Scrabulous: Good Fun or Organized Crime?
I love the facebook application Scrabulous. (For those non facebook users, Scrabulous makes it easy to play Scrabble with your friends on facebook–all 400+ of them in my case.) Though I hate to say it, my Scrabulous match record is a losing one — 17-18-1 — but it does show I’ve played 36 games in just a few months.
I’ve seen a few articles now on a recent letter from the makers of Scrabble (Hasbro in the US, and Mattel outwith the US) to those who run facebook. In this letter, Scrabble asks Facebook to remove the Scrabulous application as it infringes their rights.
Now I’m no lawyer, but considering “Scrabulous” sounds like Scrabble, works like Scrabble, looks like Scrabble, and plays like Scrabble, I’d say the makers of Scrabble may have a good case. My opinion may not be popular in the facebook community–over 25,000 people have joined “save Scrabulous” groups on facebook–but it seems to me that Scrabble is a specific enough idea/game/concept that Scrabulous infringes on their patent or copyright or whatever it is. Let’s be fair, Scrabble is an awesome game and Scrabulous just rips it off.
This NY Times article suggests Scrabble may have intentionally waited on the sidelines until Scrabulous became popular and then, when all the hard tech work was done and the bugs worked out, jumped in to take the profits for themselves. This approach doesn’t strike me as particularly ethical, though I can see the business mindset at work.
The question then, for loyal Scrabulous users like me, is what to do. When I write sermons or papers and I get an original idea from someone else’s work, I cite it because otherwise it’s stealing. Similarly, I believe “copying” a friend’s CDs or iTunes library is stealing as well, so I don’t do it. But is using Scrabulous stealing too?
Yes, I think it probably is. That said, the question as to what to do about the theft becomes particularly murky if the makers of Scrabble really sat back and watched Scrabulous become wildly popular before beginning their legal actions. Two wrongs don’t make a right, so Scrabble’s sketchy business practices don’t somehow justify my use of Scrabulous, but it does thicken the plot quite substantially.
So I don’t know. I think I’ll just continue to play Scrabulous and just be sure to feel real guilty about it. I’d love to hear how you approach the question. Is using Scrabulous stealing? Do you feel in the least bit guilty? What should a responsible consumer do to avoid these situations?
Now on to tackle that losing record.
Connect Online
well I love scrabulous too. my wife and I play it all the time. i’ve even played with facebook friends I’ve not yet personally met face to face.
I do admit to having wondered at what point it was considered copyright infringement, so I’m not surprised to hear that scrabble wants in on a piece of the pie; whatever that might be?
I suppose it could be considered stealing. But it’s not like scrabble makes any money off of me – aside from my one time investment of $12 or whatever it was to buy the board – when I play my board game at home; so I have a hard time seeing what the big deal is if I play somebody else’s version on line especially since they didn’t get any money off of me. (I assume the scrabulous folks are only making money off advertisement dollars? but since I use firefox with ad block, I don’t see those either.)
How could it be stealing when it is offered free and clear upfront? I know the laws protect Scrabble and Hasbro but you’d think that they would be happy so many people are enjoying an internet version. I have two versions of the Scrabble game in my home already and I’ve purchased the game numerous times as a gift. I seriously doubt that Scrabulous damages Hasbro’s sales of the actual board game. I’ll continue to purchase Scrabble; but don’t take away my Scrabulous!
That’s the issue. Just because something is “offered free and clear upfront” doesn’t mean that availing oneself to it is moral or legal.
I could give you a stolen car stereo “free and clear” and to posses it would be illegal. I could offer you to copy a CD I own, but to do so is illegal. I could allow you to use a paper of mine as your work, but to do so is immoral.
Point taken, however, regarding the purchasing of Scrabble sets. I presume that’s one of the reasons Scrabble took so long to fight it.
Would your position be different if instead of Scrabulous, the game was called “Word Play” or “Make a Word” and had a different color board allowed proper nouns?
I hope you aren’t just trying to get out of losing more matches to me. ha!
I think you are right. Scrabble seems to have a good case against scrabulous and I’ve wondered how they could put something online without permission. It seems as if the makers of the site should work out a deal with scrabble and then everyone should win.
I don’t feel too guilty about it, primarily because it has actually fueled my real scrabble habit. I know own a bigger scrabble dictionary and play with our real scrabble game board more often than I used to.
I do think that if the makers of scrabulous are making money, they ought to be sharing it with scrabble.
But, until I convince you to play me for cash, I’m not making money. Just having fun.
Your Scotland toast was great. well done.
miss you!!!