[casual_games] Copycats -- What Can Be Done?

[Allan Simonsen]

It raises another issue as well; we're all standing on
the shoulders of giants.

So.. we bemoan the Zuma-inspired clones. And yet, Zuma
itself has a more than passing resemblance to the old
PSX game Ballistic
(http://www.games.net/psx/104244/index.shtml). What if
Infogrames/Atari had decided to come after the Luxor
and Zuma creators? What if ID had sent Cease and
Desist letters to Epic about Unreal infringing on the
game mechanics and play-style of Quake?

Once we're trying to 'protect the idea' (through
patents or similar) we're quickly digging a hole for
ourselves... and I'm not certain we'll enjoy it down
there. 

Don't feed the lawyers, it only encourages them. Feed
the game developers instead.

Allan Simonsen


--- Robert Headley <Rheadley at op-games.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> That isn't a complete hierarchy. Puzz Loop came
> before Zuma. It's not always
> about who came first but who had the largest
> potential market and who was
> able to better realize the idea. Zuma was released
> on thousands of online
> portals while Puzz Loop was a relatively rare arcade
> game. Zuma has
> attractive art and sound but Puzz Loop looked dated
> even for 1998.
> 


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