New York Times: Plagiarism has become a common phenomenon in the game development industry

The famous iOS game "Tiny Wings" was brutally cottage: Tiny Birds lead: March 12 published the "New York Times" Print edition, although in the traditional art field, plagiarism is a matter of contempt, but in the emerging game development industry, this has become a common phenomenon,　　And because of the lack of simple and easy protection measures, the interests of many small developers suffer. The following is the full text of the article: plagiarism in any form of art, whether it is film, literature or fashion, the creator will often be careful to deal with the original and plagiarism between the subtle differences, a little careless will be ruined.　　But some small game developers say the boundaries seem to have vanished completely in the gaming industry. Vlambeer, a Dutch-based start-up company, developed a free online game called "Crazy Fishing" (radical Fishing) in 2010. The game needs to fish with hooks, then toss the fish into the air after the hook, and then shoot with a gun.　　"Crazy fishing" is already popular, so Vlambeer plans to develop a sequel to the iphone and ipad called "Funny fishing" (ridiculous fishing). But then a new game was added to the Apple App Store: "Ninja fishing" (Ninja fishing). The game, developed by Gamenauts, also uses hooks to fish, then throws the fish into the air, but this time it is not a gun shot, but a samurai knife to chop.　　"Ninja Fishing" became a best-selling application in the App Store. Another start-up, Nimblebit, has a similar experience. The company produced a game called "The Little Tower" (Tiny Tower), players need to keep a building, and through a good job and a lot of entertainment facilities to please the small residents. This has become the App Store's annual game.　　But as an industry magnate, Zynga has launched a game called "Dream Heights" (Dream Heights), where players are also required to keep a tower in place, and also to delight small residents with good jobs and plenty of entertainment facilities.　　Common phenomenon in the Apple App Store and Google (Weibo) Android harsh, plagiarism of a game's soul has become a very common phenomenon, including game mechanism, design, role and storyline.　　While app stores offer unprecedented opportunities for software developers to reach out to users and make money from new games, they find that the risks follow: rivals can easily roll out similar games and scramble for users. "Imitation is a compliment when another company gets inspired by the game and tries to develop a different game." "Vlambeer co-founder Lami Ismail (Rami Ismail) said, "and plagiarism is like punching a punch in the face, it's a robbery." "Vlambeer's funny Fishing project has been terminated for several months because of low morale," he said. Jane Villem Nikiman, another co-founder of the company, said: "All of our power is Willem, which almost destroys Vlambeer." "The reason why plagiarism is so prevalent in the gaming industry, one reason is the lack of an easy way to protect the game." Published articles or pictures can be copyrighted, but there is a lack of such a mechanism in the gaming arena. Irell & Manella Intellectual property lawyer Erison Shelton Tena (Ellisen Shelton Turner), a US law firm, says small game developers can seek patent protection for software design, but they usually don't.　　Because it is time-consuming and expensive to get a patent. In addition, Turner said, since the game is often inspired by previous works, many game developers believe that patent protection will curb the future creativity of the gaming industry. "A lot of people are against patents," he said, "only to be aware of the importance of patent protection when their ideas are plagiarized." "Another independent game developer, Spry Fox, tried to solve the problem through litigation. The company has developed a game called "Triple Town" for Facebook, but later found a 6waves Lolapps company that released a very similar "Yeti Town" game in the Apple App Store.　　In response, Spry Fox filed a lawsuit against the Seattle district Court in January this year, accusing 6waves of Lolapps infringement.　　In the indictment, Spry Fox said the company had negotiated with 6waves Lolapps about the issue of the Triple Town and provided an early version of the game for the company. "It feels like a wild age," says Daniel Cook, a Spry Fox chief creative officer, "a lot of Daniel Cook, lots of money, and some small companies." Others have learned from historical experience that plagiarism is an effective business model. Their entire company was founded on this idea. 6waves Lolapps denied the allegation in a statement and said it respected intellectual property and "never violated the contract signed by our team." Tort litigation is untrue.　　"The Gamenauts spokesman has not immediately commented. Common enemy many of the small game developers are wary of the same big game developers, Zynga, the recently listed company has its "FarmVille" and "Words with Friends" and other popular games.The problem for many small game developers is not whether Zynga will copy their ideas after their products have been successful, but when.　　Two former Zynga employees have disclosed that the wall of the company's office often has a number of screenshots of competitors, and management will also motivate the team to "quickly follow" or copy the best features of competitors. Asked about the specifics of how to develop the game, Chapert John Schappert, Zynga's chief operating officer, said he did not think Zynga was a copycat developer but an innovative enterprise. He said that "little tower" is not the first building game, many of the previous products have this element, such as "Sim Tower."　　Zynga's mission, he says, is to attract users by offering the best quality games in every area. Plagiarism is not unique to the gaming industry, says Chapert, the entire entertainment industry. He also contrasts the game industry with the film industry, and argues that new movies always draw ideas from old movies. "The winner is the one with the best ideas, the best plays, the best actors and the best visuals," he said. " "Who is the winner?" "The real winners are the users because they can get the best games," Chapert asked. "As a developer of crazy fishing, Vlambeer's co-founder does not agree that plagiarism is good for users," he said. Plagiarism, they say, makes it more difficult for small businesses to take risks in trying new ideas, and big companies can succeed only by making minor changes to old ideas.　　As a result, all new games will be extremely similar and devoid of originality. "If we go into such a loop, we end up with the copycat, and the real idea is pathetic." This is the worst case.　　"said Ismail. Zynga itself suffers from plagiarism.　　The company sued Brazilian Vostu in 2011, accusing it of blatantly copying Zynga's game. In the end, Nimblebit can only publicly condemn the matter, the company released the "Small Tower" and "dream height" of the comparison screenshot to prove the similarity of the two games. Nimblebit wrote in the contrast: "Good luck with your games and our future games will be for your reference." "(Ding Macro)