So, if a person makes a well done fan-game based off a popular game (one that has the approval of the original ip owners), and garners attention that in turn results in the developer gaining fans… then the next game they develop for profit sells well, this is unethical or somehow unfair to creators who choose to strictly make original content for profit? Even IF these creators are doing this intentionally to make a name for themselves (which I’m sure is usually not the case and certainly doesn’t seem to be the case for the creator of “Shadow Moses”… I see absolutely no issue with this.
Clearly the “War of Stars” developer was using unethical means, but aside from using a picture they did not own, I doubt there is anything in the game that is actually stolen property… And in this example I think to assume a game like this would get very high download numbers is selling the buying gameplayers short to assume they would fall for such blatant deception – but even IF it did result in a lot of initial downloads if the game is half as bad as I’m assuming it probably is, this will HURT this developer’s reputation and make it that much harder for them should they decide to make an honest attempt in the future.
At the end of the day quality is going to be the most important thing… No matter what marketing schemes or dirty tricks a potential developer employs, it will not result in SUSTAINING sales and fan bases if the quality is not there.