Comments on: Excit Clones http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/excit-clones/ Inductive Game Design Research Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:33:41 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Krystian Majewski http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/excit-clones/comment-page-1/#comment-323 Krystian Majewski Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:09:00 +0000 http://gamedesignreviews.com/reviews/excit-clones/#comment-323 This behavior is really most peculiar. It might be worth investigating. It seems like if an idea is unique, the copying it means somehow "stealing" or "ripping off" the person with the original idea. People will feel obliged to "help" the guy with the original idea by flaming the copycat. They automatically assume that the originator doesn't want his idea to be copied.<br/><br/>But when an idea gets spread wide enough, it becomes a "common good" and copying is not considered unfair. In fact, I have the impression that THEN it is even somewhat positive to copy that idea.<br/><br/>It is a very confusing behavior. I have two explenations: <br/><br/>1. People behave like that because they grew up taking copyrights for granted which themselves are internally inconsistent.<br/><br/>2. It is some strange primate instinct designed to strengthen the survival of a group. Like a refined version of <a HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink" REL="nofollow">groupthink</a>.<br/><br/>Or both. Either way, an intriguing <a HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics" REL="nofollow">memetic</a> phenomenon.<br/><br/>And sorry for the delay. I got cought up with moving from my old flat. But things are back to normal now. This behavior is really most peculiar. It might be worth investigating. It seems like if an idea is unique, the copying it means somehow “stealing” or “ripping off” the person with the original idea. People will feel obliged to “help” the guy with the original idea by flaming the copycat. They automatically assume that the originator doesn’t want his idea to be copied.

But when an idea gets spread wide enough, it becomes a “common good” and copying is not considered unfair. In fact, I have the impression that THEN it is even somewhat positive to copy that idea.

It is a very confusing behavior. I have two explenations:

1. People behave like that because they grew up taking copyrights for granted which themselves are internally inconsistent.

2. It is some strange primate instinct designed to strengthen the survival of a group. Like a refined version of groupthink.

Or both. Either way, an intriguing memetic phenomenon.

And sorry for the delay. I got cought up with moving from my old flat. But things are back to normal now.

]]> By: axcho http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/excit-clones/comment-page-1/#comment-322 axcho Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:26:00 +0000 http://gamedesignreviews.com/reviews/excit-clones/#comment-322 It is strange how people will flame for ripping off games, until of course there are so many clones that they constitute an entire genre. I've gotten that with my game Braids on Kongregate, which was based on Ragdoll Masters.<br/><br/>By the way, I haven't gotten a reply from you yet to my last email about Adopt an Invader - it's been several weeks. Are you still interested in the project? It is strange how people will flame for ripping off games, until of course there are so many clones that they constitute an entire genre. I’ve gotten that with my game Braids on Kongregate, which was based on Ragdoll Masters.

By the way, I haven’t gotten a reply from you yet to my last email about Adopt an Invader – it’s been several weeks. Are you still interested in the project?

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