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Treading the Fuzzy Line Between Game Cloning and Theft

Posted by Soulskill on from the welcome-to-the-world-of-policeactioncraft dept.

eldavojohn writes "Ars analyzes some knockoffs and near-knockoffs in the gaming world that led to problems with the original developers. Jenova Chen, creator of Flower and flOw, discusses how he feels about the clones made of his games. Chen reveals his true feelings about the takedown of Aquatica (a flOw knockoff): 'What bothers me the most is that because of my own overreaction, I might have created a lot of inconvenience to the creator of Aquatica and interrupted his game-making. He is clearly talented, and certainly a fan of flOw. I hope he can continue creating video games, but with his own design.' The article also notes the apparent similarities between Zynga's Cafe World and Playfish's Restaurant City (the two most popular Facebook games). Is that cloning or theft? Should clones be welcomed or abhorred?"

11 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Warcraft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One of the world's most popular computer game franchises is a clone of Games Workshop's tabletop/pen & paper games. That seems to work OK.

    (captcha = helmets)

    1. Re:Warcraft by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Cloning is what caused the videogame crash of 1983. The popular console of the time, Atari VCS/2600, was an open platform with ~25 million users so everyone was trying to create quick clones of previously-created Atari and Activision games. For example: Coconuts is an obvious clone of Kaboom with near-identical play mechanic, but nowhere near as good.

      What then happened was a major overload of games, most of which were not worth buying, and consumers got feed up and simply stopped buying. Sales fell-off during 1983, game prices plummeted from $30 to $5, and after Christmas many companies went bankrupt.

      I think we're going to see the same thing happen now. There are too many games flying around on Facebook, iPhone, and other net-connected services, people will burn-out, and sales will plummet.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    2. Re:Warcraft by thisnamestoolong · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think that, paradoxically, the tool we have that is inundating us with information (the Internet) is also the greatest weapon against this happening. With the way information is processed, it becomes trivial to sort through all the crap out there and skim the sweet delicious cream from the top of the Intarwebz (ewwww....)

      --
      To the haters: You can't win. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
    3. Re:Warcraft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      That's also why it's so ironic that Warhammer fans whine about the Warcraft frannchise. Warhammer could have the root of one of the most successful and massively profitable gaming companies in history.

      Instead they're stuck trying to get into the business way late by making bad knockoffs of Blizzard games.

      It's also more than a bit disingenuous to claim that much was knocked off in Warcraft. It's an RTS with some pixelated green things running around. There's only but so much (artwork mostly) that could be copied from a tabletop game anyway. If it was a turn-based games using mechanics from Warhammer and a detailed plot from Warhammer, there might be something valid to complain about.

    4. Re:Warcraft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Can you provide a citation for that? It sounds plausible, but Wikipedia does not have this info, so either your information is mistaken, or a rather noteworth peice of informqation is missing from Wikipedia. If you can find a citation for this, could you please also add it to wikipedia, or at least post it to the wikipedia talk page.

  2. No kidding by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you, an intelligent Slashdot reader, can no longer distinguish between a genuine creative influence and copying something wholesale, then the notion of authorship is fucked, and it's all commodity.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    1. Re:No kidding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Exactly. I can tell the difference, I just don't think it makes any difference.

  3. The great pet war of 2010 by Flixie · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think 2010 will be the year of the Great Pet War. Zynga just launched Petville, a Pet Society (Playfish) clone, and although it's arguably better looking, much of its content it's also embarrassingly familiar. http://petsocietyanonymous.com/2009/12/06/petville-vs-pet-society/

  4. Re:Culture vs Consumerism by tepples · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Copyright applies to expression, not ideas. The motivation to make new ideas is that you can make money off the execution of the idea. That's why Linux and Wine aren't copies of UNIX and Windows respectively, even though they implement the same idea (the POSIX API and the Win32 API).

  5. Re:Visual Style by daid303 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So it's just style that counts?

    Aquatica is a clone of Flow for a different platform. So someone took a game they liked, changed platform, and released it so the world could enjoy it in a different way.

    Clones don't happen because of lack of imagination, but because someone sees more in it then the original developer.

  6. Re:Clones should be welcomed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    They put innovation pressure on the original, benefiting everybody.

    A funny idea of benefiting everybody.
    I as a 1 man team create a popular but simple game. A big corp like Blizzard decides to clone it.
    Well it doesn't matter how much innovation pressure is on me the large team that Bliz uses to clone my app will put out a much more polished product. My time will have been wasted to fill their coffers. If I'm unlucky several years down the road they may sue me out of existence for stealing their idea as I will not be able to afford the lawyers that they can.
    I learn a lesson that Bliz can take my lunch any time they feel like it. I stop innovating as there is no gain for me and become a non-game-related consultant so I can afford to eat. They never innovated, so now the innovation is gone. Who benefits again? Ah yes, the big company with the big lawyers.

    Now if I was a 1 man team and another 1 man team decided to copy my game then it is going to be an interesting battle and gamers may benefit.

    They put price pressure on the original, benefiting everybody.

    As in the previous example. I'm simply driven out of the market and will not return. Who benefits from the creative people being driven out?

    They may create a better platform, a better product than the original, benefiting everybody.

    As in the original example, I'm betting they will. However creativity again leaves the field.

    This could happen even though they started off at a lower plateau of originality than the concept originator. Think StarCraft.

    Blizzard was not a weakling when they released their Command and Conquer clone that was reskined with a Warhammer 40K universe. I have no idea whether Blizzard or GW were the more powerful company at the time.

    I see these sort of comments and wonder if you have ever been ripped off or have just benefited from cloning. I know one of the reasons I dropped the P&P SciFi RPG I had been working on for years was that one of my races had been ripped off down to the character art (OK they gave the race Orc tusks and made it put it on 'roids. Come one guys, aren't we a little tired of the GW look?). They even kept my name for the race to add insult to injury. They made it to market first so if I released I would have been the "bad guy" (on the up side their game tanked due to bad implementation. Seriously guys, a 1 page racial description with art included on that page doesn't make a tangible race people will want to play. You may be able to steal good ideas but if all you can do is steal, your end product may not work out as well as you'd hoped). This should also be a learning experience to game devs about drinking hard with other game devs (who you do not know), at scifi conventions.

    Cloning is often the art of greed and power, crushing creativity and it doesn't benefit everybody.

    Posting Anon for common sense reasons.