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Will Fortnite Lawsuit Affect Pantheon Emotes?

    • 470 posts
    December 8, 2018 3:39 PM PST

    Because it's Saturday and I have nothing better to do atm, let's talk about emotes! Those fun little animations we all know and love used for everything from just fooling around to roleplaying. Funny enough, they seem to be a more interesting topic than usual of late.

    The topic we're about to discuss seems a bit silly to me as countless games have used emotes for a very long time without issue. But it seems some folks are now suing game developers/publishers over the use of simple emotes that involve some dance moves. Such is the case with Fortnight, which recently found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit from rapper 2 Miley.

    Rapper 2 Milly, who said in November that he was considering legal action against Epic Games for its use of his Milly Rock dance in Fortnite has followed through and filed a lawsuit against the company.

    Short version:

    The lawsuit says Epic "capitalized on the Milly Rock's popularity, particularly with its younger fans" by selling it as the "Swipe It" emote, but did not credit or compensate 2 Milly, or seek his permission to use it. 

    The one big difference between some games and others that use emotes is that some sell them in packs while others include them in the base product. Miley argues that the way Fortnite monetizes their game, by selling the emotes as microtransactions, as partof his suit. But it's a very short hop to swap out the word microtransaction with subscription if you were so inclined to pursue such a lawsuit.

    Now the "legal experts I've seen thus far debate this topic seem to think it'll be thrown out as you can't technically trademark a dance move. Still, having to even fight this sort of thing is going to be a costly endeavor. And should Miley actually somehow win this thing, it sets a precedent that will undoubtedly be met with more lawsuits.

    Just about every MMORPG out there has a dance emotes or even emotes mimicking certain other things from pop culture or traditional media that pays homage to something. RIFT, like Fortnight, has The Carlton as well as a number of other dances as do most other MMOS and countless other genre of games. If Miley wins, and the precedent is set, it will likely not stop at dance moves. So the question: How do you think this might possibly impact emotes in Pantheon if at all?

    https://www.pcgamer.com/2-milly-sues-epic-games-over-fortnites-swipe-it-dance-emote/

    Figured it was a topic worth fiddling with just for the fun of it. Stay civil. ;)

    • 438 posts
    December 10, 2018 5:45 AM PST
    Haha that’s funny about the lawsuit imo. I really hope Pantheon doesn’t have those ridiculous dances. Maybe I’m getting too grumpy these days and am turning into the dude who’s telling people “get off my lawn!” But those dances in fortnight just make me mad.
    • 2886 posts
    December 10, 2018 1:48 PM PST

    I find it extremely unlikely that Pantheon will have pop culture-inspired emotes like that. The devs seem to prioritize lore and immersion too much. That's not to say that there won't be a /dance emote, but I'd be willing to bet the devs would just invent their own. If an Ogre started doing "the Floss," I would expect a huge backlash from the core audience haha. It just doesn't fit in this world. So all that to say, I expect it to have little to no effect on the game.

    • 470 posts
    December 10, 2018 2:02 PM PST

    Bazgrim said:

    I find it extremely unlikely that Pantheon will have pop culture-inspired emotes like that. The devs seem to prioritize lore and immersion too much. That's not to say that there won't be a /dance emote, but I'd be willing to bet the devs would just invent their own. If an Ogre started doing "the Floss," I would expect a huge backlash from the core audience haha. It just doesn't fit in this world. So all that to say, I expect it to have little to no effect on the game.

    Why would you put that image out there? ;p 

    Yeah I expect it's highly unlikely it'll affect much. And if he did pull off a win it would just mean emotes would have to be more original. I think copyright lawsuits are getting nuts anyway.


    This post was edited by Kratuk at December 10, 2018 2:04 PM PST