Did Mass Effect Steal It's Story Outright?!

[Nejira]

Should George Lucas be sued? The answer is no.

Yes, the answer to that particular question is always yes

So many stories share the same idea that unless you directly copy one story and calls it your own, I don´t think you can call it plagiarism. Everyone borrows ideas from eachother, and the good stories are those which adds something of their own to the story.

 

[geldonyetich]

Cherry picking ideas is unfortunately a fairly standard practice in mainstream media. If it's a major IP you heard about, chances are it stole its ideas from dozens of writers who never received a dime. It's really a crying shame.

 

[Superior Mind]

It's very possible that Mass Effect's story is heavily influenced by this previously-unheard-of-by-me novel. They are, from your decription, very similar.

But so what?

Originality is overrated. Just because something is original doesn't mean it's good and just because something is unoriginal doesn't mean it's bad. Some of the best things are in fact ideas that have been previouly used but not realised to their full potential; ideas which are later taken by someone else to create something that does realise it's potential. Revelation Space/Mass Effect seems like one of those relationships.

And if it is a blatant shady rip-off... so what? I like Mass Effect. The existence of this book that shares the story and which happens to pre-date Mass Effect has no bearing on that enjoyment.

 

[Decabo]

Who. The. Fuck. Cares. What makes Mass Effect Mass Effect is the character interactions and the gameplay. Will reading this book ruin the plot for Mass Effect 3? No. Will it make the gameplay less fun? No. Will all character depth disappear? No. So why the hell does it matter?

And it's pretty depressing to still see people say Avatar ripped off DwW. When the movie actually plays out, the similarities have no meaning to the characters and hwo they progress. So once again, why the hell does it matter? Oh wait... people want to sound clever...

 

[jamescorck]

If we are going to get nitpicky about things, let me remind you that there's still people who blame George Lucas for copying Akira Kurosawa when making "Star Wars".

Also, if we follow the same technique here, "Heroes" is a blatant copy of "Unbreakable". Do you realize how stupid that sounds?

People tend to use good things as a source of inspiration, and most of the times the re-imagination takes us to the original source material. So thank you dude for posting this, now I will track down that novel. Because, if Mass Effect is so dman good then the novel must be as good.

 

[Volafortis]

Ancient technology from an extinct race is NOT original, from Mass Effect or from the other book. It's been around as long as sci-fi has been. And if you think it's extremely difficult for 2 completely independent people with that archetype in mind to come up with a scenario where said technology is what made said race extinct, you've got another thing coming.

Simply put: It isn't original, but it isn't ripped off. It's a common derivation from an archetype.

Mate, it's the PLOT, not the ancient race and yaddah yaddah! How many times do I have to keep clarifying this?! Illos is Cerberus, and the Reapers are the Inhibitors! Is anyone reading the quote I made in the original post? It's like everybody keeps clutching that one thing and saying it's okay that everything else is plagiarized because "THAT thing is common in SciFi".

Calm down. Ilos and Cerberus are both the vault of ancient technology left behind by the ancient race. The Reapers/Inhibitors are the "grand threat" of the archetype that exterminated the ancient race. You keep acting as if the plot has ever been original. I'm not saying it has one single thing in common with sci-fi. I'm saying THE WHOLE DAMN THING is a common archetype in Sci-Fi. Yes, you can interchange names and get the same general idea. That's what an archetype is.

In case you haven't figured out, here's the archetype:

Extinct race A is a former galactic civilization. Modern galactic civilization B bases technology on race A's tech. Civilization B finds a treasure trove planet D of Race A's tech. Treasure trove is rigged to call in grand threat C that caused the extinction of race A.

In fact, in the book planet D (Cerberus) IS the beacon. Ilos is not (although Ilos is planet D). The Citadel is-- actually, it isn't-- the beacon. It's more of a rapid transit system. The Reapers come on periodic timeline of 50,000 years. Not when a new galactic civilization is detected. They aren't contacted to arrive. They simply arrive every 50,000 years to wipe out galactic empires.

There is no "contact beacon" in Mass Effect, unlike in the book. In Mass Effect, the activation of the Citadel relay is more akin to picking up the receiving end of a phone call.

Most of what you claim to be "ripped off" is just a common archetype, and the rest of your uncanny similarities are actually you misunderstanding the plot. In the book, the "beacon planet" calls out to the Inhibitors, and they start coming. In Mass Effect, the Reapers are coming on a 50,000 year cycle, and the Keepers just pick up the phone (activate the relay) when the Reapers come calling.

Sure, there are similarities in the beings themselves of the Reapers and Inhibitors, but please, don't tell me you think what essentially sums up to "giant robots" has ever been original.

 

[Decabo]

What you are saying is that once enough people have ripped off each other's stories, the aggregate sum of plagiarism reaches a critical mass, and thus can be declared a convention, at which point following its norms is fine; yet up until that point, one can criticise those works. Tell me you're not being serious.

Kind of a coarse way to put your point there. The difference between having a similar theme and ripping-off another story is the plot, execution, and the details.

A boy becomes and unlikely hero = theme
Robots try to kill mankind = theme

Giant space-faring robots known as Inhibitors come to destroy all life in a cycle = Giant space-faring robots known as Reapers come to...you get the idea.

Sorry, but I'm getting tired, mate. It's 4:36 AM here and I haven't had a wink of sleep.

--Let's try to stay on topic, though. You and I could argue over what is originality and what's plagiarism until the both of us keel over.

So let me get this straight: Robots whiping out mankind (and by extension any race, I assume) is a theme. But it's a ripoff if this massacre is done... in a cycle? So the cycle makes the difference? Well damn, in the game Prey (which came out in 2006) alien machines kill abducted humans in a cycle. I'm not big on accusations, but this is getting ridiculous, I'm starting to think you're just keeping this up to claim a clever this-ripped off-this meme, and also the ever popular "take the piss out of something popular" routine. Yes, I know you like the game, but if you really do like it, you know that the story has many large plot points, such as earning the trust of an alien council, building an army of giant insects to hunt down your enemies, or raising a mind controlling plant in a human colony.

 

[Coratto]

Wasn't the first and wont be the last. I found it hard to believe that Bioshock was based off of a book. Not exactly cut and past but it was definitely there.
Atlas Shrugged = Bioshock

 

[Ian Caronia]

*SNIPPED BUT READ*
Now you're just being silly.

Actually I was with that last remark. Suppose trying to get a chuckle from someone during a serious conversation is kinda odd. Sorry.

Anyway, I won't go into the Avatar topic because I just realized how derailed this thread has gotten. This isn't a question of originality in general, this is a question of if Bioware's writers stole the idea for their game from another man's novel, and they obviously did. There's no denying it when faced with the premise and, more importantly, EXECUTION of how it was conveyed. Some pallet swaps, an orchestra, and a controller won't change the fact that they stole the premise of their game from that novel in particular.

So what are you saying, that all of a sudden, Mass Effect's story has become less enjoyable to you? That the enjoyment you had while playing it is now somehow lessened in hindsight?

If what you're saying is that they should credit the writer of that novel with inspiring them, I may even be with you. But if you say that the game's story now lacks any merit, I'll respectfully disagree.

I mean, the Reaper aspect is just one facet in the game's story, albeit an important one. But was that the only thing that actually MADE the story? If you told me that that book also featured the drama of the hero being torn between two vastly different lovers, one of them an alien, or that a central aspect was the hero having to choose between the lives of two of his/her comrades in arms, or a sub-plot about somebody sworn to defend civilisation becoming its worst enemy... Well, then I'd storm BioWare central at your side. As it stands, those plot points, while not terribly original, mesh into a pretty good coherent whole.

But if all that has been lifted was the premise, then can you not still enjoy the myriad OTHER aspects that also define the plot?

Tali's story is among the most fascinating in the entire game; has anyone pointed out how it's THE EXACT SAME story as Battlestar Galactica?

I am in fact saying that the premise for the game was lifted from the author's novel, and that they should've in the least mentioned it inspired their plot.

As for my enjoyment of the game, it hasn't changed at all. I still hate the screen going red when you've got a damn health meter anyway, and I still love the characters of Tali (my favorite and best reason to look at Mass Effect) and Wrex. I meant that I can't appreciate the story anymore. The main plot, story of Shepard vs the Reapers, was all a bit iffy with me to begin with, but I liked that they seemed to be going out on a limb with this (as they've even stated) "unique" idea. Now the magic of the main plot is dead, but the soul of the work as a whole isn't.

I'll always say this with a smile, mate: You should never blame the work for whatever the creator has done.

Despite the plagiarism, at its heart Mass Effect is a fun game. It's not the "unique experience" Bioware parades it to be, but it's an enjoyable and occasionally moving game. I accept it for what it is. It's the writers' that need to be looked down on. For the creativity it took to make up half the things in that game, there's no excuse for taking the grade-schooler shortcut and copy-pasting the plot the way they did.

-Even then, all they ever had to say was, "This and that help inspire us to create the universe of Mass Effect. We strove to make the story familiar in many ways, but unique in how it worked that familiarity."

That alone would've stopped all the disappointment I, as well as many others feel over this fiasco.

--Sorry if I came off as a dick earlier, mate. I was enraged to see so many people just bluntly say they didn't care if a story was plagiarized or not so long as it was fun. It's just horrible to hear people pride gameplay and hot chicks over an engaging storyline if you're a writer. Thank you for the wording of your last response (the one I'm replying to), and thanks putting more logic into an argument than most others have.

 

[Tallim]

Wasn't the first and wont be the last. I found it hard to believe that Bioshock was based off of a book. Not exactly cut and past but it was definitely there.
Atlas Shrugged = Bioshock

Yeah but they never denied that. Andrew Ryan was named after the author Ayn Rand.

 

[Ravek]

People also say that Mass Effect is a rip off of Star Control 2.

Star Control 2 is only very superficially similar. Yes, there is a species of evil overlords trying to wipe out other sentient life in the galaxy. Yes, there are precursors, who left behind valueable artifacts. Yes, the protagonist is a human with a very advanced spaceship.

But that is about where the similarities end. All the actual plot points are completely different. It doesn't even make sense to draw a comparison there.

 

[Knight Templar]

No.
Any given story will have other that are similer, unless you consider a summery to be the same as an entire plot Mass Effect isn't ripping anybody off. The novle you cited doesn't even seem to have much in similar anyway.

 

[Taylor_DeSousa]

You should post who said it was an original story, and within what circles. We only have your word for it so far. Lets verify that Mac Walters said something to the effect that "Mass Effect is the most original sci-fi story to date" and you may have some basis for complaint. Saying its an original story within the medium I would say is a fairly accurate statement.

The mention earlier of the Berserker Death series is definitely important. That was written before Revelation space. For 40 years prior, and the series continued even afterwards. Where do we draw the line with regards to the time between series to complain about plagiarism. I'm pretty sure Reynolds didn't site Saberhagen as an important influence.

Also, its not a blatant rip off anyways as you keep saying. The mass relay of citadel station did not tell the reapers of the Citadel races, Saren did, which has yet to be explained exactly how he came across Sovereign. Even though he somehow knew about the Reaper threat, thats not explained either. That key difference should be enough difference to make you happy.

And for a writer who seems to pride themselves on unique story telling, its interesting that you like the most stereotypical characters. Tali is pretty rudimentary, looking past the space-Amish-damsel-in-distress-unobtainable-love-interest skin. Particularly since shes about as competent as Peach in Donkey Kong.

 

[Manji187]

Yeah stuff is unknowingly "copy pasted" all the time. People draw parallels between eragon and starwars I believe. Every basic idea ever has been done pretty much, the inventiveness is in what you do with that basic plot.

Indeed, there's no escaping archetypes such as protagonist/ antagonist, quest/journey/ voyage, conflict/ obstacles and many more.