Once again the video game industry is coming under fire. This time the sport game giant EA Sports finds itself locked in a lawsuit with former NCAA football player Sam Keller. This lawsuit is over compensation that Keller believes he should have received for being featured in "NCAA Football 08".EA Sports shares undisclosed royalties with the NCAA for use of college stadiums, team names and uniforms and the players' image. EA Sports protects the college players by not using their names in the games. Instead of names EA Sports simply uses the players numbers to differentiate the players from one another. The players used in these games do not receive any money because they are considered amateurs and to maintain amateur status one cannot receive money for playing. Keller believes that him and many other former players should receive a large amount of money for the use of their images in these games. In an interview about the lawsuit Keller said;
"When you are playing, you are kind of naive to the idea that you are being taken advantage of because you are so caught up in playing college football," Keller also said "They are making billions off of our images."This case gained power when the court ruled against EA Sports saying that the company did not do a good enough job of transforming the players image. Judge Wilken said that EA's argument that the players name was removed was not good enough. She explained that removing the players name was not enough because it was still obvious who the nameless player was. EA Sports and the NCAA are now teamed up with the Hollywood Studios and have appealed this ruling. (Here is a link to the story Appeals court hears argument,,,)
I understand Wilken's decision to rule against EA Sports and the NCAA but I do not agree with the ruling. EA Sports has the rights to use the player's images and should not have to change anything about these players. I also believe that Keller has no right to be suing EA Sports and the NCAA for them using his image while he was still in school because EA Sports has the an agreement with the NCAA that says they can use the images of players. I do understand that he is not receiving any money and that may seem unfair, but he was in college at the time and cannot receive any money based on his performance when he is playing for the NCAA.
I also do not understand why Keller has just now decided to file a lawsuit. The game he is suing over was released three years ago. If the ruling goes in favor of Keller the consequences will be felt throughout the entertainment world from Hollywood to the video game industry. I think if Keller wins this case EA Sports will no longer make games based on NCAA sports and that will be a huge hit to the profit of the company.
Alright, well visual wise, the text does contrast with the black background, so that's good news for the reader! Maybe just find a template that also isn't just black, it'll make your posts stand out even more!
ReplyDeleteNot knowing much about sports, this is informative, and something I think alot of football players are probably struggling with. I found it interesting that you didn't agree with Keller's decision to make a lawsuit, because I think maybe not with him but with someone else, eventually, this would have been an issue anyway whether or not he seems to need money from sueing EAA sports. The link was excellent! Only down side is that with it being 8 minutes long, if you could find a shorter one that's easier on the viewer, that'll make it perfect! The ending at the video, the sarcastic comments made about him sueing for money helped prove your point that Keller shouldn't be sueing if the game was released three years ago. Maybe he was real busy playing and got the time now? Who knows! But I am a bit confused at the ruling,
"This case gained power when the court ruled against EA Sports saying that the company did not do a good enough job of transforming the players image. Judge Wilken said that EA's argument that the players name was removed was not good enough. She explained that removing the players name was not enough because it was still obvious who the nameless player was. EA Sports and the NCAA are now teamed up with the Hollywood Studios and have appealed this ruling. (Here is a link to the story Appeals court hears argument,,,"
I guess I didn't understand what exactly the ruling was when you said the company didn't do a good job of transforming the player's image. It didn't say whether or not Kelly won, so I guess that's why I got confused.
Aside from those minor changes, great topic no spelling errors just tweak some of the visal elements, maybe the template of the blog that'll make it easier on the viewer, and try to get a video that's like upto 4 minutes. If that's what you could find though, that still gave very good info to back up your case. Content wise, you are on the ball! Keep it up!
First off I really enjoyed your use of multi media and how it was a variety. From linking to articles to linking to voiceovers was really creative to find. Your photo in the beginning made me laugh, because it really emphasized the fact that it was a court case, and overall just funny that they have pictures like that out there.
ReplyDeleteThis article overall is very interesting, I enjoyed your questions at the end on why is Keller now just deciding to file a lawsuit. The thing that I am interested if EA Sports and the NCAA have to originally ask the player if they can use their image and number or not. I do realize that EA Sports does “share undisclosed royalties with the NCAA.” However, I think that it is unfair that the NCAA gets money but the players do not. I realize that the player doesn’t really do anything (physically or mentally), so legally why should they get money, however I can see that it is their image being used and they should have some part of the process.
A possible future blog could be the overall outcome of this case, and possibly see if it effects EA Sports and if they will make more games based on NCAA sports or not. Will consumers want to continue to play NCAA sport games or will they understand EA Sports’ decision?