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YIIK: A Postmodern RPG' includes text lifted straight from Haruki Murakami work and other sources [Dev responds, see threadmarks]

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Zero-ELEC

Zero-ELEC

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,565
México
It turns out that YIIK: A Postmodern RPG, a game so intellectually stunning that it was shunned by the gaming populace because they're not smart enough and has conclusively proven games can't be art, known for its tasteful representation of a real life tragedy, and a touching memorial for one of gaming's greatest icons, happens to contain unattributed, unauthorised quotes straight from Haruki Murakami's After Dark (NY Times link to excerpt, note disclaimer "No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.").

This comes from r/TwoBestFriendsPlay,

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Yiik's creator previously stated in an interview that he "was trying to make the video game version of a [...] Haruki Murakami novel."

Until this point it was unclear how literally that was.

Yiit me if old.
 
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signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,199
Incoming multiple "thats gonna be a yiik from me dawg" posts.

Also Hard Boiled Wanderland game when?

Zero-ELEC said:
Yiik's creator, on whom the main character of the game was in no way, shape or form based on, previously stated in an interview that he "was trying to make the video game version of a [...] Haruki Murakami novel."
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Never claim to evoke murakami when the art is that terrible @ creator.
 
_zoipi

_zoipi

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 23, 2017
2,377
Madrid
Wow, all of this ammount to a reaaaaaaaaally long video from Crowbcat about how awful this games is in every sense.
 
Tart Toter 9K

Tart Toter 9K

Member
Oct 25, 2017
397
Well, at least this proves the creator at least opened a Murakami Novel at one point in his life, which is way more than i gave him credit for...
 
Zippo

Zippo

Banned
Dec 8, 2017
8,256
I love Kirbohpher and the people that worked on this, but this game fucking blows and continues to blow.
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,426
Bizarre, I don't really remember After Dark outside of the terrific scene with the abandoned telephone in the supermarket, but lifting the extremely distinctive and unintentionally clunky sort of camera directions Murakami used is just... Real dumb.

I'm not really sure how far you're allowed to legally go with this sort of thing in a game?
 
hank_tree

hank_tree

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,596
This reminds me of when Fred Durst said his favourite band was Radiohead.
 
Aeferis

Aeferis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,626
Italy
Has anyone checked if Murakami is mentioned in the closing credits? Authors quote themselves all the time and I don't think it's wrong if a videogame does that too, but it should be in the credits if it's not done in bad faith.
 
CaviarMeths

CaviarMeths

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,655
Western Canada
Wow I missed the Elisa Lam reference thread. Appalling. That was such a heartbreaking case.

But hey the good news is it looks like video games can actually be art, since plagiarizing art is technically also art.
 
MetroidPrimeRib

MetroidPrimeRib

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,964
Plagiarizing Murakami is like the prefect summary of this entire game and lead developer. I cant think of anything more accurate
 
Odesu

Odesu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,545
Zero-ELEC said:
Yiik's creator, on whom the main character of the game was in no way, shape or form based on, previously stated in an interview that he "was trying to make the video game version of a [...] Haruki Murakami novel."
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Just want to make it clear one more time: This is Yiik's writer and creator:
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This poor dude has nothing to do with the game:

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We should stop repeating that point.
 
Eumi

Eumi

Member
Nov 3, 2017
3,518
So for anyone who's played the game, is there any particular reason for her to just be dumping Murakami quotes in third person (or is that external narration just with a character name still attacked for some reason)?

I can see it being a harmless homage if it makes sense as a character trait, but those seem like just strange lines to have a character say verbatim.
 
diakyu

diakyu

Member
Dec 15, 2018
17,540
Oliver James said:
Hmm. How does fair use work in literature?
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The story in question was released in 2007. You can get away with a lot but this is straight up just lifting the text and giving no credit. I've never played the game, but if this is played straight and they don't acknowledge it then there's no way it falls under fair use.

Eumi said:
So for anyone who's played the game, is there any particular reason for her to just be dumping Murakami quotes in third person (or is that external narration just with a character name still attacked for some reason)?
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This is important, context makes or breaks fair use.
 
signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,199
hans_castorp said:
Hard Boiled Wonderland is criminally underrated
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Is it? Not sure how most people rank his works honestly but it's my favourite one. I felt Kafka was a bit meh and found everything after that to be worse, but everything before that is almost tied for first place for me. Hard Boiled with the slight advantage though.
 

Deleted member 21411

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,907
SilentRob said:
Just want to make it clear one more time: This is Yiik's writer and creator:
avatars-000528541017-6bvi0y-t500x500.jpg


This poor dude has nothing to do with the game:

tumblr_plgj5w2DXM1wnu7z7o2_500.png


We should stop repeating that point.
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Poor guy doesn't deserve this.... the actual guy looks like he was rereading 12 steps for life after talking with Richard Spencer, it's exactly what I would have thought
 
SilentStorm

SilentStorm

Member
Apr 14, 2019
1,918
Oh God, please tell me there are more plagiarized lines because that would make my day.

Anyways, never played the game, i like RPG's, but aside from the setting, the game just looked really average at best, and didn't really feel like Earthbound, and i am glad that my views of the game just being a boring RPG worked out to be true apparently.

And has the writer said anything yet?
 

Fuu

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,361
Eumi said:
So for anyone who's played the game, is there any particular reason for her to just be dumping Murakami quotes in third person (or is that external narration just with a character name still attacked for some reason)?

I can see it being a harmless homage if it makes sense as a character trait, but those seem like just strange lines to have a character say verbatim.
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Agreed. The quoting might be fully intentional for a good reason. I don't think anyone would be silly enough to think they'd get away with plagiarizing a best seller author in this day an age.

That said, it's depressing how garbage this game seems to have turned out to be. I was interested in it for a long time. Then it was released and I saw the impressions...
 
Chaos2Frozen

Chaos2Frozen

Member
Nov 3, 2017
28,052
Couldn't it just be a reference though?

And I had no idea the Best Friends fanbase even had their eye on this game lol. Looking forward to the next Superbeast now.
 

Fuu

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,361
hans_castorp said:
He might have as well picked up a better novel to copy from. After Dark is one of his blandest.

Hard Boiled Wonderland is criminally underrated
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Haha, I actually enjoyed After Dark more than HBW overall. It helps that it's one of his shortest novels. Love Murakami, but Hard-Boiled Wonderland falls kind of flat to me because a good chunk the stuff outside of the End of the World (the actual "hard-boiled" part) feels weak by his standards. The imagery is great though.

OT: the setting of Haibane Renmei is loosely based on the town from the End of the World.

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Comic Obsessed

Comic Obsessed

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,792
Peru
Well, since the beginning the creator said he was heavily inspired by Murakami and is not strange when writers use other people's works as references.

Mind you, the correct thing would be to acknowledge that in the credits but considering how bad the whole execution of this game was...
 
Camjo-Z

Camjo-Z

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,514
Even if we assume the most malicious of intentions here, that this was not merely a hamfisted homage, that he decided to rip off this author he liked and put their great lines in his game without attribution to make people think he wrote them... this game has already been dragged without mercy, everyone knows it's bad. I can't imagine there's any further interesting critique to be found here unless you consider "YIIKES!" to be insightful commentary.
 
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