I can’t think of a single game that manages to have enemies correspond to your level rather than area or story progression actually contribute to the game. It just makes trying to get better gear ultimately a pointless task because the enemies get strong at the same rate so you might as well stay weak.
Why the fuck are you even able to patent a vague concept for a mechanic in a game? If you change any numbers in a thing patents shouldn’t apply anymore. If you made an internal combustion engine but the pistons are a half centimeter larger in comparison to the rest of it than in the patent, that’s not covered by the patent.
Going to have to disagree with your example. If you only marginally change an engine, then it’s still the same principles at work and the same design only slightly modified. If I started the Tord company and sold slightly larger doored fords they would easily best me in court. However, the game design thing is a problem because they have to build the mechanic from the ground up inside of their game. It’s like copyrighting the idea of a car.
I took it a bit too far, but I don’t think you should be able to patent the concept of “blowing up fuel inside a small chamber and using a piston to collect that energy to power a mechanical device” (or a better description of how an internal combustion engine works)
I’m not sure where to draw the line between those two though. Well aside from abolishing capitalism and removing any need for IP protections and having all patents be open knowledge.
I think the line is an implementation, not a concept. Like, if the code from the lord of the rings game was put directly into another game that’s obviously a problem, but if you work from the concept it should be different. like how if I build the same engine as someone else that would be a problem, but building an engine isn’t.
