Nobody can stop you from stealing The Great Gatsby

In January of 2021, F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby left copyright. In response, two developers organized a game jam on itch.io to celebrate their new ability to "steal" The Great Gatsby. But how does copyright - and also patents - affect video games, and who do copyright laws protect? Simone de Rochefort looks at the games produced by Gatsby Jam and what the creators of the game jam have to say about copyright and the proliferation of ideas.
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#thegreatgatsby #videogames

[@polygon]

Play Rhythm Action Gatsby: robgamesthingy.itch.io/rhythm-action-gatsby

[@rionsanura]

There is nothing I respect more than Simone's single-minded determination to get Jazz Age literature onto KZbin.

[@ameliaporto]

Polygon: But Simone, we are a videogame channel. Simone: That won't stop me!

[@danw91]

I just watch Polygon because they will introduce me to stuff I'd otherwise never check out and they are really passionate about it. There's nothing better than passionate people.

[@RG.9970]

Positive passionate people are amazing! I encourage them to share what they’re passionate about. Please encourage these people in healthy ways!! If you see it taking a negative/bad turn that harms themselves or others, please have them seek help.

[@ameliaporto]

WWII soldiers reading The Great Gatsby and dreaming about going back home millionaires is the proof that you can take whatever lesson from any book you read.

[@BadgerOfTheSea]

"If this WW1 vet can do it then I can too" was a common mentality during WW2. Both sides wheeled out WW1 vets and talked about how successful their lives were after fighting to encourage recruitment

[@tommarsdon5644]

​@@BadgerOfTheSea it took me way longer than I'm really willing to admit for me too realize you're talking about veterans and not veterinarians.

[@mercury4885]

i think dogs should sneeze in more interviews actually

[@polygon]

I agree

[@googiegress7459]

Everyone's okay with dogs sneezing in interviews, but they're less okay with dogs sneezing INTO interviews.

[@outbakjak]

I THINK DOGS SHOULD BE ABLE TO VOTE If you get the reference....... I love you.

[@Sudsyjellyfish]

Can’t wait for the new series: Clayton explains classic novels he’s never read

[@avanmire8706]

+

[@nahometesfay1112]

The best part is I read it back in HS and I'm not sure if he's wrong.

[@Michael_Lindell]

Here's an idea: An open world crime game set in the Jazz Age. The Great GTAsby.

[@polygon]

oMDSfG:DLFh

[@satansshadow2163]

Mafia 2?

[@caelanwinans3738]

Mafia 2

[@LordMogatron]

Simone: First, a quick refresher on "The Great Gatsby!" Me, a guy who has definitely read it: Oh thank god.

[@LordMogatron]

Also, I know this is not the point of the video, but Simone's hair looks amazing

[@bangboom123]

Let's be real: this is just so Simone can demand a game jam for The Sun Also Rises

[@polygon]

you KNOW i looked for one

[@igerstel]

I am being bombarded with high school English class from 25 years ago right now and I am not comfortable! (do Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea pls)

[@amberbydreamsart5467]

hilariously, I've never read Gatsby, but I did have to read Sun Also Rises for a class and I HATED it. I made my whole final paper about how I hated it, in 2 hours while on nyquil because I was going to go to japan in the morning and needed to fall asleep the moment I turned it in, but I still got an A so there's that!

[@alexaurorus9767]

2:06 I find this really interesting! Even when I was reading Gatsby in high school, I felt like a lot of people's criticism of the book came from people disliking things that (to me) were meant to be disliked (which is why I loved the book). To me, I felt like Fitzgerald knows that Nick is not a reliable narrator or moral authority *at all*. When introducing himself, Nick legit just says that his family were able to get really wealthy because his great uncle was able to pay someone to go serve in the Civil war in his place and started a business that his family still runs.

[@polygon]

I definitely felt the same way! The way he describes himself comes off as more than a little unaware at how naive and slightly pompous he sounds, and I always felt like that was intentional. -Simone

[@alexaurorus9767]

@@polygon Yes! "My dad told me never to judge people because, after all, I had things pretty good growing up" *judges everyone anyway for the entire novel*

[@caseysailor9301]

i think this is the problem with required reading as it mostly is. I personally hate unsympathetic narrators. I don't wanna hear about what people I don't care for are getting up to. If you forced me to sit through that, I might hate 'it' aswell.

[@jonahfalcon1970]

And it's likely Zelda wrote it, not F. Scott.

[@leeeorama]

​@@jonahfalcon1970before or after the events of BOTW?

[@ByronAndOnAndOn]

Thank you for this video! As a lawyer, I have so many ethical issues with IP law, and I think we all should be more critical for how we organize it.

[@Zectifin]

glad theres some Lawyers out there with some actual morals.

[@dominateeye]

The only reason there is any defense of copyright and intellectual property is because the society we live in refuses to provide for everyone's needs, so everyone has to have an angle to generate value to society to be able to survive. If we didn't have that, there would be no need for these concepts. It's also important to remember that the people who had the first or most profitable angles are the ones who twist and manipulate these (and other) concepts to always benefit them and never benefit anyone trying to establish themselves today. Copyright is not your friend, unless you're rich. To bring in a totally unrelated issue, this is the core thing people arguing against "AI" art forget.

[@conceptualization101]

@@dominateeye are you trying to imply that AI art is going to bring on a techno utopia based on equality? I ask because the rest of your comment seems to be written by someone who understands how society works, and isn’t naive enough to think that AI art is going be anything other than a tool for those who have all the power to flatten art into content and reduce artists to low-skill, prompt entry drones.

[@JCintheBCC]

@@dominateeye The only defense of currency or wages or the concept of "ownership" is because the society we live in refuses to provide for everyone's needs, so everyone has to have an angle to generate value to society to be able to survive. Why stop at criticizing copyright?

[@Reilaos]

"The Freight Gatsby" => Ticket to Ride but you're trying to get home to win back your old (already married) flame.

[@jugofwar8124]

The Gatsby game I would make would be a ball bouncing game where you control Gatsbys floating corpse in the pool as you try to bounce beach balls from one side of the screen to the other

[@haphazardlark1502]

I almost choked on a bite of apple when I read this and eas seconds away from doing a self Heimlich maneuver against a chair. Which would be a tragedy because it means I could have died before seeing if this ever came to fruition. You are visionary.

[@MrBangBat]

I love the idea of taking the Ash Heap, a setting most of the characters in Gatsby just for drive past and ignore, and making a story about the people who are stuck in it.

[@ramshacklealex7772]

That comment just made me want a Wide Sargasso Sea game

[@jasonlescalleet5611]

To be fair that was my idea too, only as a hyperrealistic UE5 game with nanite ashheaps and volumetric smoke and particles everywhere. Which would probably take too long to implement, but whatever. Anyhow, the story of the Valley of Ashes, including what became of it, is every bit as fascinating as the Great Gatsby itself. (Robert Moses turned it into a park by way of two worlds fairs, which in turn inspired Walt Disney to create Epcot-the wonderful world of the future was literally built atop Fitzgerald’s hell!)

[@MrBangBat]

@@jasonlescalleet5611 how grimly fascinating!

[@TheSongwritingCat]

@@ramshacklealex7772 Only if there's an option where you kill Rochester and prevent the events of Jane Eyre.

[@Dolthra]

I will personally never forgive the patenting of the Nemesis system. Such a cool and unique new mechanic that really make Shadow of Mordor a game worth playing (because you could just imagine how future games might use this) and then... nothing. It makes no sense that game mechanics can be patented if they can't be copyrighted, and I consider it a flagrant misuse of our patent/copyright system.

[@dominateeye]

I think one could make a very solid argument that the system is designed to be misused.

[@kaspianepps7946]

The vast majority of things which can be patented can't be copyrighted - they're completely seperate systems. (Not saying the Nemesis system patent was right - there are a lot of dodgy software patents.)

[@personeater747]

It's exactly how the copyright system was meant to be used. We need an american pirate party

[@DeathnoteBB]

As a creator/artist, the copyright/trademark system is a frenemy. Sure your stuff can be protected, but it also keeps stuff out of the publics hands for nigh 100 years

[@JCintheBCC]

@@kaspianepps7946 Nothing that can be patented can be copyrighted. It's actually a mutually exclusive requirement. You cannot get double protection on something by arguing it is both a functional invention and an artistic expression. The one exception can be Design patents, but when most people talk about patents (like the Nemesis patent) they are referring to Utility patents.

[@adiraslattery614]

There's actually a few itch jams about public domain work that happen every year! Excited to see you covering this!!

[@wannabegames3631]

There is even a annual "Public Domain Jam" I believe.

[@adiraslattery614]

@Wannabe Games theres that one, there's also "Gaming like its 19XX" which is more physical game focused. There's so many! Jams rule!

[@Flippo___]

I only had to see the title to know that Simone made this one 😂

[@polygon]

you SEE I finally didn't put the host's face in the thumb, but this one had to be super easy mode for guessing haha

[@MattMcIrvin]

The "ashen land" was the passage that really stuck in my brain when I originally read the book--whenever I happened across some blasted industrial wasteland I remembered it. Only later realized that I'd been to the actual place--the area is what later became Flushing Meadows/Corona Park, the site of the 1964 World's Fair.

[@davidnotonstinnett]

Something about the Jazz Age just screams “point and click adventure” game

[@dissonantcity8710]

now here's the content I come to polygon for: Simone encouraging crimes

[@avrilayers]

oh hey, I did one of those! I designed The Great Gatsby: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game. the gameplay in my game is specifically about the public domain and has the players selecting public domain characters to play (and includes a table that lets you know that, starting next year, you're allowed to play the game as Walt Disney's mouse OC) and is about the tension between nostalgia for the past and the desire to create new things and how that relates to both the novel (and Gatsby's whole deal with Daisy) and to our collective relationship with copyrighted material. if you bought the Indie Bundle for Abortion Funds on itch last July, you own this one, btw!! also here's a fun note: the game includes an overview of the plot of the novel as a tool for the GM in case they can't recall exactly what it's about, and my first draft of just the first chapter's summary was 3000 words long. my editor was very upset at me.

[@haphazardlark1502]

Listen, you gotta keep your editors on their toes. (That project sounds so cool!!)

[@joshdoesthingsallthetime]

Leave it to Simone to make a video about a game about a book 😂 keep it up!!

[@jeffjeff24]

this reminds me when i was 8 and filmed my interpretation of romeo and juliet with a barbie doll as juliet, my fave cat plushie as romeo, and my big tiger plushie as The Evil Emperor who was the main villian. there were fairies involved.

[@cthulhucult3230]

Ahh so you just combined 3 Shakespeare plays into 1, with an evil tiger to make it cooler of course.

[@wowRichtoad]

I have always wanted the Chao garden to come back. I have not bought a 3D Sonic game in a long long time (since Unleased), but if there was a Chao garden I 100% would. If someone were to make a Chao Garden simulator, and just reskin it so it was different I would definitely buy it.

[@teh5thh]

Love the discussion about copyright, it's a shame that copyright keeps getting extended ad infinatum.

[@Saturn-gs6wl]

I love getting to see people talking about the things they love, and how that leads to not only me becoming interested in those things (thanks Simone) but also to exploring relevent issues like copyright! This video was awesome, 10/10!

[@Saturn-gs6wl]

My only letdown is that it is not, in fact, legal to steal physical copies of the Great Gatsby from stores

[@phillipfossell4624]

At 1:06, I rather feel like it can't be a coincidence that the sin is cropped to read "you are now entering ew york city"

[@polygon]

ewwww

[@Ezakur]

I'd love to see more coverage of these kind of topics! More information about itch games and jams beyond the scope of videogames! More TTRPGs! This is really cool

[@toedmushroom9509]

I'm actually sitting in a classroom full of The Great Gatsby copies at the time of getting this video notification.

[@DavisGSee]

When I first got really into Gatsby, I played a Great Gatsby hidden object game that I remember being pretty good!

[@polygon]

OOOOH fun!

[@IsaacMayerCreativeWorks]

I spy with T. J. Eckleburg’s massive billboarded eye

[@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868]

This literally released while I was sitting in english class discussing this book is Simone stalking me?

[@polygon]

NICE

[@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868]

Update: Showed it to my english teacher, she said to send her the game jam and one day we'd play it in class

[@mercury4885]

6:24 YES!!! i wondered if this had something to do with it. love the stealing concept so much

[@ButtonGirl22]

I have a game I play with Polygon videos without people in the thumbnail where I guess who made the video, but this one was a little too easy…

[@ekg793]

I read this in high school and literally named my car "old sport" but I doubt I can recall the actual plot better than Clayton 😂

[@AndyTheWatchdog]

Love the the variety, creativity and depths of this channel and its art!! Thank you for everything you put into polygon - its a constant delight! 😊

[@amandag2053]

Oh somebody please make a game based on the chao garden!!! haha

[@polygon]

everyone is saying this

[@dinolandra]

I've been wanting one since I was 12!

[@Michael_Lindell]

Well, 'The Legend of Zelda' already stole F. Scott's wife's name...

[@coey2]

So glad this conversation went into issues with copyright law. I wish more people realized how these laws uphold corporate greed and choke creativity.

[@patbak235]

Corporate greed that this very company takes advantage of

[@afistfulofvideos]

This was SO GOOD! I love finding out about new GameJams (and also dunking on copyright law) Great Job!

[@WolfWalrus]

Hate how expensive legal services are. Court cases can bankrupt a smaller company, even if they end up winning, and bigger companies know that they can afford to eat the costs, but they also know that lots of small companies just won't call their bluff, because they can't afford to. It gives big companies much more power than is actually based on the law in their corner.

[@tomservodoctor42]

I remember that around 2010 or so, there was a free flash game online that was a 2d nes style platformer based on The Great Gatsby. Wonder if it's still out there somewhere.

[@Jerry12i]

Loved everything about this video. Thank you Simone!

[@mercury4885]

All talk about dog sneezes and WOTC aside, this was a really excellent video. Great work!

[@AllieRouthier]

haven't clicked on a polygon video in a while but this one caught my eye, watching it made me remember how much I really love polygon's videos :) why did I ever leave!!! I have returned home

[@cinnamon_shakes]

Never read The Great Gatsby and while I had picked up bits and pieces, this is the first time the plot was explained to me. Nice to know I wasn't wrong about the car accident bit. (Also Simone your hair looks so nice!)

[@lauraeleven7417]

Amazing video!!! I want to see the wild stuff that will come out now with Sherlock being out of copyright

[@juanjuri6127]

simone should do more videos about stealing, how to steal, and steal accessories

[@chasingdaze]

These devs are all cowards or someone would have done "Daisy's Fun Drive!" the endless racing game where you have to hit as many Myrtles as possible (they're turtles because it rhymes)

[@bucca2]

I feel like your impression of the Great Gatsby is a great litmus test for how much reading comprehension you learned in high school. Nick and everybody in the book is supposed to suck and you’re supposed to dislike them, because as Nick himself says: they’re careless people who smash up people and things and then escape the consequences. But also, commit crimes. Write gay fanfiction. Read the whole thing for free on ao3!! SPIT UPON COPYRIGHT AND PATENTS

[@JoeMenjivar]

Simone, if you are reading this, your hair looks great.

[@polygon]

yo thank you

[@MonterdewPSN]

Got to be real, this was a really well written video! At first I clicked because I was intrigued by the title and loved the book. This video discusses a lot of great points and further discusses other issues while using Gatsby as a baseline to look at other more important topics and to get us thinking. So I say thank you.

[@kikivf4nr]

saw the thumbnail and instantly said "simone..." to myself before even seeing who was hosting this one

[@claussenmusic]

7:30 suddenly Gillian Anderson's Margaret Thatcher comes out of nowhere for 3 seconds

[@alainterieur4837]

I had that book as required reading in my English as third language class in Switzerland. It was a pretty interesting read, but sometimes the vocabulary was a bit too advanced for my then B2 (5.5 IELTS) proficiency level. Watching the movie helped me a lot to better understand what was happening, because it some passages were still a bit fuzzy in my head

[@danielandresriveraflores8865]

cant wait for Jrpg style "grapes of wrath" games

[@grassypond4996]

The moment you said "Gatsby Jam" I was totally enthralled by the idea and immediately googled it

[@wannabegames3631]

Please let Wannabe Games have access to the Nemesis system for a Super Hero RPG. It would be so rad. Also thanks Simone!

[@Glacier_Nester]

I LOVE the public domain jams, so glad polygon is shining a light on them!

[@naryanbirdi9394]

Loved the insight in this video! I especially appreciated the input from Dyrus and Jess!

[@kilo3989]

Clayton knows precisely as much about The Great Gatsby as I do

[@nocturneJOJO]

I didn't realize Winona Ryder got 30 years younger and went into game journalism! Great video by the way! :D

[@irin7287]

another one of my fav simone vids ❤

[@than217]

4:07 This is a man that knows how to Gatsby.

[@melissayes3161]

it's great that Simone could blame - I mean - give credit to the writers for their jokes :3c

[@NikELbErGErBergel]

Simone Videos are always so good

[@yuler_]

that most replayed bump lmao

[@CirqueDuFreak2000]

This is the most Simone video imaginable.

[@BadgerOfTheSea]

Shout out to KZbin for thinking this is a BioShock play through video

[@mark-breen]

I have never read a Hemmingway book or The Great Gatsby, but I’ll still watch videos about them if it’s Simone talking (also I do think I’ll read The Sun Also Rises this year)

[@mkb285]

Love this! This was great

[@firstnamelastname6686]

BY THE TITLE ALONE... IS IT SAYING WHAT I THINK ITS SAYING??? IVE BEEN WAITING FOR FOUR YEARS FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF SOMEONE DESECRATING HIS NOVEL INTO A FULL LENGTH 1920S FLUFF PIECE ABOUT DAISY AND JORDAN🎉

[@Nintendofan91]

I would LOVE a stand-alone game with the mechanics and gameplay loop of the Chao Garden in Sonic Adventure 2.

[@Neuvost]

after all this time, we've finally got the green light

[@joeboykitz6985]

Simone is one of my all time favorite humans. ❤❤

[@ajfreemont]

as a former participant and organizer in many an itchio game jam, it's always wonderful to see the games and game jams on there getting some love from a KZbin channel/website/blog with a following like Polygon's.

[@macavity7716]

this is the simone-est simone video i could have imagined (compliment)

[@NestOfThought]

I hope clayton covers the version of gatsby where he has scoliosis

[@caseysailor9301]

I predict this video will be about Simone and her banger fashion sense. That's what The Great Gatsby was about..right? Fashion?

[@caseysailor9301]

Thank you Tara, for your banger one-liner!

[@caseysailor9301]

Every day I wake up and Seethe, struggling even, to breathe under the tyranny of the Nemesis System Patent.

[@love_tammy]

big fan of the whole aesthetic of this video

[@noahdoss1967]

The day Simone doesn't look at least a little bit disheveled is the day I stop watching Polygon

[@dragonflies6793]

Thanks Tara for the good joke

[@TheGlooga]

watching this video made me realize that the sun also rises is already in public domain and there's no "i picked a fight with a bull and died horribly" game where jake picks a fight with a bull and dies horribly. whats even the point

[@Epinardscaramel]

I feel the same way about Cyrano de Bergerac 🥰 (there have been a few games as well)

[@mmkfk]

This is the most Simone thing to ever Simone.

[@whylal]

such a cool topic hell yeah, I remember there being a big fuss about the copyright about Sherlock Holmes respecting women being something from later books and so still under copyright? Which if that was true is such bull

[@ARMTOAST]

insanely good title. i clicked. and i watched the whole video

[@agustinpastoreburgos]

I love adaptations, Painting Werther is a new one pretty interesting

[@SpookyBeverage]

Chadtronic is actually making a game based on the chao garden!

[@antonm_]

1:02 Insert Law & Order sound FX here ⚖

[@GrimoireOfJank]

I JUST wrote a paper for college about copyright bullshit messing up games

[@milenacosta8299]

I think this video was made for me??! Anyways another banger

[@ollisayshi9017]

title unclear, I have been banned from my local public library

[@robzs8388]

Ironic how that one dude seems to be completely oblivious to the fact that TGG is literally a critique of the upper class, and the romance is really just the plot. The themes are all Rich Bad

[@Joshua-uw7wm]

My 3rd favorite story book of all time

[@TheSpyder49]

nothing makes me more angry than copyright and patent laws. which is why i share an online ttrpg collection worth thousands of dollars with as many strangers as i can

[@golden_starlight_]

it's so sad that copyright in the hands of corporations kills the creativity of everything else but as a small artist you're almost forced to copyright everything bc if you don't those same corporations will steal everything from you and then sue you even if you had the original idea

[@EnforcerErik]

Yes! Down with intellectual property laws!

[@SpydrXIII]

Warframe has a pretty good nemesis system with Kuva Liches and Sisters Of Parvos.

[@pooolB]

10:10 omg is that why splatoon 1 had one?

[@mog1755]

"Fscott Fitzgerald" 😂

[@JCintheBCC]

I feel like this video would benefit from a discussion, or at least mention of Fair Use doctrine. The closing argument of the video is that copyright should not stifle literary criticism, commentary, and parody. That's expressly what Fair Use is. The Copyright Office says "Transformative uses are those that add something new, with a further purpose or different character, and do not substitute for the original use of the work." All of these games seem to provide either parody, criticism, or commentary without substituting for the original use of the work.