Talk:Siege on Sears

Sears Marketing Team Plays Urban Dead!

Yup, it's obvious. You can view their new website in "zombie", and it's all translated using UD's own zed language. Some examples - "Revive Your Style" uses the translation "Rabhabh", and a camera advertisement translates "find your perfect match" to "Zerger baragarz naz". A clear nod to the UDwiki.

The question though, is there something inherently wrong with this advertisement? I think not. The zombie lexicon is an openly developed language on a public wiki. For all we know, someone from the sears marketing team actively contributed to the lexicon. It's not necessary for them to "attribute" ownership of the material by linking back to this website. Actually, the idea of this wiki's denizens going after a company for copyright infringement is laughable. Have you had a look around Category:Images lately? I wouldn't at all be surprised if some of the zombie images from their new site end up on the UD wiki.

Finally, by putting links to their website here, you're actually only directing traffic to their site. You want to have people in zombie costumes picketing outside Sears? Ummm, geez talk about free publicity - I would love to see the local news coverage of that. Actually, who wrote this article? Are you the UD player from the sears marketing team? If so, nice website. I think it looks fresh. And shame on you for trying to trick people into helping spread your viral campaign.--_GANG Giles Sednik _CAPD 11:51, 25 October 2010 (BST)

I like this for the sole purpose that the reverse might happen - more people might play urban dead if we get the publicity up. Always a good thing.--User:Yonnua Koponen/signature3 12:06, 25 October 2010 (BST)

I think you've got this completely wrong. No one is after Sears' jugular like you seem to think. We'd just love it if they just gave a little bit of a plug for the zombie language they used and the guy who created the grounding for it. The page is amazingly done yes, and the idea is pretty funny I guess, but all in all, I'd just like to see an attribution, even a very small one, towards Kevan and the game that the makers of the page are obviously fans of. -- LEMON #1 12:18, 25 October 2010 (BST)

Ditto. Given the downturn in player numbers, another Yahoomas would be a godsend. 13:28, 25 October 2010 (BST)

Stealing a concept is still theft. It's kind of why we're doing this, you know, because we can't sue them for bad grammar or having no class or respect for creative gamers, coders and developers. Not to mention the demographic they're targeting. None of the players involved are interested in making money out of this protest and especially for Sears, though I imagine if it actually becomes popular, someone will sell t-shirts. And I know especially that the old adage "All publicity is good publicity" is true. This doesn't really matter to me personally, I've never shopped at Sears, I doubt this will stop anyone from shopping there if they really need that plasma screen TV. We just want to have fun, you know, being zombies. And they did essentially ask for it. You don't start targeting ad campaigns at zombies and expect them not to show up. Anyway, who really gives a damn all that shit? It's a game, have fun with it. And do it for free. Give these lame brained consumers a taste of BARHAH! --Amber Waves of Pain 14:56, 25 October 2010 (BST)

Indeed, this isn't a literal Siege on Sears. Its not a copyright infringement case because as stated before, you can't copyright a language. This is a call to Sears to give a shout out to the site that so helped them to create a look for their new website. And no, I don't work for Sears. I work for a completely different souless corporate machine altogether. ~ 15:11, 25 October 2010 (BST)

FWIW I think the site's gimmick is a failtrain. I think Vapor is similarly idealistic, but more realistic about what the law might consider a "peaceful protest." The website is offensive, UD players should be outraged, and it would please me immensely if people showed up, drenched in blood without pants and harassed shoppers to the point where it would put them off shopping at Sears. Unfortunately, the closest term to "Boycot" in Zamgrh that I can think of is "AMBARGA" (literally embargo.) Hit them where it hurts and all that. --Amber Waves of Pain 15:22, 25 October 2010 (BST)

I don't think there's anything wrong with it either. Let's not forget that Urban Dead was itself openly lifted from Vampires! The Dark Alleyway, albeit with permission. We've never been made privy to the terms of the agreement, but it probably involved Kevan hollering "I'm doing your game but with zombies!" across a high school cafeteria. This is such a small part of an enormous operation, and so obviously done in a spirit of fun, it's rather like finding the TARDIS in Fallout or spotting E.T. in The Phantom Menace. Creative people have been doing this for centuries. Before the media slugs started suing one another over it we called it quoting, and no one asked permission for anything. You guys are going to get one of your own in trouble for a shoutout which was done exactly the way a shoutout ought to be done. . . . einexile 01:52, 26 October 2010 (BST)

...

Why don't we send all our zombie alts to Sears Auto Repair? Protest in game too! ;D --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 17:13, 25 October 2010 (BST)

BRILLIANT! ~ 17:15, 25 October 2010 (BST)

I'm Ok with this. --keepster33 17:34, 25 October 2010 (BST)

THIS IS AMAZING! -- LEMON #1 00:48, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Although I don't think we should have a sign-up list, just get everyone to come. -- LEMON #1 00:48, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Recruitment

There's actually a store downtown where I live that has an annual zombie walk every Halloween. I'd be willing to bet that they'd be willing to help a zombah picket a Sears. --keepster33 17:37, 25 October 2010 (BST)

It's blatantly not stolen from UD

Any zombie in a film speaks like this. Can Kevan sue Romero? Nah! Gragh! --Karloth Vois ^¯\(°_o)/¯ 00:34, 26 October 2010 (BST)

They're coming to RABAHB ZARGAR BARGARZ, BARBARA? 02:20, 26 October 2010 (BST)

We're not suing, we're beseeching. --VVV ^RPGMBCWS 00:54, 26 October 2010 (BST)

It's just asking for credit where credit is due. --keepster33 01:04, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Carrot / Stick

You could try the carrot first. Send a somewhat-positive email (Kevan ideally, but otherwise some sysop) with links to the game / wiki, and tell them you came across the viral ads, thought it was pretty funny, and that it reminded you of the language that every zombie player uses in this game. See if they would be willing to plug the game, that this is the perfect opportunity for them to support / sponsor something that already has an audience that their campaign is basically targeting, and remind them that UD is primary composed of players from 18-30, you know, the demographic that like to buy shit. Otherwise, I could seem some marketing team being like "eh, petition from MMO game. Whatever. Fear our lawyer-fu. -MHSstaff 01:15, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Most of this is seemingly a fun event for everyone to get behind rather than reeking of butthurt and trouble making, I would like to think they'd think the same way. However, I do agree with your idea of emailing them first and at least making them aware of how we've noticed and reacted to the post and how much we'd appreciate the idea of giving UD a bit of a plug somehow. I'd be happy to do it, I'm sure many of the ops would be happy to on behalf of Kevan (though I don't think we're indicative of a second-in-command of Kevan) -- LEMON #1 01:22, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Twitter

zombieshopper's latest Tweet: "Like Zombian? You can grumble it too: http://is.gd/giSmV". Note that the link is a link to Guides:The Zombie Lexicon. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 01:38, 26 October 2010 (BST)

WIN -- LEMON #1 02:32, 26 October 2010 (BST)

BTW, I think we should be adding a template at the top of that page temporarily for people reidrected from Sears. you know, with the "Were you redirected here from Sears? Do you like the Zombie themed advertisment? Well the language Zombian was primarily taken from Urban Dead, the browser based MMORPG where you can fight in the hordes or against them" etc. with a link to the game and the main page. Just have it temporarily while the page is getting hits. Thoughts? I would do it myself but I'm just on my way out to uni. -- LEMON #1 02:37, 26 October 2010 (BST)

I hereby revoke my desire to burn down a store. --VVV ^RPGMBCWS 03:30, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Is our hive mind satisfied, or do we want more? --VVV ^RPGMBCWS 04:06, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Brainz? --Amber Waves of Pain 05:10, 26 October 2010 (BST)

More. -- LEMON #1 13:33, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Maybe use

Were you redirected here from Sears? Do you like the Zombie themed advertisment? Well the language Zombian was primarily taken from Urban Dead, the browser based MMORPG where you can fight in the hordes or against them

decently formatted, of course. -- LEMON #1 02:41, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Also make sure to refer to it as Zamgrh within the notice, but that's a good idea. 02:59, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Added my version, since the viewers won't wait for us to perfect it. Go improve it. --VVV ^RPGMBCWS 04:06, 26 October 2010 (BST)

On a side note, check http://www.sears.com/zombies once more. They just updated the page to include a link to the Zombie Lexicon guide at the bottom. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 05:12, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Beatiful. Gab Zombian? Mrh? ~ 05:31, 26 October 2010 (BST)

A list of Demands?

We've got a link from zombieshopper's twitter so far? I mean, it's small potatoes but it's a win. Perhaps we could request demand they sponsor annual zombie walks for their staff and the public. The main thing I've found with people wanting to get involved in this thus far is they live in Tinytown, USA and they'll end up looking like a weirdo/arrested. With corporate sponsorship, a zombie walk would be an excellent opportunity for those weirdos/freaks/normal people who just love zombies to get involved, have some fun and meet some other like minded folks. Also demand #3: hand over the brains and Ambrahz Barhah. --Amber Waves of Pain 05:22, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Victory!

Very nice. That is exactly the type of attribution I was after. What's even better is that twitter marketing campaigns can quite unexpectedly explode sometimes. Look at OldSpiceGuy. The marketing team behind the twitter account will actively seek an audience (as opposed to just waiting for people to find their site) which means more people will see the link to the Lexicon than had they simply added a link to the bottom of sears.com. If you have a twitter account, you owe it to UD to retweet that shit. Let's help this viral go pandemic.

I will be closing the petition shortly. I'd like to try to find a way to preserve it for archival purposes. I don't really expect anyone to go to Sears any longer (I wasn't sure how many actually would anyway. It's not easy getting gamers off their couches for anything I've learned; myself included) However, if you feel up to the exercise, maybe you could hand out fliers prompting people to play the game instead of protesting.

I'd like to continue the Siege at Sears Auto Repair. There is already a crowd of familiar faces gathering. We just need a good survivor group to come give us a challenge. Brang marh harmanz! Barhah Zambahz!~ 05:27, 26 October 2010 (BST)

I want more. Vapor, #BB3 pl0x? --Amber Waves of Pain 05:48, 26 October 2010 (BST)

I think the attribution indicates that someone may have been watching this wiki and the events that have unfolded. Let us thank that the guys involved were real fans of the game enough to have delved into the site and our reactions? -- LEMON #1 07:51, 26 October 2010 (BST)

And I think you're being naive. It's all well and good to have fun with this but the bottom line is they're still making money off the copyrighted works of this community. By linking to the zombie lexicon, they're simply acknowledging that they stole their gimmick from here. And accepting this, by speaking on behalf of the entire UD community, you're going to make it incredibly difficult for Kevan or any one who wishes to hold the corporation responsible for their actions in the future. Like I said, I want brains. Since amateur brain surgery would probably get us arrested, and since many of the players who contributed towards creating Zamgrh are no longer contactable, I am pretty sure there will be no satisfying response that this community could receive from the corporation. This means we do exactly what they asked us to do: they asked for zombies. We'll send zombies. We'll get something out of it regardless of a the response (or lack thereof) from the Sears camp. And let me just reiterate: I don't intend on profiting from this and I don't believe anyone should, especially Sears. And especially since Kevan doesn't profit from this game in the first place. It was a dick move. You should be angry. And you will receive compensation in lulz at whatever level you can participate in this event. DDR, you must make a couple hundred edits to the wiki daily, surely you've looked at the text and followed the link beneath the edit field. Honestly, I feel like I'm telling a five year old girl that Santa doesn't exist...-Amber Waves of Pain 16:31, 26 October 2010 (BST)

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Just for possible future comparison, at time of Zombieshopper's plug, the Zombie Lexicon had 111,218 views. -- LEMON #1 09:00, 26 October 2010 (BST)

And subtract at least 100 views from whatever we see as in increase. Just for players that are already here. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Keepster33 (talk • contribs) at an unknown time.

ke? -- LEMON #1 13:16, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Ahh, I getcha now. Good call. -- LEMON #1 13:18, 26 October 2010 (BST)

btw they dont actually play ud

they just cut corners, i'm thinking. -- LEMON #1 13:37, 26 October 2010 (BST)

I sorta figured that would have been the case, but I never actually checked. Looking at the site (with the usage of the letter E and the different name they've given it), it's quite telling. 15:02, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Review

Sears got a review. Urban Dead is nowhere in it, despite the fact there is a small section about Zombian in there. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 15:21, 26 October 2010 (BST)