Responding to comments from my viral Meeplegate video (drama in the board games industry)
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- Опубліковано 25 лип 2024
- 📺 Watch my first video about Meeplegate here: • Drama in the board gam...
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Chapters
00:00 - Intro
1:35 - Hans im Glück calls Meeple a "household word"
2:18 - New names to replace Meeple
2:56 - Streisand effect
3:49 - Publisher's responsibility
4:23 - Boycott
5:31 - Other ridiculous trademarks
8:09 - Patent of "Tapping"
10:29 - Acknowledgements in credits thanking Hans im Glück for use of Meeple
12:27 - Spiel des Jahres
13:37 - Future of the Meeple
14:38 - Insight from a German IP lawyer
16:48 - Other comments (Wikipedia, Chess had first meeples?, Crowns in King/Queendomino 🤦♀️ and Hatred of Foreshadowing)
Theme music outro by / @huddy_t
Links & sources:
Streisand effect: www.britannica.com/topic/Stre...
“Trademark Bully Thwarted: Spots the Space Marine Back Online,” Electronic Frontier Foundation: www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/02...
“Lima Sky Claiming Trademark on the Word "Doodle”?,” 148apps.com: www.148apps.com/news/lima-sky...
“The battle for the ‘Taco Tuesday’ trademark is over,” CNN:
www.cnn.com/2023/07/18/busine...
Patent for Trading card game method of play (including “tapping”): patents.google.com/patent/US5...
Patent Essentials, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO): www.uspto.gov/patents/basics/...
Cancellation of a trademark in Germany by request (page 26), German Patent and Trade Mark Office: www.dpma.de/docs/english/bros...
“The word ‘meeple’ is being trademarked in the US in reaction to ‘cease and desist’ activity from Carcassonne publisher Hans Im Glueck,” Board Game Wire: boardgamewire.com/index.php/2...
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I hear you, I hear you! I will still call them Meeples! I mainly just wanted to share the funny alternative names people suggested and troll HiG a little bit by calling them Meatballs. But no, they will always and forever be Meeples! There will be NO MEEPLE LEFT BEHIND ✊✊✊
#freethemeeple
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I have a confession: I don't use the word meeple because I never liked it (and even less Carcassonne's tokens, not sorry).
But I like far, far less such a gross decision by a company that is going the way of the WOTC.
So avoiding HiG and using the word meeple for any game that isn't HiG sounds like a good course of action.
@PamWallsGameDesign your calling us meatballs had me assuming you were channeling Stiffler from Am Pie. Just remembering your intro reading the comment made me guffaw a 2nd time.
Not calling them meeples is accepting the logic of the abusive party.
Yup - I'm still calling them meeples, and if Hans im Gluck doesn't like it, they can try to come into my living room and stop me :)
Abusive party who admits they are abusers
I'm baffled by the logic behind not using the word after this rather than doubling down on the use :S
If we stop using the term meeple then their position to copyright it will actually be strengthened. Thus I refuse to stop using the term.
This exactly. We have to use it like we use velcro or hoover.
@@jamesmorgan3623your logic being that 3M and Hoover at some point lost their trademarks? Have you thought this through?
Everyone should use it more and tell those guys to pound sand.
Yeah you’re right. I was thinking if we all stop using it, it would become worthless to them, but you’re right, we would just be playing into their hands. I’ll call it Meeple til I die!!! Thanks for the comment! 🙌
Alternative: Use the term Meeple only when referring to any game NOT published by HIG
We absolutely need to still call them meeples. To change what we call them proves than Hans im Gluck does indeed have the right to trademark.
Audaciously use Meeple. Use it in the title of games, use it in your rulebooks, stand for what is right. Tell them to pound sand when they send their letter. Band together. We can defeat their trademark if only we challenge their supposed authority. Never bow.
Your DND minis are now DND meeples. I have 1200 points of warhammer meeples ready and painted.
@@thesleepingpower Yo, I need to get some Warhammer Meeples to play with you.
@@39Lords it's such a shame what this edition did to the blue meeples. Green is meta
@thesleepingpower I like playing the off-meta Yellow.
I refuse to let them have the word. It's still a fantastic word, gifted to the community and used for the common good for decades before and there's no good reason to stop now. They can't sue us all.
Perhaps the town of Carcassonne should copyright its own name?
Now that would be fun, wouldn’t it!
@@SGFlicksify 😮
rather than come up with a new name, we need to keep using the correct name and start a fund or something for legal fees to fight the trademark. it should be easy considering they have admitted that they didnt create it and that is a commonly used word. we need to not bow down to companies doing stupid things. I am very sad AEG is deciding to go this rout.
Alderac? What's Alderac to do with this?
@@publicvoidmain according to the video AEG has decided to remove the term meeple from their games rather than fight the inappropriate trademark. unless I misunderstood.
Has anyone just tried notifying the German trademark office that they granted a willfully fraudulent trademark?
You don't know how trademarks work. There's no such thing as a "fraudulent" trademark. Anyone can attempt to trademark anything as long as they use that mark in their trade. A trade... mark... if you will.
If I make a line of water bottles and name my brand "T-shirts" will that be valid? Yes. Yes it will. Why? Because nobody else is using the term "t-shirt" as a trademark for a line of water bottles.
Where this mark fails is in the fact that the term meeple has been in widespread use for two decades prior to this attempt to trademark it WITHIN THE SAME SPACE. Meeple brand water bottles? Sure, whatever. Meeple Soda? Yeah. Meeple Board Game Pieces? Uhh.... not so much.
People get trademark, patent, and copyright confused. They're three entirely different concepts with different rules and applicability.
@@ObscuraDeCapra
You seem to be trying to apply ONE set of rules to someone ELSE'S country
(and I suspect that you applying the US rules at that)
The GERMAN trademarking of the FIGURE that was MORE than out on the market and ALSO widely used for DECADES by several companies before the time of the filing in direct violation of GERMAN regulations stating quite CLEARLY that you can't do that.
Since one can't do that... and one was INFORMED (during the application process) and one filed it anyway in bad faith and then threatened to sue someone using it.
Yup... FRAUD! Starting with defrauding the German government when the application was signed asserting under penalty of law that the figure in question was not in circulation.
I also find it HIGHLY suspicious that someone whose UA-cam account goes all the way back to march of this year self purports to have gained a full understanding multinational trademark laws.
I say call them Meeples anywhere except German, where they're renamed to Gluckholes
I accidentally knocked over the pickles on the counter and I SPEEEHLED DAAH JARRH oh no help me
😂 😂 😂
I'll be boycott'ing Hans im Gluck ... not so much to be part of a campaign to pressure them. I'm just not giving money to idiots.
why can't we have both reasons? #tacodance
Same here. We also need to talk about their control over the Spiel des Jahres and whether that's appropriate to support.
Carcassonne WAS one of my go-to games when introducing new players to board games. It's an easy switch. My future players won't even know that this game exists.
IMO: Stick with Meeple. Don't give into the trademark trolls. Reject their ludicrous claim and keep the household word.
If anything, we really need a German game designer with sufficient funds to intentionally use the name in order to draw them into a losing trademark suit.
**Edit:** Or, from the sounds of it, just a person or company in Germany who is motivated enough to submit a challenge against their trademark. Shoutout to any wealthy German gamers out there looking for an opportunity to enact some petty legal justice.
Wonderful follow up!
In the US, from talking with someone who worked in the trademark office, my understanding was the purpose was to protect companies in a situation where a consumer would mistake another product from being yours. The test at least at the time involved actually seeing if consumers were confused. "Coce Cola" in similar font is a clear example.
When has anyone seen anything with the Meeple word and think, oh this must be an official product by some German company I've never heard of?
@@pikapomelo exactly 💯 💯 💯
Insane that a person/corporation can trademark something they didn't even invent.
EUIPO actually goes by who has the earlier right (first use principle). If Alison Hansel could prove she had an 'earlier right' within the EU she could claim the trademark from them and then let it die within 5 years... I mean... we could seek her out, and ask her to do this. I'm sure a fundraiser would easily cover the costs...
This was a much more thorough followup than I expected. I appreciate how you've included commenters and experts into the subject. The idea of dealing with the German legal system is a scary deterrant for sure so I completely get the apprehensiveness from publishers and devs.
Spend hours researching and producing a video; rewarded with comments loaded with pedantry. The internet in a nutshell.
Great videos (both). Something must have gone right with the algorithm to have your first video pop up in my suggestions. Really enjoy them and your style. Wasn't familiar with your work prior to this but going to follow for sure. Thanks!
And yes, been playing the game for 20+ years and it is and always has been "Carca-zone" for me as well. Deal with it. I'm not French. 😂
@@NatsuMatto yeah apparently the more people that watch your videos, the more nitpicky they get! Just gotta learn and also let some things slide. Thanks for being here!
"Terror in Meeple City" was originally "Rampage" until they got a C&D from the owners of the videogame. Even bigger companies make mistakes regarding copyright, and i dont think its fair to fully put the onus on every small boargame dev to scour the internet for these things. Also, they shouldn't have been given the rights by their own admission on the website.
This is actually a good example of a fair and reasonable trademark demand that simply resulted in name change to avoid confusion in the marketplace. An illustration of how the cease and desist system working properly rather than by abuse.
Meeple meeple meeple
Meeples who need meeples are the luckiest meeples
Minor point about the "Spots the Space Marine" debacle: Games Workshop does in fact own the trademark "Space Marine" but only under the toys and games category, they can do nothing about it in literature, as it was a previously used term, ironically in the very publications they used for inspiration for their world building.
GW had to buy out the term from another boardgame producer who had a game titled "Princess Ryan's Space Marines". As he had developed that title before GW had Space Marines on the market. Now that game is re-titled "Princess Ryan's Star Marines" and the author got some cash for the use.
So sometimes the use of a trademark is limited to the classification of goods that it ks related to. Which is why GW had to back down from "Spots the Space Marine".
This is all the times - you always get a trademark within a specific category. You also only get the trademark if you produce goods in that category using the trademark. And fun fact: Some company related to LOTR has trademarked the word "Mithril" in the category of metals and materials.
@@yurisei6732 Still waiting on my +2 Mithril sword to be shipped
@@yurisei6732 maybe Mithril Miniatures?
Consider this your daily reminder that IP law exists entirely to enforce corporate monopolies, not to protect creativity, and you have a moral responsibility to ignore it.
I think it's important to keep calling them meeples. As the lawyer that contacted you said, the trademark can still be challenged. The more the word meeple stays in common use, the less valid the trademark will be. Meeple! Meeple, meeple, meeple!
Edit: Looks like everyone beat me to the punch on this one. Good to see lots of people agree. :-3
Calling it a meeple in English won't help with German trademarks. People in Germany need to start calling them meeples, which we mostly don't. I don't even call the meeples in Carcassonne meeples most of the time, and if I did, 90% of the Germans would not understand what I just said.
.. What about all the UA-cam channels, The PodCast, Streamers... and so on that have a "brand" around with this word ? And since they are online, cannot control the direct distribution? Just let them get copywritted striked ? This makes no sense.. HiG should go down for this ... and HARD
It could get worse than that. You could just say the word meeple in a video and get a strike. It might not be justified, but since UA-cam rarely overturns strikes, and has told content creators that they need to remove their face from their own videos, I don't expect justice. So if you post a bad review of a game, and say meeple, copyright strike.
@@eswift8318 100% !!! YT is a hot mess of strikes "cause my feelings are hurt" ... Content creators not reating to this are basically inviting HiG to strike them
@@eswift8318 and the other issue with contesting strikes is, you have to give your legal name and address to youtube (who then gives that info to the party who filed the strike) in order to contest strikes. Which isn't a great time if you're getting malicious strikes :)
That's not how trademarks work. If you have a trademark for something it's only valid in a specific market. Say you want to make a new line of toilets and name your company "Pepsi shitters", there is absolutely nothing PepsiCo can do about it except tie you down in bad faith lawsuits.
@@nairobie755 But it is how UA-cam works
Love the twist at the end: nothing!
Great pair of videos, very thoughtful and well presented. Good luck with your game designs!
Haha… I actually also really hate that “wait until the end to see” but I didn’t think I’d make a big deal about it. 😂
The heck? People think “watch till the end” is “manipulation”?? Do they get mad every time someone says “Like and subscribe”? That’s just part of the UA-cam game!
Even if it is technically manipulation, it's one of the cheapest forms of it and it doesn't suddenly make it noteworthy if you just say "lmao not gonna watch it because you told me to keep watching" like??? Just watch if you genuinely like the video so far, and if you lose interest or realize a video isn't giving you anything of value in comparison to the time you've given it, then stop watching haha
As an Aussie, I’m still mad about UGGS the same thing happened to a small business here (that had been making Ugg boots before the rest of the world knew they were called that!)
As someone who has played Carcassonne since the first year the game came out, I am pre-meeple, and neither I nor the friends I played with ever used that word to describe the little wooden pieces in the game. We used the French word 'bonhomme' which can be loosely translated as either old man, fellow, or good man. We'd also use 'petit bonhomme' as the pieces are smaller versions of a human and that term is used for small or young male kids.
Another thoroughly researched, clearly explained, and well-produced video. I am enjoying this series, and I hope your new subscribers check out your design videos as well, they are equally illuminating!
@@jhartsilva thank you so much! 🤗
Remember when King trademarked Candy in reference to software it blew back so hard they got bought for peanuts
Don't worry about people whining that you quoted Wikipedia.
"Meatballs" is good! Or maybe Meepballs would be close enough but also different enough. 🙂
Another great video Pam! You are on a roll! Tasty surprise at the end ... I hope everyone watches that far! 😉
@@MeanderingMikesManCave 🍝
As a game designer and publisher i find this situation despicable. Such a horrible predatory attitude, the game community deserves better. Also, i admire your commitment to correct pronunciation, I'm franco-argentinian and i give you permission to mispronounce any word in french or spanish, including but not limited to Carcassone, tango and ooh lala.
@@poja82 merci beaucoup et muchos gracias! 🤗
I'll be calling them meeples. Absolute majority of people do not care about this "issue".
"Gratefully adopted" is a weird way of saying "stole"... 🤔
What we should do is retroactively impose a overly pedantic stipulation for why the hanz and glook people aren't even true meeples...
No, no, they are ME-ples. No need to change the way we pronounce it ;) Also works for all those great channels that have that as a name. I would not like to see the word to become excluded for that very reason. The me-ple belongs to all of us.
I wasn't planning on using the term "meeple" in my game, or potentially the pieces at all, but it's a good thing to keep in mind for my current and future projects.
To further elaborate on the GW situation, this is often seen as the reason for them changing the names of a lot of their factions so they can trademark them. Sometimes, these were words they already had in their lore that just got moved from being buried in lore to being front and center, the names of the products.
Space Marines became the Adeptus Astartes
Imperial Guard became the Astra Militarum
Eldar (a name already stolen from Tolkien as I recall) became the Aeldari
Etc.
Again, a lot of these already had them buried in the lore as their official names. But because they cannot trademark something like "Imperial Guard" because of how generic it is, they had to find another route after the losses they suffered over the Space Marines bit.
@@nathanscott3339 ah super interesting! Thanks for sharing, Nathan 🙌
Absolutely do not stop calling them meeples! It only enforces their claim and definitely not lower it. Rather, crowdfund the legal costs to battle their trademark!
Between all the hard work going into the details, collating your discoveries, and the entertaining presentation of the journey your channel and the two vids were an easy sub and like, but your knavish humor made that an enthusiastic and instantaneous reaction.
@@olliehughes6774 I’m glad you dig my vibe, Ollie! Thanks for being here 🤗
I love and appreciate how incredibly thorough you have been in both videos, and even correcting previous misinformation. This has been such an educational experience, and I appreciate you taking the time to explain this entire situation with such care and diligence.
Thanks so much, Jen! Yes this is a complicated situation and there was a lot of info to go through and try to understand. I did my best, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching :)
Super stoked to have found you because of these videos! Your approach and thoroughness are awesome, and I can't wait to see how you cover other topics in the future!
I had a similar situation with a book title that was stolen the year after I copyrighted it. Amazon would not let my book be sold on their sight because I was the "little guy" and Harper Collins was the one pushing the book with the stolen title. Amazon never helped me out, they just rolled me over and left me for dead.
A GREAT example of keeping a trademark active would be what Disney has done with Steamboat Willy. With the looming release of the character into the public domain, Disney chose to incorporate Willy into the Disney logo clip for all their new movies. This effectively keeps the character's trademark active. I don't know if they'll do this with all their characters or if they're just looking to largely protect "Micky" and his historical variants, but it could be that we'll start seeing a range of new intros featuring expiring Disney characters as more and more content starts being added to the public domain.
I don't care about Disney keeping their original characters trademarked. THEY created them after all. Fair is fair. But not the ones they did not create, like Peter Pan and Winny the Pooh. But law, it seems, hasn't been about what's fair in ages.
Wow, the feedback. Not on the meatballs drama, but on the video script. Good job on acknowledging and adapting👌you are doing great
Thank you so much, Elena! 🤗
I will use Meeple in my language and in my game designs. You made a great point, legally removing the trademark is the ideal solution, however the only other alternative is to hit their wallets. Once a company gets so big, it's the only message they can hear.
I always call them "My lil dudes" 😂
It tastes (good) almost like malicious compliance to specifically only give HiG honorable mentions in the German versions of the games. "We're only 'thankful' because you're holding a gun to our heads, so we're not in regions where you're unarmed."
Your videos are so informative and entertaining, and I'm impressed by how graciously you accept and learn from comments. Also, I love Blob Party, so I'm here for whatever you've got!
@@susannaheisenbraun6635 thank you so much, Susannah! I think many years of having my games critiqued has thickened my skin a bit 😆 Thanks so much for your support :)
Hehe, great to see Gil get a shout out in this. Been friends with him since we were kids, and used to help him run his booth at the UK Games Expo (I moved to the UK from NY in 2012) before he stepped back from games publishing.
What a great update and response. Love you commentary on the situation.
Wow, very insightful! Thank you for your research and the well-written video script!
And this part 14:35 😂😂😂
😂 😅
Love the Nathan Fielder reference at the end ❤️
I was just at a con that had a Meeple Wall selfie location and couldn't help but think of this trademark fiasco. Meeples have obviously, and quickly, become a common use word that should haven't any copyright or trademark associated with it.
I am a proud Pam Walls Meatball (subscriber) lol! Also, I’ve been loving your channel for all the amazing design content but this two-part video shows that you also really have a knack for these kinds of board game industry news updates. Can’t wait for the next MeepleGate and hope you cover it.
@@rolling.reggie thanks so much, Reggie! 🍝
Quite a good follow up video, and amusing. Actually if they spelled Carcassonne with a few 'zeds', they could probably trademark it. Just discovered your channel, once in awhile the algorithm gets it right. Great to see a BC game designer with a interesting and informative channel.
Step 1. Continue to use the word meeple. Step 2. Boycott them. Step 3. Broadcast and share what is happening and ask others to carry out Steps 1, 2 and 3.
There is no middle ground here, but there is a lesson for those who think any company can lay claim to something they didnt originate.
I dunno if you’ve seen it but the copyright/trademark situation for the painkiller and dark n stormy cocktails are another similar situation
I will not pitch to blah company and i will encourage others to do the same.
Me: With all due respect how is that not boycotting with an * "exception being i feel bad for people caught in the crossfire"
Last video i asked what name should i use instead.
This video after listening ive come to the conclusion i am going to continue using the word Meeple.
Thanks for the follow up and reminding me its for Germany only.
I've never seen a more satisfying update video.
Free the Meeple! Or just hyphenate it. Me-eple.
Once again, you provide a fabulously informative video. Thank you!!
@@jimbrown5387 thanks so much, Jim!
Let’s just keep calling them meeples. Btw I discovered your channel through the algorithm and enjoyed both meeplegate vids.
Fascinating trivia for an otherwise enjoyable genre
As an IP attorney, I appreciate that you are careful to distinguish trademarks, copyright, and patents in your discussion. Too many people mix up the concepts, and I appreciate you took time to discuss these different forms of IP as accurately as you could.
@@mikemudrow thank you so much, Mike! This is complicated stuff and I tried my best to make sense of it all. So I’m glad to hear from an IP attorney that I got that right! Thanks for watching and for the comment :)
I'm not so much in board games but your presentation of Meeplegate was really amazing and interesting!
@@RomanPittroff thanks so much for watching, Roman! I’m glad you enjoyed it :)
They don't have any right to trademark a word created and passed on by another person, who isn't even an employee of the company.
We still call them meeples. idc. it's our word, and they don't get it.
There is no need to make up a new name for 'meeple'. They are still - and always be - called meeples. I don't understand your need to change it.
@@remconet I mostly just wanted to share the funny names people came up with and troll HiG a bit, but yes they will always be meeples to me.
@@PamWallsGameDesign Ah sorry, you seemed so real haha
Some call them "worker". How could they...🤭
This is some amazing research!
Thanks Vinnie! :)
A possibly interesting fact: Tiny Epic Zombies from 2018 lists ITEMeeples (i.e. meeples that can carry items) as a trademark of Gamelyn Games.
I just found out my favorite game is by these corporate ghouls. I'm pretty devastated, honestly.
@@ImaginaryMdA 😢
Trying to come up with a new word for meeples is an extremely smooth-brained move.
They're meeples and I'm not changing my language because of what some German trademark office says.
"I hope you are hungry... for nothing!"
Thanks, that was funny!
@@Drudenfusz 😅
Thanks for using my comment in the follow up, but I have to point out that Meeple Circus includes the following line on the bottom left of the last page of the german rulebook:
"Für den Gastauftritt der Meeples ein herzliches Dankeschön an Hans im Glück." (Translation: For the guest appearance of the Meeples a hearty thanks to Hans im Glück)
While the german rulebook for Meeple War says this on its last page:
"Und einen „Wuff“ an Hans im Glück für die Verwendung des Meeples, der ursprünglich für Carcassonne hergestellt wurde, sowie für die fantastischen Spiele, die sie uns bringen." (Translation: And a Whoop to Hans im Glück for the use of the Meeple, which was orginally crafted for Carcassone, as well as the fantastic games they bring us.)
This means there is a credit to HiG in 5 of the 7 games you mentioned.
Meeples & Monsters, as we have established, does not need a credit because it does not have a german version.
So we are left with Tiny Epic Kingdoms, where the german version is from 2014, well before HiG even applied for the trademark. Now the german publisher for the Tiny Epic series, Schwerkraft is very, very, very ... let's say IP aware, up to the point where they do NOT publish online versions of the german rulebooks.
As I do not own any newer Schwerkraft games that include meeples and I can't check online I don't know, but I would be extremely surprised if they don't have permission by HiG, considering how IP aware Schwerkraft are.
If people stop using the term Meeple then the company wins
Great followup video! Excellent finish!
@@mrpiratedancer4rrr thanks so much, Mr Pirate! 🏴☠️
Some of them yes. I'd look at at the crushing saga of candy. King went after people using any of the words "candy," "crush," or "saga" in their product names, including non-game companies and games that predated their app. Now... they're Microsoft.
Love the Foster the Meeple channel. Hope they get through this!
@@garyleelarson if HiG mess with Foster the Meeple, they mess with me 💪
I've heard in other contracts like publisher-designer contracts there are exit clauses about unethical behavior. I would be there isn't a clause like that the indie designers could use to exit business with H&G and seek another publisher, but maybe there is?
We have to stick with meeple. It’s abhorrent you can put the shape of a human being into a board game then claim that shape. Someone will counterclaim at some point and they will lose it.
I do like how well researched and thought out these videos are.
@@nymalous3428 thanks so much for saying that! I’m glad you could see how much work I did behind the scenes. Thanks for being here 🙌
I think it’s genuinely sick that they’re trying to claim a word that they didn’t come up with and is also common place terminology
What scumbags. I can't afford new games often but I'll find it harder to buy their games again
In all Twitch speech-to-text software, "meeple" is written out as "meatball".
I just commentend on your other m-word-video... so, for the sake of the algorythm: love your hair!
Oh, thank you ☺️ ☺️ ☺️
BUT I LIVE FOR FORESHADOWING!
~cries~
Also can we have some googly eyes on the doorknob please?
@@antiussentiment 👀
The original poster should be suing them for usage of her creation. It should be automatically copyrighted to her as she was the first to use it and there is a distinct timestamp. She would have a case, and she could probably make a good amount of money. She would also be the final say on who could use it, as it is her creation.
I personally like "Sheeples" since the little guys were originally followers and followers are sometimes called 'sheep' you can call them sheep+people or sheeple.
My gaming group used to call them Meeples - but he have been calling them Dudes and Dudettes for many years.
This whole thing makes me want to design a game called "Mepple's Hands in Gröins" just to spite Hans im Glück
Good on you, it was a great video and a great follow up
@@MrSpazbomb thanks so much :)
Your videos are wonderfully refreshing, well crafted, interesting, articulate and entertaining.
Regarding Hans in Gluk, they are dead to me. They are acting like a bully, shoving little kids in the industry around in order to scare the bigger publishers.
Personally, I will never purchase a product of theirs in retail.
If Heinlein ever used the term "space marines" it was strictly as wallpaper, or window dressing. None of his main characters were ever space marines. They may well have been an alternative branch of this or that armed forces; I'm willing to believe that RAH used the term more than once, but not in a central role. I think maybe Uncle Steve, in Time For The Stars, had been a Space Marine.
Salt Lake Comic Con had to change its name to FanX because of San Diego! =(
It's wild to me how many games actually include that thanks-note, and for how long already. Just looked through mine. wow.
I'll definitely not be buying HiG any more though. To be fair, I have 1 game from them, they just don't publish my kind of games.
If someone sets up roadblocks, I recommend voting with our wallets and boycott at least their future games.
The best I got as a replacement is mini-fellow or Mifel until they trademark that and its not as catchy of course but we will have to move on or pay up. Or call them Vasel if he is ok with it. That's our option as a community. Boardgame companies are just going to get into a lot of the similar trouble as they did, if they keep using it. If we keep using it, we support their word and give it more value.
We definitely need to boycott that company to show them we don't appreciate their theft of commom gaming words.
Meatballs isn't trademarkable(?) since it's just a word lol
We should go with that
The German word Hänseln is another word for Bullying. Kinda fitting here