Opinion on Plagiarism

[notmexicanjose]

So I was thinking, as a newbie(both here in the forums and RPG maker in general), I would probably be borrowing some scripts and copying and editing some textures or sprites for my early/trial games. I can't shake the feeling that with every idea I have, someone already thought about it and capitalising on those idea would get me in trouble.


So, let's say I copied scripts from other people, copied and edited a few textures from various people to put into my project and decided to publish it on steam(for example).


How much trouble am I getting into?


And what are your opinions on selling your game as your own product?


Thanks.

 

[waynee95]

You should never claim the work of other people as your own. 


You can just use the scripts and credit them, why copying and say it was your work? 


Same goes for Resources. It depends if edits are allowed, if yes you can edit but must also give proper credit.

 

[notmexicanjose]

You should never claim the work of other people as your own. 


You can just use the scripts and credit them, why copying and say it was your work? 


Same goes for Resources. It depends if edits are allowed, if yes you can edit but must also give proper credit.

Those are some good points. I always try to credit people when I borrow their work. To me its more of a paranoia that I might not be allowed to earn money from borrowed resources than actually taking credit from someones work.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

You need to check the terms for any material you are intending to use. They'll not only disclose whether you're allowed to edit them, as already pointed out, but also if you're allowed to use them commercially and what kind of credit needs to be given. If you're ever unclear contact the author. If you cannot obtain a clear answer about the permissions of the resource; it's wise not to use it.

 

[Wazzzyki]

As said above... go contact the author/owner of the resource and ask for permission or tell them you are planning to sell a product using their resources. Personally, I've just been grabbing resources one after another here, but knowing how things are today, not just focusing on the cyberlaws blabla... it should be common sense that whenever things are to be used for profit its better to know who's the owner of which to establish who to credit or blame.

 

[Pierman Walter]

Always make sure that the original creator is okay with what you are doing. Even after heavy editing of sprites or code, ask anyway. Otherwise, you deserve to have your Steam account stolen by hackers to spread hard drive viruses. 

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Might sound obnoxious, but if you are paranoid about credit attribution AND also confess your lack of experience, forget about making money.


Make a small 'training' game, give credits where is due, publish for free, see the feedback.


Then only, when you are confident about the whole process, consider going commercial.

 

[Cameron555]

It's not plagiarism is you use resources that the creator has made available to you and follow their terms. This may or may not include being allowed to do modifications to those resources, but it's usually allowed and even encouraged. Yet once again, always case-by-case basis with the original creator.

 

[mlogan]

There's a big difference between plagiarism and using scripts and graphic resources others have put out to be used. Plagiarism is copying someone else's work and claiming it as your own. Using scripts/plugins and editing them is okay as long as the coder gives permission to edit and that you credit them appropriately. The same goes for graphical resources. At least, that's regarding the materials you find here.


Just make sure that 1) the creator allows you to edit, 2) they allow commercial use, if you want to make money and 3) that you credit properly.

 

[Valryia]

Great, such a thread already exists. I'm a worrywat and need some insight on the subject.


If i make anything, may it be a graphic or music, and it turns out that someone else made something that has varying degrees of similarity to my own work and accuses me of plagiarism, what do i do? I don't have the ability to know every work or to see if two works are similar. For example, i have seen an issue in the past, (something about star wars) where mere clouds in the background of an poster where called out as being plagiarism.


How can i prove my innocence?


My only solution is to safe the "inbetween steps" from raw graphic or piece of music to the finished product. Is that enough?


Also, if i have a demo that has self made assets, i have the fear that people will steal them and even use them against me. Am i being paranoid? Do i need to insert an "legal disclaimer"? If so, how?

 

[Sharm]

I've actually had something like this happen but only once and I've been an artist for a long time.  I had a free to use pack that someone had taken, edited, and posted on a pay to use site.  I didn't know about it until years later I tried to post that pack on a resource selling site (for free) and the person tried to get me to credit him.  It was actually very easy to shut him down since my post sharing it was dated before his and I had a track record of being a good artist, I could prove myself by reputation alone.


My point is, you don't have to be too worried.  People who plagiarize other people's stuff don't have skills of their own.  You could make something new in the same style, the plagiarist can't.  If all else fails you can prove yourself that way.  If it's the case of someone who just happened to make something similar and is trying to protect themselves, you should be able to solve it by talking it out.  We artist tend to get paranoid about these things, but we also understand that sometimes things just end up similar.


In this case a legal disclaimer will do nothing.  Don't worry about it.

 

[ranathomson]

i thinks we check our assignment and papers by using Plagiarism Checker to avoid duplicate content.

 

[Kes]

[necro]ranathomson[/necro]