Square Can't Use any of your ideas. Legally. Why do they ask for our advise?

[DoctorMog]

Browsing Reddit I found something that made me think;

A customer sent a letter to Square with an idea for a movie.

This is Square's response:

http://i.imgur.com/u8RLZ.jpg

Why are they asking for our advise if they stated they legally can't use it?

Now I know this is not a recent letter, and things might have changed, but the principal still stands no?

Source:
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comme...to_squaresoft/

[Atoli]

Maybe there's a difference between a new idea for a whole project (like a movie) and feedback on an already existing project.
MMORPGs are different anyways, because they are pretty much the only media which are NOT finished upon release. Books, movies and console games all are finished, but MMORPGs are always worked on further, mainly to make the community happy, so they kind of need feedback from the players.

Just what I think, though.

[Geesus]

Well they can if they ask and we give it to them. This person wrote TOO Square-EA *chuckles*. SE did not "request" their opinion or thoughts as they are now. I do not know if what I say is true but from the letter and what is currently going on, I'll venture to say I'm pretty close as to why it's ok what we are all doing compared to a letter just randomly sent to them.

[Xenor]

Can't they just have a ToS that states anything posted on the forums becomes property of SE and can be used?

[Rynithon]

I think movie's are a little different. They are involved in a lot more lawsuits from people who pitch ideas and then sue later when a movie uses similar themes or characters. I remember on a tour ride of Universal Studies they said people would write scripts and throw them over the fence. Then later when a movie came out that had themes from their script they would sue them.

[Estellios]

I'm thinking its because you can easily attribute something like a script or movie pitch to a person/people and you have to get into a bunch of legal stuff from copyrights and all that. Getting game feedback where pretty much any idea is being asked for by at least a couple hundred people in a situation where they are specifically asking for it is much different.

That letter was also written while they were working on The Spirits Within. Accepting a brand-new movie idea at that time is pretty much a slap in the face to the other group and it would be nasty dealing with studios/agencies/etc if they likely became disgruntled. If you got a chance to make a movie based on a big name like Final Fantasy, if some other bozo comes along and gets that chance too I'd be a little angry too.

[origamikitsune]

The difference is that SE already own the IP for Final Fantasy 14. When they ask us "what would you like" we give them an answer about their product. In the case of a movie that I write (even if it is only a one sentence description) I own the IP by virtue of having created documentation that shows I have created an idea. SE -could- take that idea if they wanted, but only legally if the proper contracts were filled out (and in the case of a successful movie, it could be argued that if I gave the movie to them, SE accepted in bad faith, knowing that they were screwing me over, therefore creating a legal issue should I ever argue that bad faith in court. In the US at least, that is the sort of copyright case that -would- win, if I remember precedents correctly).

[ApplePie]

I think movie's are a little different. They are involved in a lot more lawsuits from people who pitch ideas and then sue later when a movie uses similar themes or characters. I remember on a tour ride of Universal Studies they said people would write scripts and throw them over the fence. Then later when a movie came out that had themes from their script they would sue them.

Good idea!

[Xaimera]

Ya I agree, an MMORPG is always growing and changing. And ya they asked us for input lol.

haha that is a good idea! *starts writing a script*

[Ark_mage2]

Can't they just have a ToS that states anything posted on the forums becomes property of SE and can be used?

My thinking exactly. Something to this effect is most likely already in the ToS.