Taking other peoples ideas in the videogame business and making millions in the process.

''Good artists Copy, great artists Steal.''

Jos van Eekelen, 2011.

''Stop right there criminal scum.''

A guard in the Elder scrolls: Oblivion who still sees stealing as a crime.

Taking other peoples ideas in the videogame business and making millions in the process.

The best example I can think of that gave me inspiration for this topic would undoubtedly be Angry Birds, a simple smartphone game that already sold several million copies. The sad part?

This game was basically already made seven months earlyer and can be played entirely free here:

Yes, that's Crush the Castle a game you most likely never heard of and at most made a few thousand dollars from advertising.

Even more funny? That game is (as told by the creator and with permission of the creator of the game they took ideas from) made from the idea of this game: Castle Clout

That's right, a game that ripped off another game based on another game is the game hailed for it's ''innovation'' and sold over half a billion copies.

Speaking of which, Here is another fun tidbit of conversation from this years game developers conference which involves the creator of Angry Birds:

"There was one hiccup in Vesterbacka's world domination plan: just as the Q&A after the panel was ending, someone stepped up to the mic to ask what physics engine Angry Birds used. Vesterbacka replied that Rovio used Box2D, a very versatile open source physics engine used often in iOS development. "Would you be willing to credit it?" the questioner then asked. "I'm Erin Catto," he continued, "the creator of Box 2D." While credit isn't required to use the Box 2D engine, Rovio had used the code in its megahit without even providing a nod in the credits to Catto's work."

Ouch.

Now how come those original two games didn't make buckets of money while Angry Birds shamelessly takes credit for being an 'innovative game'?

Simple, Angry Birds was created for the scourge upon gaming: The iPhone.

A system where people get to pay a dollar to play condensed pre-selected flash games that came out months earlyer for free on the internet.

And everyone loved it.

But honestly, is copying the innovative ideas of game designers to make good money really a trend that pioneered from iOs games?

No.

The people of id studios for example, the guys that made games like Wolfenstein3D and Doom (pretty much invented the first person shooter genre) were at first people that worked for Softdisk, and what was one of the projects they were working on there?

Pretty much copying Super Mario bros 3 but on the p.c. , then deciding to make their own game studio and after not getting the rights from Nintendo to make Super Mario bros 3 for the pc making that game into the game now known as Commander Keen.

Is this limited to videogames? No, turn on your tv (that boxy thing you play console games on)

and you will see that today there is at least four shows about a forensics unit solving crimes,

three shows which are a talent hunt in front of a cranky jury and show or two about a team of charming fictional doctors.

But why is it that we start noticing these trends now?

That's quite simple really, since with the advent of social gaming most games end up on the internet.

The big advantage: When putting something on the internet 99% of the time you also put a time-stamp of your product up there.

Does this stop publishers from blatantly taking other's work as their own? No, and the sad part? It's the most annoying design that always comes back.

Think of this for example, if I gave you an hour to Google as many social network farm simulators where you can buy in game money for actual real life money how many results would that yield?

I searched for ten seconds and already found 10 results.

Ouch again.

So, not to sound cynical or anything but it really seems games are heading towards a direction that no longer means people who make stuff get paid for it.