Originality

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

Hi, my name is Jason, and I am disappointed - and flattered. Posted on my website is a game I wrote up called Gangland. When I last came to this site, I found a game called The Chosen - based on the Blood 2 videogame -which copied the system and many passages of the game on my site word for word.

Now, I will admit that the game has been in a forgotten corner of the internet for some time now - three years or so. And, I will say that I had no great attachment to the piece. Actually, I was more interested in feed back about the layout since I was taking a college course on technical writing and readability at the time. (Unfortunately, no one has ever stopped by my site and given me an e-mail about such) This is not a system I've been working on for years - that one has over 200 pages of jealously guarded material.

So, I want to say thank you for feeling that my work was worthy of plagiarism. The magic system included in the game is easier to use than the one I had conceived for a cousin of this rpg. (As a side note, I also enjoyed Blood 2)

However, I feel this is not entirely honest for a writer. I am a fan of open source and copy left. But there is a line, and credit is due, at least in an opening note about inspiration. Also, while I may forgive this, there are many others who would not be so kind. And there are still others, who would not be so kind, but would be able to afford lawyers.

While it is debatable as to whether there is an infinite number of rpg mechanics, and whether one must reinvent the wheel for every game - especially one so short - I would argue it demeans the 24 hour challenge to cut and paste sections of other games to save time.

I am not here to simply accuse. I have my own games on this 1km1kt and would love to have greater contact with other writers. I think it would be best to see "The Chosen" and "Gangland" side by side, since the 24 hour game includes many of the formatting issues that my document was created to avoid.

I thank you for your time, and for maintaining and contributing to this wonderful resource on the web.

[Keeton]

CA,

How would you like 1KM1KT to respond to this situation?

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

To be honest, I am not entirely sure. This problem hasn't come up too often. I think a reference to my site on the page for the Chosen would be nice. It would be inappropriate for me to call for a ban on anyone or put into place some form of suspicion that anyone posting here may be dishonest. By no means am I a vindictive person, but I have spent four years in college for a degree in English, and have my own style of writing. Some recognition or maybe some feedback on my original work is all I really ask.

Actually, now that I think of it, perhaps this can be turned to the site's advantage. A contest where everyone is given the same rules, and see where they take them. An experiment in do certain mechanics always call for a certain style of play, or is it the background and players that encourage style.

Thank you for your prompt reply.

[Keeton]

[Mr. Venom]

OK. I'm Alex Windsor, I wrote The Chosen*.
To summarise my following reply: Jesus, my bad.

I'm fully aware, with hindsight, that my entry is a re-skin of Gangland, albeit an extensive one. After a brief search to locate it,I found my hastily-scrawled design road-plan has a point reading "Provide credit for that guy in a box". I assume the credit was meant to be in a box, not the original author.

However, in the caffine-fuelled creative process, I just forgot. That sounds so lame, because it is. I'm not a plagiariser by nature, years of doing other people's homework at school kind of eroded my idea of it.
This is turning into one of those "I slipped and the knife fell in 17 times" defences, so I'll re-iterate that I feel bad over this, that it's a bad thing to do, and that I'm sorry.

I'm more than happy to revise the copy, provide easily editable versions to all concerned, and for it to be hosted under Jason's name with a small "additional content" credit for myself. That's all I deserve ethically, and a slap on the wrist morally.

I'm also happy to provide my email address to the original author of the rules to open a dialogue on friendly terms. After all, I had a blast doing the 24 hour game thing, and I'd like to play with the system and the site a while longer.

* Well, that's sort of the issue, but I felt I had to say it.

[Keeton]

Chainsaw Aardvark has asked me to reinstate "The Chosen" and I will do so today.

Thank you both for resolving this issue.

[ultimatewarrior8888]

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