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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2008 > December > 04 > Entry
the ruination of Lexulous…
Some readers might recall how utterly devastated I was when the social networking site Facebook shut down the Scrabulous application last summer.
The Scrabulous application was developed by two brothers in India, the Agarwallas. It was a fabulous application. You could play that famous word game with people all over the world. I played against total strangers in South Africa, Singapore, and Thunder Bay. The Scrabulous application on Facebook had millions of users when it was shut down.
You know that word game; there are 100 tiles, two of them are blanks. I’m not going to say that name.
The copyright holders for that game took the Agarwallas to court. That was the end of Scrabulous. Soon thereafter this wonderful application was reborn as Lexulous. Everything was the same except that it was no longer available on Facebook.
I loved Lexulous. I was completely addicted to it. I wasn’t alone. Lexulous quickly got 200,000 players worldwide. One of them lives in Mansfield, Ohio. They call her the Garrulous Granny.
According to a recent article in a British newspaper, the sales boom that game is experiencing right now in England can be attributed in large part to the now vanished Scrabulous application.
Shane Richmond reports in The Telegraph that:
“Scrabble is Britain’s most popular board game and, according to market research firm NPD, this is the first time the word game has been number one for 15 years. However, experts suggest that Scrabble is more popular now than at any point since the mid-1980s, when board game behemoth Trivial Pursuit was first released.
The Scrabble boom follows the huge success of Scrabulous, an application that allowed people to play a Scrabble-esque game in Facebook. I say “allowed” because Scrabble’s owners took legal action this summer to close Scrabulous down.
Sadly this aggressive protection of so-called ‘intellectual property’ is becoming ever more common. As I wrote a few weeks ago, ITV recently shut down an application that made their catch-up TV service better, meanwhile Prince has his lawyers patrolling YouTube and demanding the removal of clips that feature his music, even if it’s an accidental background snippet.
Strictly speaking all three companies are in the right and it’s tempting to view such infringements and say to yourself ‘if we can’t make money out of this, nobody can’ but that’s not a practical business stance. In fact, it’s counter-productive.
For a brand as strong as Scrabble, unlicensed community interaction can enhance the brand and act as advertising. Had the Scrabble rights-holders, Hasbro in the US, felt obliged to protect their intellectual property, they would have been better advised to license Scrabulous rather than close it. They thought that having the IP gave them the stronger position. It didn’t. The person with the audience has the power, the person with the IP has only a veto.
In place of Scrabulous came two official Facebook applications - one for the US and Canada and another for the rest of the world. These applications have, combined, around 300,000 fewer users than Scrabulous was getting at its height.
Lexulous, the successor to Scrabulous, has not appeared on Facebook yet, though the same developers do have 200,000 users for another Facebook game, Wordscraper.
NPD’s statistics for Scrabble sales go up to the end of September, which is, by coincidence, when Scrabulous was finally closed down. It will be interesting to see what happens to Scrabble sales post-Scrabulous. My bet is that Scrabble’s owners have killed off the best promotional tool they ever had.” (The Telegraph/Nov. 18, 2008)
OK, I let him speak the name of that game. I won’t sully my tongue by uttering that once glorious word. The beauty of Scrabulous and the successor game, Lexulous, was that the board setup, the tiles, the point values, and most other aspects of it were exactly like that other game. I dare not speak it…
Are the copyright holders grateful that Scrabulous has given their game a huge sales boost? Apparently not.
This week the Agarwalla brothers completely revamped the Lexulous application. Obviously, this was done to placate the copyright holders.
Lexulous has been ruined. The application that the copyright holders have available on Facebook of their authorized version of the game is a pathetic joke, far inferior to the applications created by the Agarwalla brothers. For example, the authorized version available on-line in the US and Canada is not even available in SOWPODS, the most popular dictionary for worldwide play. Heck, you could play Scrabulous in French or even Italian. I used to love playing it in French.
The Agarwalla applications were educational. They were fast. They were incredibly fun. The copyright holders have strangled the geese that were laying all those golden eggs; corporate profits. By exercising their legal right to suppress the Agarwalla versions of this word game they have squelched the pleasure of potentially millions of new participants in this game. Every one of those on-line users of the Agarwallas’ delightful Scrabulous and Lexulous applications was likely to go out and purchase the official version, further enriching the copyright holders.
I’m honked off. That honking sound you hear off in the distance is all those golden geese flying away into cyberspace, never to return to lining the pockets of the copyright holders.
I learned new words every day on Lexulous.Now I cannot even stand to look at the reconfigured design that the Agarwallas have been forced to adopt. Nor can I utter the name of a game that has been tainted in my opinion by avarice and greed.
Another paradise has been paved over.
(sob)
Vick Mickunas
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment | Categories: booms and busts
Comments
By vick
December 12, 2008 11:18 PM | Link to this
KOLKATA, India - December 12th - RJ Softwares today announced that it has settled the litigation brought by Hasbro Inc., a Pawtucket, RI, USA, based company that owns the U.S. and Canadian rights to the SCRABBLE crossword game. The settlement resolves disputes concerning Scrabulous, previously offered by RJ Softwares, as well as Lexulous, and Wordscraper that are currently offered by RJ Softwares. Pursuant to the settlement, RJ Softwares has agreed not to use the term Scrabulous and has made changes to the Lexulous and Wordscraper games (in the U.S. and Canada) to distinguish them from the SCRABBLE crossword game. Based on these modifications Hasbro has agreed to withdraw the litigation filed against RJ Softwares in federal court in New York in July of this year. As modified, the Wordscraper application will continue to be available on Facebook and Lexulous will be available on the Lexulous.com website. The agreement provides people in the U.S. and Canada with a choice of different games and also avoids potentially lengthy and costly litigation’s. RJ Softwares acknowledges the guidance and support provided by Rajiv Khaitan of Khaitan & Co., India as well as his Meritas colleague, Rose Auslander, of Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, New York and their entire team of lawyers, in negotiating the litigation and settlement process for the firm. About RJ Softwares RJ Softwares develops high quality interactive online games that are fun to play! Founded in 2000 by St. Xavier’s College commerce students Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, RJ Softwares’ products engage a global audience. RJ Softwares is headquartered in Kolkata, India. For more information, visit www.rjs.in or, www.lexulous.comBy vick
December 8, 2008 10:32 AM | Link to this
On Monday morning (12/8/08) in the USA - the Lexulous site seems to be up and running again. Perhaps they took it off-line to address some of the scoring problems that have plagued this “new” board set up?By angie
December 7, 2008 11:06 PM | Link to this
does anyone know if lexulous ever coming back?By ange Wither
December 7, 2008 10:50 PM | Link to this
all i can say is the anagram of Hasbro is Abhors and to me it fits perfectly. Ange (Formica)By vick
December 7, 2008 10:02 PM | Link to this
Faye, I share your frustration. The Lexulous site has been down all day. One has to assume that they are making some adjustments OR that they have been shut down by lawyers for the copyright holders. Very sad if that is the reason…By Faye
December 7, 2008 7:35 PM | Link to this
I have played on Scrabulous and then Lexulous a long, long time..I miss the Scrabulous, but I have been playing on Lexulous, even after the new board and 8 tiles. I didn’t really like the new version, but it was all I had, so I was determined to get used to it. Now tonight, I cannot find it. It’s gone too. Now what?By Kathy
December 7, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this
Our game appears to be down and I am hoping that it will be back online soon…With any luck they are just tweaking the game to make the scoring match up to the tile letters since they have also changed there valve..I am getting use to the new game and still find it alot of fun…Will be watching for it to come back soon I hope… Lexulous I thank you for bring it back to us even with the changes!!!By vick
December 7, 2008 4:13 PM | Link to this
I just tried to log in to the Lexulous website on Sunday afternoon and it is gone. Nothing comes up…By vick
December 5, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this
Tea and Cake, I have been playing that game since I was a child. The board, the strategy, the point values, the esthetics of THAT GAME are hard-wired in my brain. The new Lexulous board is not intuitive. I have played some games now and found numerous flaws; the scoring has been riddled with math errors, some games you get too many tiles, etc. No matter how hard I try I cannot get into this new board design. What a travesty has been wrought by the greed of these copyright holders. As Sheila notes in her comment, they don’t get it. They are actually losing customers by “protecting” their rights to THAT GAME. Sad.By Sheila Scarborough
December 5, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this
I talked about this topic in one of the workshops that I just finished teaching yesterday to your fellow Dayton/Cox Ohio journalists - the Scrabulous shutdown was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen! Companies complain about not being able to make money online, but they don’t make enough of an effort to GET online and learn to understand online interaction and communities. There are definitely opportunities there. Hasbro really blew it. Thanks for your blog post.By edo
December 5, 2008 9:03 AM | Link to this
My childhood friend Jim was the son of two English teachers… his dad would play Sc#$$&@ with us occasionally… he would pass, pass, pass… suddenly he would drop a seven letter word on a triple word score and walk away with a smirk… took the fun with him… edoBy teaandacake
December 5, 2008 7:39 AM | Link to this
Stick with the new board in lex, Vick. It’s not that bad. Kinda fun.By Mike
December 4, 2008 12:27 PM | Link to this
Well, I’ve never played any of the on-line games you mention, but I have played that “other game” many, many times. When I was growing up, word games were everywhere in my family. Whether it was working crosswords, doing jumbles, crostics, playing Password or playing that “other game”; we always seemed to gravitate toward the word games. My grandma, who is 94 years old, still works the NYT crosswords, does the Cryptoquips daily which are in the paper and can still play a mean round of that “other game”. I really do think that the regular play of such word games contributes not only to mental sharpness, but to ones physical well being as well. A stimulated mind can lead directly to healthy body. I firmly believe that. Unfortunately, in this case, greed is winning out over something which will contribute to an increase in the overall mental and physical well being of the participants. It is really sad, Vick.