I think this problem would be easily solved--and be extremely beneficial to the GW business/community --by simple branding: ala, having an official GW seal for approved IP. If fans create media, artwork, stories, etc, just make sure they don't brand it as GW. If they do, then by all means go after them.

The benefit of having fans promote your products far outweighs the cost of IP enforcement. Think about how many amazing artists, writers, and designers are out there, who could vastly enhance GW's business and would probably work for free...

King Arthur--www.gamecasa.net

Need to mind the hazards though: sand-traps and cocktail waitresses with voicemail...

King Arthur--www.gamecasa.net

We discussed this in our podcast last night. Tis a double edged sword. If the extra $ translates over into great gaming experiences; furthermore, experiences that EVERYONE can participate in--ala, having the financial backing to publish multi-platform--, then the consumer wins. The fear is that the big company looses it's focus and puts out a lesser product. More important, is if they don't care since they know they'll see a return for their investment. Perhaps this has been done with certain titles, where there's no competition--Madden, cough, cough...--, but over all, the casual consumer seems to think EA is doing a good job. People vote with their $ and for the past 'I don't know' how many years, the people have voted EA the #1 software publisher. Lot of stupid people buying video games though... --GC