unforum

[Aperion]

Using real places/organizations

[ndemeter]

(Assuming that the real business has no idea you're doing this)

Yes, it is wrong.

Let me give you an example: Let's say you pick a New York deli as the place of the employment and you allow your player base to find the actual deli. The players could possibly start calling the deli causing the lines to be busy for legit lunch orders.

Thus the owner of said deli might come after you for loss of income. If the judgement is against you...well, then you might as well have had rented the deli for the day yourself.

So don't do it and save yourself the headache.

[Aperion]

ah really? that sucks cause I found a place that works perfectly
what if I were to include a reference to the place?
like just mention the place in the context but leave out the link just so the players can go "oh wow that place is real!"
also for a little clarification the place is a church I wanted something to serve as a landmark that could further ground the story in the setting it takes place.

[ndemeter]

I could only buy that if you had a meta page from the beginning of the game and the players were fully aware of the rules(i.e. don't call real businesses).

[konamouse]

Ghod, no! Players are very resourceful.

They find the real site and they will call. It happens.

Create the fiction, set up the fake business webpage so they players have an online resource but make it a 555-1212 number so they know it's fake, or setup a real number for the players to call and get a puppetmaster or actor to answer the phone as if they were the business.

But don't use a REAL business for a game (unless they are paying you to give them the publicity and headaches of players trying to contact them and pump them for intel).

[kwool]

Get permission or don't risk it.

In one of my past games, players were so resourceful as to look up Facebook accounts for each of the characters. That's how dedicated this audience is. I didn't have Facebook pages for any of them, but it turns out that there were people with the same name as the characters.

[MageSteff]

Sorry for the late reply - I don't check in that frequently lately.

Nothing wrong with using a real organization, as long as you get the organizations permission and explain to them it might generate a lot of contacts from your players.

I was part of a PM team that used an organization (Liftport) as part of the backstory for the game - we were in contact with Liftport, and they were kind enough to even add an email address we could give out to players looking for information.

On one hand, having a lot of unnecessary calls that block legitimate customers is bad, on the other hand, getting the free advertising (i.e. product placement) in an unusual venue might be nice for some types of businesses.

[zbeeblebrox]

In fact, before giving up on this idea entirely, I would actually recommend you try contacting them for permission. At worst they'll say no and you'll just have to invent an organization. But you could end up with a great ally in helping you move the game along. And at best, you could end up with a surprise sponsor! More budget means more room for fun!