$12256 / $11500
Does a company have a copywrite to things like the story and quest? NPC names? I was just curious if someone took a game and completely redid everything but the quest text, is that illegal? Take for instance if someone created a game like Ultima or Everquest and kept the names of the cities, NPCs and storyline does that go against their rights to the game? I know the client and assets are protected, but what about everything else?
This website's content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
story? yes.
quest? possibly. depends on how detailed the quest parameters are. "kill 10 snakes" is too general to copyright.
NPC names? not a copyright, per se, but it is possible to trademark character concepts including thier names... or whole races for that matter; "hobbit" is trademarked by the tolkien estate for example. Same basic principles, so effectively, "yes".
The effort it would take to completely redo everything about a game would probably be more work than just making an original game from scratch. If that is not true, I submit you aren't actually redoing "everything".
Still, legally, that would be a derivative. Even if you took Ultima, and changed it so much it looked more like Grand Theft Auto, it would still technically be a derivative of Ultima so EA may be able to shut you down. How would they know, though? It is so different no one would be able to tell in all likelihood. Never the less, if they found out, you could be in hot water.
If you want to make a game inspired by ultima or everquest, that is fine. That's allowed (and the very thing ultima and everquest did; Ultima was inspired in part by Wizardry, which was inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, which was inspired by Lord of the Rings, which was inspired by various folk legends from various cultures, and so on)
However, if you take any graphics, story, characters, sound effects, music, or parts thereof, and change them a bit... it is a derivative and subject to the intellectual property laws of the original works. That may seem like a subtle distinction. If you read about Gandalf and it prompts your imagination to come up with a similar wizard character who is very old, helpful, and a master of fire, that's fine.
...But if you basically copy the description for gandalf word for word and just change his name and the color of his robes, that's going to be trouble. Having identical city names, recognizable geographical layouts, and identical npc backstories, that's going to raise some eyebrows.
If the reason you want to keep some details the same as ultima and everquest, is so players will be able to recognize the places and characters they know and love; it is a derivative, not inspiration.
TL;DR: All fan-art is derivative. All fan-fiction is derivative. If you're making a fan-game, it's derivative... and derivatives are subject to copyright.
Let me know if that answers your questions. :)
--Medicine StormOkay cool. How do companies get away with copying all of the quest and particulars of a game and such? Some place like Allakhazam profits off of what is basically quest data and other particulars of a game itself. I am just trying to understand how these things work.
Like I said, it depends on the details of the quests. If the quests contain elaborate details like story content (even if it is a side-story) that is basically the same as a chapter of a book. The entire origin of "copyright" was to protect book authors from having their work copied and sold without being reimbursed. Copying a chapter of a book is just as protected as the rest of the book.
The mechanics and gameplay design of a game are not really copyrightable. (they might be patented, but that's a different discussion) Just like it's not possible to say "I'm hereby copyrighting the design of my book, which is words printed on pages, and pages bound together between two covers". But the story itself is definitely subject to copyright. That includes subcomponents of the story, like character concepts, background bio's, and story-involved quests.
I don't know what "Allakhazam" is, but if they are accepting submissions of fan-made quest content for games they don't own, it is derivative. It may be the game publisher allows such fan-contributions. That is up to the publisher; do not assume it will be allowed for you as well without asking first. It may also be they are violating copyright and, if the publisher decides they're worth the trouble, they could get sued.
--Medicine StormThere was a trial against the company that created Mobile Legends because it is very similar to League of Legends:
https://www.millenium.org/news/305519.html (in French)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Legends:_Bang_Bang#Copyright_contro... (in English)
They had to pay US$2.90 million in damages
Wow!!
Thanks for posting that. Maybe it will help others in the future. It seems though that a lot of times you hear how games look alike and it is definitely intentional, they even say "Inspired by". I would love to know where that line is drawn.
Allakhazam is a site that basically has the entire quest chat and step by step on how to complete a quest.
Take this one for instance. That is verbatim what is said in game to complete the quest. They got the information from the game. If I tried to copy that into my own website I can guarantee you they would sue me into oblivion. So how are they doing it without being sued?
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=679
I know the best thing is to cover your butt anytime use someone elses work by checking usage rights and getting written consent, but sometimes it appears others do it with no regard.
I am not creating a game or anything, I would love to but I just do not have the infinite patience or time to create something that large. I would love to be able to, it is something I have wanted to do for 20+ years.
If you're not creating a game, what would you be using the quest content for?
It is generally considered "Fair Use" to copy exerpts of a work for the sake of fandom and news. If allakhazam is some sort of hints and walkthrough site, or a fandom discussion site, they aren't getting sued because it's fair use. If they were to make a separate game and use that content, that's a copyright violation.
"Let's Play" videos for example: They are displaying copyrighted content from games they don't own (sure, they own a copy of the game, but not the copyright), yet the youtubers (usually) don't get hit with a copyright strike because they're showing themselves playing the game, not copying the content to make their own game.
--Medicine StormI am not creating one. I want to create one, but there have always been stumbling blocks like the creation of assets. I have to be realistic about my desire to create a game with the massive amount of work needed to actually create one. Yeah I know I could create a simple game easily enough but if I cannot create what I want, there is no reason for me to go small.