ForumsGamesPoor Observation vs Game Clones

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EndlessMarrow
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EndlessMarrow
60 posts
Nomad

This has been a problem for all video games of old or new genres in the gaming industry, were crazy fanboy wails "oh this game is a minecraft clone" or when somebody is discussing a game of a different genre "Whoa, counterstrike Global Offensive is a rip-off of call of duty".

Listein these are statements or assumptions that are made everyday by a gamer that has not bothered to research the game and just assumes that its a rip-off no matter what you try to tell them. A good example of this would be for example: "Plasma burst is a clone of Raze since both of these games are set in the future but they only thing that separates Sir Raze from Sir Plasma Burst is that their entirely different in terms of gameplay and game mechanics. What i am trying to tell you is that we need to stop assuming and start gathering our facts about a game before we jump the gun on a game that could or could not be a copy, its just the game clones are setting up a new genre of gaming.

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ihsahn
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ihsahn
428 posts
Nomad

The gaming industry has trends and fads, fact. Tons of games are released that ape the mechanics of popular titles like God of War, Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, fact.
That's just how the industry is. Publishers take their cues from games that sell, because that's what they want for their own games.

Not every game is a clone of something else, but look, for instance, at the modern FPS scene. A thousand games have the same "duck behind cover to regenerate" system, the same "realistic" two-weapon limit, the same gritty brown-and-grey color palette, the same chest-high walls everywhere in the environments.
These things are trendy - and games that use them might not be clones, but they are still unoriginal followers.

Ripping off other games is an ever-present staple of the industry.
You can trace every single element of any big modern title to a host of older influences, if you look hard enough. And that's fine to an extent, because influences are present and necessary in every form of art, but there's inspiration and then there's conformity.

Mr_Sand
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Mr_Sand
672 posts
Peasant

What people need to realize is that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And people need to quit being ignorant and actually play games before they describe them as being similar to other games. Or look into the history of the game.
Anybody that knows nothing about Counter Strike is probably going to say that it looks like a Call of Duty clone. It takes actual playing and facts to realize that No its not a Call of Duty clone it is quite different and has been around far longer than Call of Duty. If anything Call of Duty was built for the same crowd that Counter Strike has.

It would be nice if people actually just looked into the game they criticize first before making rash accusations

EndlessMarrow
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EndlessMarrow
60 posts
Nomad

[It would be nice if people actually just looked into the game they criticize first before making rash accusations]

Yeah that would be perfect for once in this generation instead of killing off games that are not given the chance to express themselves.

ihsahn
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ihsahn
428 posts
Nomad

If anything it's a greater problem that people let games get away with being shameless ripoffs.

EndlessMarrow
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EndlessMarrow
60 posts
Nomad

@ihsahn, that can be true as well but you may not always know that some rip-offs make a difference while others that share the same exact game mechanics, coding and theme.

ihsahn
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ihsahn
428 posts
Nomad

Rip-offs don't make a difference, by definition. That's what makes them rip-offs. Games that are influenced by other games do. There's a distinction. Games and genres evolve in small increments. But what a lot of clones do is merely repeat the clichés adding only very superficial differences in setting and gameplay but leaving all the core elements and tone untouched. What is Sleeping Dogs if not GTA: Hong Kong? What is Darksiders if not God of War: Riders of the Apocalypse Edition? What is every single Halo game but a retread of the first one? What is League of Legends but a polished DotA?

There's no value in ripping off another game, and there's no value in this wave of samey shooters that's flooding the market. Those few games that don't rip off but merely take a few cues from the mainstream, those are the evolution.

Take Spec Ops: The Line, a third-person shooter very much in conformity with standard AAA gameplay, perhaps a little flawed too, but with a fantastic plot and dark, self-aware tone. Or BioShock Infinite, which adds some CoD-esque influences into the standard BioShock combat, but has a ton of original gameplay ideas of its own and great concern for plot and atmosphere. Those are game-changers.
Those are games that drive genres forward. Call of Duty: Black Ops II is driving nothing forward.

KentyBK
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KentyBK
566 posts
Nomad

This thread suddenly took a turn for the ironic it seems.

thebluerabbit
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thebluerabbit
5,346 posts
Farmer

i personally cant see why rip offs are a problem. the only way this would bother me if a really bad game would be almost identical to another and is MUCH worse. actually, i personally wouldnt mind playing clones if they are as good as the "original". you could call starfox adventures a zelda clone (i would to some extent) but it doesnt change the fact that i loved that game.

the real problem is when people judge a game ONLY because its similiar to another and immidiatly think that the "original" one is superior just because it came first. sure the originality concept is killed but i personally dont care for originality. there are plenty of games id rather would stick to their roots and the "avarage" gameplay instead of trying to make up some original awful playing style

ihsahn
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ihsahn
428 posts
Nomad

It's like I'm arguing against a brick wall. You're all denouncing some fictional strawman race of people who judge games based on zero information. Yes, pre-judging things without information is bad, what a fantastic discovery.

That doesn't mean cheap copying of game mechanics isn't a rampant disease in the industry, one that severely hampers the chances of new and interesting concepts, as well as hurt the entire medium's standing as an art form.

you could call starfox adventures a zelda clone
No, you really couldn't. It's no more a Zelda clone than many other action-adventure games.
Jacen96
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Jacen96
3,087 posts
Bard

No, you really couldn't. It's no more a Zelda clone than many other action-adventure games.
But it is an adventure game, and LoZ is an adventure game, it just screams rip-off (/sarcasm)

But what a lot of clones do is merely repeat the clichés adding only very superficial differences in setting and gameplay but leaving all the core elements and tone untouched.
So, call of duty.

I don't know about rip-offs, but PB2 does not deserve to be mentioned. It does not deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Raze 2, that game is so messed up it isn't funny.

Now, on topic, although a rip-off may feel like you are screwing someone else over, you need to be able to tell the difference between a game that rips-off, and a game that draws inspiration from.

(For example, for the final project in my Gaming class we needed to design and sell a game. I took inspiration from LoZ and created a fantasy RPG, and then I added in RTS elements and different upgrades (you have allies to upgrade). Meanwhile, a classmate RIPPED-OFF OoT (items to collect, big evil boss, advising spirits (forest Sage Saria in OoT, Vine Spirit in his), an underwater temple that requires you to have something to breath underwater with, people who are at home near water, castle town . . .)

Okay, I did have gorons (gorgoncoes), and gerudos (I forget what I named them), and an evil king, and all sorts of similarities, but I also included many differences.

If you want to know more, let me know and I will try to send you the information.

~~~Darth Caedus
partydevil
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partydevil
5,133 posts
Jester

beter goed gejat dan slecht bedacht

this is a dutch motto which roughly means in english: "It is better to steal something good then to invent something bad".

EndlessMarrow
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EndlessMarrow
60 posts
Nomad

@Party Devil

Well for some indie games that can be said and done, However other indie games actually make up their own game mechanics and plot. An Example of this will be Milkstone Studios's Horror game called White Noise which was the first horror game to be put on Xbox live even though people accused it of being a clone to slenderman.

ihsahn
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ihsahn
428 posts
Nomad

White Noise is a pretty shameless ripoff, and if you give it your money you're part of the problem. Doesn't matter than it's "the first game on XBox Live", it's still reprehensible, unartistic and plain unethical.

EndlessMarrow
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EndlessMarrow
60 posts
Nomad

@ihsahn
Its not a rip-off and if it was a rip-off then Microsoft would of have their game removed off Xbox live so I'm guessing that you are assuming then actually playing the game or pointing out the differences within the game.

ihsahn
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ihsahn
428 posts
Nomad

Its not a rip-off and if it was a rip-off then Microsoft would of have their game removed off Xbox live so I'm guessing that you are assuming then actually playing the game or pointing out the differences within the game.

It. Is. A. Rip-off. It couldn't more clearly be one.

The fact you don't see it forces me turn the question right back at you. Have you played both games? Run around a forest collecting 8 items while being chased by an undefeatable scary thing? They have the gameplay copied down to fine details like having to manage your flashlight, the park setting and the static visual effect when the guy is close.

Evidently it's not illegal to rip a game off so thoroughly, but that may be because Slender was freeware. But it doesn't make it any less cynical and unethical to sell someone else's game so blatantly copied.
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