Musician Archive

I love being a Musician. It rocks, literally. But I do have a couple of suggestions:

1. Devs, why not make "song schematics" that only musicians can craft? (And something similar for dancers.) Make each schematic its own little short tune or flourish. Then we could piece together each schematic to make our own songs. Wouldn't this get around any copyright concerns about making our own songs? (I know you tried to allow us to make our own songs, and I assume your lawyers vetoed that idea.) That way we'd have an endless variety of songs, no? Currently we can only play 8 or 10 if we make Master Musician; kind of a limited repertoire.

2. As a fallback, devs, how about a few more songs or flourishes or both? How about letting us learn two songs when we gain a skill box? I'm a musician in RL; I volunteer to compose them for you! Free!

I had an idea similar to your song schematics one.

The Devs should allow Master Musicians access to a simple song toolkit. This toolkit would consist of the musical scale for all of the instruments included in the game (and no more - so no electric guitars, no stringed instruments, etc.). The new song would be saved in macroed chunks which can be put on the hotbar.

You say the Devs at one point considered the option of allowing Musicians to make their own songs but the idea was nixed possibly because of fear of copyright infringement. Now, maybe the lawyers at SOE are just being overly cautious, but I really don't understand how allowing players access to what is essentially a generic computer keyboard in game could put SOE at risk of being sued. Yes, players will probably make Star Wars versions of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or "Let It Be" or "Thriller" orwhatever, but that sort of "creative freedom" would fall under the "fair use" doctrine of U.S. Copyright law.

Would an SWG version of "Beat It" which only exists within the game be used by the player or bySOE in a real world commercial manner? Of course not. "Beat It" by Michael Jackson would still exist as a separate entity (a music production on a fixed medium or performed live) from "Beat It" by Gralgog playing his slitherhorn in a virtual cantina in Mos Eisely for virtual credits. It's not as ifSOE would be allowing players to directly upload "Beat It" by Michael Jackson into the game. Would Gralgog's slitherhorn version of "Beat It" impact negatively Michael Jackon's potential market for "Beat It"? Are you kidding me? Would anyone confuse "Beat It" by Michael Jackson for Gralgog's "Beat It"? Are they so similar in nature that one could arguably say that Gralgog's "Beat It" treads on the territory of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"?

Also, SOE could always say that Gralgog's version of "Beat It" on the slitherhorn is a parody. After all, it is being performed by a made-up alien creatureon a fantasy instrument in a virtual world. If that's not parody, I don't know what is.

- Paul

By the way, this is section 107 of the Copyright Law dealing with Fair Use.

Section107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

- Paul

Thanks for your excellent replies. Heh, I'm an attorney myself, but my field is not copyright, so I claim no expertise about it. FWIW, Holo didn't say explicitly that legal concerns torpedoed his idea of allowing player-created songs. He just said we had "no idea how hard" he fought for it. I can't imagine a vociferous objection from a coding or design point of view; only the lawyers come to mind.

Anyway, I certainly agree, I see no legal problem with allowing someone to play "Beat it" or "Let it Be" on the Slitherhorn or Fizzz in the cantina. People do it in real life all the time, and they don't pay license fees for doing so.

And I like your variation on my idea. Actually, I proposed something like your idea in beta, but got no response. I know this isn't the highest-priority issue for the devs, but they should think about it sooner or later. If you want people to stay hooked on the game for months and years, better give 'em more than a dozen songs to play.

NewJedi:

Personally, the only way player-run cantinas and the musician class specifically can survive past launch is if players are given the opportunity to create their own music.

After all, what's goingto be the major draw for a player-run cantina? Who's going to pay access fees to listen to musicians play the same ol' starwars1 loop when they can listen to that for free in a public cantina? And when every player becomes a master musician, what will differentiate each of them from the other (aside from fancy clothes and possibly the ability to coordinate with other bandmembers and dancers)?

The framework is here in the game for a truly wonderful player-run experience. The devs just have to give us the tools

- Paul

Yep, again I agree. I hadn't thought about your point on player-run cantinas, but it's a good one.

That said, I do think some gameplay elements already do distinguish musicians from one another. Some are better about lining up in an organized away. Some dress better. Some do flourishes in a more pleasing order, and likewise with bandflourishes. Some integrate the dancers into the routine better. Some have better patter with the audience, etc.

But still, I agree: the music is just too homogenous. If we can't make our own tunes, at the very least we should have a far greater variety of stuff by Master Musician level.I wouldn't mind a system that gave us most songs at the end of our careers; that's okay with me. But we need dozens of tunes, not 10 pr 12. I want to play this game for years -- but I'll be sick of these tunes long before that.