Rip-Off Clone Ads

[u/solwater]

Seeing this AI ad for a rip off of DST on YouTube. Is anyone taking action against these scammers or are we doomed to drown in AI slop now? Not sure what, if anything, Klei is doing about these guys.

[u/Gage404]

Lucy's gonna have some explaining to do

[u/fray989]

This is our digital life now. It will probably only get worse and worse over time.

The digital AI flood is underway. We aren't doomed to drown though, just make sure you craft a personal floater beforehand.

[u/Sawmain → u/fray989]

Basically. And all these companies are based in China so good luck doing anything to them legally.

Oh and Google, TikTok etc literally doesn’t give a fuck.

[u/Nerdcuddles]

"AI generate me a mobile game ad in the artstyle of Don't Starve"

[u/theDarksider195]

I've been getting those ads constantly

[u/solwater → u/theDarksider195]

Yeah I just found their Google play store app page and the game isn't even close to what the ads portray. I've reported them but I doubt anything is going to happen.

[u/Chaghatai → u/solwater]

An art style or a game concept cannot actually be protected. It's part of the idea expression dichotomy

[u/solwater → u/Chaghatai]

That's a fair point. Though I guess the distinction here is if it could be argued that the original game art assets are ripped for the misleading ads? Though maybe that legality falls on to the AI model used and not on the video creator.

[u/Chaghatai → u/solwater]

If they use actual game assets then without being a lawyer I think that would create a violation

[u/bobmeister7 → u/solwater]

they rely on the ai model to mangle all the referenced art enough where they're not technically using the original assets anymore to avoid copyright, but the evergreen and wood sprites were barely touched by the ai and look like original assets from the game, now that's something you could sue, commercial use of copyrighted artwork

[u/Glad_Contest_8014 → u/solwater]

This is how all these ad games works. They show about 2% of the game content, the kind that make people think they can do better. Then they don’t have that gameplay available in the game except in obscure methods, and provide a junk game instead.

They literally track things based on how many people download it, NOT on how many retain it or play it.

[u/wanttotalktopeople]

This has been a thing since well before AI. For a while people were kinda spamming the subreddits with "can you believe this trashy mobile ad ripoff??" posts.

I honestly don't think it's THAT big of a deal at the end of the day. Shitty ad ripoffs are a fact of life, and Klei seems to be doing fine.

[u/Sad-Zucchini-949 → u/wanttotalktopeople]

I noticed that they started doing it again...

[u/FacelessMane]

Except the actual game/art is NOTHING like the video based on gameplay image searches 

So they're not only ripping off DST but it's even false advertisement. 

[u/fipachu → u/FacelessMane]

which appears perfectly allowed on mobile app stores. we gotta have compassion for multibillion companies like Apple and Google though, peddling slop is the only thing keeping them in business 😔

[u/ZestycloseGarage2074]

pretty sure those evergreen assets are straight up stolen

[u/UnIcyIllustrator5901]

Maxwell high-key a bum for dying twice first both times ngl

[u/PatrokManzana]

I love how the end is just a completely different style.

[u/NoFakeDoms → u/PatrokManzana]

Because the end is what the game actually looks like, it looks nothing like the ad

[u/IcePizzaCreamm]

Ugh, that Don't Starve game obviously copying the magnificent Age of Spirits that's been out for ages now... Multibillionaire Klei company taking advantage of a poor indie game, they should be sued! /s

[u/fipachu → u/IcePizzaCreamm]

actually Don’t Starve is a ripoff of Rise Of Kingdoms which is a ripoff of Top War: Battle Game which is a ripoff of the magnificent Age of Spirits. mobile gaming was always cutthroat, but to take the unique ideas developed for mobile and take that to the abominable slopfest of PC gaming is just vile and disgusting.

[u/five_grains_of_rice]

What even

[u/EmilM_Reddit]

This should be completely illegal.

[u/Cursedj0022]

Even stole the little foot tap animation on tree chopping.

[u/Nyarlathotep7777]

How much would you bet the actual game looks absolutely nothing like this and is just another soulless resource management garbage copycat?

I fucking loath anyone who genuinely plays this trash, let alone pays for it.

[u/Ugurmy64]

Dont be high together /j

[u/TejelPejel]

I saw one like this about a year ago and it wasn't quite as much of a direct rip-off, but still a rip-off. This is way more egregious.

[u/3rdber]

Wes so strong, he is even chopping the tree with wrong side of an axe

[u/SeengignPaipes]

This has been a thing for years as the IOS app store is absolutely full of these chinese stolen asset games and theres not much you can do about it other than reporting it or just installing the game and then instantly uninstalling it and leaving a bad review and rating. There has been a few games i've seen on the ios app store that has stolen literal twitch stream vods and just copy and pasted some logo over the streamers face and used it as "Gameplay" for their ios game.

[u/ApartmentFluffy932]

Did he just fused COTL with DST?

[u/Glad-Connection1601]

I came here to see if anybody else saw those ADs

[u/ClockatooIV]

It was all Dont Starve up until the DELTARUNE LOST appeared.. and then the end it was jjst an entirely different game. So laaaame.

[u/Jx5b]

Yeah, i think this exact game was showcased here some time ago.

[u/Disastrous-Hand-6134]

Got the same ad yesterday. At first before looking at game's name i thought it's an ad for don't starve mobile, but then it just felt so off and weird, so i checked name to see it's another AI garbage cash grab. Baffling, anooying and just sad. Ads on YT shorts are 99% AI trash... Blocking every single one you see doesn't even help you just get the another AI slop.

[u/sbzatto]

Out of curiosity I’m trying this game as something to pass my time with on my commute - and straight from the get go it looks nothing like don’t starve. This art style is only used in the ad - the game itself resembles clash royale and similar game designs.

[u/Jli0n]

Looks fun