作者：Justin Davis

我最近在App Store评价了《Plague Inc.,》这款有趣的流行病模拟游戏。在评价生成之后，有数人马上在评论中指出它与另一款名为《Pandemic 2.5》（早发布一个月）的iOS游戏颇具相似之处。《Pandemic》开媎 甚至在Twitter上@我，声称《Plague Inc.,》是自身产品的剽窃之作。

这真的公平吗？《Pandemic 2.5》开发商Dark Realm Studios至少从2008年就开始面向网络创造病毒和流行病模拟游戏。这是否意味着他们就拥有任何流行病模拟游戏的所有权？就算法律上没有优势，至少也占据了道德至高点？或者说这里的问题在于《Plague Inc.,》从《Pandemic》玩法借鉴了一点灵感？

plague Inc vs Pandemic(from ign.com)

我的一贯立场是站在克隆者一方。这并不是个流行的观点。但这些“克隆者”通常就是某个游戏题材成型的来源。如果没有这些模仿行为，就不会出现塔防游戏，或者类似Valve的《Dota 2》以及Riot的《英雄联盟》这种MOBA游戏的兴盛局面。

流行病模拟游戏（目标是以最残酷的病毒清除人类）是否会成为下一种游戏题材？也许不会。但如果游戏工作室能够在Dark Realm原始理念的基本上加以发展和迭代，行业无疑会出现一些非常棒的电子游戏。

万物都是合成的

重要的是永远不要忘了，万物都是合成物。尤其在今天，合成物与模因主导着我们的流行文化。也许没有比《Minecraft》大获成功更好的例子了。Mojang这款杰出的独立游戏之作衍生了大量克隆游戏。《Terraria》是一款2D版《Minecraft》外加《Castlevania》的游戏。《Ace of Spades》是一款融合《Minecraft》与《军团要塞2》的游戏。《StarForge》融合了《Minecraft》与科幻射击游戏《光晕》。

minecraft vs other copy(from ign.com)

在《Minecraft》基本前提之下的每次明智的进化都伴生着大量无耻的抄袭行为。那些试图站在《Minecraft》成功的肩膀之上的游戏，实际上却没有为沙盒建设题材游戏做出创新。但其中某些克隆游戏还是呈现了创新性。例如App Store上的《Eden》，它最初是与《Minecraft》十分相似的复制品，但之后开始分化，并在自身原材料的基础上进行了提升。当然，许多玩家在指责那些模仿《Minecraft》的游戏时却忽略了《Minecraft》本身就是深受《Infiniminer》影响这一事实。

但这些都不是电子游戏或流行文化的粉丝们所罕见的情况。在id Software的射击游戏《毁灭战士》问世的三年来，几乎每款后续面世的射击游戏都难免被认为是《毁灭战士》克隆产品，无论它们究竟从前者借鉴了多少内容。

当然，那个年代多数射击游戏的确存在大量模仿《毁灭战士》的痕迹。但随着该题材的持续发展和分化，“第一人称射击游戏”的使用率也迅速上升。现在已经没有人会认为《光晕》、《使命召唤》或《Killzone》是《毁灭战士》的克隆版本。这个题材得到了进化和成长。

在App Store，没有哪款克隆游戏会比Rovio热作《愤怒的小鸟》更有名了，据称该游戏大量借鉴了Armorgames之作《Crush the Castle》的灵感。有关两者的对比在各大知名网站，在IGN评论中随处可见。

angry birds vs Crush the Castle(from ign.com)

值得注意的是，《Crush the Castle》本身就与《Castle Clout》极为相似（记住，万物都是合成的）。这两者之间有许多差异，不仅仅是《愤怒的小》采用的是弹弓，而《Crush the Caslte》采用的是抛石机。抛石机需要两次点击以及准确的时机。弹弓需要细微的调整，并且只需要一次快速操作。换句话说，《愤怒的小鸟》更具易用性，更适合休闲玩家打发时间。再加上小鸟的独特个性（彩色小鸟比枯燥的岩石更令人印象深刻），我们不难看出为何一者成了热作，而另一款游戏却陷入沉寂，尽管它们表面上都具有相似性。

当然如果是一个已经具备规模的大型公司借鉴了小小的独立开发者的创意，这个问题就更棘手了。Zynga就因其模仿小型公司游戏理念的行为而备受诟病。但作为游戏玩家或评论员，这很重要吗？如果一个拥有53人的团队优化了一个由3人团队创造出来的理念，玩家有责任去支持小型开发者吗，还是说他们应该去玩更优化的游戏体验？

最重要的是并非所有的克隆和模仿之作都是相同的。有些推动了游戏题材的前进，还有一些则被贪婪的投机者所利用。但两者通常都会获得成功。

总结

回到之前关于《Plague Inc.,》的话题。这是Dark Realm始于《Pandemic》的明智进化理念吗？还是说它只是App Store中不计其数的克隆游戏之一？我的观点是Ndemic Creation的这款游戏还处于安全区域。不可否认它确实与《Pandemic》具有相似性，但也不能否认它在这款病毒传播游戏基础上进行了提升。

我最初是因为强大的用户界面而被《Plague Inc.,》所吸引。玩家在游戏中可以通过三种风格的技能树发展自己的疾病——症候、抵抗力和传播方法。它在《Pandemic》普通的菜单上进行了明显优化，《Plague Inc.,》进行了更小但却很重要的调整。游戏玩家可以选择要从哪个国家开始传播疾病，而不是被迫进行选择。他们也可以从8种疾病中做出选择，而不仅局限于3种疾病。

在许多方面这种对比对Dark Relm和《Pandemic》并不公平。《Plague Inc.,》问世更晚，进行了一些小调整，又凭借另一家小型开发商掀起的疾病传播游戏的成功大潮进入市场。目前《Plague Inc.,》在整个App Store应用销售榜单排名第二，仅次于《Temple Run:Brave》。而《Pandemic》在所有榜单上却仅位列第150名。从整个App Store来看，《Plague Inc.,》销量比许多模仿游戏多了2倍。

无论公平与否，我都乐见Dark Realm在App Store而非Twitter上为自己而战。竞争催生创新和卓越。Dark Realm应该推出更多功能和选择，持续更新《Pandemic》。或者推出杀手级的续作。

如果游戏玩家让我推荐iPhone上的病毒传播游戏，我当然会选择《Plague Inc.,》。但我并不认为这是个一成不变的答案，我还想看到更多新合成游戏，新理念，新发展。

原文发表于2012年6月19日，所涉事件及数据以当时为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How Copycats Built the Video Game Industry

by Justin Davis

I recently reviewed Plague Inc., a fun (albeit simple) pandemic simulator out now on the App Store. Immediately after the review went live several people noted in the comments that the game bore more than a passing resemblance to an iOS game called Pandemic 2.5, released a month earlier. Pandemic’s developer even weighed in on Twitter, telling me that Plague Inc. is an attempt to cash-in on its product.

But is that really fair? Pandemic 2.5 developer Dark Realm Studios has been making virus and plague simulators for the web since at least 2008. Does this mean they own the rights to any and all pandemic simulators? If not legally then perhaps ethically? Or is the issue that Plague Inc. takes a little too much gameplay inspiration from Pandemic?

My general stance is to err on the side of the clones. This is not a popular opinion. But these “clones” are often how entire genres are born! Without generous copying we wouldn’t have tower defense titles, or a thriving MOBA scene including games like Valve’s Dota 2 and Riot’s League of Legends.

Are pandemic simulators, where the goal is to wipe out humanity with the most ruthless virus possible, the next big genre? Probably not. But if studios are allowed and encouraged to grow and iterate on Dark Realm’s initial idea, some very cool video games could be the result nonetheless.

Everything is a Remix

It’s important to never forget that everything is a remix. Especially today. Remixes and memes drive our popular culture. There is probably no better recent example than the extreme success of Minecraft. Mojang’s incredible indie hit has already spawned dozens of clones. Terraria is 2D Minecraft combined with Castlevania. Ace of Spades is Minecraft mashed-up with Team Fortress 2.

StarForge remixes Minecraft with sci-fi shooting reminiscent of Halo.

It’s true that for every smart evolution of Minecraft’s basic premise there are plenty of shameless copies. Games that aim to do nothing more than piggyback on Minecraft’s success without actually adding anything to the sandbox building genre. But even some of these clones end up innovating. Games like Eden on the App Store started life as very close Minecraft copies but have since diverged and in some ways improved on their source material. And of course many gamers that point the finger at Minecraft’s copies often gloss over the fact that Minecraft itself was heavily inspired by Infiniminer.

None of this is shocking or new to followers of video games or pop culture in general. For three years following the release of id Software’s groundbreaking shooter Doom, virtually every subsequent shooter was referred to as a “Doom clone,” regardless of how much it actually borrowed from the Romero/Carmack hit. Of course, most shooters of that era did copy heavily from Doom – the label was usually well-earned. But as the genre continued to grow and become more diverse, the term “first person shooter” rapidly increased in usage. Now no one thinks of games like Halo, Call of Duty or Killzone as Doom clones. The genre evolved. It grew up.

“Doom clone” vs. “first person shooter” courtesy of Wikipedia

On the App Store no example of game cloning is more well-known than Rovio supposedly cribbing heavily from Armorgames’ Crush the Castle when designing Angry Birds. The comparison comes up in the lede of well-known gaming sites, in IGN comments… all over the internet.

Nevermind the fact that Crush the Castle is itself a very close copy of Castle Clout (remember, everything is a remix). There are many non-trivial differences between the two titles, not the least of which is Angry Birds’ slingshot vs. Crush the Castle’s trebuchet. Trebuchets require two clicks and precise timing. Slingshots allow for small corrections and only require a single quick motion. In other words, Angry Birds is much more accessible and casual-friendly right from the get-go. Combined with the birds’ big personalities (colorful squawking birds are much more memorable than boring boulders) and it’s easy to see why one game became a big hit while the other didn’t, despite their surface-level similarities.

Of course the issue is even cloudier when it’s an already-big company borrowing from the little guy. Zynga’s critics contend that the company’s entire multi-billion dollar social gaming empire is built on a business model of waiting for a small company to come up with an idea that works and then co-opting it. But as a game player or a critic, should this matter? If a team of 53 improves on an idea created by a team of 3, do gamers have an obligation to support the little guy, or should they just play the more polished experience, period?

The bottom line is that not all clones and copies are created equal. Some push genres forward, while others are created by greedy opportunists. But both always follow success, and always will.

Viral Takeover

But back to Plague Inc. Is it a smart evolution of ideas Dark Realm started in Pandemic? Or is it the latest in a long line of audacious App Store clones? My opinion is that Ndemic Creation’s title is firmly in safe territory. There’s no denying that it bears a close resemblance to Pandemic, but there is also no denying that it improves on that basic disease-spreading premise.

I was initially drawn to Plague Inc. due to its strong user interface. Players evolve their disease from three stylish branching skill trees -  symptoms, resistances and transmission methods. This is a clear improvement over Pandemic’s plain menus. Plague Inc. makes more small (but important) tweaks as well. Gamers get to choose which country to start their disease in, instead of having one chosen for them. They have eight disease types to choose from as well, instead of just three.

In a lot of ways this comparison isn’t fair to Dark Realm and Pandemic. Plague Inc. comes out afterwards, makes a few small tweaks, and then gets to ride the wave of disease-spreading success that another small developer kicked off. Right now Plague Inc. is the #2 selling app in the entire App Store, behind only Temple Run: Brave. Pandemic 2.5 is #150 on the overall charts. Based on overall App Store ratings, it now appears that Plague Inc. has sold around 2X as many cumulative copies.

Fair or not, I would like to see Dark Realm compete on the App Store itself and not on Twitter. Competition breeds innovation and excellence. Dark Realm should keep updating Pandemic with more features and options. Or get to work on a killer sequel.

Right now if gamers ask me for a single pathogen-spreading game for their iPhone it has to be Plague Inc. But I don’t want that to forever be my answer. I want to see new remixes. New ideas. New evolutions.（source：ign）