Scrabulous shut down today. Why? Because Hasbro has decided to send them a take-down notice, sue them, and just generally be really crappy. I sent them a nastygram earlier. Here is their response. Enjoy:
“Hi HB,
We understand your passion for the SCRABBLE brand. In fact, we have been hard at work creating a variety of great new ways to enjoy SCRABBLE, from the classic board game, to playing in the digital space on the iPod, iPhone, pogo.com online game site, and now, social networking on Facebook.
Some people have asked us why we couldn’t coexist with Scrabulous, and compete head-to-head. In the toy and game business, we have many legitimate competitors, and we welcome healthy competition as our industry strives to provide the best entertainment value for consumers everywhere. Scrabulous did not represent legitimate competition. Scrabulous was an infringement, it was unlawful, and we took the necessary action, similar to what the recording industry did when kids were posting music to illegal sites and allowing their friends to copy the music for free.
As you know, Hasbro filed suit on July 24 to protect our intellectual property rights. However, in deference to SCRABBLE fans like you, we waited to take this action until we had an authentic alternative to offer players. We know that many of you are closely scrutinizing the new SCRABBLE application developed by Electronic Arts. Please note that this application remains in a beta stage on Facebook, and both EA and Hasbro are monitoring feedback from fans, which will help us as we continue to improve the experience leading up to the official launch scheduled for the first half of August.
In closing, we want you to know that SCRABBLE is a very important game and brand for Hasbro. We value the passion of our fans, and we promise that we will continue to innovate in providing the best SCRABBLE experiences possible.”
So there you have it. The problem isn’t that Scrabulous was awesome, it was that Scrabulous was ILLEGAL. Just like those kids that post music ILLEGALLY. (Damn kids.) And remember – the official SCRABBLE game on Facebook isn’t sucky and broken… it’s the BEST SCRABBLE EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE. I know because Hasbro told me.
Back from UTAH. The land of layered clothing, glossy hair, frozen yogurt, and lovely, lovely canyons. I had a wonderful time. It was way, way, WAY too short though. I’m thinking I need to take some unpaid time off so I can have a respectable vacation. I still really don’t know how anybody has time for a full-time job. I certainly don’t.
Anyway, while I was in Utah, I had some cheese curds and didn’t hate them. The last time I ate cheese curds was 13 years ago when Erin M. bought some on a young women trip to Southern Utah. The cheese curds I had this time were from Logan, from the Utah State University creamery, which was the ONLY thing open when we went there to show Katie the campus. (Seriously. EVERY other building was locked up.) I also had some ice cream while I was there, which was pretty good. But alas, Katie – poor Katie – she chose the bubble gum ice cream. She said it was the worst ice cream ever. And I thought, “Surely, it can’t be the worst ice cream EVER – I mean, come on. There’s some pretty bad ice cream out there…”
But then I tried it. And let me tell you, Internet. It was, truly, the Worst. Ice cream. EVER. Also, we’re pretty sure it was a monster.
We had lots of fun. I saw new babies, and new houses, and watched Stardust under the stars. (Seriously. The freakin’ stars.) We also went to McDonald’s. This isn’t particularly noteworthy – except that I took a picture.
What is it about high school? Why does it persist in the memories and hearts of people years and years after it’s over? We don’t have sixth-grade reunions after 10 years… There are no 20-year reunions for people who were coworkers at the local mortgage firm, bank, telecom, or tech company. The rest of life comes and passes and people rarely look backward – but high school sticks with us for some reason.
Maybe it’s because it’s the last place where we were all forced to sit together, side by side, day after day for hours, regardless of who we were or how much money we had, or what we wanted to do when we grew up. Once we leave high school, we’re surrounded by only the people who are doing the same things we’re doing. Same job. Same church. Same industry. But EVERYBODY had to take high school biology.
So we got to know each other. And then after a few years, we stopped talking to each other and got on with the business of life. One person gets married and everyone is shocked. Then people start having kids. Then we lose track of the people we once thought of as our best friends.
Well, tonight, I’m going to my 10 year reunion, even though it’s technically been 11 years (class of ‘97 had a hard time getting its act together). I have no idea if anyone I know will be there, but I’m going to go anyway. Because I’m curious, because I have nothing else to do tonight, and because yes, even 11 years later, I still look back at high school sometimes.
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Themocracy