Rendition of local Metro station could result in a 50,000$ fine for the Counter Strike Map
Diego Liatis created a Counter Strike map that got him in a bit of trouble. Fans of Counter Strike: Global Offensive have made hundreds of user-generated maps, many of them simulating real places. It seems that Canadian authorities don’t appreciate the use of their own public spaces for such endeavors. Diego and a few friends made a spot-on replica of Montreal’s Berri-UQAM station for the first-person shooter. The painstaking detail is apparent in the video that has the player up against terrorists on the city’s metro line.
After nine months of work, Liatis requested permission to use the recreation of the station and but was told “no”. Believing that he didn’t actually need permission to use an image of a public space in a user-generated Counter Strike map that is intended to make zero money, he continued with the project. He then received a cease and desist letter from Société de Transport de Montreal (STM) letting him know that he will get rid of the map or face a 50,000$ fine. “[The STM] told me that they feared the game could create panic among the city’s public transit users,” Liatis said.
Nobody is getting sued yet, but there is a plan to release the subway map at a LAN party at Montreal Technologie High School in March. Once that happens, it’s up to the STM to try to impose a fine. Frédéric Denis, a programmer of the Counter Strike map in question, said the whole thing was “silly”. “If real terrorists want to know how a STM station is, they can do like us and just go into subway.”
The CBC quoted Toronto lawyer and game developer Robert Trifts as saying “No one’s losing any money in the City of Montreal about this, so what’s this all about? …It seems to me that they’re concerned there may be some political blowback.”
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