Did Mass Effect Steal It's Story Outright?!

[Akalistos]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

It depend how much is plagiarism. If they took the whole series and turn it into a video game... Yes! James Cameron did it. It's the writer that should sue, not Costner. You legaly own the story that you produce and therefore, you should make money if someone use it.

Star Wars is nothing more than the Black knight story in space, it didn't rip enough of the story to really be in trouble, Bioware Fanboy! How much copying a source does it take to become plagiarism? When the plot, setting and character are the same. In this case, it his.

Also, Fanboy, Don't defend Bioware.... Like Yahtzee said, they are big boy that doesn't need defending

I was just making a joke with the Kevin Costner thing. Also, most Disney movies share very similar plot threads. I was just trying to say that some plot threads run throughout human fiction. I really liked the expansion of fictional archetypes in Lady in the Water(though it sucked).
-And you did not just call me a fanboy!

If you were trying to use sarcasm in a post, i salute you. I didn't catch any of it. Basically, you have to give an intonation of voice that is either silly or dumb to make it look like sarcasm. And if it were your goal, you pick your medium poorly. Of Course i believed that your a fanboy. Why wouldn't I? This seem like a angry, bitter post were you defended your game company like his own child.

As for story, as long as you can push it aways from the material you base it on, that not plagiarism. Making the story of Artur and the round table through the eye of the Lady in the Water, that different. I resently saw a book that was call: Before Captain Hook, the adventure of a small boy. Story revolve around how the hell Hook got to Neverland and why he became a pirate. Beside using the protagonist from PETER PAN, that not the same. But if i were to write the story of a young orphan that learn magic in a academy, Would you not call Plagiarism?

 

[Akalistos]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

For the story thing, the answer is no.

For Medicolorians and Jar Jar, YES.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Roflmao!
I can feel your hate. Now, young Skywalker, RELEASE YOUR ANGER! STRIKE HIM DOWN!

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

For the story thing, the answer is no.

For Medicolorians and Jar Jar, YES.

God damn. I actually created a thread to try to understand why everyone hates the three new Star Wars movies and I still don't fucking get it! Is it just the acting?! The original films didn't have great acting and we still love them! "Aren't you a little short to be a storm trooper?-I'm Luke, I'm here to rescue you!" Shakespearean that is not. Is it Jar Jar? Yes I want to beat him to death, but I don't ***** about it! And about the Midiclorians! Evidence does not negate faith! It doesn't fucking matter! I didn't even notice it, and when I did I didn't care about it! *End rant* Everyone, I'm sorry for derailing the thread.
-You know what? Mass Effect should should be sued. They can't have their main character killed off, just to resurrect him. Jesus obviously owns the patent on that.

Myths had people waking up from the dead long before the idea of one god even came up. Indeed, didn't Jesus bring somebody else back to life before his turn?

Et tu Not G. Ivingname? Even my friends can't tell when I'm joking? Now, I'm depressed.

I knew... just messing with you

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

It depend how much is plagiarism. If they took the whole series and turn it into a video game... Yes! James Cameron did it. It's the writer that should sue, not Costner. You legaly own the story that you produce and therefore, you should make money if someone use it.

Star Wars is nothing more than the Black knight story in space, it didn't rip enough of the story to really be in trouble, Bioware Fanboy! How much copying a source does it take to become plagiarism? When the plot, setting and character are the same. In this case, it his.

Also, Fanboy, Don't defend Bioware.... Like Yahtzee said, they are big boy that doesn't need defending

I was just making a joke with the Kevin Costner thing. Also, most Disney movies share very similar plot threads. I was just trying to say that some plot threads run throughout human fiction. I really liked the expansion of fictional archetypes in Lady in the Water(though it sucked).
-And you did not just call me a fanboy!

If you were trying to use sarcasm in a post, i salute you. I didn't catch any of it. Basically, you have to give an intonation of voice that is either silly or dumb to make it look like sarcasm. And if it were your goal, you pick your medium poorly. Of Course i believed that your a fanboy. Why wouldn't I? This seem like a angry, bitter post were you defended your game company like his own child.

As for story, as long as you can push it aways from the material you base it on, that not plagiarism. Making the story of Artur and the round table through the eye of the Lady in the Water, that different. I resently saw a book that was call: Before Captain Hook, the adventure of a small boy. Story revolve around how the hell Hook got to Neverland and why he became a pirate. Beside using the protagonist from PETER PAN, that not the same. But if i were to write the story of a young orphan that learn magic in a academy, Would you not call Plagiarism?

Depends on several story and character variables. If your story is in Britain, your character has a mysterious destiny, he goes to a magical academy and he uses a wand to fight a "Dark Lord", then I'll probably call you out on it.
-I was just trying to make a sarcastic joke. I really thought that my claim would be so ridiculous that everyone would disagree with it, seeing it as a joke. I now see that I'm obviously not funny. I'll stop trying to be now.
-I said that people say that Mass Effect is just like Star Control 2. I've never played that game so I wouldn't actually know. I was just passing along 3rd party opinions.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

For the story thing, the answer is no.

For Medicolorians and Jar Jar, YES.

God damn. I actually created a thread to try to understand why everyone hates the three new Star Wars movies and I still don't fucking get it! Is it just the acting?! The original films didn't have great acting and we still love them! "Aren't you a little short to be a storm trooper?-I'm Luke, I'm here to rescue you!" Shakespearean that is not. Is it Jar Jar? Yes I want to beat him to death, but I don't ***** about it! And about the Midiclorians! Evidence does not negate faith! It doesn't fucking matter! I didn't even notice it, and when I did I didn't care about it! *End rant* Everyone, I'm sorry for derailing the thread.
-You know what? Mass Effect should should be sued. They can't have their main character killed off, just to resurrect him. Jesus obviously owns the patent on that.

Myths had people waking up from the dead long before the idea of one god even came up. Indeed, didn't Jesus bring somebody else back to life before his turn?

Et tu Not G. Ivingname? Even my friends can't tell when I'm joking? Now, I'm depressed.

I knew... just messing with you

Christ, with friends like you, who needs enemies?

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

For the story thing, the answer is no.

For Medicolorians and Jar Jar, YES.

God damn. I actually created a thread to try to understand why everyone hates the three new Star Wars movies and I still don't fucking get it! Is it just the acting?! The original films didn't have great acting and we still love them! "Aren't you a little short to be a storm trooper?-I'm Luke, I'm here to rescue you!" Shakespearean that is not. Is it Jar Jar? Yes I want to beat him to death, but I don't ***** about it! And about the Midiclorians! Evidence does not negate faith! It doesn't fucking matter! I didn't even notice it, and when I did I didn't care about it! *End rant* Everyone, I'm sorry for derailing the thread.
-You know what? Mass Effect should should be sued. They can't have their main character killed off, just to resurrect him. Jesus obviously owns the patent on that.

Myths had people waking up from the dead long before the idea of one god even came up. Indeed, didn't Jesus bring somebody else back to life before his turn?

Et tu Not G. Ivingname? Even my friends can't tell when I'm joking? Now, I'm depressed.

I knew... just messing with you

Christ, with friends like you, who needs enemies?

Look into the world of politics, and you will know why.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

For the story thing, the answer is no.

For Medicolorians and Jar Jar, YES.

God damn. I actually created a thread to try to understand why everyone hates the three new Star Wars movies and I still don't fucking get it! Is it just the acting?! The original films didn't have great acting and we still love them! "Aren't you a little short to be a storm trooper?-I'm Luke, I'm here to rescue you!" Shakespearean that is not. Is it Jar Jar? Yes I want to beat him to death, but I don't ***** about it! And about the Midiclorians! Evidence does not negate faith! It doesn't fucking matter! I didn't even notice it, and when I did I didn't care about it! *End rant* Everyone, I'm sorry for derailing the thread.
-You know what? Mass Effect should should be sued. They can't have their main character killed off, just to resurrect him. Jesus obviously owns the patent on that.

Myths had people waking up from the dead long before the idea of one god even came up. Indeed, didn't Jesus bring somebody else back to life before his turn?

Et tu Not G. Ivingname? Even my friends can't tell when I'm joking? Now, I'm depressed.

I knew... just messing with you

Christ, with friends like you, who needs enemies?

Look into the world of politics, and you will know why.

Now watch children, as I slap this miscreant to reassert my position as the Alpha Male.

 

[Enigma6667]

I don't necessarily care as long as it's done in an interesting manner. Avatar's plot wasn't able to tell the Dances With Wolves plot in an interesting manner, but the visual aesthetic made it a different experience, and as much as I hate that movie to death for ripping on the plot of Dances With Wolves (And Ferngully...and Pochahontas), I won't go so far as to encourage Kevin Costner to sue James Cameron. To me, a shameless rip-off is Dante's Inferno. I don't care if the story, and setting is different, the gameplay is just so blatantly stolen from God of War that I actually wouldn't mind if someone sued Visceral Games.

 

[Mikkaddo]

The whole 'stolen' idea is something I have noticed more and more now as people have more information at their finger tips but lack the wisdom to use it. Also it reeks of schoolchildren complaining to the teacher - 'Timmy stole my homework!'. It is simplistic and a fundamentally useless way of thinking in the realm of fiction writing and what is essentially MYTH MAKING.

Plagerism is theft, but it is not the use of preexisting conventions, or the reinterpretation of preexisting conventions into new forms. I don't really see how Mass EFfect can be convicted on this flimsy evidence. It is more than circumstantial. The genre itself has set itself up to generate these kinds of stories.

That's exactly my point. If Mass Effect is "guilty" they all are. It's like the old, old, OLD book "hero of a thousand faces" there's basically no orginal story anymore. And the "no more original stories" documentary book was written a few CENTURIES ago. So believe me, none of this is a new concept. But this shouldn't stop us from ENJOYING Mass Effect, or Halo, Gears of War, Avatar, Prototype, FF or anything else.

It's worth knowing how history repeats itself but it's worth knowing because someone, somewhere, some day is going to say "HA HA [enter name of thing you like here] IS REALLY JUST A COPY OF [insert older thing of similar kind here]" so really, don't get worked up over it.

Do what I do, go "oh hey, that's like *enter older thing name here* they have good taste in inspiration"

Like Dark Void, Yahtzee himself showed that one as having a few thousand inspirations that it all but ripped off wholesale. But it was still a great fun game that frequently made me go "wait . . . what the FUCK!? DUUUUUDE!"

 

[Akalistos]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

It depend how much is plagiarism. If they took the whole series and turn it into a video game... Yes! James Cameron did it. It's the writer that should sue, not Costner. You legaly own the story that you produce and therefore, you should make money if someone use it.

Star Wars is nothing more than the Black knight story in space, it didn't rip enough of the story to really be in trouble, Bioware Fanboy! How much copying a source does it take to become plagiarism? When the plot, setting and character are the same. In this case, it his.

Also, Fanboy, Don't defend Bioware.... Like Yahtzee said, they are big boy that doesn't need defending

I was just making a joke with the Kevin Costner thing. Also, most Disney movies share very similar plot threads. I was just trying to say that some plot threads run throughout human fiction. I really liked the expansion of fictional archetypes in Lady in the Water(though it sucked).
-And you did not just call me a fanboy!

If you were trying to use sarcasm in a post, i salute you. I didn't catch any of it. Basically, you have to give an intonation of voice that is either silly or dumb to make it look like sarcasm. And if it were your goal, you pick your medium poorly. Of Course i believed that your a fanboy. Why wouldn't I? This seem like a angry, bitter post were you defended your game company like his own child.

As for story, as long as you can push it aways from the material you base it on, that not plagiarism. Making the story of Artur and the round table through the eye of the Lady in the Water, that different. I resently saw a book that was call: Before Captain Hook, the adventure of a small boy. Story revolve around how the hell Hook got to Neverland and why he became a pirate. Beside using the protagonist from PETER PAN, that not the same. But if i were to write the story of a young orphan that learn magic in a academy, Would you not call Plagiarism?

Depends on several story and character variables. If your story is in Britain, your character has a mysterious destiny, he goes to a magical academy and he uses a wand to fight a "Dark Lord", then I'll probably call you out on it.
-I was just trying to make a sarcastic joke. I really thought that my claim would be so ridiculous that everyone would disagree with it, seeing it as a joke. I now see that I'm obviously not funny. I'll stop trying to be now.
-I said that people say that Mass Effect is just like Star Control 2. I've never played that game so I wouldn't actually know. I was just passing along 3rd party opinions.

No, don't stop joking... if you do however, make sure to you my trademark [Sarcasm] mark! That replace pitch and delivery making other people get your irony or sarcasm. Also, it FREE!

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

It depend how much is plagiarism. If they took the whole series and turn it into a video game... Yes! James Cameron did it. It's the writer that should sue, not Costner. You legaly own the story that you produce and therefore, you should make money if someone use it.

Star Wars is nothing more than the Black knight story in space, it didn't rip enough of the story to really be in trouble, Bioware Fanboy! How much copying a source does it take to become plagiarism? When the plot, setting and character are the same. In this case, it his.

Also, Fanboy, Don't defend Bioware.... Like Yahtzee said, they are big boy that doesn't need defending

I was just making a joke with the Kevin Costner thing. Also, most Disney movies share very similar plot threads. I was just trying to say that some plot threads run throughout human fiction. I really liked the expansion of fictional archetypes in Lady in the Water(though it sucked).
-And you did not just call me a fanboy!

If you were trying to use sarcasm in a post, i salute you. I didn't catch any of it. Basically, you have to give an intonation of voice that is either silly or dumb to make it look like sarcasm. And if it were your goal, you pick your medium poorly. Of Course i believed that your a fanboy. Why wouldn't I? This seem like a angry, bitter post were you defended your game company like his own child.

As for story, as long as you can push it aways from the material you base it on, that not plagiarism. Making the story of Artur and the round table through the eye of the Lady in the Water, that different. I resently saw a book that was call: Before Captain Hook, the adventure of a small boy. Story revolve around how the hell Hook got to Neverland and why he became a pirate. Beside using the protagonist from PETER PAN, that not the same. But if i were to write the story of a young orphan that learn magic in a academy, Would you not call Plagiarism?

Depends on several story and character variables. If your story is in Britain, your character has a mysterious destiny, he goes to a magical academy and he uses a wand to fight a "Dark Lord", then I'll probably call you out on it.
-I was just trying to make a sarcastic joke. I really thought that my claim would be so ridiculous that everyone would disagree with it, seeing it as a joke. I now see that I'm obviously not funny. I'll stop trying to be now.
-I said that people say that Mass Effect is just like Star Control 2. I've never played that game so I wouldn't actually know. I was just passing along 3rd party opinions.

No, don't stop joking... if you do however, make sure to you my trademark [Sarcasm] mark! That replace pitch and delivery making other people get your irony or sarcasm. Also, it FREE!

I don't use [Sarcasm] for the same reason that I don't use LOL. If I have to tell people that I'm joking, I've obviously failed in my attempts at comedy.

 

[Canid117]

anc[is]Not taking sides yet, just wanted to point out that the ancient race's tech thing is pretty common. Precursors from Star Control come to mind.

Yeah, but we're in Starship Troopers is to Armor type territory here, not just random themes popping up again.

I want to see a starship troopers movie that actually represents Robert Heinlein's Novel. Not an hour and a half long cheap shot at military service which serves the same purpose as shitting on the original authors grave.

 

[commasplice]

Snip.

ACTUALLY, actually, the story from Kimba the White Lion (according to Wikipedia--I haven't seen it) is not what was stolen by The Lion King, so much as learning from human culture and applying it to jungle life or whatever [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimba_the_white_lion#The_Lion_King_controversy].

Anyway, while we're on the topic, I believe there was an episode of Fringe which showed a little girl watching Kimba the White Lion. IIRC, it was "August" from season 2. It's been a while, though, so I may be wrong.

 

[Nikajo]

For me the bottom line is this :- If they had balatantly copied and pasted complete paragraphs from the Revelation Space story then yeah I would absolutely agree with the palgiarism argument.

However, even though the main threat is the same (robotic death bringers revealed by ancient technology) is doesn't constitute claiming that Mass Effect is plagiarism.

It's like saying that when writing my coursework, because I came to the same conclusion as the authors of the scientific journals that I consulted, I must have also commited plagiarism. Plagiarism is direct copying of somebody elses material. Being inspired by their ideas is not.

Like somebody else said in this thread - if the people who wrote the material aren't complaining then why on earth are you? If they were trying to sue bioware that would be interesting and worth talking about. As far as I'm concerned this is unfounded.

Like I said before - the story isn't even finished yet, there's still the finale to go. Who knows what's going to happen in that? I can't see how discussing this any further helps anybody.

 

[CloakedOne]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

Pretty much this. And it's "its."

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

Pretty much this. And it's "its."

Thank you for agreeing with me, but I don't understand your grammar lesson.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

And besides, The Simpsons already did it. (props for whoever gets the reference)

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Should Kevin Costner sue James Cameron for ripping off Dances with Wolves when he made Avatar? No. People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2. Some stories are as old as time, they just get retold over and over again.
-Star Wars. Star Wars' story is older than recorded history. Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

And besides, The Simpsons already did it. (props for whoever gets the reference)

South Park, Butters as Professor Chaos. Give me my props!

 

[BattlePope]

IF YOU'VE NEVER, EVER, READ OR HEARD OF OR HAD, THE ENDING TO 'FIGHT CLUB' SPOILED FOR YOU, DON'T READ IT. but in all fairness, book's pushing 14 years old and the movie's pushing 11 now, so if you were, are, or will be interested in them, you probably already know what I spoil, if it can be asserted as such....

Hell, I came up with an idea for a story today and slowly, very painfully, my left and right brain hemispheres had a meet and greet to relay the info that it was basically Bill Willingham's graphic novel Fables without the whole multiverse angle and a slight shift on what types of fictional characters would be used. I know what you're saying about plotline similarities being the crux of the difference between one piece of perceivable art and another being xeroxes of eachother. As an amateur (at best) cartoonist, my goal is to try for something that's not purposefully taken from something, and much to my chagrin Robert Kirkman made a new series of graphic narrative that shared a main plotline similarity, but I wasn't working on mine when his was freshly solicited, I was quite angered by how he'd come up with an idea similar to mine and as far as I had cared, mine was the predecessor.

I'm quite certain if I came up with an idea for a book or television series about a man who has the ability to give someone a fatal aneurysm at will I wouldn't think that I was ripping of anything else, especially if MY idea had it that he didn't have control over who the target was. Though if you google something like "telepathic aneurysm" you find out about all these comics and characters in things like TV shows where someone can do just that. The bit about uncontrolled or aimless telepathy killing is, in a sense, 'Lullaby' by Chuck Palahniuk, author of 'Fight Club' the novel, not the movie. He got hate mail about how "fight club was my idea" and his response is the forward to the editions printed after the movie came out. His reply was a simple "it was done before you were even born. Did you, however: go out, become an insomniac, meet a woman, wanna do her, make up an imaginary friend to deal with the insomnia, start an underground proto-mixed martial arts club with said friend, then let your imaginary friend take over, start an anarchist revolution and try to make a symbolic statement about how we have control of the future, so the past can just deal with it, then kill your imaginary friend by killing yourself? No?! Then I guess not much of it was your idea then." I'm paraphrasing, of course.

I do believe that ME and Dragon Age Origins are basically the same game-different timezone, but I haven't gotten that far into either, an I couldn't really stand most of ME for making me feel like mineral deposits and other exploring subpoints mattered more than shooting things in the face and/or vital thought process centers of the nervous system. Both facets of the game felt like Bioware gave up making fluid, ergonomic controls after a while.

Though another thing to ponder (which was a point of discussion between a creative writing professor here in the States what referred to the original trilogy as the greatest, most perfect and original storytelling ever and I) is that Star Wars was Lord of the Rings in space in the sense that the Force was the One Ring with its capability of corrupting anyone who used it, Ben Kenobi was Gandalf, Luke was Frodo, Han was something of an Aragorn, and the robots were Pippin and Merry. Then we have 'A New Hope' specifically which established that the other two in that trilogy were 'Seven Samurai' while Episode 4 was 'The Hidden Fortress' which were both excellent, epic films from Kurosawa. Some people know that first film's Western reiteration dubbed 'The Magnificent Seven' which kinda stings for some people to stew over as both are superb films and held in high regards. And on the last note: the Jedi are somewhere between Buddhist Monks and Samurai with almost negligible clairvoyance and mild telekinesis in a deep space, fantasy Sci Fi setting or as Jerry Holkins of Penny-Arcade.com put it: "space wizards from the past-future." Apologies if I don't scurry to find the url for the specific comic.