Though there surely ought to be some middle ground. The concepts of gold siver copper buys actions cards 1vp 3vp 6vp are present in many games and uncopyrightable. There should be some good electronic forum for your personal set. Right?
I get the objection "we don't want to". But I struggle to beleive "it's impossivble"
That they are present in many games doesn't make them "uncopyrightable" - you do realize all of these other games copied Dominion, right? Not saying they are definitely subject to copyright either, but I don't think anyone here is interested in exploring the limits of a legally safe Dominion knockoff. We know the people that make it and it's kinda rude.
You alluded to this point above, and then decided it was okay because a lot of other people were doing it. What does that have to do with the morality of knocking off this game? It just means some other people aren't ascribing to that moral value, it doesn't actually make anything okay.
Hi Chris. As I say, the ethical dimension matters to me. I'm sorry for being unclear. I don't think that "just because someone else does it is ethically fine". However, there seems to be an understanding within the board game market that some degree of imitation is okay. Many games now use some set of actions, buys, coins, trashing, etc.
I'm up for a discussion as to whether these other games are ethical, but it seems to be that it is an accepted part of the board game industry that games can take mechanics from one another. I think the main point is, does the existence of dominion mean that no similar game can exist with different cards? I think the answer should be no.
I don't know the people who make it, but if I made a game, I wouldn't want it to be copied and hawked online. However, I wouldn't think it right that all similar games shouldn't exist because mine does, they just couldn't be exactly the same.
I'll consider whether this would be, but I would argue that the main thing that now sets dominion apart from many similar games is it's actual cards. It's core mechanics are copied everwhere. I suggest that a game without any dominion cards but the same core mechanics (decks actions buys coins trashind drawing) would be a different game.
I don't know, though, and I could be wrong.
An obvious counterpoint is that many cards on here go beyond that - they use the framework of what is clearly solely dominion (attacks, debt, reactions etc etc) and to copy that would be to copy dominion, not to build another deckbuilder with space for community generated cards.
I don't seek to upset, this is a reasonable and sincere discussion and I respect being told "this is wrong".