Caydr wrote:Well, eh... I sorta already have the story planned. And it's not really all that elaborate. Maybe at some point when I have a draft and a version that's actually... like... my end-goal, you could add to it. But you'd probably be a geriatric by then.
Don't worry, TA's backstory wasn't elaborate either.
The basic gist of it was "there are these people and they are fighting these robots and there are lots of big explosions, the end."
Still, your name change remains a giant "wtf" in my head.
Why didn't you come up with something that allowed you to retain the "AA" brand name?
Be honest now, you haven't the faintest clue about anything relating to branding, advertising, and product names, do you? It shows through.
Rule #1: Pour the coals on a good thing. The AA brand is a successful one. Keep it. It doesn't have to mean "absolute annihilation" any more - nobody really cares what it stands for at this point, as to the Spring community, the game is simply "AA".
Rule #2: Your name should be easy to spell and pronounce, or should be easily shortened to something easy to spell and pronounce. While "Absolute Annihilation" was a mouthful, "AA" was a perfectly good abbreviation. "Abolition" has alternate meanings (abolition of slavery), looks close to "abortion" which is a controversial topic, is four syllables which is one syllable more than is acceptable for a product name, cannot be abbreviated without artificially creating one, and even then "AS" does not roll off the tongue as well as "AA" does.
Rule #3: Association with a successful paradigm is a positive. "Absolute Annihilation" associated you with TA. TA is a successful paradigm. "Absolute Annihilation" will draw people to your mod who are TA fans. "Abolition" does none of that.
Practically, as long as AA exists it will be able to be shut down at Atari's whim. I'm sure Atari is well aware of your work but does nothing because it does not threaten their bottom line. You would essentially have to make a new mod to avoid infringing upon Atari's intellectual property. "Absolute Annihilation", the name, was about the one thing in the mod that
wasn't an infringement upon Atari's intellectual property - and yet you change that? It doesn't put you on any more solid ground, legally speaking, and loses you the association with TA that draws many of your players in.
Basically, you're making a horrible decision with a change from a perfectly good - even great - name, to one that is, quite frankly, shitty. My advice: if you feel compelled to change the name for some reason - and "legal reasons" is not a valid reason as Atari holds no trademark on "Absolute Annihilation" - keep it to one that still shortens to "AA".
Call it "Absolute Action". Call it "Absolute Abolition". Call it "Action Abolition". Call it
something that abbreviates to "AA".
Better yet, keep the name "Absolute Annihilation". There's no reason to change it.
