A friend of mine who programs asked "why?" when I told him I blog about my design process and the ideas that spring from it. I answered, "I doubt anyone would want to steal it. It's half done and would take actual thought to finish it. I have all my work on here, so people will know I created it." I'm really not too concerned about theft. I'd really like to see this (these) games of mine created just to see my vision come to life for all to play. A bit or payment or a nod would be nice if someone happens to take it.
Ever wonder why the second and third Matrix movies were shit? They were written by the Wachowski Brothers. "But wasn't the first Matrix movie..." No. Sophia Stewart wrote a novel and pitched it to the Brothers and Warner Bros. She was denied. The Brothers went on to steal it and re-pitch it. Sophia says, "I made that!", the brothers deny it, she pulls meeting logs from Warner Brothers and gets a fat settlement. The brothers go on to make 2 shitty sequels.
This isn't movie production, but it's stories and scum like this, that make us very protective and suspicious. Hobby stores in Japan don't shrink wrap their product. They have full trust in their customers to not steal the product from the shelves. We shrink, blister, and electronic tag everything we can. In the hobby store I work at, opening shrink wrap, price tag switching, and pilfering and common. It's the American capitalism and selfishness that drives us. Get what you can, when you can, for as little as you can.
Comments
You have nothing to fear but fear itself
If you’re so worried about losing your baby that you don’t show it to anyone you'll never get published unless you publish it yourself.
First off game publishing companies don’t want ideas. Those take time and effort to develop, years infact. What they want are finished games. I have been working in and around the board gaming industry since 2003 and have never heard of a confirmable instance of outright theft current or past. Sure there are IP related issues most of which stem from people not understanding their contracts but not theft.
Live and Learn
I arrived on this website entirely by accident and began reading posts and collecting my own ideas for ways I could contribute or interact with this society. After a great deal of reading and interest I felt obligated to share my own experiences with the posters here, I felt like perhaps I could protect or even shelter them.
http://www.bgdf.com/node/2821
What is unfortunate, especially after the incredible contacts I’ve gain via Twitter and other mediums, is that my post was completely unnecessary. First of all, most newbie designers are more than paranoid enough all on their own. Secondly the true item that requires speech, preaching and teaching is that no matter how often you share your ideas you’re unlikely to have those ideas stolen.
For my own case I use a great deal of storyline material as well as unusual naming conventions in war-game design. Because of this I prefer to go the route of the copyright. This copyright will offer protection for my specific written word but won’t do much in the case of another Designer actually stealing my system. That said, I’ve passed out dozens of copies of my rulebook (250MB PDF) through Dropsend.com.
Full editions of my core rules have literally made it across the world from Great Britain to Australia, in some cases to people I’ve never met before. How could I trust such a large volume of work in the hands of unknowns? For me, as it is for many of us, I need the exposure.
In my own case I have spent a great deal of time trying to recruit an artist to partner with me on my project. By gathering an artist’s backing I would gain the leverage I need to begin placing myself in the market and eventually launch or release the franchise to a larger company. I’m just one instance of a designer using any number of mediums to move themselves forward.
My point is that even the most profound idea, a re-creation of the wheel itself, is fruitless unless shared. Even if you’re like me and you have seen the ugly side of the industry the value of sharing your material, for whatever the purpose, self promotion etc, will always outweigh the costs of keeping it hidden away. Take it from someone who has walked that road, if you feel you need to take the “gamble” at sharing for profitable exposure….”roll dem bones”.
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Heh. I never finished writing
Heh. I never finished writing this blog. I have no worries of anyone taking my ideas. This was just a blow off steam post about how scummy people are with business practices. Thanks for the replies though.
That's one of the funny
That's one of the funny things about a hobbyist market like games (which is unlike a developed mass medium like film production) -- the ideas aren't the key selling point. There are infinitely more ideas out there than there are companies who are able to execute them into a finished product.
Unlike movie companies, who have billions in revenue, and thousands of man hours, to spend on producing any idea that comes their way and sounds good, game companies simply don't have the capital or human resources to exploit a strategy like that.
Additionally, there are only a few game companies out there, and almost all are run by game lovers. None can afford to trash their reputation by stealing a game, and none of the people who run them would want to in the first place. Even if they had the ability to, the costs (reputation and conscience) would far outweigh any meager monetary gains they could possibly make in such a niche market.
The key element is the polished rule set. Spend time working on that.
Also, the Sophia Stewart
Also, the Sophia Stewart thing is a myth. Her case was dismissed in 2005; the report that she won was based on an incorrect article by a community college journalism student referencing an earlier, preliminary result that simply allowed her to proceed with her case.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/matrix.asp