMMVM and etc.), the point being is that they exist because they do contain any of the game's IP.

The only time anyone should mention Bethesda/Zenimax is in relation to the fact that OpenMW does not contain any of their IP.

Keep it simple and to the point.