Game Theory: My Fan Game is a CRIME?!

Well took me ten [years] you guys but my video game is finally finished Oh, oh, this is amazing Finally, it's called Drumroll, please Superb Barrio siblings [you] play as two Spanish electricians traveling through the truffle empire to rescue queen nectarine from the Evil clutches of [King] Trouser Oh yeah, an evil pants creature! any similarities to other game franchises are purely coincidental. I swear and it is going up on Gamejolt right... now *FCC Police Sirens* *Game Theory Theme Plays* (i'm too lazy to remember what it's actually called) wow Mario just beat Sonic *Game Theory Theme Plays* (i'm too lazy to remember what it's actually called) Hello, internet welcome to game theory! (Play Supposition onscreen) where, let's face [it] the world just wasn't ready for [King] trouser truly He was a video game villain before his time. You know when you really stop to think about it. The Internet's a fascinating place We're a culture of memes and remixes taking old ideas and making them new again when Nintendo revealed the Alola executor the internet lit up photoshopping [it's] awkwardly Longneck onto everything from Mario's flagpole to Kylo ren's lightsaber [where] the land of the Rickroll and the more recent Incarnation the John Cena Blast for crying out loud [a] single frame from the old animated arthur series is one of the hottest memes right now Let me say that again a family friendly kids show airing on a publicly funded Television station about a nerdy aardvark is now a meme about wanting to smack somebody up, FALCON PUNCH! That said, when the internet chooses to me by something remix induce a nerd around it auto-tune it whatever It's like a badge of honor a seal of approval [you] struck a Chord with [people] and in gaming one version of that is the fan game before the interwebs there was never a good place for people to quickly and easily share their games with others But with the advent of sites like Gamejolt services like steam greenlight and game creation tools like RPG maker Producing your own games and sharing them with others is easier than ever before [from] the early days of [fan-created] hacks like Kaizo Mario to the more recent Explosion of snap and undertale spin-offs Tam's inspired by their favorite games are now empowered to learn game design by making Their own Tributes and offshoots heck undertale itself has its origins as a fan game of earthbound and personally I love it over on Gt. Lives we've been playing them all because [a] lot of these games are great and the love that the creators have for the Franchises is obvious from the opening seconds well to me at least it's obvious to the original creators of the games Maybe not so much you see just recently we've seen some major fan Projects released a fan made Pokemon game called Pokemon uranium love the internet with well over a million downloads in the first nine days before Nintendo struck down to put that in perspective Numbers like that would put it in the top 40 Nintendo 3 yes games of all time And that's in just a week luckily. I was one of those first million. It's another game. I'm playing on Gt. Live. [haha] [bad] game Similarly a fan recreation of Metroid 2 called a M2r or another Metroid 2 remake was literally gone overnight Man Nintendo lawyers have been busy It's not like the creators of these games are trying to make money or put these things out carelessly Pokemon uranium literally took [nine] years In development and cost nothing to download so then why are these busy ceasing and desisting? When all the rest of the snap clones and spin-ofFs like five nights at Candy's? Those legs [Rachels] the joy of creation or the undertale inspired games like over tail And mother tail allowed to stay off is it just because their creators are cooler because their indie or is there something else at work What is a fan game truly a fan game? When is it safe after [digging] through Decade's worth of court cases? I was shocked to learn that the answer to that very question has changed in some frightening ways recently ways that could permanently change the face of Gaming and online fan culture now the gaming on YouTube has gotten so big all the cool kids are talking about copyright and fair use Everybody seems to give out advice about fair use these days like their miss cleo giving out dating [advice] in 1998 for 50 cents a minute of course But this issue goes way farther back than fan games on YouTube [it] goes back all the way to pong [that's] right There was a copyright case over a game literally made of two lines and a dot back in 1976 But that one mostly had to do with the gaming hardware when it comes to deciding what? Content you can copyright within the game that was largely decided by two really famous cases asteroids VS. Meteors and Street Fighter VS. Fighters history now if the game developer claims that someone has copied their game the court does what's called an extrinsic? analysis of each game And it's literally this they go through each game and make a list of what parts of the game are the same and which ones are different see This is the Mind-blowing legal authority of the United [States] here people It is literally a spot the difference puzzle from third grade [um] Let's see this luigi has a black button this lung is wearing a yellow tunic this Mario is slightly less Sociopathic so now I'm gonna put you in the shoes of the judges and have us all play a little game I [like] to call is it Copyright infringement. [I] show you two games you tell me if one is infringing on the other the plant home version will [be] released to a toys r us near you in the [coming] days round one asteroids [VS.] meteors from 1981 I'll give you a minute everyone. Have your answers locked in good round [two] appears Street fighter and here's fighters history infringing or no Is that your final answer ready for the answers well? Let's take a look at round one When atari tried to sue whole [nicor] games the maker of meteors the court made a list of 22 similarities between the games and nine differences he did the same thing in a case between Capcom and Data [eastover] street fighter and fighters history in both of these cases you [look] at these two games and they look Practically the same yes meteors is in color or whatever But the mechanics of breaking up the rocks are all the same you shoot it it splits into same point values same Objectives ETc and in the street fighter clone there are screams that look practically identical With characters who are practically carbon copies of each other and move sets that are barely distinguishable? So clearly these games must have been able to protect their copyrights rights raw Both of these cases were thrown out because neither of the clones Violated copyrights, what turns out? You can't protect those street fighter characters under copyright because they're based on archetype fighters from around the world [forget] the fact that both games star a dark haired martial artist who has a spinning multi-hit kick Capcom didn't invent the idea of a martial artist so [Ryo] can't be copyrighted and the [Movesets] for all the characters well Those are just based on real-life fighting techniques [so] again not invented by capcom and as a result not something that they can copyright and for the moves that [work] real like fireballs Leaving hands the color and look were different so again not copyright infringement I kid you not the court even acknowledged fighters history was a street fighter to clone released to ride off of its popularity But yeah, that is totally fine same with meteors atari didn't invent rocks in outer space So you can't copyright the idea of shooting rocks in outer space According to them any game that's going to have you shooting rocks in outer space is Gonna look something like asteroids There's no way around it apparently I mean I would propose things like changing the camera Angle but hey I'm no expert who am I to judge so as you can see these court rulings make it really hard to protect your game I Think all of us would agree that asteroids and meteors are practically the same thing but according to the courts a company can't have a monopoly over a game idea it boils down to the Expression of the game elements not the mechanics of the game forget the fact that the ship rotates the same way Accelerates the same way in the space rocks break apart in the same way one was in color one was in Black and white vector Graphics making them two completely different things that said a s to m and [pokemon] uranium would still both be struck down using visuals maps and logos from the original games [not] to mention the trademark infringement of the word Pokemon but also under these criteria most undertale fan games could also be busted as many whose character designs and Locations from the original game Toby Fox is just a cool guy letting cool people use his cool characters so as no fan games safe then well for that we turn to math which falls into an Interesting gray area you see unlike undertale games that keep all the characters and locations most Freddy fan games take the idea of haunted animatronics hunting you in a building and make it their own by creating [new] robots in a spin-off story, the mechanics may be the same but the Expression of those mechanics is different candies is set in the aftermath of naff alluding to some close down Pizzeria and featuring the return of a familiar looking puppet similar but not quite the same those nights at Rachel's does the same? thing and [bowles] added new features like leaning or turning on lights while in camera mode the Joy of Creation takes it even further and makes the whole [thing] [free-roaming] based on these court Rulings Freddie striking down these games would be like Mario striking down sonic for being a platformer [Snack] created a Genre of robot restaurant Survival is it a very specific Genre? Yeah, but just like the asteroids case if one wanted to make a haunted Chuck-E-cheese style game You would need a restaurant setting with animal themed Robots Scott Cawthon wouldn't have a monopoly over that idea so long as the [Map's] Character sound and story were different you would be in the clear, but before you [think] to yourself Yes I can finally create that snap clone where I'm in a haunted olive Garden and all the animatronics are shaped like buttery breadsticks first of all get out of my head [but] secondly you might want to slow that train down there fella because it looks like the times might be a change in and we As gamers might be the ones to blame let me introduce you to triple town [versus] Yeti town two of the literally hundreds of mobile tile-matching games out there on the market today these games are Seriously a dime a dozen and they all play exactly the same [so] How are you possibly gonna single out [one] that infringes on the copyrights of another well in 2012 a judge managed to do just that [with] these two games which when you look at them look a lot less similar than something like Candy crush versus Candy [sweets] or Candy blast or Candy Star or Crafty Candy come on? [are] you guys kidding mobile games man [Jeez]? Huh anyway? What made this case different was that they not [only] did an extrinsic? analysis they also did something the court called an Intrinsic analysis which was meant to look at the game as a whole through the eyes of an ordinary observer And how do you do that play the games maybe [ha] ha don't be silly the judge in the case never actually? Played either game even though. He personally said quote it is difficult to compare two video games by looking at a few Screenshots and reading written descriptions of gameplay and quotes [uh] objection your honor these things are like $0.99 in the app store [up] just kidding triple town is actually free But go ahead pass a ruling that will affect all of gaming's future without actually playing the game for yourself That's totally cool, bro ah the legal system is so not ready for the [internet] age ah no what the judge did was turned to the Opinions of video game bloggers, that's right They looked at what video game bloggers said about the total concept and feel of the games and based the decision in the case on the fact that Bloggers called yeti town a copy of triple town despite examining the codes of bolt games and finding no plagiarism [so] yes ladies and gentlemen of the internet you heard that right game? Bloggers decided that case us because I know if I'm looking for sound legal opinions I turn to the expert advice of KSI and [Diamond] Minecart, [but] even scarier than listening to this man For expertise on the law think about the way that we talk about games. It's a Minecraft clone. It's a Cod, wannabe It's Amnesia meets outlast under this court ruling those sorts of statements could be legally admissible Judgments, and most importantly of all it means for the first time ever in history whole game genres could be claimed by one creator under? The old Rules it was just the expression of mechanics that were protected superficial things like names and colors and sounds but now the mechanics Themselves are being claimed in other words copyright Law is getting tighter around these things at a time when gaming culture is looser and more Exploratory than it's ever been [I] mean in just last week's episode I called 7 days to die the equivalent of Minecraft because you punch things to Gather resources Craft axes and defend yourself from zombies could this be struck down by this they look nothing alike and yet based on the mechanical similarities it could be possible under this new regime could Battlefield take down call of Duty since both are boots on the ground first person shooters emphasizing realism Cross Guard charges down Well both were boots on the [ground] first person shooters emphasizing realism, but because battlefield came first [it'd] be the one to win could Mario have taken down all the 90s Era Platformers that tried [to] claim his throne well if you're jumping across Platforms and collecting coins where a hundred means a new life you kill enemies by [jumping] on them and each stage ends with some goal Sonic the hedgehog then yeah It could really have happened and so then where does that leave our fan games well Kandi's and Rachel's are now Solidly out because even though they're not using the same characters maps or sounds we call them nath clothes and to the court That's good enough [even] the additions to the games mechanics like leaning and camera lights wouldn't help thanks to an old case around Pac-Man early on Pac-man's dot eating game supremacy was threatened by a game called KC Munchkin [Amaze] Chase game featuring ghosts chasing a puck like character while he eats dots despite having fewer dots dots that moved Dead ends a moving map and other small tweaks the court ruled that the two games were too similar and gave Pac-man the win and sole ownership over the maze Chase genre of gaming that leaves joy of creation as our last game Standing the only fan game that be legally safe across all of our examples is it does something? Different Gameplay wise offering a free roaming experience Just make sure that you're changing up those Animatronic names and this brings up one last fun twist that comes out of all of this as we've seen in the teasers for sister location your character seems to be moving between different locations From vents to control panels to bunkers as of last night a theorist even discovered a hidden map That was released so if Scott would have the player running between those places and sister location hiding from the Roaming robots joy of creation The fan game would be the original and thus we would have come full circle the fan games shutting down the original source of inspiration Isn't the legal system fun, but hey, that's just a theory [a] game Theory, thanks for watching speaking of [naff] have you seen me playing [Snaf] in real life yet? Well, I haven't either since I was playing five nights at Candy's in that clip for copyright reasons all the old Bait-And-switch Anyway, you can watch that episode as well as me getting beaten up by an ostrich on my series game lab which if you haven't? Checked it out yet. [you] absolutely should by clicking right [here]. It's on YouTube bread Which I know makes a lot of you guys upset, but hey all the episodes are out right now So you can get [yourself] a free trial watch the show And then just you know do what you want with your subscription before that free trial ends. I'm not Gonna judge Oh, you know what actually before you cancel it. [I] mean Decide what you're gonna want to do with that subscription you can also check out the finesse themed episode of scare, Pewdiepie That I was in where I get tackled by an animatronic dog real smooth [matte] and legitimately No, joke this is the first time ever I meet felix It's on camera with a bag over my head in a recreation of a haunted arcade seriously strangest Introduction ever no wonder he never returns my calls [plus]. It's worth mentioning game Land was just nominated for two streamy [awards]. Naming it one of the best non-fiction shows of the entire Internet for the past year which is pretty awesome [we're] up against things like the discovery channel and national Geographic. Which is a huge honor [it's] also kind of funny considering that the whole thing was inspired by Mythbusters way back during episode 23 of this show if this show had any budget I demonstrate the difference by hopping in a plane with an expert pilot Probably including some comedic routine where I was made sick by the g-Forces created Instead you get some mythbusters footage and a couple of still images anyway I just want you guys to check it out since no matter what the haters may say I did it for you To give you guys the reality check series that you liked so much on the channel without each episode having to be a paid for Commercial [buy] a bunch of sponsored video games, that's also why there were a bunch of 360 videos with each episode it was all born on the idea that hey you guys watching the channel or the reason why I'm able to do cool stuff like Defuse a bomb with the game grumps or play soccer with real-life cars So I wanted to figure out a way that put you in the middle of the action alongside me the 360 videos were the best Way to do that I know it was confusing for [a] while there while we were uploading them onto the channel so that explains it hopefully [anyway] this end card has gotten really long as I ramble so click my face and give it a watch when you can the videos Aren't going anywhere? So they'll be there when you're ready to watch and that's it for today So next week break out your pixel rulers cuz we're looking at Mario's jump. I'll see you then

Channel: The Game Theorists

Views: 7,181,059

Keywords: FNAF, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Pokemon, Pokemon Uranium, Banned Pokemon, FNAF Clone, Pokemon clone, Sister location, Fnaf: Sister location, Fan Game, Fan Games, clones, Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Fair Use, Five Nights At Candy’s, AM2R, Metroid 2 Remake Those Nights At Rachel’s, TJOC, The Joy Of Creation, Nintendo, Banned games, game theory, matpat, game theorists, meta theory

Id: TiYEKDQZ5sk

Length: 17min 44sec (1064 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 06 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/davidthewalkerx]

This isn't quite a 'Game Theory', at least in the term's original sense, but this was something that has needed to be addressed so I respect Matpat for using his influence to get the word out to people. Thanks.

[u/BaronDeSpireal]

Really good and interesting episode. The "plagiarism line" is always blurry and two courts could give different decisions for the same case.

[u/[deleted]]

I might be in the minority here but I actually love these.

[u/kaydv]

If you look at the article linked in the youtube description ( http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/187385/clone_wars_the_five_most_.php ) it goes into more detail regarding the Yeti Town vs Triple Town case than this video did, and I feel this video leaves out several key factors that the court determined before it moved onto the intrinsic/extrinsic comparison bit.

Such as the fact that the Yeti Town devs had access to the Triple Town design documents before either game was developed.

I feel that this video is misleading as a result.

[u/Wefee11]

if this will be true for future games, this is a bad direction. Unless people literally use parts of your trademark, games shouldn't be a matter of copyright. The average person will go for the better product and most people KNOW that you tried something new first, so you already have the advantage in the genre you created. There is a reason why mario, street fighter, minecraft etc. are the most successful games in their genre.

edit: grammar

[u/Driftkingz]

To my opinion that is not a good direction in gaming; To be honest i don't really think that it will get to that much as to "privatization" of genre; But to my experience when we take into consideration gamers into saying things like this games feels like x games so it must copyright infringement it's just so wrong.

we are not taking into consideration things like preferences on gaming; for example and i hate to bring this one; the overwatch vs tf2 thing.

To my experience these 2 games while they in concept are the same they handle so much different the way they play but now we have to remember there are fans on each side of this so taking this into consideration it could actually go very bad.

Another examples are mobas, they play the same and yet they are so different on how to play them; but now since we are asking actual gamers for their opinions most of them will go towards their own preference.

Don't get me wrong it can be a good way to more justice for the games but it has to be handled with care and take many variables into consideration

[u/jotunheimrloki]

This episode was awesome in that it sparked a rlly cool discussion on the way to work today so I didn't die of boredom on the long drive. Idk I thought it was rlly interesting.