And, anyhow, this whole Scrabulous game was illegal under American anti-ripping-off laws. You Facebook people are lucky you guys got to use the game for that long.

So, look, I know it’s so terribly hard for you people to not break the law on a day-to-day basis, but when the law does justice, the least you could do is swallow your pride and admit that what you guys did was wrong. Stop this infernal whining about boycotting Hasbro and all that other stuff. After all, it’s no one above the law.

See, this is why we’re doomed. You guys think that your leisure activities are above the law. You guys are just being another Bull Connor. Yes, to some, and note that I say some, degree, you guys are like racists. I know that’s harsh, but I don’t want you guys to take this the wrong way. You guys are like racists in the unlawful sense. Come on, guys. You all know that Hasbro has every intellectual property right it has under their buckle, and using Scrabulous is a depravation of their ip rights, just because you people feel like it. Just like those racist people who depraved the African-Americans of their rights just because they felt like it.

So, PLEASE, stop with all of these whining. If you guys break these somewhat trivial intellectual property laws and think you can get away with it, what law will you be breaking next?

Which is precisely my point. This is just going to lead us into another lawless and barbarious stage of human history. So show some respect for the law, and remember, no one above the law.

Sheesh, and you guys are the people who want to impeach Bush for Iraq and wiretapping and torture.

Sure, the whole Scrabulous thing isn’t as bad as that, but a sin is a sin, you know.

Not only have they benefited from increased sales of Scrabble - it’s practically been relaunched, they also sell a million plus copies per year so their brand isn’t doing too bad and instead of applauding the innovation they stamp all over it.

I’m commenting as an indie board game publisher of the award winning party game GiftTRAP, which is built on the back of Creative Commons licenses, so I’m a huge supporter of this “mix it up” school. The CC guys have have really supportive of our game and we couldn’t have made our game a success without it. Yet success is all about attention and you’d think Hasbro would get that.

To me it’s a crime to “kill” the attention Scrabulous has given them. Was Hasbro really thinking people wanted to switch to a legal version of their game. I laughed when I read a defensive quote from Hasbro saying they “will continue to innovate on Scrabble” - (oh I forgot about the Onyx version)

I’ve published a Facebook app of my game ( http://apps.new.facebook.com/gifttrap/ ) and so I know how hard it is. Launching a virtual gift-exchange game a year after Free Gifts and Facebook Gifts have delivered 150 million virtual gifts is huge. Social media sites like Flickr, LinkedIn, Boardgamegeek and Facebook have been our saviour in getting our game to market. To get attention it’s all about timing and story.

People don’t just use the apps because they are there. The edgyness and illegality of the Scrabulous game was half the attraction. Facebook has dampened the impact of apps and users have lost their curiosity. I’m not surprised with 30k apps on offer.

I’d trade in our “Best Party Game” award for a share of their attention but it doesnt happen that way.

What I dislike most about the big game companies is they don’t really have to try. It’s not about the games anymore (we don’t need more new copies of the same old stuff), it’s about the control of the channels to market. Consumers just keep buying monopoly spinoffs, Onyx scrabble sets and the list goes on. How many times can people buy the same games. http://boardgamegeek.com is a great place to look for truly great games and read what real people think.

Just please don’t buy any licensed/branded games - “Some sad Shrek Game” or “Desperate Housewives Trivia.”. Just like buying a good book make sure if you buy a game that is has awards and great reviews form trusted sources. These “cookie cutter” games have no innovation and you’ll pretty much play them once and forget them if you are lucky.

The problem or the miracle of something like Scrabble/Monopoly etc is that it’s become a self repeating part of culture. It’s almost genetic.

So go on break the mold and go buy an indie game. Even better buy one in the summer and really buck the trend!