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Square Enix copying Spiderweb.


Avadon

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Square Enix announced the re-release of Final Fantasy VII for the PC with several enhancements, including a character editor:

 

"The rumors of a Character Booster [in Final Fantasy VII] turned out to be true. At any point in the game, you can press a button to max out your hit points, magic points, or Gil (money). This will let you easily bypass difficult sections of the game, for better or worse."

 

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Final-F...rmed-44263.html

 

This sounds similar to the character editor included in Avernum. Will the developer be suing or will he lose control of his Spiderweb IP? If that happens, might we soon see Shapers and Avernum agents being brought into the Final Fantasy franchise?

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I don' think Jeff could successfully sue claiming that the "in game" (for lack of better phrasing) character editor is his intellectual property. Plus, even if he wanted to sue, I'd bet the lawyers Square Enix could hire would be far superior and more numerous than the lawyers Jeff could hire.

 

Edit: Sniped

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Character editors are unheard of for console RPGs. Now that Final Fantasy is adopting it, it is likely that Square Enix might copyright or patent it. By then it would be too late to protect any of Spiderweb's IPs. That is why so many companies file suit, because the courts want to see you actively protecting your IP, and companies that fail to do so will lose their IPs to competitors who copy them wholesale.

 

If the developer is reading this, get in touch with the EFF or other groups for legal help to fight off this threat.

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@Ratt

 

That's why the developer has to get in touch with the EFF for legal help and to make a big stink over this.

get the Penny Arcade guys involved, post to the usual gaming news channels in order to portray this as the David versus Goliath fight that it is.

 

We cannot allow the Japanese to steal any more of our IPs.

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Originally Posted By: Avadon
Character editors are unheard of for console RPGs.


Hackers have been modifying console RPGs to include character editors since the late 90s. The idea of a character editor is not in any sense the invention of either Jeff Vogel or Square Enix. Sorry to burst your bubble.

In any case, what they're doing sounds more like a set of cheat codes than a full-featured editor, and cheat codes are even less of a new invention than character editors are.
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Originally Posted By: Lilith
Originally Posted By: Avadon
Character editors are unheard of for console RPGs.


Hackers have been modifying console RPGs to include character editors since the late 90s. The idea of a character editor is not in any sense the invention of either Jeff Vogel or Square Enix. Sorry to burst your bubble.

In any case, what they're doing sounds more like a set of cheat codes than a full-featured editor, and cheat codes are even less of a new invention than character editors are.


Inconceivable!!!

vizzini.jpg
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Yes, it might sound similar, but Character editors are almost all like that. What is a character editor if it goes like this:

Click to reveal.. (Crappy but original Editor)

change_coins=-500000

hit_points_limit=-99999999

change_lvl=-99999999

reward_give=-9999999 //feather pillows

max_stats=0

acid_on_face=1

But I would really support this madness if the Shapers and Avernites got in their stuff (of course, without permission)...

----------

-Nightwatcher

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Originally Posted By: Avadon
Character editors are unheard of for console RPGs. Now that Final Fantasy is adopting it, it is likely that Square Enix might copyright or patent it. By then it would be too late to protect any of Spiderweb's IPs. That is why so many companies file suit, because the courts want to see you actively protecting your IP, and companies that fail to do so will lose their IPs to competitors who copy them wholesale.
Um, I kinda suspect character editors don't qualify for a patent... though I'm not really sure about these things. Still, I know there have been precedents on things that are kinda similar (I recall something about one application copying the menu layout of another which was deemed okay; can't remember whether this was a copyright or a patent case though).
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