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+--- Thread: Concerning Fangame design as a whole. (/showthread.php?tid=1666)
Concerning Fangame design as a whole. - Princess Peach - 02-24-2019
Now, if we look at the stereotypical side of things, you often hear that making fangames like on this forum or emulation would technically be illegal and thus get your content shut down at best, and even if not you'd still be 'costing' them millions if not billions of dollars each year. However, as I've seen on several different sources, including YouTube, they mention that emulation allowed us to play games that we'd otherwise never get to play again, (and be able to freely do our own thing with the content at that), and allowed for more expansive content from their official sources or to keep something else of their's dead alive, and that (as far as I can make up from the sources) the money lost from them is minuscule and therefore can be ignored.
Now, concerning both sides: Official companies saying that fangame content does harm to them as a host source, and us that it's actually helped the source and did very little, if any, harm in return; although I am certainly on the fangame side and thus completely supportive of them, and that I'm pretty sure I know that we would be doing the right thing in those circumstances, I can't help but wonder at times why it would actually be right. Just curious.
RE: Concerning Fangame design as a whole. - VinnyVideo - 02-24-2019
I actually believe fangames - and fan works in general - help the companies that made the source material by giving them free advertising and helping preserve interest in older games, franchises, and consoles.
RE: Concerning Fangame design as a whole. - Evil Yoshi Toes - 02-24-2019
As long as a fan game is not an exact remake of a game being sold currently I don't think it should be an issue, even though it technically could be.
Action is rarely taken when it comes to fan art, even when it is sold at conventions. With fan games it becomes trickier since it is the same medium as the official product, but unless the game is just a remake there shouldn't be any harm in it since the player is not experiencing the actual official Nintendo games. Games that I'm aware of that have gotten into trouble are Mario Maker remakes that are almost exact copies but with more features, as that'd effect Mario Maker sales, and that Mario 64 remake because it was just a remake but with modernized graphics.
Selling Nintendo fan games tends to be a harder "No!" than selling Nintendo fan art even though both are illegal since, again, fan games are the same medium as the official product. For this reason selling fan comics of an existing copyrighted comic would probably not go over well either.
So, I think fan games and art are a great way to promote a franchise as long as they are not competing enough with official products that the loss of revenue outweighs the benefits of the advertisement.
RE: Concerning Fangame design as a whole. - Princess Peach - 02-24-2019
Now, obviously, to all of y'all, if that were all I were expecting from that thread, then it simply being there at all for that reason would've been awkward at best and downright immature at worst.
But there's actually more to the point of it itself than would meet the eye. One of the main reasons I've even made this specific seemingly 'unimportant' thread - and this I will 'happily' admit - is because I've heard of several, if not numerous sources, that claim that the action of Nintendo going against fangames and emulation and such is basically a crime in and of itself - restricting, if not preventing, such creators of such doing what's morally right for videogames for the sake of 'manipulating' their audience purely for money and publicity, and not, if not never, even for the whole purpose of IP protection at all. However, even though I will admit I may ultimately be coming off as 'spouting' out and thus spouting out somewhat of nonsense at best, I just simply wanted to get those feelings out of the way to (hopefully) ultimately know the whole truth to this fangame/emulation problem as a whole (and even that admittedly would be kinda pushing it), or at the very absolute least get me set completely straight. Thanks for y'all's words anyway; I'd appreciate that.