Using Fictional Planet Names in a Computer Game
April 29, 2013 11:59 AM Subscribe
I'm working on a computer game, and I need names for about 8000 planets. Wikipedia has these great lists of "fictional planets in science fiction" and such. What is the legal and accepted ethical practice towards re-using these names?
I know I've personally seen several examples of "Dune" and "Arrakis" show up in games that I've played. I've never seen a "Tatooine" or "Coruscant" outside of Star Wars, though. Is that just a difference in the litigiousness of the estate? Or is the use of Dune breaking the law? Or is the non-use of Tatooine just because people are scared of the Lucas Lawyers, without cause? Or do people write the Herbert estate and ask to use Dune in their game?
I know You Are Not My Lawyer, You Are Not Giving Legal Advice, and Raxicoricofallapatorius because that's just a great word.
I know I've personally seen several examples of "Dune" and "Arrakis" show up in games that I've played. I've never seen a "Tatooine" or "Coruscant" outside of Star Wars, though. Is that just a difference in the litigiousness of the estate? Or is the use of Dune breaking the law? Or is the non-use of Tatooine just because people are scared of the Lucas Lawyers, without cause? Or do people write the Herbert estate and ask to use Dune in their game?
I know You Are Not My Lawyer, You Are Not Giving Legal Advice, and Raxicoricofallapatorius because that's just a great word.
It sounds like more trouble than it's worth.
As an end-user I would find it in poor taste, indicative of a desire to cut corners: if the names are well-known, they have their own backstory which I doubt will fit well with your game unless you go to extraordinary lengths - you can't have Magrathea filled with fierce warriors, or Endor being a toxic swamp. If they are unrecognizable, you are just ripping off other people's creative naming.
A couple of appropriate choices as an Easter Egg hidden in a huge list is ok in my book though.
posted by Dr Dracator at 12:28 PM on April 29, 2013 [3 favorites]
As an end-user I would find it in poor taste, indicative of a desire to cut corners: if the names are well-known, they have their own backstory which I doubt will fit well with your game unless you go to extraordinary lengths - you can't have Magrathea filled with fierce warriors, or Endor being a toxic swamp. If they are unrecognizable, you are just ripping off other people's creative naming.
A couple of appropriate choices as an Easter Egg hidden in a huge list is ok in my book though.
posted by Dr Dracator at 12:28 PM on April 29, 2013 [3 favorites]
Keep it referential: remind the player what they loved about something else, rather than taking from another game/book/franchise the scutwork done by someone to name planets and make it your own. Instead of Tatooine, have twin planets Scum and Villainy. Making a reference like Scum and Villainy, the player understands that you, the creator, are saying "I, too, enjoyed Star Wars, and we have that in common" while saying Tatooine says "I am trying to cash in on Star Wars, rube."
For guidance, and an amusing read, try reading "Ready Player One," which has loads upon loads of SF references which will pour directly into your nerd receptors. Since no single license is focused on, all have equal standing in there, and the entire thing is understood to have been created by dedicated fans.
On preview, I agree that sticking to books or dead licenses (Star Control), but remember that someone did the work to generate those planet names. Trigger memories for your players, rather than just stealing someone else's work populating the universe.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:28 PM on April 29, 2013
For guidance, and an amusing read, try reading "Ready Player One," which has loads upon loads of SF references which will pour directly into your nerd receptors. Since no single license is focused on, all have equal standing in there, and the entire thing is understood to have been created by dedicated fans.
On preview, I agree that sticking to books or dead licenses (Star Control), but remember that someone did the work to generate those planet names. Trigger memories for your players, rather than just stealing someone else's work populating the universe.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:28 PM on April 29, 2013
Best answer: IAAL, IANYL, TINLA. (but you already knew that). I do some IP, but I do not hold myself out as an IP lawyer.
If this is anything like copyright of fictional characters, this can get fairly nuanced. The reason is that under copyright law, a fictional character is an idea until they get sufficiently developed to the point that they are no longer a stock character. For example, Rocky Balboa, James Bond, and most famously Mickey Mouse are copyrighted characters. (an example of an unprotected character is Regan from "The Exorcist") These examples all come from court decisions.
I am not aware of a case regarding the copyrightability of a fictional location (if there are such cases, I would welcome correction), but if the analysis is anything like the fictional character analysis, I think it is a bad idea. Dune/Arrakis is a very well-developed planet over the course of numerous books published over the decades. You cannot have a book from that universe without Arrakis. "Tatooine" also makes us instantly think of Star Wars. If the fictional character test applies to locations, I think that using other author's planets is more trouble than it's worth.
Maybe you can do a few cute examples like Sunburnt suggests with "Scum" and "Villainy". Blizzard does that a lot in World of Warcraft, for example. However, I think that you are better off thinking up your own planet names. I agree with Dr. Dracator that it comes off as lazy.
In my opinion.
posted by Tanizaki at 12:47 PM on April 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
If this is anything like copyright of fictional characters, this can get fairly nuanced. The reason is that under copyright law, a fictional character is an idea until they get sufficiently developed to the point that they are no longer a stock character. For example, Rocky Balboa, James Bond, and most famously Mickey Mouse are copyrighted characters. (an example of an unprotected character is Regan from "The Exorcist") These examples all come from court decisions.
I am not aware of a case regarding the copyrightability of a fictional location (if there are such cases, I would welcome correction), but if the analysis is anything like the fictional character analysis, I think it is a bad idea. Dune/Arrakis is a very well-developed planet over the course of numerous books published over the decades. You cannot have a book from that universe without Arrakis. "Tatooine" also makes us instantly think of Star Wars. If the fictional character test applies to locations, I think that using other author's planets is more trouble than it's worth.
Maybe you can do a few cute examples like Sunburnt suggests with "Scum" and "Villainy". Blizzard does that a lot in World of Warcraft, for example. However, I think that you are better off thinking up your own planet names. I agree with Dr. Dracator that it comes off as lazy.
In my opinion.
posted by Tanizaki at 12:47 PM on April 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
For 8000 planets? I'd just use a random name generator.
posted by Sequence at 12:59 PM on April 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Sequence at 12:59 PM on April 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
This is not a good idea for the reasons that have been already mentioned. One litigious person can ruin your whole day.
Two suggestions:
1. Find an online "pronouncable password generator". This will give you words that will be useful as planet names for your fictional universe.
2. 8,000 is a lot of planets to name. Some games with large universes (e.g. EVE Online) don't give a full name to every star system. Some are just names like "E-2543". Consider naming a smaller subset of your worlds and then a "designation" like the example from EVE.
posted by DWRoelands at 1:02 PM on April 29, 2013 [2 favorites]
Two suggestions:
1. Find an online "pronouncable password generator". This will give you words that will be useful as planet names for your fictional universe.
2. 8,000 is a lot of planets to name. Some games with large universes (e.g. EVE Online) don't give a full name to every star system. Some are just names like "E-2543". Consider naming a smaller subset of your worlds and then a "designation" like the example from EVE.
posted by DWRoelands at 1:02 PM on April 29, 2013 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks. The use of "in-joke" names from other properties is so widespread, I thought maybe it was explicitly legal. Sounds like not, though. Generated list it is!
(Fortunately, only the human planets need to be actual words in a language, and there's plenty of Earth nouns to choose from. The bulk of the names are alien in origin, so those can be pretty crazy.)
(I did use the wikipedia List of Common Names for Starts for the stars, since that's as public domain as public domain gets, and adds a certain authenticity. I didn't need 8000 of those, only ~400.)
posted by BeeDo at 1:17 PM on April 29, 2013
(Fortunately, only the human planets need to be actual words in a language, and there's plenty of Earth nouns to choose from. The bulk of the names are alien in origin, so those can be pretty crazy.)
(I did use the wikipedia List of Common Names for Starts for the stars, since that's as public domain as public domain gets, and adds a certain authenticity. I didn't need 8000 of those, only ~400.)
posted by BeeDo at 1:17 PM on April 29, 2013
Fortunately, only the human planets need to be actual words in a language, and there's plenty of Earth nouns to choose from.
Actually, you could also try naming them after minor characters from world myths. There's a shit-ton of those, and if you keep it to the minor figures of older myths you won't run the risk of accidental offense.
You could also name them after characters from different (public domain) classic stories - Uranus's moons are named after characters from Shakesperean plays.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:02 PM on April 29, 2013 [2 favorites]
Actually, you could also try naming them after minor characters from world myths. There's a shit-ton of those, and if you keep it to the minor figures of older myths you won't run the risk of accidental offense.
You could also name them after characters from different (public domain) classic stories - Uranus's moons are named after characters from Shakesperean plays.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:02 PM on April 29, 2013 [2 favorites]
Frontier had a random map maker built in. Each sector used its coordinate as a seed for the random number generator, which placed stars and planets and named them all.
They manually placed a bunch of star systems in the middle of the map, but the map extended infinitely far in all directions because of this. The star names were all generated automatically by concatanating pronounceable syllables.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:21 PM on April 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
They manually placed a bunch of star systems in the middle of the map, but the map extended infinitely far in all directions because of this. The star names were all generated automatically by concatanating pronounceable syllables.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:21 PM on April 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
IANAL, etc. Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse are not copyright-protected. They are trademarks. Copyright protects creative works, Trademark and servicemark protection protects logos, brand images, brand words. Mickey Mouse, trademark, Steamboat Willy (his first cartoon) copyright.
The usual legal test for those things is something to the effect of "would a regular person be confused into thinking that they were doing business with/looking at a creative work from mark-owning corporation?" (Disney, in these examples.) It's unlikely that Arrakis/Dune's trademark, if it ever was one (beyond in the movie context) is still active. Trade- and Service mark applications (read some at uspto.gov) have specific applications that put finite limits on the scope of the mark. That's why Donald Trump can put a trademark on "You're Fired!" Nobody owes anyone money if those words are used in the usual context, but you'd be in a legal toupee tangle if you decided to make and market "You're Fired! Spice Rub," especially if you put a big-haired doofus behind a desk on the label.
There is a parody exception for trademarks, just as there is a fair use exception for copyrights, but as my friend, the IP attorney told me, "those are defenses, not excuses." Neither is a Get Out of Court Free card, and mark owners know that fighting it is expensive. Furthermore, if they don't enforce the marks with substantial vigor, but are instead selective about going after infringers, the courts are less inclined to award the markholder any damages. That's why those with the money to do so will pretty much go after everyone.
Whatever you do, I only ask that you avoid the International Star Registry and the like LIKE A PLAGUE. It carries no weight beyond its own copyrighted binding in terms of acceptance of any of the names, and as far as I'm concerned it's basically a means for duping stargazers and romantics.
You will find that most stars were either named by the ancients (mostly just the bright stars alone, and only 6000 stars or so are visible to the human eye to begin with) or were named by a sky survey that issued a catalog number. Good place to start, though.
posted by Sunburnt at 5:49 PM on April 29, 2013
The usual legal test for those things is something to the effect of "would a regular person be confused into thinking that they were doing business with/looking at a creative work from mark-owning corporation?" (Disney, in these examples.) It's unlikely that Arrakis/Dune's trademark, if it ever was one (beyond in the movie context) is still active. Trade- and Service mark applications (read some at uspto.gov) have specific applications that put finite limits on the scope of the mark. That's why Donald Trump can put a trademark on "You're Fired!" Nobody owes anyone money if those words are used in the usual context, but you'd be in a legal toupee tangle if you decided to make and market "You're Fired! Spice Rub," especially if you put a big-haired doofus behind a desk on the label.
There is a parody exception for trademarks, just as there is a fair use exception for copyrights, but as my friend, the IP attorney told me, "those are defenses, not excuses." Neither is a Get Out of Court Free card, and mark owners know that fighting it is expensive. Furthermore, if they don't enforce the marks with substantial vigor, but are instead selective about going after infringers, the courts are less inclined to award the markholder any damages. That's why those with the money to do so will pretty much go after everyone.
Whatever you do, I only ask that you avoid the International Star Registry and the like LIKE A PLAGUE. It carries no weight beyond its own copyrighted binding in terms of acceptance of any of the names, and as far as I'm concerned it's basically a means for duping stargazers and romantics.
You will find that most stars were either named by the ancients (mostly just the bright stars alone, and only 6000 stars or so are visible to the human eye to begin with) or were named by a sky survey that issued a catalog number. Good place to start, though.
posted by Sunburnt at 5:49 PM on April 29, 2013
Definitely use generated text. Not only will it be orders of magnitude easier, but generated text can come out with surprising and wonderful results. Not only is that fun for the players, but it'll be fun for you, whereas not much else in your game will have the capacity to surprise you.
(My favorite example from the game I work for was when a wizard name generator, working off the string "%epithet% %fragment%%fragment%" returned "The Amazing Albino".)
posted by rifflesby at 5:59 PM on April 29, 2013
(My favorite example from the game I work for was when a wizard name generator, working off the string "%epithet% %fragment%%fragment%" returned "The Amazing Albino".)
posted by rifflesby at 5:59 PM on April 29, 2013
I played (or watched) something a while back that used the last names of famous people as names of planets (I think - it's late and I don't remember for sure). So there was a series of things named after the last names of Sci-Fi authors (Sagan, Vinge, Scalzi, etc), then it branched out into Scientists (Einstein, Rontgen, Tesla, etc). I think there were some other themes as well; I wish I could remember what I saw that in now. Anyway, I liked it as a method for getting a bunch of names..
posted by jferg at 9:49 PM on April 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by jferg at 9:49 PM on April 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
You may find this series of articles about programmatic generation of star and planet names in Frontier: Elite II to be interesting for the names that you don't draw from fiction.
posted by siskin at 12:18 PM on April 29, 2013 [2 favorites]