Hasbro Says Thanks for the Love…Now Stop
Another example of a company stepping on somebody who's doing them some good.
This guy mashed up Google Maps and the board game Risk. As a result, he reminded everybody that there was a game called Risk and everyone had a great moment of nostalgia for board games as they paused from salivating over the next console game. But of course, we can't have everyday people out getting people interested in our games–Hasbro's probably gotten more play out of this than any advertising they cooked up themselves. Just look at the Slashdotter's comment: "One thing this reminded me of is how cool Risk is. My office is now in its 3rd round… Africa will be mine!"
So…now that the lawyers have squashed the fun, Risk–and hopefully Hasbro–can retreat back into the obscurity of the 80s.
I applaud the guy for trying to do another mashup that won't have all the legal hoohah involved. If I was another board game company, I'd tap this guy to do something for me.
Remember, folks: give love to the people who love you. Remember this if you ever do find yourself considering purchasing something from Hasbro. Money is the only language these people understand.
Got the headsup from Slashdot.
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Hasbro Shuts Down a Google Maps Mashup
John Robinson reports that Hasbro has shut down a site that mashed up Google Maps and the Risk board game. Technorati Tags: Google, Maps, mashups, Web2.0
Give 'em what they want: the Corollary
It seems pretty clear by this time that if you want to get the attention of consumers in this busy world, you need to give 'em what they want. There's a corollary to this: if consumers want something to do
Since I spent four years managing communications at Mattel, I know the trademark mentality of the toy industry. The Hasbro lawyers probably weren't worried about the violation the mashup represented. The problem would be if somebody did something particularly egregious that went to court. The defense could point to the mashup: "You knew about this and didn't do anything about it, so just how serious are you about protecting this trademark?" It's why Mattel goes after everything named Barbie (including a boutique called Barbie K's, owned by a friend a former communicator whose name really is Barbie). I'm not suggesting this is right, just that it's the way it is.
Shel, thanks for the comment. I'm wondering if a smarter idea wouldn't have been to thank the guy with some free product, take the code and put it on the Hasbro site for anybody to play with. After all, if they take it and then start to use it in an "official" capacity, is it then still ammo that someone could use against them? If that would work, then you get all the goodwill, you get folks hitting the Hasbro site to play, and you still CYA. Regardless, there has to be a better way to handle situations like this, I would think, shmoe that I am.
Too RISKy for Hasbro
The mania that is Google Maps integration (or mashups) has generated a huge variety of map-based web services, and now its first copyright victim.