Hasbro Gets Facebook's "ATTACK" closed, CC & LG Might B Next

[Surrender Monkey]

May 25th, 2010, was a sad day for fans of ConquerClub, "Attack!" and LandGrab. Arguably these are the big 3 of "Risk" like sites. On that day, just 7 days ago, this is what players of "ATTACK!" saw:


According to the article, Hasbro sent Facebook and the maker of "ATTACK!" (Zynga) cease and desist letters and possibly even filed a lawsuit against them:

"They lost the lawsuit, they had no notice themselves. They had to do it and part of the settlement is non disclosure. Thats why they wont tell you what I just did.""

So what is the difference between Facebook's "ATTACK!" and ConquerClub? Not much. Like ConquerClub, they also avoided using the classic Risk Map, and their name doesn't sound at all like "Risk". However, Facebook had a lot more money to fight this than CC or LG, so it's suprising that they lost.

My prediction is that Hasbro will next go after Counquer Club, and then after LandGrab. Judges follow precedent, and Hasbro winning vs. "ATTACK!" creates some powerful precedent against us. Perhaps it's time for LackAttack and Desau to start working together to create a legal defense fund. Any lawyers playing among us who will consider donating some time?

Read the article here: http://almanac.farmvillechicken.com/disaster-zynga-stops-attack-20100527.html/comment-page-1#comment-4912

[AgentSmith88]

Facebook has millions of users, CC is much smaller. Zynga makes most of the games for Facebook, so stopping them was probably a bigger deal. I'm not sure that going after CC is the next logical step - there are plenty of RISK clones out there. I think CC is the best, I'm just not sure it's the most well known (which would be a good thing in this case)

[lord voldemort]

cc is the 4th hit in google...
interesting..
could have something to do with hasbro bringing risk out to xba

[happy2seeyou]

Since ATTACK is no longer around, maybe now vic will come back and partner with me here

[natty dread]

CC should just take down the classic map. Sure the players would gripe for a time, but at least the site would be safe and we could play all the other maps.

[angola]

CC should just take down the classic map. Sure the players would gripe for a time, but at least the site would be safe and we could play all the other maps.

Good idea. I suck at that map.

[jsnr75]

If I'm not mistaken, CC went through this legal scare a year or so ago (maybe more) when the classic map was changed in order to comply with Hasbro. I don't know the depths of the conversation, but CC had received some legal communication from Hasbro, and complied by changing the classic map and a couple of others (Middle Earth to Midgard) Anyway, I think CC is within the guidelines Hasbro set up.

[jbrettlip]

CC should just take down the classic map. Sure the players would gripe for a time, but at least the site would be safe and we could play all the other maps.

You think? That already happened.

[natty dread]

No I mean take it down alltogether. When CC would have no map that has the exact same gameplay as risk, then Hasbro would have practically no grounds for a lawsuit.

[jbrettlip]

No I mean take it down alltogether. When CC would have no map that has the exact same gameplay as risk, then Hasbro would have practically no grounds for a lawsuit.

The whole rolling 3 dice v 2, and things like armies, territories etc, all could violate Hasbro's intellectual property. I was here last time this was discussed, along with the uproar of the classic map disappearing.

[natty dread]

The whole rolling 3 dice v 2, and things like armies, territories etc, all could violate Hasbro's intellectual property. I was here last time this was discussed, along with the uproar of the classic map disappearing.

Armies on territories... that's too vague to be anyone's intellectual property. Otherwise they could sue like half of the boardgames ever published...

[Timminz]

Maybe it already is different. Doesn't the Hasbro board have different connections around the Japan/Kamchatka area?

[jbrettlip]

The whole rolling 3 dice v 2, and things like armies, territories etc, all could violate Hasbro's intellectual property. I was here last time this was discussed, along with the uproar of the classic map disappearing.

Armies on territories... that's too vague to be anyone's intellectual property. Otherwise they could sue like half of the boardgames ever published...

True, but all those things COMBINED create a similar game play. If it was only rolling the dice, monopoly could sue risk and trivial pursuit. They all use dice. But it is the actual game play that can be considered copy written. Please see the use of the word AND in my above post.

[Qwert]

well i been in Boardgamegeek site,and i must say that more or least thousand and thousand,boardgame have more or least similar gameplays and similar dice( when i look better half of boardgame use standard dices) and all these boardgames are registered.
Why these its not problem and CC will be problem?

[ljex]

Maybe it already is different. Doesn't the Hasbro board have different connections around the Japan/Kamchatka area?

No it is the same map in a different form

[lord voldemort]

we dont roll dice...we roll intesity cubes...
There are 6 possible intensity levels that may be assigned, listed here from weakest to strongest:

1. Pathetic
2. Sad
3. Decent
4. Strong
5. Awesome
6. Heroic

[4 U 2 NV]

we dont roll dice...we roll intesity cubes...
There are 6 possible intensity levels that may be assigned, listed here from weakest to strongest:

1. Pathetic
2. Sad
3. Decent
4. Strong
5. Awesome
6. Heroic

Heroic FTW! but i do believe that hasbro already came after CC and did cause a change in the classic and middle earth maps. not sure whether or not you can copyright a gameplay because how you play a game isn't a physical entity

[mibi]

I think this had little to do with Hasbro. Zynga is an enourmous company, they hired 800 people last year with hundreds of millions in both revenue dollars and users. ATTACK! had less than 50k users, brought in no income, was undeveloped and had problems with cheaters among other things. It was a blight on Zynga's roster.

[nagerous]

Conquer Club doesn't have armies and territories either, we have troops and regions.

[Timminz]

Maybe it already is different. Doesn't the Hasbro board have different connections around the Japan/Kamchatka area?

No it is the same map in a different form

No, it isn't. Look closely at the borders in the top-right of each image.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

[MrBenn]

Different versions of the board have had slight border variations. If I recall correctly, there was a slight change when the New Classic replaced the Shapes (although I may be mistaken)

[Timminz]

Different versions of the board have had slight border variations. If I recall correctly, there was a slight change when the New Classic replaced the Shapes (although I may be mistaken)

I'm pretty sure that all the classic versions on CC have had the exact same gameplay.

[Surrender Monkey]

I think this had little to do with Hasbro. Zynga is an enourmous company, they hired 800 people last year with hundreds of millions in both revenue dollars and users. ATTACK! had less than 50k users, brought in no income, was undeveloped and had problems with cheaters among other things. It was a blight on Zynga's roster.

That is possible. The reason why I doubt it is if that was the case, they could easily come out and explain it. Even the notice they displayed on May 25th was bizarre because it gave utterly no details. To date, they have given no reason at all, which makes me think they signed a "non-disclosure" agreement with a settlement out of court. Don't forget, Hasbro just got down going after Scrabulous (the Scrabble copycat) so maybe FaceBook/Zynga didn't want to go through that and settled out of court http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/hasbros-notches-triple-word-score-against-scrabulous-with-lawsuit/

My friend Julie tried very hard to get the reason out of Zynga customer support back and forth to no avail. Read her communication with them and tell me if you don't agree their avoiding the question or they aren't legally able to answer it:

Zynga Customer Support to me
show details 6:22 AM (2 hours ago)

Recently you requested Zynga support. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

We’ve provided a detailed answer below that we think should resolve your issue. If after reviewing our answer and following the instructions you are still experiencing the issue or have more questions, please reply to this message and let us know.

Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.


Subject
What happened to the Attack! game?? Got this message: We regret to inform you...
------
Discussion Thread
Response (Hector J) 05/31/2010 06:22 AM
Hello Julie,

Thanks for contacting Zynga.

Again this is Hector and I thank you for take your time and let us know your concern, I cannot tell you if our developers are going to bringing back, what I can confirm is that they are improving the other popular games, like mafia Wars, FarmVille, Vampire wars, please keep checking http://www.zynga.com

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us, I will be more than happy to assist you.

Kind regards,
Hector H
Zynga Customer Support
-----
Customer (Julie Kimani) 05/29/2010 07:56 PM
So just to clarify, the removal of the Attack! game is temporary while
Zynga works on updates? So once they are done, they will be bringing it
back?
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 9:18 AM, Zynga Customer Support <support@zynga.com>wrote:
>
-----
Response (Hector J) 05/26/2010 09:18 AM
Hello Julie,

Thanks for contacting Zynga.

Again this is Hector and I thank you for take your time and let us know your concern, unfortunately, at the moment, our developers are working to set upgrades for our games, we have removed some of the games and I don't have any more information about it, they sure are going to make new updates, let me forward your email to this department in order to provide you new updates, in the meantime, please keep checking http://www.zynga.com

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us, I will be more than happy to assist you.

Kind regards,
Hector H
Zynga Customer Support
-----
Customer (Julie Kimani) 05/26/2010 07:57 AM
Hector J didn't even come CLOSE to answering my question! He only repeated
what my question was about in the first place. WHY is Zynga no longer
support the Attack! application and will it be supported by someone else in
the future?
Please answer my questions or tell me why you cannot.
Thank you, Julie Kimani
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 6:08 AM, Zynga Customer Support <support@zynga.com>wrote:
>
-----
Response (Hector J) 05/26/2010 06:08 AM
Hello Julie,

Thanks for contacting Zynga.

My name is Hector, I regret to inform you that effective May 25th, 2010, Zynga Game Network will no longer support this application. However, we have some other great options for you! Please try out one of our other great games at http://www.zynga.com. In this case billing department will check if you made some purchases in order to set a compensation in the other games, they will contact you.

Thank you for choosing Zynga as your favorite place for social games.

Please do not hesitate to contact Zynga Customer Support with any questions or concerns at http://zynga.com/support.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us, I will be more than happy to assist you.

Kind regards,
Hector H
Zynga Customer Support
-----
Customer (Julie Kimani) 05/25/2010 09:17 PM
What happened to the Attack! game?? Got this message:



We regret to inform you that effective May 25th, 2010, Zynga Game Network will no longer be supporting this application.

But we have some other great options for you! Please feel free to try out another great Zynga game at the Url listed below:


http://zynga.com/games

Thank you for choosing Zynga as your favorite place for social games.

Please do not hesitate to contact Zynga Customer Support with any questions or concerns at http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/home.

Well I have a question! This was my favorite game! Will still be able to play it elsewhere??
-----
Question Reference #100525-013682
Escalation Level: Send Survey - 24 hours
Product Level 1: Other Games
Category Level 1: Other
Date Created: 05/25/2010 09:17 PM
Last Updated: 05/31/2010 06:22 AM
Status: Answered
Where do you play?: Facebook
Platform:

[AndyDufresne]

I think this had little to do with Hasbro. Zynga is an enourmous company, they hired 800 people last year with hundreds of millions in both revenue dollars and users. ATTACK! had less than 50k users, brought in no income, was undeveloped and had problems with cheaters among other things. It was a blight on Zynga's roster.

It is true that when google searching 'facebook attack' a top search phrase is 'facebook attack cheats.'

Then again, when google searching 'Conquer Club,' 'Conquer Club cheats' is also a top phrase---but ours leads to a forum topic mostly mocking other users.


--Andy