[quote] Let me bring up what I was replying to:
When a developer uploads something quality. Not audio ripped off from other games. Perhaps I interpreted it wrong, but I don’t qualify sounds ripped straight out of games from your XBox or Wii to be quality – those are obviously not originals made by you, and in my eyes they’re considered poor quality for the same reason free models are considered poor quality. When he says quality sounds, my mind goes to audio people like Juriaan have created and uploaded themselves, or secondhand audio that they’ve directly gotten the rights to use.
The term pirate was used in a figurative sense – not literally. ROBLOX is past the point of no return with people using copyrighted material, and no one in their right mind would say someone’s game should be content-deleted and their account banned for using that type of audio – it’s pretty much standard at this point. When I used the term pirate, I was referring to the immoral choice of using audios hand-made by other users like Juriaan in your own game. While we may tolerate using assets from famous producers like Nintendo, I don’t ever recall copy/pasting assets from another ROBLOX game being a moral choice everyone could accept. Somebody could re-create UI from BF3 and no one would bat an eye, but if someone copy/pasted Hexaria’s UI and used it in their own game, nobody would tolerate it. That is what I was referring to as pirating.
Are you satisfied now Aurarus? Can we delete the derail conversation?[/quote]
I’d like to highlight that bit of the quote, because that speaks a lot more about the type of audio he’s referring to.
Gun shot sounds. Click sounds. Generic crap no one can really tell the difference between who originally made it.
Even I said that copying assets doesn’t matter unless it’s VERY distinct and specific to a game.
But even in a WORST case scenario, the impact it has on income is negligible.
Let’s have an example:
Person A composes an AMAZING soundtrack for his game; not only does it sound good, but it actually carries tunes and melodies associated with specific characters from that particular game, playing at the exact same moments those characters appear on screen.
That amazing piece of work is made specifically for that game, fits in well with that game, is extremely catchy and identifiable, is easy to portray the meaning of in the context of that game.
Person A is also spent their entire life’s wealth making this game, the soundtrack, the assets, the story. It is an amazing piece of work.
If someone steals this audio they have to be a piece of shit on a caliber no man, fictional or real, could ever dream of achieving.
Now, Person B hears the music, thinks “that sounds cool”, takes the ID and uses it in his intro. It doesn’t match up to anything nearly as well. It sounds slightly out of place with the changing melodies, rhythms, tones…
Now, Person B made a generic genre game, something like Murder or a thrown together RPG. Coupled with his clever thumbnail, he’s on the front page. Person A is having a hard time getting recognized, even though he’s spending plenty on advertisements.
Person B released his game several weeks before A did. People have heard the song, and are familiar with it.
Person A’s game, since it’s a linear story, only makes it slightly up to the front page. It hits top rated in a matter of minutes, but it struggles to retain popularity because it’s not quite as repeatable or designed for small bursts of fun. That’s besides the point; he spent a lot of effort regardless.
Now, group C comes along. They’ve played B’s game, and are now hearing that song in A’s game. They say “WAIT A MINUTE, THIS GUY COPIED THAT SONG”; even understanding that the song makes more sense in the context of Person A’s game, with the melodies and whatnot.
Do you know what happens to group C? What they accomplish?
Nothing, nobody gives a shit, everyone ignores them they don’t matter, moving on
NOW. Did Person B’s game in ANY way negatively affect Person A’s game?
Let’s keep in mind the level of intelligence a whole community of players hold (significantly less than on an individual basis); no one remembers the song between the two, the moment that soundtrack plays in Person A’s game it doesn’t hold less value. (Maybe it holds more, since the person already feels familiar with the song and now understands its contexts; giving a eureka feeling that pummels all others)
Let’s make a more practical example:
Person D makes a cool fps game, they have particular menu sounds that sound very distinct.
Person E comes along, also has an fps game, figures to use person D’s sounds.
Their games keep relatively the same amount of players, so they are at direct competition.
Now, does Person E copying Person D’s sound impact the performance of any of those two games?
Does it reeeeally?
If those sounds are actually cool as fuck, and obviously superior, why wouldn’t Person E copy them or use something extremely similar? (basically inacting whatever “negative effects” you may propose happens)
