Aren't you afraid of someone stealing your ideas?

[SlaveOfThaMind]

im not really concerned about people thieving from the final product. It's more so about then taking from what I have released (spoilers) and running with it. Anybody could produce a crap game with anyone else's unfinalized project name, making the original dev more like a rip off artist.

@ Luchino. Every idea is an original idea. Just because its been thought of before doesn't make it any less original.

For instance.. several several years back when I worked at Wendy's, I went to my manager and said "Hey Tanya, you know what'd be good?" she said "What's that?" and that's when I said "Spicy chicken nuggets." A few years passed and guess what I happen to see on a commercial... you guessed it... spicy chicken nuggets. The idea was mine originally.  I'm sure the head folks at wendy's thought of it years later and said hey what an original idea lets do it... But I'm not upset about it.

The same can be said with burger king's chicken fries...

Anyway. Everyone's idea's are original. Just because other people have similar thought processes doesn't make an idea any less original than another. I think of things all of the time that come from my own mind without any influence. Most of these ideas have already been made a reality. That does not make my idea any less original because someone else has already thought of it and done something about it, especially when I never knew about it.

 

[Ksi]

When I was younger I used to be, but then I came to the realisation that you can throw ideas at people and they'll ignore them, so the chances of someone saying 'me wanty' and taking your game idea is pretty small.

That said, there have been cases where people have tried to take game ideas but any themed competition will show you how well that actually works out - everyone has different ways to implement the ideas so it doesn't matter if someone 'lifts' your 'original' thought because the way they interpret it will be completely different to the way you do. 

 

[Dalph]

Originality doesn't exist anymore, it's only a matter of inspiration, and how you turn things in your favour.

And who cares about people, or I should say "vultures" in this case, they can do what they want, it's clearly obvious that a copy (or a plagiarism) isn't anywhere as good as the original.

Those kind of people are mostly big incompetent or desperate, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[Celianna]

What I mean is, if someone sees my completed game, and copies it exactly, but then just improves upon it graphically, musically, etc, and then that one becomes the more known version and then people think I'm the one doing the plagiarising. That's my biggest irrational fear about RPGMaker. 


And their level of creativity doesnt come into it. Never underestimate how selfish and lazy people can be. Especially on the internet!

Like I said before, if anyone is going to steal your idea or game, word for word, feature for feature, they'll likely end up shooting themselves in the foot. Anyone who feels the need to steal something like that doesn't have any creativity themselves, and will end up with a very crappy project because they had no idea how to execute these ideas that didn't come from them.


There was a user who I - based on good faith - had given my project so they could look through the events and learn from it. They ended up copying the events and paste it into their own project. Then they came crying over to the support forum, wondering why their events weren't working. Obviously my events were tailored to my own project and ideas, and of course they're going to fail at understanding or using them the right way because it wasn't theirs in the first place. They were also 13 years old, which explains a lot.


So yes, your irrational fear is pretty irrational; people stealing your idea like this are idiots who can't come up with their own, and will make crappy knock-offs.


And if someone does take your idea and runs with it, making a really good game? Then it's not your idea anymore, because they must have added tons of their own ideas and creativity to make it good.

 

[West Mains]

Then they came crying over to the support forum, wondering why their events weren't working.

Hhahahahaha. Schadenfreude kicks in.

 

[Clord]

Let's just say that if someone steals any of our work putted towards Kingdom The Clans series. I would definitely report about it.


However in the end options are rather limited.

 

[Celianna]

Let's just say that if someone steals any of our work putted towards Kingdom The Clans series. I would definitely report about it.

On this forum, plagiarism and art theft isn't tolerated, so we will take it seriously

 

[Taien]

Balance. - You copyright your material, and make it clear on such. If assets are stolen, you go to a small claims court (or higher up) at least in the UK small claims courts are nothing to worry about, they are sit down affairs around a table.

The deeper you investigate the core structure of stories, the more you will see many in the mass media at least are very similar, they follow a formula (or a script). Once you release your idea its going to be absorbed anyway, that is the point, so the point isn't - will someone steal my ideas.

The point is - I want to be fairly rewarded for my time and effort. Whether that comes in the form of recognition, a job, some exposure, or a commercial project. Its better to release information with that in mind, you release enough to show people what you are doing, and generate interest, but not all you are working on by any means.
 

 

[Seacliff]

If someone was inspired off my game I would be flattered.

If someone took my idea word for word, I would be annoyed.

It's just a difference between good and bad. Some people just need a small push before ideas start to come in, and that push is an idea already thought up for them.

 

[Jay_NOLA]

For the game I'm working on for over a year a several of the resources I created for it I intend to allow others to use and I may release so of those resources before the game is finished.

One resource I'm not going to make allowable I'm not going to let others use, unless they get permission from me.  I am going to trademark, as I spent several years and a good amount of money doing research into making it and I have had other people try and get a copy of that research in the past using various reasons on why I ought to release it.  I've got it copyrighted at the moment.

My working project file uses another resource instead of the one I intend to in the final version because in case a test play copy got leaked.

I'm also making sure to mention that various companies who make 3D models, etc. that are being used, even when I don't have to according to the EULA for those models.  I've seen several people use the same resources and people erroneously have thought that those things were original creations of the person who made stuff for a game, etc. using those resources and who don't know that they aren't original.

If some one were to steal stuff exactly what I'd d is going to depend on what was stolen and how it was used.

 

[West Mains]

If someone was inspired off my game I would be flattered.

If someone took my idea word for word, I would be annoyed.

Although immitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

 

[Chrome]

Everyone steals ideas...

For example, look at Avatar (the giant blue alien movie)...the story is a verbatim rip off of Pocahontas, and Pocahontas was a rip off of something else.  Look at the custom scripts, all of the ideas are from pro games. Look at PlayStation trophy system, it was a rip off of Xbox achievement. Look at Ni no Kuni, it basically stole the idea of Pokemon with the battle system of Tales games. Look at quick time events, when it first came out it was cool, now every action game does it because they cant think of any new ideas.

Do you use sun rays? Guess what, you stole that idea from someone else right? Do you use fog effect to make cloud shadows or tree shadows? Do you map a certain way?

Inspiration is just a nice way of saying you stole something and just change it up a little bit so people don't hate you. You cant copy right an idea, but who cares? It is not the idea that makes a game, it is the execution. 

So don't worry about having your ideas stolen or whatever, especially when those ideas aren't even yours to begin with. 

 

[Ksi]

Actually, I'd say Ni no Kuni took the idea from the older Dragon Quest games rather than Pokemon.

Ideas are ideas and can be shared by people at the same time, half a world apart. Look at the Donald Duck comics, for example. There was another duck comic created at the same time, on the other side of the world, by someone who'd never seen or heard of Donald Duck but shared a lot of the same ideas. Coincidences to happen. Besides, like I've said many times, the details are what make a story different from one to the other. Look at the Breath of Fire series, for example. There's always the Goddess Tyr, there's always Ryu and Nina, the Dragon Clan, a religious background, various groups of races - and yet each game is quite different from the other despite all the overlapping ideas. Same with the Final Fantasy franchise in the early years - chocobos, moogles, save the world plots, crystals, fire/fira/firaga, summons... all ideas that are shared, but each game very different from each other.

Details. They're what really counts.

As to stealing actual content created for a game - big no-no. It's been done before but when people realise it and point it out, the thief is usually reviled in the community. No-one likes their hard work taken, after all, so anger towards thieves is to be expected. I still remember this one guy who stole a map from a very well-known game and changed it a little to present it as his own, who got blasted to hell and back. He learned the consequences the hard way by forever having suspicious eyes cast on his every game and map afterwards. 

 

[Zechnophobe]

For me, I just need to get focused and finish something sizeable. This isn't the first or the last thing I will make, and the ones I'll really hope to have 'rights' over won't be things made in RPG maker, probably.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Not really, it's not like I have a really original idea anyways... I don't even see a game nowadays that is mostly made of unique ideas... highest are maybe around 30% original idea, 70% recycled idea... 

the way we come up with ideas nowadays is that we get ideas from different areas then try to mix them up... 

 

[Omnimental]

Ideas are a dime a dozen, it's the presentation and execution that matters.  If someone stole my game assets, I would be annoyed.  Especially considering work on my project has slowed considerably since I'm creating the artwork myself.  Of course, I'd also be flattered that they considered my work good enough to take, but that's besides the point.

I find the difference between inspiration and theft is directly dependent on how much work they invest in changing what they take.  If they drop your work 1-for-1 into their own project without permission, that's theft, no way around it.  But if they use the knowledge they've taken from your work to improve upon their own project?  There's nothing wrong with that.  Plus, in regards to storylines, realistic stories requires an intimate knowledge of the setting and characters that a thief doesn't have.  They may have your work, but they won't be able to do anything with it besides make it worse.  And the people who can improve upon what you write likely don't need to steal another person's work in the first place.

 

[Tsukihime]

Not at all.


My game with 150 total downloads over a period of several months being a target of a thief? That's quite the funny thought. You'd think an idea thief would steal their ideas from one of the major RPG Maker titles, not some obscure game that no one's ever heard of (it's obscure for a reason). And it's not like my game's original anyway... there isn't much unique to steal from.

Or, they take your idea that you thought was obscure and turn it into a million dollars with the proper delivery.


That's where the money is, not the big names that have already capitalized on their ideas.


There are thousands of indie games out there with all sorts of random, never-before-seen ideas. It's hard to imagine none of them can turn into a million dollars.


Don't underestimate your idea just because you think it is not worth much.

 

[estriole]

What about a guy made of felt tip pens who bleeds crayola and a brown, wavy tapestry known as "the stildge."

That's sounds pretty original to me.

Making common used 'object' to life and become a character is not a real original. It's has been done before even in 'beauty and the beast' (the teapot). Using another type from (tableware) to (stationary) is only a variation of that idea. Since there's no special traits that differ it greatly (in 'cars' movie it's a new level of idea. Since it's not just 'common things' to life but 'transportation'. So it's original...)So I agree that almost no original idea anymore. But even it's not 100% original idea it's okay as long as it's unique enough. And since the idea already explored a lot. So It become tougher to get original one.

But if you add 'I' in the 'pens'. As a character that might be more original. Lol. Living pen*s which walk arround. .

 

[The Stranger]

I wouldn't like someone to out-right steal my ideas and claim them as their own; at least not word for word. However, many of my ideas are inspired by the cultures of our world, by folklore and mythology, by world events and from every day life. I can't really claim any of those things as my own, really. I love to share my ideas with others, sometimes you can field an idea which really benefits someone else's story\game and what not. In all of my creative work, I hope that others might take something away from it, expand upon it, become inspired by it; ultimately use it to fuel their own creativity. There's nothing wrong with taking someone else's ideas and expanding upon it, changing it, and using it in your own work; it's been done for G-d knows how long.

 

[Clord]

Inspiration is a bit different thing than plagiarism.


Inspiration is something encouraged and good. Like how I took inspiration from Naruto, various other shows and games.


Really if you want to make sure that someone doesn't use your ideas before you, then that would require to keep them secret until then.