Wholesale Plagiarism In Gaming *UPDATED*

Wholesale Plagiarism In Gaming UPDATED

By Rann

Rann: Well, after that last post of mine, let’s lighten the mood in here!

Eric was recently assigned a game developed by Majestic Studios titled “Limbo of the Lost.” At first glance, this game appears to be your typical point and click adventure again. This time, however, something seemed oddly familiar to him. Eric, being the avid PC gamer that he is, noticed that there were some similiarties between Limbo of the Lost and The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

Rann: Similarities? Try wholesale copying.

Yuri: Yikes. That’s… yeah, that would be almost impossible to defend. I’m wracking my logic processors for some other explanation than “they ripped the game’s source, then went in and changed a few minor things”, and I’m just not finding it.

Rann: Yeah, I think “similarity of design” went out the window at about the point that the same frigging painting on the wall showed up in both versions. All they seem to have done is changed the GUI and some of the character models and decided to release it as their own game. This would be roughly equivalent to me ripping the new 3 Doors Down CD to my computer, running it through a couple of filters, and releasing it as the first album from “Fanboy Wyld”.

Yuri: True. This is one of those times where it’s not really a case of whether there’s theft going on here, just what the true extent of it is. At this point it’s not a case of “Did they copy Oblivion?” and more one of “How did they copy Oblivion?” Did they just try to recreate it as closely as possible using their own programming, rigging up near-exact textures, doing their best to slavishly recreate the layout? It would seem unlikely, given how close the release dates are. Did they decompile the game, recompile it with a slightly different interface, and then change a few minor things? It seems very likely. Only time will tell, it seems.

Rann: Heck, you and Emily are more different than this.

Yuri: Ah, well… Emily-sempai and I are very different beings, really. She’s so… experienced and cool! And I’m…

Rann: A total fangirl.

Yuri: *cough*

*UPDATE*

Rann: Apparently, it’s not JUST Oblivion that the game ripped off, if the Wikipedia article is to be believed:

After the revelation, others looking into the game discovered environments and features that appeared to be taken from the games The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Unreal Tournament 2004, Unreal Tournament 2003, Diablo II, Thief: The Dark Project, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Crysis, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Painkiller, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, and World of Warcraft.

Rann: You know, I’ve gotta say, the one that puzzles me the most is World of Warcraft. I mean, on some levels, it seems natural… the files for skins and stuff go right on your HD, and obviously the game world is snaggable, as there are private servers of the game out there with all sorts of add-ons like hitting level 60 with one kill and so on. But on the other, it’s WORLD OF FRIGGIN’ WARCRAFT. It is quite possibly the most popular game of the modern age. I mean, they ripped from some other stuff that was pretty damn popular, but World of Warcraft practically has international treaties surrounding it. It’s pretty much guaran-damn-teed that someone who would play Limbo of the Lost would also be an avid Warcrack addict. How stupid do you have to be?

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06/12/2008 7:34 PM
Categories: Gaming
Tags: plagiarism,oblivion,limbo of the lost,gaming

1 Emily wrote:

I do not know exactly what it means, but I am having an urge to share a room and a bed with you, Yuri. But in a totally platonic way. We should talk about what it would be like to have real bouncy breasts and how we would examine them together every day for changes.

06/12 at 09:48 PM