Okay, so someone composes midi music, but they use a sound font that they did not create themselves. Is this the same thing? Someone downloads some drum loops and builds their song over that, is that the same thing? Anyone who used the alesis drum machine (hello 80's) to program the backbone of their beats is in the same boat?
How about painting? Using a color that someone else mixed... is this blasphemy? If you don't go out and extract your own pigments from leaves, barks, and minerals, are you a fraud?
These are extremes, but they express my point. In the case of rtp or other resources offered freely (obviously, not so much with rips), people are using something that was offered to them for the express purpose of creating their content.
I argue that the final product
can be more then the sum of its parts. Sure, Frankensteining a game together is not the optimal route, but I wouldn't cut someone off completely just for doing it.
Are we going to extend this to other facets of game development? Should we instinctively disown any game that uses a script that the creator did nor originate? This sets a dangerous precedent. All the games that use Havok, Euphoria, or some generation of the Unreal Engine go out the window. I'd rather play Deus Ex than the first Unreal any day. It took something that existed and made improvements, added its own special flair.
Analogy police: Oh ho, this is not the same thing... these are licensed elements.
Yes, of course they are. Money usually changes hands. After all, there is a profit to be made from the final product, ideally at least.
In a game that is not going to be sold, you might infringe on the rights of an existing entity, but in reality there is no financial damage done. A game using a Chrono trigger castle chipset does not hurt sales of Chrono trigger. In fact, it may instill nostalgia in the player. "Hey, I remember this place..." and they might go after the original. This is, obviously, not ideal for the maker of the game using that art, because they have failed at creating an immersive experience because every few screens the player has flashbacks to the SNES days. But nobody is really harmed.
As long as the creator is honest and gives credit for the resources that are used in the project, I don't see it as an apocalyptic problem.
I like the idea of new blood coming in, using what they can find to make their debut game. Of course, they will probably get
hammered for the whole thing. They react against this by improving, growing if you will.
This is from one of my old projects. My approach was to take my limitations and try to turn them into a style.
Here is another one, showing the replacement for the charas edits I was using in one of my games.
Kindly refrain from making the false assumption that I am saying that people
should[/u] be content with using rips. I'm just saying it is wrong to write them off for doing so, and that there are aspects of creating a good game that are entirely more important than graphics.
Gaming World Forums
Why do people keep using rtp , rips , or someone else's material?