The Biggest Rip Off of 40k

[Grenadier]

Just a few minutes ago I decided to give yet another game app on Facebook a try. The app is called "Social Wars." It's your typical psuedo-RTS build a base and army type of game.

Only it's also blatantly ripped off Warhammer 40,000.

As the app loaded for the first time I'm given a chance to watch a little movie about the game. And lo and behold there are Warhammer 40,000 Orks!

One looked just like Ghazkull. A blantant warboss in the trademark armor. But there was also one which looked a lot like an Ork with a flamethrower. And there was more!

The rip offs don't end with the Orks either. One of the images of units I can build looked just like a Shadowsword superheavy tank.

I've seen 40k ripped off elsewhere over the years. And the intellectual property rights issue is murky. But nonetheless the images presented in this game are clearly from 40k. The artwork itself isn't but the likenesses are.

[Drunkencorgimaster]

Meh. Probabloy true but 40k Sentinels are rip-offs of Star Wars walkers. Star War droids are rip-offs from Silent Running. Everything is ultimately a rip-off from the Epic of Gilgamesh.

[Grenadier]

Perhaps so. Originality no longer exists.

After playing it for a while I noticed many more similarities. Virtually every kind of Orc warrior in the game was lifted directly from 40k. Down to minute details in most cases. In addition, the buildings and vehicles in Orc bases look pretty much just like the ones in Dawn of War.

I also noticed there's a special kind of tank I can unlock which looks just like a Leman Russ minus the sponson weapons. It has the same exact track, turret, and hull design. Only the hull weapon is mounted in the opposite position.

The game itself isn't bad. It's made by the same people who made Social Empires. But like all such games it gets bogged down in long waits and repetitive things. Still, I may continue playing it as it's basically Warhammer 40,000 on Facebook. Or at least until Games Workshop catches wind of it and sues the crap out of the developers. Hey GW, if you do you should reward me with some models!

[Drunkencorgimaster]

It actually sounds kind of fun the way you describe it.

[Houghten]

Probabloy true but 40k Sentinels are rip-offs of Star Wars walkers.

I will never understand why people keep saying that - they look nothing alike. Is it just the first "walking vehicle" that comes to mind or something? I'm not sure it's possible to rip the idea of "walking vehicle" off from anything, it's too deeply ingrained, like dreams of flying.

[Drunkencorgimaster]

I will never understand why people keep saying that - they look nothing alike.

Our starting points are way too far away on this one to come to any concurrence.

[Kawauso]

Perhaps so. Originality no longer exists.

This argument/point of view crops up every once in a while and it's...pretty inaccurate.

Originality - if by which you mean a totally, 100% new idea - is something that has pretty much never existed for thousands upon thousands of years. Possibly since the very first tools were crafted by humans, or the first oral stories told around a fire at night (even then - our first tools were probably crafted to do a particular activity 'better' than the alternatives available to us).

Every idea someone comes up with uses their past experiences as some point of reference, and they build upon them from there. That's just how the human brain works. It's how progress is made, and how science has gotten us to where we are - it allows us to stand on the shoulders of giants, rather than throw everything out and start from scratch every time. Virtually every thought, concept or invention is something that was reached from taking an existing example any trying to find a way to improve it or show it in a different light.

True originality isn't coming up with an idea no one's ever heard of before. It's finding a way to present your ideas in a unique and interesting way. It's combining ideas from a number of sources in a unique and interesting way. This is what makes the 40k universe so appealing to many. I don't think there's any one concept in it that hasn't existed somewhere else before 40k came along and picked it up. But the different concepts and the way they're presented in 40k creates a truly unique and compelling universe.

On the flip side, the game you've described does, by your descriptions, sound like a rip-off.
It's the difference between taking those concepts and leaving them as-is versus, say, StarCraft, which borrows very heavily from 40k, but does enough to what it takes from that source material to craft something unique out of it. StarCraft is not, however, an -amazing- example of originality in that regard.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

I will never understand why people keep saying that - they look nothing alike. Is it just the first "walking vehicle" that comes to mind or something? I'm not sure it's possible to rip the idea of "walking vehicle" off from anything, it's too deeply ingrained, like dreams of flying.

"nothing alike" might be a bit of a stretch.

[bfmusashi]

Hold on, I'm about to dive into geekery.
Sentinels are single man bipedal walkers with chicken legs.
The AT-ST (Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) is a two man bipedal walker with chicken legs.
The AT-PT is a single man bipedal walker with chicken legs that didn't show up until the Heir of the Empire books.
I don't know when the current sentinel design started but their original design didn't look much like the AT series walkers and in the original fluff I think were based on encounters with Eldar War Walkers (which also don't look like classic Star Wars). Currently Sentinels don't have chin mounted weapons, or a flat front armor face, or tower over the worthless enemies of His Divine Majesty. The current sentinel is currently just the right height to kick monstrous creatures in the junk, and that's what it's all about.

[frommage]

Or at least until Games Workshop catches wind of it and sues the crap out of the developers. Hey GW, if you do you should reward me with some models!

GW would probably sue you for using the word WARHAMMER 40k and GAMES WORKSHOP without their concent