While waiting around for somebody to get out the facts on somebody in TEST with sufficient roles to steal 130 billion ISK worth of logistics equipment, I happened on the tale of one Thomas Freyer who is quite upset about something over at EQ2 Wire. It seems that Feldon, that tireless toiler around all things newsworthy in EverQuest II, had the temerity to list information about a character named “Malshandir” on his site.
Thomas Freyer claims to own the trademark on “Malshandir” in the EU and is flipping mad that somebody is using that name for an elf in Norrath.
No, that’s not it.
He’s mad that Sony let somebody name an elf “Malshandir” in their game.
No, still too logical, so that can’t be it.
Thomas Freyer is apparently mad that Feldon has a site that allows you to search on EverQuest II characters using data provided by Sony Online Entertainment, which in turn allows you to discover that some other person playing the game EverQuest II, owned by Sony Online Entertainment, created a character and named it “Thomas Freyer”… I mean “Malshandir.” (This data right here, in fact.)
Feldon’s post on the subject contains all the relevant noxious quotes.
Anyway, this situation hove into view of the all-seeing and/or unblinking eye of Ken at Popehat, who explored the subject until satire happened. Now it is going to be “come at me bro!” and “snort my dark elf taint!” from here on out.
Thanks to the Streisand effect, I suspect that the next time I roll up a new character in an MMO, any MMO, I will find that the name “Malshandir” has been taken. Or so I dearly hope.
Addendum: Silicon Angle has a post up on this as well., and there is a long thread over at Slash Dot.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
Are you spelling it wrong on purpose for humor value or…?
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@Anon – No, I just clearly don’t know how to spell “Malshandir.” Fixed. I think.
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4,310 Google hits.. and rising, no doubt!
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I read this on EQ2Wire and it puzzled the hell out of me. Lots of people in the comments thread suggest it must be a scam to extort money but I can’t get that from a reading of the email interchange between Freyer and Feldon. The bit about money only comes up late in the conversation and doesn’t seem to refer to money that will come Freyer’s way, just that Feldon might lose to a third party if he doesn’t comply.
Had Feldon woken up, read the email, shrugged his shoulders and deleted Malshandir from his database, presumably that would have been the end of it. Which makes me think that what probably happened was that Freyer was ego-googling the name of his own, defunct company and spotted this new, strange addition to his personal reality construct.Then having read it he was so outraged that his name had been given to an ELF he lost all reason and started this whole thing rolling.
From there it follows a classic pattern of blustering retrenchment and ill-judged hyperbole as Freyer attempts and fails not to lose face while defending an indefensible lapse of judgment. The way his English breaks down as he gets more and more agitated is a dead giveaway.
He’s really going to wish he’d just let it lie. And anyway Malshandir is a crap name for a company. It’s a crap name for a friggin’ ELF for god’s sake!
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Wait til the Tolkien estate gets wind of this – I’m pretty sure Legolas is playing on every server in every game.
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I particularly like the logic about jurisdiction. Essentially, since EQ2 Wire is accessible by Europeans, European law applies to it. Good luck with that one.
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