Plans a risk?
by Jeffrey Bakker · in General Discussion · 10/17/2005 (3:59 pm) · 7 replies
I have a few serious questions about .plan files:
Not at all to say that anyone in the GG community would ever do this, but how about lurkers on this site that browse through .plans to take others' game ideas and try to monopolize on them?
I heard before of companies bringing up lawsuits because another company's game has a similar character in it. Whoever copyrights it first would win the rights, regardless of who came up with it first, am I wrong? Like how Microsoft tried pulling that patent BS on Apple's iPod.
Maybe reading about Microsoft's past stunts and watching movies like Antitrust have made me overly paraniod. Or maybe it's because I've had people "borrow" copyrighted work from me, modify about 1% of it, claim it as their own without any mention of the original author (deleting my name from the copyright notices and replacing it with theirs) and piss all over the license by grossly violating the agreement.
I understand that whether or not you share your ideas and concepts, there will always be someone with similar ideas, either by sheer co-incidence or by direct and indirect inspration. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to share my ideas and get feedback from the community. I'm just afraid of my own work being used against me.
Not at all to say that anyone in the GG community would ever do this, but how about lurkers on this site that browse through .plans to take others' game ideas and try to monopolize on them?
I heard before of companies bringing up lawsuits because another company's game has a similar character in it. Whoever copyrights it first would win the rights, regardless of who came up with it first, am I wrong? Like how Microsoft tried pulling that patent BS on Apple's iPod.
Maybe reading about Microsoft's past stunts and watching movies like Antitrust have made me overly paraniod. Or maybe it's because I've had people "borrow" copyrighted work from me, modify about 1% of it, claim it as their own without any mention of the original author (deleting my name from the copyright notices and replacing it with theirs) and piss all over the license by grossly violating the agreement.
I understand that whether or not you share your ideas and concepts, there will always be someone with similar ideas, either by sheer co-incidence or by direct and indirect inspration. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to share my ideas and get feedback from the community. I'm just afraid of my own work being used against me.
#2
*Ideas are a dime a dozen, execution on those ideas is far more important
*As the sig on a frequent poster of indiegamer.com says, "Don't worry about people stealing your ideas... if it's a REALLY good idea you usually have to cram it down people's throats."
10/17/2005 (4:33 pm)
If you are worried about your IP, don't post it publicly. But there's two things to remember that really make this a non-issue:*Ideas are a dime a dozen, execution on those ideas is far more important
*As the sig on a frequent poster of indiegamer.com says, "Don't worry about people stealing your ideas... if it's a REALLY good idea you usually have to cram it down people's throats."
#3
10/17/2005 (7:41 pm)
Ah, you beat me to it, Andy. Well said. :) 
#4
I would add this warning even though I am a noob and speaking from the archair here. Ideas are a dime a dozen but if you come up with a good NAME for something you might want to trademark it before you post it. Good names are hard to come by and seem easy to rip off?
But I'm often wrong so this is probably also a non-issue.
10/17/2005 (8:26 pm)
Here here Andy!I would add this warning even though I am a noob and speaking from the archair here. Ideas are a dime a dozen but if you come up with a good NAME for something you might want to trademark it before you post it. Good names are hard to come by and seem easy to rip off?
But I'm often wrong so this is probably also a non-issue.
#5
But even more so - let's say I came up with not just a great idea, but I created a detailed 48-page design document describing the whole thing. Let's say the whole idea is so cool that a HUNDRED DIFFERENT DEVELOPERS decide to steal the idea - dropping their own cool ideas that they KNOW will rule the industry, and just all start implementing a game based on my design document.
MAYBE five or six of these developers actually finish developing the game.
And every one of these games will be radically different from each other. In some cases, you'd be hard pressed to see how they could be based on the same design document.
Rumor has it that the game Wik & the Fable of Souls began as an update to the arcade classic Missile Command.
The arcade game Tempest? It began life as a vector-based attempt at a 3D Space Invaders game.
Total Annihilation began as nothing more sophisticated than a straight clone of Command & Conquer. The genesis there is a little easier to see - but still, TA fans know what a different experience it was from it's inspiration.
Void War began as a really stripped-down 3D version of the great-grandaddy of videogames, SpaceWar!
The list goes on and on. Plans - and even design documents - for games aren't like recipes for baking a cake. Games art an endeavor that demands craftmanship and creativity throughout the process.
So - if you are concerned about it, don't post a plan. But don't be too paranoid.
10/17/2005 (9:43 pm)
Pretty much what everyone else said.But even more so - let's say I came up with not just a great idea, but I created a detailed 48-page design document describing the whole thing. Let's say the whole idea is so cool that a HUNDRED DIFFERENT DEVELOPERS decide to steal the idea - dropping their own cool ideas that they KNOW will rule the industry, and just all start implementing a game based on my design document.
MAYBE five or six of these developers actually finish developing the game.
And every one of these games will be radically different from each other. In some cases, you'd be hard pressed to see how they could be based on the same design document.
Rumor has it that the game Wik & the Fable of Souls began as an update to the arcade classic Missile Command.
The arcade game Tempest? It began life as a vector-based attempt at a 3D Space Invaders game.
Total Annihilation began as nothing more sophisticated than a straight clone of Command & Conquer. The genesis there is a little easier to see - but still, TA fans know what a different experience it was from it's inspiration.
Void War began as a really stripped-down 3D version of the great-grandaddy of videogames, SpaceWar!
The list goes on and on. Plans - and even design documents - for games aren't like recipes for baking a cake. Games art an endeavor that demands craftmanship and creativity throughout the process.
So - if you are concerned about it, don't post a plan. But don't be too paranoid.
#6
On the flip side of things, I wrote a design doc for a completely badass heist game that the company I was working for pitched to Microsoft. The design doc got around the MSoft offices, but we didn't get funding for the title because we didn't have a prototype. A few months later, J Allard gave an interview to a magazine and in describing the type of game he imagined could be possible on next gen Xbox Live, he described my game, down to fairly minute detail.
I would GUESS he heard about the pitch second hand within the MSoft offices, but I have no way to know for sure. In the end, though, when you are working with others you are running the risk of this sort of thing constantly. That's why, in the end, execution is always more important than concept.
10/17/2005 (10:39 pm)
I interviewed with Bungie for an internship in 1998, when they had their first prototype of Halo running. The game was an RTS/arcadey action game with the camera floating way up above the landscape and a 3rd person camera. Several years later...On the flip side of things, I wrote a design doc for a completely badass heist game that the company I was working for pitched to Microsoft. The design doc got around the MSoft offices, but we didn't get funding for the title because we didn't have a prototype. A few months later, J Allard gave an interview to a magazine and in describing the type of game he imagined could be possible on next gen Xbox Live, he described my game, down to fairly minute detail.
I would GUESS he heard about the pitch second hand within the MSoft offices, but I have no way to know for sure. In the end, though, when you are working with others you are running the risk of this sort of thing constantly. That's why, in the end, execution is always more important than concept.
#7
It's not like I think I have anything really worth stealing anyways...but I once had a friend who got robbed on the street for his $10 pair of shoes, so anything can happen. LOL!
I do want to share the view of my ideal game, just as many of us in the indie game community are helping and inspiring one another.
10/17/2005 (10:59 pm)
Thanks a lot guys, for the advice. I guess I was thinking a little bit too cautious.It's not like I think I have anything really worth stealing anyways...but I once had a friend who got robbed on the street for his $10 pair of shoes, so anything can happen. LOL!
I do want to share the view of my ideal game, just as many of us in the indie game community are helping and inspiring one another.
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