Re: (TFT) Appropriate use of copyrighted material

[Michael Taylor <MichaelTaylor1@compuserve.com>]

Message text written by INTERNET:tft@brainiac.com
>At the very least, however,
creating something that is merely a conversion of someone else's work, even
though it is legal, is at best lazy.<

As a programmer though, you know darn well that 'conversion' of a game
system to a computer program is not trivial. You also know that the
benefits of a program (and the skills needed to write it) are entirely
different than the skills needed to write a good game. 

In other words, how is it lazy, when it takes entirely different skills and
work?

>>>TFT is a decent set of tabletop game rules -- but it is good
>>>for reasons that would make it a fairly poor core for a computer game.

I have to disagree entirely. TFT would make a better computer game than
most of the games out there precisely BECAUSE it's a good tabletop game.
Most game programs are written by computer programmers. This makes the
priorities and design processes entirely different than a tabletop game.
This is also why most of the software written is so lousy - because the
person writing the software and the person doing the job they need the
software for rarely talk to each other.

There's about million ways you could enhance the game with the computer and
enhance the computer gaming experience with the game. Think about it -
which would make a better computer game - a computer game written by a
progammer and a game designer or a game written by a programmer? 

Michael
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