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Comment by knowtheory | Hacker News Reader

I love this idea, and in a society that prided itself on honor, Bethesda would take him up on it.

Unfortunately the law does not promote honorable behavior.

Remember, in Game of Thrones, that Bronn only became Tyrion's champion for the money, not any sense of honor.

What if Bethesda finds it easier to hire 3 top Quake 3 players for 1k each to fight Notch and friends? They might find it easier than going through the lawsuit.

What a wonderful precedent. The future of law: gamers

There's a science fiction book in this. Get writing!

Charlie Stross (cstross of this parish) has almost certainly already written it.

Ender's Game?

Well, okay, that's true (but not my primary point, since i've not read/seen Game of Thrones).

My point was that Bethesda is under no obligation to do this, and it's not clear to me that this would have legal binding. So in that sense they'd be accepting based on Notch's intentions (honorable or not), and I presume that Mojang would only agree based on their honorable intentions.

There are of course many ways to weasel out of straightforward agreements. That's why presidential debates are always so terrible.

I'm not sure why a legally counselled written contract wouldn't be considered legally binding.

That a contract has been drafted and signed, even in good faith, is only half the battle. It must also be enforced. The court can simply ignore some or all of a contract which is obviously unfair or exploitative to either party. Centuries of legislation and case law go into determining what sorts of clauses are, in fact, enforceable.

This is why you need a lawyer to draft a contract, and cannot just write whatever on a piece of paper and sign it. Even lawyers overreach, however; it's part of their job.

Seein as Bronn won the duel dishonourably by running away until the opponent was tired, does this mean Bethesda will win the match by camping?

How is fighting intelligently "dishonourable"? If you can't beat someone at their own game, force them to play your game.

Honor is always about doing things you don't have to, or not doing things which you could do.

No need, I'd wager Carmack and friends are plenty good at their own game.

Hmm? Bethesda didn't make Quake, if that's what you're saying...

Bethesda bought id in '09, so yes they do.

Er, okay. That seems unrelated since they never "made Quake" and likely have little/no influence over Carmack himself.

But oh man: Carmack vs Notch. Imagine it.

Nevermind, I hope Bethesda can somehow persuade/pressure/bribe/extort Carmack into that. Because... C'mon. Carmack vs Notch.

Both Bethesda and id are subsidiaries of Zenimax[1].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenimax

They suck (sic! :) ) badly compared to remotely professional players. Tim Willits even said so himself just recently on Quakecon.

Some gamers might want to support the small indie guy and might offer their labour and skills to notch for free. Some might take the money and go help out the big guy. It would be like some medieval power struggle over a throne, with knights and dukes allying themselves to one side or the other. :)

The top Quake 3 players are probably good friends with - if not even themselves - hopelessly addicted Minecraft players. If this was id Software against Mojang, then maybe id had the leverage but Bethesda is not necessarily considered good by the Q3 community.

Notch can easily afford to pay top Quake 3 players too though.

I think this idea is funny, but a future where legal disputes are settled by whoever is a better gamer/swordsman/chess player is moving back toward feudalism. Ideally, the winner of the legal dispute should have something to do with the merits of the case. I realize that there are weights on the scales of justice that are heavier for the one who has more money, but if it comes down to might-makes-right, the little guy really doesn't stand a chance.

Money is a weight on the side of the big guy whether the competition is Quake or Court.

Money can always buy you an advantage in a duel, just like it buys you better lawyers.

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