Guildwars based Fan Games

Hey all,

I'm planning on writing an 2-D Side Scroller arcade game based around Guildwars. The game will be open sourced and free, etc...

However, before I start this endevor, what legal things do I need to do? For example, if I use the word Mesmer in the game, is there possibility for law suit, etc...

All the art in the game will be original, however, it will have a 2-D representation of all the available classes in GW. So if it sort of looks like them, but not exactly the same, do I need permission from Anet?

If anyone from Anet knows what kind of legal stuff I'd have to go through, it would be greatly appreciated if you could help me out.

You shouldn't have any problems, unless you use any of their specific artwork/skills. The names are words in the dictonary.

Ask Gaile. Chances are, Anet might like the publicity they would get.

Mesmer's made up, methinks. Derived from the word Mesmerise, but made up nonetheless.

the word Mesmer is made up, but not by Anet.

Franz Mesmer lived from 1734-1815 (a psychiatrist). I think he lived before GW, but I am not sure...it is all hazy before GW came out.

There is a movie called Mesmer (about Franz Mesmer) that was released in '94

there is a company called Mesmer not sure what they do...

My advice is to ask Gaile or Alex and see if they (Anet) would be upset regardless of who made up the word (of course that is what you were doing, but oh well)

They'd be stupid not to...

I'm not completely steady on copyright laws, but I think as long as you make it completely free you can decide pretty freely what to use without stepping on anyones toes.

Only reason I know of that would make them dislike it is if the end result was really bad.

Normally companies don't mind fan made things like minigames. Just as long as you give credit and don't claim source content as your own. Easy way to get an idea of what info to put down for credit is to download the web kit. (Normally a blurb saying it's their stuff and a link to the GW website.)

agreed... i believe as long as you made it clear that it's a free open sources fan game of GW, and it's not for profit, i believe you should be fine...

after all, if those are not fine, then millions fan pages on the net would have their *** sued off...