Little confused... (sort of a rant, haha)

I had kind of an entertaining idea... by twistedwindowpane on 2018-06-29 00:21:00 UTC Reply

... is it possible to perhaps recruit "original" characters from bootleg or ripoff games? I mean, most of these games, especially on the App Store, are just little one-off things that are only designed to get their creators money, which makes their characters kinda similar to background characters in fanfiction.

"Bootleg" in this case means a game that entirely or very closely replicates the name and/or content of a continuum unlawfully, without being a fangame or parody. By that I mean I'm trying to cover stuff as simple as this:

https://apkpure.com/cup-hand-adventure/com.CupHandAdventure

and stuff as complex as this:

https://www.vg247.com/2017/06/06/meet-hero-mission-a-blatant-chinese-overwatch-knockoff/

The only exception for these characters would be if fans of the original continuum "adopt" a character from the ripoff as an honorary addition to the cast, as is the case with Clark from the Overwatch ripoff "Heroes of Warfare", dubbed "Clark Shimada" and considered McCree and Hanzo's son by Overwatch fans (at least, the ones who ship McHanzo.)

I'd really love to see the sorts of character arcs that could come from a ripoff character: maybe wondering why they exist or wishing they didn't, maybe feeling abandoned by their cash-grab creators, maybe seeking to define themselves as a separate person from the character they're blatantly based on and overall trying to find out who exactly they are. If their game is particularly badly coded, they might be able to "glitch" things into happening.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

-Twistey

Expanding on 61516's take... by Lunamann on 2018-07-20 03:15:00 UTC Reply

I think it depends on how far the bootleg tries to stray from the source material- with the rule of thumb I'm going to give being thus.

"Is this game trying to *become part of* the source material, or *copy* the source material?"

For instance, if a Pokemon bootleg were labeled "Slap Ball Monster Pocket Go" and tried to sell itself as a clone of a Pokemon game, I wouldn't think of that as trying to usurp the canon of the game- it's merely copying from it. That isn't going to harm the canon in any way.

However, if a Pokemon bootleg were labeled "Pokemon Pirepearl Alpha Rite", and at least made a passing attempt to place itself in the same world as Pokemon (say, having at least a few prominent canon Pokemon in the game) then yes, I would consider it a "fan"fic-esque entity trying to assert its influence on the canon- and *then* the original characters (say, fakemon) could be recruited. (Note that for Pokemon in particular, 3rd-gen bootleg games of this nature were usually hackroms put on a cart and sold without the consent of Nintendo OR the hack-maker. And hackroms typically are pretty much fanfics in video game format.)

Little confused... (sort of a rant, haha) by twistedwindowpane on 2018-07-21 23:42:00 UTC Reply

(Note: I probably should've been saying "ripoff" instead of "bootleg")

1. I think I get what you mean about not harming the canon, but what does that say about being able to recruit clones? The clone may technically be its own universe, yes, but because of copyright, it technically also shouldn't exist. Technically, the "canons" are still "canons", but canons from good universes have been recruited in rare cases, and the fact that the original universe is a copy and is also hopefully doomed to be destroyed by the creators of the ripoff-ee makes recruiting seem a lot more justifiable.

2. I get what you mean about rom-hacks, but it feels really uncomfortable that you're grouping awesome rom-hacks and mods together with terrible ripoffs like "Cup Haed Adventure." In particular, you seem to have severely downplayed the motives of all such games. The game is not trying to "become part of" the source material; that, from my perspective, would mean it's legitimately trying to add to the canon, which includes both good and bad rom-hacks. What the "developers" of said games, and thus the games, are trying to do is make a quick buck by pretending to be the canon universe so they can take advantage of both the canon universe's perceived popularity and the multitude of gullible children and their equally gullible parents who download freely on the App Store and Android Market. It's just money. Nothing but money.

However, if I were to use something similar to how you describe the motives of other games, I could say it was trying to pretend to be part of the source material. Not become part of, not copy, but pretend to be part of.

How do I know that the game shares the "developer's" motive? Well, most of these ripoff games are filled to the brim with ads. Sometimes the "developers" use even shadier techniques to get your money, such as asking you to let the game have access to your personal info (IE: CREDIT CARD INFO. Now is your mind changed?) If the game itself doesn't also want to make money, why does it have these things in it?

TL;DR: I guess I do see your point, but it just doesn't feel right to be treating unholy ripoffs and legitimate original universes the same way because of little technicalities. As I said, the name of the game for the "developers" is making a quick buck from people's lack of ability to discern what's official or a genuine fangame and what's not, so from my perspective, they don't fit into the categories that you gave. As for recruiting, I don't see why any of this prevents the "canons" of a ripoff game from being recruited. Heck, they might even flock to the PPC, assuming that they know they could be made to cease to exist at any time. Or something.

-Twistey

I don't think this will work. by 61516 on 2018-06-29 01:44:00 UTC Reply

Unoriginal canons are still canons.

You're still talking about bootlegs trying to copy. by Lunamann on 2018-07-20 14:14:00 UTC Reply

I'm talking about bootlegs that still try to be in the game world they're ripping off.

Again- if the bootleg says it's Pokemon, in the Pokemon world, and there's canon Pokemon in it, it's not an unoriginal canon, it's trying to 'add onto' an existing canon the same way a fanfic would.

WAIT GAH I THOUGHT THIS WAS A REPLY TO MY COMMENT AAAAAA by Lunamann on 2018-07-20 14:15:00 UTC Reply

I should not board without coffee.

Haha. I know how that feels. (nm) by twistedwindowpane on 2018-07-21 22:59:00 UTC Reply