Appreciate the time you guys take to respond to me.
I do see your points. Also, I'm relatively new to using forums such as Hive. How do I reply to specific sections like you did?
- For removing content: If they only removed information that was unclear, ie 7.5k sold even though that may have been 3k sold and 4.5k airdropped I think that is fair. I would think this is probably something that can be proved out and it isn't an outlandish story. Early on I believe they did airdrop TONS of crates to LVL holders and the sales happened right at the start of the bear so I could see people not being willing to buy.
For their site, the the wording like that is very often an overlooked component in UI delivery in my experience. What I would be more concerned with is removal of the inappropriately used assets. Based on the conversation it seems this can't be done. As such, this is where I would point to the royalty system and agreement with the artists to make right.
Here is another area where transparency is key. Development absolutely costs money. If they are clear on what it is costing them such as how we handle HIVE proposals, I see no problem with them paying themselves and taking money out of the system in base principal. Again, the royalty issue is at play as some of that revenue is most likely legally belonging to the artists.
I still strongly hope that the right thing is done here. If Justin is broke, there is no point really going after him. In the US you can sue someone but if they have no money its generally not worth it. Knowing that he is based in SoCal makes me believe it. I looked at rents there and people are paying almost $3k/month just for a 600 sqft home. To make it at all you'd have to be making at least 60k or so there. However, in the event the game continues to progress, like they are saying, proceeds should eventually come and at that point having the royalty system in place will ensure future proceeds make it to the artists.
All that said, I'm a nobody and my thoughts are mostly irrelevant. I only had a few $ worth of LVL, I'm not actively developing for a studio, etc.
The content removal from their website is not an outlandish story but just adds to the mix. The main focus here is the assets from non credited and not properly compensated artists. And you covered that point.
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And yes, they'll need to track royalties if they keep working on this as they say.