Nemesis Copyright

No, I wish this was just the Umbrella Cooperation protecting their intellectual property...

When I woke up this morning, I saw some disturbing news. Something that made me want to facepalm and cringe all in one. And no, it wasn't that Mass Effect Legendary Edition is going to be removing all Miranda ass shots, although that is a worthy tragedy all in itself. It was more to the effect that something I simply assumed to be the case was, in fact, in motion and just recently passed, proving Warner Bros Interactive to be a lesser studio than I once thought them to be. For, you see, after a bitter 6 years (I think) of getting thrown out of court and coming back at it, they've finally managed to secure the copyright for a gameplay system, and that's the sort of precedent that should worry pretty much everyone. Of course, the copyright in question is for the 'Nemesis system' and now the question is how far something like this will inevitably extend.

First of all, let me recognise that the Nemesis system is quite ingenious for what it is. Borne from the Middle Earth games which Warner Bros Interactive made big bucks with in the last generation, The Nemesis System refers to the ecosystem which ran through that game in which a hierarchy of enemies would dynamically grow and shift in response to player actions as well as random chance. Within the context of the world it depicted Sauron's army of Orcs as they grew in power and rank from their victories, a routine which could be disrupted by the player in a number of intuitive ways. It proved fertile ground for creativity and was enough to sustain two entire games worth of content and I can only assume a third upcoming game considering how Shadow of War ended. (Not entirely sure how they're going to expand on it from the last entry, but one thing's for sure; they're going be on their own when it comes to thinking up innovations. Ain't nobody gonna be helping challenge them after this ruling) 

So a well conceived system that was crafted into a hit of a game. The Nemesis system has certainly been one of the highlights of the last generation as one actually wholesale jump forward in the way that games can wield AI. It makes for a nice figurehead against the incremental improvements we usually see out of games, or those that reshape the landscape of design so much it's hard to quantify all the systemic improvements. This one had a name, it was catchy, and people could look up to it. 'The Nemesis System' made game AI feel alive in a manner that meant something, rather than just by having them do certain animations in certain places and walk around in a manner somewhat representing purpose. (Not that there's anything wrong with those things, they're just window dressing. The Nemesis System felt substantial.) But whereas the rest of us were rubbing our hands and dreaming about what the future of gaming could look like when this sort of tech becomes more widely available, it seems Warner Bros were desperately clambering to shut Pandora's box before anyone could dare to reiterate upon it.

Now as you'll have seen many who attacked this issue over the week bring up, this is some straight nonsense. Game design, heck, the very concept of design in general, is built on iteration. Making brand new ideas just isn't a thing that we do anymore, if indeed, we ever did to being with. (If we take Freud's suppositions on dreams literally enough we might conclude that nothing has ever been original) Thus it's in the best interest in the public zeitgeist if creative works are mostly free from petty legislation regarding 'copyright' unless it's absolutely necessary. Did you create a machine which is capable of creating real-time high quality renders during filming? Great, that's worthy of a patent. Did you pioneer a certain storytelling technique that breathes new life into your narrative? Great, but that shouldn't then be given legal protections because at that point we're talking about high level ideas. Is this Nemesis copyright closer to the former analogy or the latter?

Speaking of games that exist off of iteration, how about the game that the Nemesis system was featured in; Shadow of Mordor? People pointed out from the very first gameplay reveal of that game how the world seemed very similar to something Ubisoft would cook up, (In all the positive and negative connotations that such a connection establishes.) which is only confirmed now that we've all played the game. But that's arguably just open world design, too high level perhaps. How about the combat system? Oh, I'd say that's a lot more specific. Because Mordor's combat is literally the exact same framework as Batman Arkham's combat. To a T. Not to mention all the games along the way which inspired those inspirations, all of which wouldn't have been possible if morons across the line started exploiting broken copyright law to the detriment of the industry. Oh, but I guess that Warner Bros thinks their too good to think about the industry now, don't they.

Yet I must say it's surprising. For a Studio who have allegedly been deadest on their right of ownership over this concept since around about 2015, they've been pretty quiet when other games have used similar systems over the years. Specifically Ubisoft, because they've been really taking some inspiration out of Warner Bros book these past few years. Assassin's Creed Odyssey's Mercenary system had some rudimentary shades of the Nemesis to it, and I think many are of a similar mind that Watch Dog Legion's 'recruit anyone' system is an evolution upon what the Nemesis had to other. (In some regards, at least. You could argue that Nemesis has a more polished and complete envisioning) Warner Bros didn't bring up any claims of copying, either inside or out of the court of law. Maybe that's because they knew this was perfectly legitimate and fair reiteration, and challenging that without a corrupt and outdated legal institution to back them up would be utterly moronic. Then again, it's still moronic, but I guess now it's just legitimately moronic.

So where does all of this leave us then? In a lamentable situation where the industry is being pressured into abandoning one of the most interesting concepts it's had in a decade because of the greed of Warner Bros. and that just sucks. It's not as though they themselves have done a lot with the system, so they're not protecting some great legacy or their own financial wellbeing either. Shadow of War and Shadow of Mordor already came out, a third game is likely in the planning stages but hasn't been publicly announced. But their biggest upcoming titles, 'Gotham Knights' and 'Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League', haven't made mention of any Nemesis like system. I'm pretty sure Knights doesn't have one, because we've already seen a decent gameplay reveal with absolutely no reference, and I can't really conceptualise how 'Suicide Squad' could leverage one. So I guess that means Warner just slapped down a lock on this system which they have no immediate plans to use. Just great. I'm so glad that copyright law exists in the way it does, aren't you?

It's safe to say that Warner Bros. is courting controversy with this latest move, both with the gaming public the actual makers within the industry who recognise creative stifling. But I suppose somewhere along the line this has been accounted for and the Bros think that whatever they stand to gain outweighs any short term downturn. Heck, maybe they know their next games are so far off that everyone will have forgotten about this come retail time, and any potential small-scale downturn will be offset by pre-smothered 'competition' as well as the odd over inflated lawsuit to anyone who stumbles in their general direction. Then, of course, once this become a success all the less scrupulous game companies, your Activisions and EAs, will follow suit and copyright their mechanics to hell and highwater. All games will become even more stale than a lot of them already are. And this moment marks the slow strangulation of the industries creative growth and the death of the promising game market. Or maybe I'm being hyperbolic for effect, guess time will tell.