Theoretically speaking

The answer is "it depends." If you're talking about the code, then no they don't, the code isn't copyrighted by them, it's copyrighted by DIKU. If you're talking about the content, then yes they do. Now, whether or not they choose to act on their copyright, is another matter entirely. Just like whether or not they choose to act on a contract violation, doesn't mean that Anaiah didn't violate the contract. Remember Delerak vs. Armageddon - his whole thing about getting Armageddon in trouble for using Dark Sun material. Wizards of the Coast most certainly did get involved - but obviously in the end, chose not to make a fuss about it. If they had chosen otherwise, Armageddon would have been shut down. They've shut down other games in the past for violating copyright.

Wizards of the Coast does -not- own DIKU, and cannot shut down a DIKU game just because it's a deriv of DIKU. They can, however, shut down a game that is using D&D content without their permission.

Armageddon can attempt to shut down another game for using Armageddon content. They might not succeed, but they can certainly try.

I doubt the staff have the time money or inclination to sue anyone over making a competing game. What's their motivation? If it's to keep their pbase, they could more easily do that by having a better game.

Quick Note

While Armageddon may not have a legal course of action open to them due to chance of success, cost, or lack of interest in pursuing it. That doesn't mean they are completely without tools to bury a "rip-off" game. For example the diku license is pretty much 99.99% unenforced. Part of the license includes contacting the creators to inform them and blah blah blah blah. The majority of game owners do not do that and so they are technically violating the license agreement. No one cares.

The text-based gaming community does care when people try and use diku derived code for profit though. While I have yet to hear of a cease and desist letter being sent to games trying to profit off of non-profit codebases. I do know that the community blacklists those games pretty hardcore. It's one of the reasons that monetizing a MUD (even with a custom codebase) is still frowned upon by many people today.

TLDR - Armageddon could appeal to the greater text-based gaming community to blacklist a "rip-off" game that stole their codebase or their IP. That would be something they could succeed at and it'd depend on the exact situation whether anyone would care.

I've actually got a small team together working on an RPI with an original setting.

Taking cues from this board on what -not- to do.

Will update as progress happens.

Let them know I'll post anything on their behalves they want, representing it as either anonymously submitted material or just silently presenting it as my own knowledge (their choice; whichever works best for them), would you?

TOO SOON

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I can only speak for myself, but since a staggering number of the disgruntled playerbase I originated from also tested INTJ, I think my answer will cover a number of people. A MUD is a massive, long-term social commitment. That's a pretty huge turn-off to introverts, which is a problem because so much of creating a MUD (programming, building, programming, programming) falls to tasks extroverts find emotionally tiring. Even if you find people to work with, you run the risk of having mismatched visions without realizing it in advance, which is just more social bullshit you'll have to deal with.


Agreed.

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Every time you make complete sense it creeps me out.

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I've believed karma is a terrible system and have been outspoken on the matter of replacing it in any new MUD. In short: I think the best system would be one where you are passively awarded spendable points for time spent role playing without offenses, and losing these points upon offense. That way, off-peak players (and people just not interesting the staff enough to be watched) aren't utterly screwed over by their lack of audience.

I'd be more concerned with how to keep some of the social groups from migrating

... but seriously, the main things that appeal to old disgruntled players is getting back the hope they used to have with Arm. Playing a game where it genuinely seems like what you do can matter in some small way with quick gratification. Being able to start a chain reaction in the playerbase that grows and mutates like a cancer continues long after your character's death and influence leave it. Encouraging both individualism and entrepreneurial spirit, instead of treating them both like signs the player is a degenerate.

Their recourse is a combination of fuckall and nothing. Under US copyright law, anything made through the unlicensed use or derivative work of copyrighted material is the property of the infringed party, not the shithead creating something out of it. The degree to which a derivative work is owned by the infringed party depends upon how much of the new work is original. Arm is currently a Tyranid-housing (Games Workshop) blatant Dark Sun knockoff (Wizards of the Coast) with a dash of Dune (Frank Herbert) and a recent splash of Halflife headcrabs (Valve).

Somewhere mixed into all that is a shitload of player-generated content that, even if entirely original, would be the property of its creators, given that even if Arm forced everyone to sign releases today to keep playing the game, those aren't retroactive to cover every contributor who quit the game beforehand. They can prove they own something like no percent of the material, and any lawsuit would put them on the spot for their infringement. So... you know... good luck proving what part of Arm the staff is entitled to damages on.

Making a MUD work isn't just about having the codebase. If you wanted to build an Arm knockoff, although it wouldn't be Arm without the weird DIKU-style skills, it might be a good idea to consider a more stable/flexible codebase. Optional Realities' forum has an engine comparison somewhere, I think. It's also not a one person job unless you have a LOT of time on your hands to just get it up and running. You need some dedicated staff, and there's no guarantee any of the many bitter people who browse this forum have the time, energy or skill for running the storylines necessary to make it feel like PCs have any impact on the world.

If you're serious about doing this, good luck.

right in the fucken feels