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It may not be a rule, but why does it seem like the companies who shamelessly steal from others are usually the ones to attack others for infringement when they

It may not be a rule, but why does it seem like the companies who shamelessly steal from others are usually the ones to attack others for infringement when they turn into bigger companies? I remember Zynga being in a similar situation, ripping off other people's games early on, and then attacking others for copying "their" games. It must be some kind of "organization insecurity", or some kind of "thieves knowing thieves" kind of thing. I actually don't mind seeing companies "being inspired", even more heavily, by other companies' products, but it pisses me off when they do it themselves, too, and then start attacking others for doing it to them.

edraferi 13y ago
Because money. Firms don't aggressively protect their IP out of some sense of global justice, they do it to make money. These firms understand the value of IP and the legal mechanisms that exist to protect/acquire/monetize it better than the average. Why would they hesitate to use this knowledge offensively?
- dinkumthinkum 13y ago
  The point was many successful companies don't do this.
jrs99 13y ago
it's a huge insecurity thing. That's all they know. That's all they have. They have no idea how to start on a new innovative game. They've never done it, and they don't have the people in place to take the initiative. They have no framework to launch a legitimate title. All the top people they hired were hired to clone games. They're not going to give up their jobs to some kid with an awesome idea. They then realize that ANY fool can come in and topple them. What they do is easy to replicate. Is it that surprising to see someone plagiarize tons of games, and then later try to claim ownership of those ideas? That's just a straight-up criminal in disguise as a game developer. If they weren't making games, they would be robbing people on the street. That's just who those people are. Of course it's all bolstered by investors who have never played a single game in their life and believe that these are good investments and will write tons and tons of articles about it. They're not. Any real gamer would have told you Zynga wasn't a good investment at IPO.

edraferi 13y ago

Because money. Firms don't aggressively protect their IP out of some sense of global justice, they do it to make money. These firms understand the value of IP and the legal mechanisms that exist to protect/acquire/monetize it better than the average. Why would they hesitate to use this knowledge offensively?

dinkumthinkum 13y ago
The point was many successful companies don't do this.

jrs99 13y ago

it's a huge insecurity thing. That's all they know. That's all they have. They have no idea how to start on a new innovative game. They've never done it, and they don't have the people in place to take the initiative. They have no framework to launch a legitimate title. All the top people they hired were hired to clone games. They're not going to give up their jobs to some kid with an awesome idea. They then realize that ANY fool can come in and topple them. What they do is easy to replicate. Is it that surprising to see someone plagiarize tons of games, and then later try to claim ownership of those ideas? That's just a straight-up criminal in disguise as a game developer. If they weren't making games, they would be robbing people on the street. That's just who those people are. Of course it's all bolstered by investors who have never played a single game in their life and believe that these are good investments and will write tons and tons of articles about it. They're not. Any real gamer would have told you Zynga wasn't a good investment at IPO.