Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any good?

[GisherJohn24]

They have no case. They are not using player names, never have. Most of the faces look nearly identical to the next guy. Case closed. What the fans do with the players after we buy the game, name them, give them new hairstyles, what have you, that's our God given right. They have no right to sue what people do in the privacy of their own home. They don't have a case. It better be dropped. IF they win, we may never be able to share rosters again...

[Sundown2600]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Is your take on those players not having a case based on facts, or is it based on your desire to continue to share rosters? A fair question based on your post I think.

I have followed the case just a little bit so I'm not sure how strong their case is, but the way I see it if a judge/ jury or whoever decides that those players were actually wronged in any way then I say let justice prevail.

And just to add a little bit more to this. Last gen I remember vividly how close the players resembled their real life counterparts, even though the graphics were limited compared to now. A great example was the former Hawaii QB Timmy Chang. The dev team went out of their way to make him look Polynesian in that game. There were years when even the cities the players were from were accurate in a lot of cases and it could not have been a coincidence. I do admit that current gen the devs have seemed to use a much more generic approach in regards to the players, but last gen that was not the case IMO.

[GisherJohn24]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Fair enough. I can't deem my view on how much they looked like the actual guys. But I can't see the last gen games being very similar for the thousands of players that were on the game. I never really thought E.A. took the time to do that many faces. lol

But if you rule out the "name" factor. I don't see how they can impliment anything as an argument. Objectively, they are suing them for how the play on the game right? I just think it's a quick cash in for these people who think they can get some money. The colleges are making a ton of money by these games and the players have to ruin it. I doubt not every player in the NCAA is like "I'm mad, taht guy looks like on that XBOX game that my friend plays." I think it's a handful of greedy people who just want money. I still say they don't have a case. Especially for the current games, most of the faces are very generic looking.

[Sundown2600]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

I should have explained a bit more. I'm not suggesting the devs did their best to match every single player to their real life counterparts, but as far as a lot of star players you better believe they did. A thread was started here a few months ago about a story where a whistle blower admitted that EA used player likenesses to some extent. Can't remember all the details and I'm not sure if the thread is still in here. Either way there was a great discussion about all this there.

[Haze88]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Not just faces but back on the PS2 you could give any face a different hair style like in Madden so it wasn't like today where it is just skin tone height and weight

[Dogslax41]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Players have to ruin it????? EA and the schools are exploiting them to make money off of their likenesses. As soon as players in game are programmed with ratings and jersey numbers with the intention of representing an individual they are attempting to use their likeness to generate revenue.

The only argument for this is that when becoming a student athlete the individual signs over all rights to their likeness to anything they do while representing the university. The NCAA is trying that with the O'Bannon case and the belief is that its not going to fly.

[dguidry008]

I think that the players suing are just butt hurt that someone is making money, and not them. None of the NFL players are mad about this (as far as I know). It's because their careers didn't pan out. If they do succeed in winning this case against EA, then it's not just gonna put an end to shared rosters, it'll probably be the end of the entire game. Most college athletes consider it an honor to be in the game (I know a player for UL Lafayette). It's a culture of taking from the haves and giving to the have nots. EA and NCAA is a have and you can't seem to make anything of yourself, so it must be their fault for giving you an opportunity. This will be the end of the college football game (real life and video game).

[BadAssHskr]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any good?

take for instance a real success story, say like sam keller. his washed up, washed out life didn't pan out quite the way his daddy told him it would.

he needs to make the buck, because pouring drinks when you 50, well the girls aren't buying that one anymore.

[GisherJohn24]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Again, without the "real names in tact" I say case closed. Guess we will see.

[Perfect Zero]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Again, without the "real names in tact" I say case closed. Guess we will see.

It's not just about their real name, its about their likeness. It's not a coincidence that A&M has a quarterback with the number two. There are many cases where EA has pushed the envelope to the edge.

I'm in the boat that believes that athletes are paid in education, but EA has played with fire for too long. The best case in my opinion is a settlement, because EA and the NCAA don't really have a leg to stand on.

[Dogslax41]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Again, without the "real names in tact" I say case closed. Guess we will see.

Maybe if EA hadn't been caught emailing about including player likeness in games that might have a shot. The only reason EA got out of the first lawsuit was because of protected artistic expression. Those email prove the use of the likeness was not an artistic expression and an attempt to use them to generate revenue.

If this goes to trial EA's NCAA series is dead. The only thing that might keep this out of the courts is the greed of the players trying to go after TV revenue money from the NCAA. They have a pretty clear Right of Publicity case against the NCAA and EA and if they judge lets it go through they will more than likely win.

[Mouse]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

except they user real player's
numbers
height
weight
and hometowns

to represent them in video games, all they do is take out their name, but the average fan knows, they aren't randomly generated players

Texas A&M QB #2 is Johnny Manziel
South Carlona LE #7 Jadeveon Clowney

[simgamer0005]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Not just faces but back on the PS2 you could give any face a different hair style like in Madden so it wasn't like today where it is just skin tone height and weight

Yeah it was quite a robust editor wasn't it? That's why I still play these games. i'm actually creating 2013 rosters in NCAA 2005. Just by editing the default rosters. But the reason why the lawsuit is frivolous is because the game didn't ship with the player names. And the likenesses weren't identical. Sure the player numbers were the same and the heights and the weights were the same, but in legal terms, that's just coincidence. of course it made it easy for us to name the rosters.

This is why those old PS2-era NCAA games are the greatest thing ever. Not only did it have an editor where you could make anyone look and play like anyone, including the actual college football players that year, but it also had realistic gameplay to complement all those edits. You could create the real players just like you could create fictional characters. But you (as the user) had to do it. EA back in the day shielded itself by giving people the tools to name the rosters, but not actually naming the rosters themselves in shipment of the game.

This lawsuit is code for...NCAA 2003-2006 are the best college football games ever created and still far exceed anything on the 360 / PS3. I believe NCAA 2004, NCAA 2005, and NCAA 2006 were specifically named in the lawsuit. This is one time where smoke and mirrors worked in the legal sense. You can make any college football player play like he actually played through that game engine, and it was so convincing in the gameplay, unlike 360 / PS3 where it's so unrealistic and there are editor limitations.

[GisherJohn24]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Can someone clarify? Wouldn't that be illegal anyway to pay college players? That's like a job. They can't get paid playing college football can they?

[Dogslax41]

Re: Why do past players thinking Suing E.A. sports for their likenesses will do any g

Can someone clarify? Wouldn't that be illegal anyway to pay college players? That's like a job. They can't get paid playing college football can they?

Its twofold. If the court rules that players are entitled to their rights while amateurs then they should be paid while in school and the NCAA will have to come up with some way of paying them or stop selling merchandise with numbers on it. They dont have a prayer at getting a piece of the TV deal, but should be entitled to jersey sale revenue.

If it rules they signed those rights away then they would need to be compensated for any dollar made using their likeness once they graduated.