Should we abandon the lore?

[Renomaki]

Some time ago in the HIVE, I pondered about the idea of completely changing the aliens to make them their own thing, instead of not-xenomorphs. By that, I mean changing a number of elements about them, such as how they reproduce and how they appear visually.

However, in the long run, it may seem that it is possible we may have to COMPLETELY remove any mention of ALIENS LORE from our fan game.. Which in a way is a good thing, because then it unlocks creative potential to allow us to go our OWN WAY, instead of sticking to lore.

We could have new toys to play with, new RP potential, an expanded universe from which to delve into... And best of all, NO LIMITS. Without lore, we are free to make whatever we want.

The only downside is that it would require a LOT of work to complete such a task, though... And no doubt a lot of people would miss venturing in the world of ALIENS. But on the other hand, it would get FOX to leave us alone, and no doubt they are already going to make us scrub out ANYTHING that relates to the lore anywho.

How would you feel about making our own universe, our own lore and giving the game a general fresh coat of paint, rather than edging on turf that might result in the game being shut down like so many other good fan games (ala Pokemon)?

[Coat McMutton]

I am always in favour of deviating from existing lore, because of its creative restrictions. There is nothing more frustrating when tossing ideas around than hearing "We can't do that, it would be against muh lore".
I will not deny though that adhering to the Aliens franchise is likely a big factor in what made the server big in the first place. A known IP makes it easier to attract new people than relying on word of mouth advertisement. In the end though, I wouldn't mind if CM ended up as an amalgamation of references, tied together by something rather "original", rather than something that strictly adheres to its inspirational sources.

CM already has aspects in which it strays from the source material. Especially with the companies' awareness of this project, going completely "OC, donut steel" is the next logical step.

[TheMaskedMan2]

We’re already trying to distinctify ourselves away from the lore due to copyright reasons. It’s really up to the devs though how far they want to take it. I personally wouldn’t mind going nutty out there, some more creativeness on the sides of Xeno castes, etc.

[Maxim Inc]

OOH! IDEA! If we really decide to create a whole new lore and such, why don't we have the player participate. Sorta like the poll for the new candy bars, we create rough outlines of major events in our personal lore and then have the players vote to stitch them into a unique story and once that's done we would possibly do a few more polls to decide the events between the main lore points and before we know it we have a complete player made lore! What do you think?

[Kasius]

I smell exciting times are ahead for CM.

[spookydonut]

We already have our own version of the lore.

[Bancrose]

We were already down this path once we had Defenders and Warriors.

There are no brakes on this train once its left the station.

[CaptainYankee]

We’re already trying to distinctify ourselves away from the lore due to copyright reasons. It’s really up to the devs though how far they want to take it. I personally wouldn’t mind going nutty out there, some more creativeness on the sides of Xeno castes, etc.

100%, at this point it might be prudent to break from lore,

[Nickvr628]

Does this mean space nam becomes canon?

[Cry of Wolves]

Does this mean space nam becomes canon?

Space Nam was always canon.

[Solarmare]

Space nam is the setting. There are also freaky aliens for some reason.

[Renomaki]

We already have our own version of the lore.

Well, so far it still uses a lot of elements from ALIENS, so that is going to need a fair bit of changing in the future.

Mostly on the xeno side of things, from how they reproduce to their general appearance. They going to need some touching up one way or another.

[spookydonut]

Why?.

[Renomaki]

Why?.

Because they are too similar to the Aliens from FOX's Aliens?

Like, I don't know the whole deal, but no doubt at some point they are going to ask for more changes towards sprites in game, and not just a simple trimming down of the queen's crest either.

This is a big, multi-million dollar company we talkin here, and if they are bothered by OUR game to the point that they threaten to shut us down, maybe it would be a good idea to change things up a bit, if at least sprite wise.

But hey, maybe we can eventually retool how xenos work a tad. Maybe change how they reproduce? Rebalance them for new playstyle? The future is uncertain, but hey, the sky is the limit.. And the further away we get from ALIENS lore, the better.

[spookydonut]

The specific things you're talking about are not trademark issues, other than the crests/head shape.

[Nickvr628]

I can expect that we will have to rename and/or resprite many of the weapons like the M41A and Smartgun, maybe even the flamer, at bare minimum.

This will not end with logo changes and stuff, you need to start preparing to change a lot of stuff when they ask for it.

[spookydonut]

Without trying to be snarky, you guys aren't the ones in contact with the fox lawyer.

[solidfury7]

I wouldn't mind if we expanded a lot of the fluff lore which isn't really spoken about in official Canon.

Or even added some additional stuff which makes sense against our current law.

[Maxim Inc]

Without trying to be snarky, you guys aren't the ones in contact with the fox lawyer.

Well could we be informed what they want us to change in wide spectrum, not just a single "we need to change" message?

[Sulaboy]

I like the lore. I also don't think too much will change from this. It might just be me but from what I've seen this lawyer isn't about shutting down the game or whatever.

Again I gotta say I like the aliens lore. If gameplay changes are what you want it would probably still be possible to change while still staying in this little universe that's been established.

[TastyCrabLegs]

Honestly I could have told you that as soon as CM stopped being a 50-60 player game and went to 100+ on average at all times of day, The owners of the IP would step in.

I like the idea around Aliens, its cool yeah but I think CM has stuck WAY to close to the lore for WAY to long.

Kinda like standing in the street staring at a truck thinking it will move if you don't.
That being said it doesn't belittle the work and effort put into this server by the devs.

Right now we have the issue of having to replace WY with The Company, but that is still way off since I would imagine having to go in and rename an epic fuck ton of item tags and code.


This is a real rock and a hard place, We came for Aliens, But we knew the owners of the IP would be watching.
We had a lot of fun but at some point we knew it would end.


With servers like the WW2 one and The Fallout *Soon to be something else IP is a bitch* coming up to 3/4 of CM pops at peak times, we are already seeing competition, The WW2 one being the only one free of IP issues.

I want the server to last, I want the game to last, But without a complete retcon of the server lore, well it is all a pretty moot point.

Disney and FOX wont be going away any time soon, and the more popular CM gets the more likely they may try to *and have legal grounds* to step in and scoop up CM as theirs.

I sense a disturbance in the Hivemind, and I don't see it being a good one

[GenericUsername]

Yea, we should make a whole new background for the game. Specially retcon the Sulaco and Nostromo, since WY directors almost never acknowledge the xenos and the number of marines in a squad went from 5-6 to 20

[kroack]

Why are you lot so eager to turn the xenos into arachnids or tyranids?

[spookydonut]

Well could we be informed what they want us to change in wide spectrum, not just a single "we need to change" message?

I believe I already posted that

[NoahKirchner]

If you abandon the Aliens lore entirely, you certainly open the way up for more creative decisions but you also lose the RP shtick of CM. It's an aliens server, that's the gimmick, if you remove the xenos or change them to an unrecognizable state, I don't see the point in playing for the setting anymore because there's no longer an interesting setting. Without new lore that fills in the gaps better and is equally as interesting as Aliens lore there becomes very little reason to play CM over other combat servers. I'm not saying this to imply or encourage a large scale exodus or anything but I think it's incredibly important to follow up the inevitable changes with deep, rich and well thought out lore to make the setting interesting and encourage roleplay. As it stands right now there is basically zero information on the universe outside of the Almayer because it's all just expected to be filled in by Aliens lore, which is now going out the window.