Plagiarism & Roleplaying

Due to a recent event, I wanted to start a discussion on those two terms listed in the title - plagiarism and roleplaying. Is plagiarism even a valid term to use when roleplaying? Or are all rights wavered when engaging in roleplaying?

I have some samples I would like to share. Let me know your thoughts on them. What would you do? How would you handle it?

SAMPLE ONE
You poured your heart and soul into making a roleplay. Although the idea is not new, the concept, theme, and location were your own creations. One day, while visiting another roleplay site, you notice that your story, the whole gist of your roleplay, is being used by someone else. Not only did they steal your idea, but they also stole your paragraphs, layout, and setup!

How would you go about handling this situation? Does it bother you that someone blatantly stole your idea?


SAMPLE TWO
You recently finished making a roleplay and really like how it came out. It had its own twist, which made it all yours. Your best friend happens to google your username and discovers it is on some site he/she knows you are not on. Being a good friend, he/she enrolls on the site and discovers that they stole your roleplay. They did change some things up, but the idea was taken from you. However, they did give you credit for making it, but they never asked for your permission. In fact, you don't even know who they are or how they found your roleplay.

What do you do? How do you feel?


SAMPLE THREE
You've just spent several hours designing a character for a roleplay. You come up with a name, a history, and even a personality. You spend hours looking for a piece to match your character's physical appearance (or you draw one yourself), and you finally settle on this one image. You enroll in the roleplay, but, soon after it has started, you realize you cannot commit to said roleplay. Seeing as you hadn't posted, you figure pulling from it would be easy. You ask to be removed and go about your life. A few weeks later, you return to the site and notice that someone has completely taken over your character. They are using the same name, the same character, and hell, the same exact layout you made. The only thing different is... the name of the person controlling them.

Who's at fault? The GM or the person that stole the character? Or is the original creator of the character (you) at fault?

http://i44.tinypic.com/20as9k1.jpg

I decided the definition of plagiarism was needed in this thread. I found the simplest definition. Feel free to google it on your own, should you need to know more about it.

I think that in all of those samples that the one who stole the idea did the wrong thing. There's a thing called Intellectual Property and I think the rules surrounding that also applies to original roleplay/character ideas

Sample One and Three are clearly right out. I am assuming that in both examples, literally the only things different are who is "doing" it, ie: all the post information is the same. Unless you gave permission, that is certainly theft.

Sample Two is something of a grey area, IMHO. They gave you credit and changed things. Hopefully they rewrote the material in large part. I would certainly be annoyed that they didn't ask and just took and altered, but I wouldn't say anything. I'm the only one who can tell my stories my way, after all. I think I'd be more upset if they had a better idea than the one I was going with. ::laughs::

I think it is a tough call- especially in anything collaborative. I mean, if you made a Fan Roleplay where you took all the characters from a show and created a game with them, would that be plagiarism? The Character already exists and you are taking it to use as you own. I think it is alright to take another person's character- but you can't take their writing. I have to admit, I get ideas of characters from other people. While I don't simply just take the entire character (and character sheet), I do find inspiration in other's work. I think it is alright to take someone's basic idea, but not their actual writing- that is not cool. I think in Issue 3, it is tricky. I see it almost like a fan fiction. The character is there, nascent and fetal, waiting to be developed. It would have been nice if they had made their own character, but they left it the way it was and didn't seem to claim it as their own work (I could be wrong...I don't know). You hadn't posted in the game and the person thought, "wow, this is a great character, maybe I can do it justice". I think I would be more offended if they had taken the character and changed it to suit their own needs. Roleplaying and fan fiction are grey areas with character generation in general and it makes it tough to call.

Issue 1 is right out. That is plain ol' theft.

I think Issue 2 is alright. They gave credit and changed things. That is like playing out of a standard Roleplaying book and it is flattering that someone found your creation so interesting that they thought, "Hey...I want to play in that world." It would have been nice if they asked permission, but they did give credit and never claimed the work was their own. I think of this sort of like playing a module in a regular style roleplaying game.

Yes - if they rewrote the character in Sample Three, I would have less of a problem with it. Obviously, if you "gave" the character to the group (thus giving people permission to use them), then that would also be okay.

I still stand on the idea that only you can tell your stories. Your version of [insert character or setting description] is going to turn out completely differently from someone else. I'm not supporting pilfering. But I kind of think of it as something that (especially on the level of casual roleplaying) it's nothing to get militant and rabid about.

ISSUE #1

LOL. YOU REPORT THAT LOSER AND HANDLE EVERYTHING LIKE A BOSS.

Surprisingly, when this happened to me (which was occurring with disgusting frequency last year) I didn't flip out. I just calmly asked them to give me credit and moved on. I mean, it's the internet — you can't police everything and you can't win every fight. So, settle for what you can get. Haha.

ISSUE #2

If there's credit given and the owner never claimed to have created it, I'm cool.

ISSUE #3

If the person submitted the character to the same role-play and all that was changed was the character's name then both the new player AND the GM are at fault. If they are using the same personality or history or graphic you drew up then that's just plagiarism. It doesn't matter whether or not the character is from a well-known franchise because, fact is, that person is using YOUR writing. And the GM that allowed this to happen is equally at fault (since they're responsible for curtailing plagiarism, etc).

Now, if they had just MODELED a character AFTER your idea (and they wrote up their own personality and biography), it's not such a big deal since they're clearly aiming to just maintain linearity in the cast. I'm even okay if they had used the same image (credits should still be provided for the image though).

I'm the type of person that doesn't care if I'm plagiarized in any way--it just feeds my ego a bit. If they're stealing my work and calling it their own, then I'm just that much better than they are. The fun comes if I happen to catch them in the act, because then I get to disgrace them in a public Internet space. I do happen to enjoy outing people who are plagiarizing others, however.

I.

In this situation I would screen shot the appropriate information, and then plaster those images all over the role-play. Oh, before that I'd have to write a nice little message thanking the person for the flattery.

II.

Wouldn't care. I'd probably make fun of them a bit over messenger or something.

III.

It's the GMs fault, and I'd pretty much do exactly as I did in situation one. Point out how I made the character, and make the people responsible feel stupid.

There's no point in getting upset about this sort of stuff. It's better to just make the other person look like a lame phony, and have a good laugh at them.

Hmm, I think I'd be upset with all of those. xD

With issue #1, I would definitely report it- to either site, person, or whatever, I would contact someone and ask that if they wanted to keep it, that at least they rewrote it and credited.

With issue #2,
It would also bother me, I won't lie, but at least they credited. Perhaps, if I was feeling particularly annoyed that day, I'd contact them saying they could have at least asked.

With #3, well...
If the character was a major part of the plot I could see why they would take it up again. It would bother me, but I would try to see if they would take it down.

I understand completely the taking inspiration for characters or settings on other people's stuff (really, you can't really be very original anymore). I know it can be bothersome for the person too, going "Hey, that sounds like mine :/" but if they rewrote things, modified them, made it their own, then who am I to stop them? It's no longer what I wrote, after all.

But then there's the completely different matter of actually being fully plagiarized.
This actually happened to me once, similar to issue #1 here:

I had a friend I RPed with often over messenger. We RPed one of my characters, a faun, and I had his backstory and first post all done. Then, this friend invited me to a forum to RP in and I happily went there; we were already well into our story by then.
One day, while particularly bored, I stalked back her posts to have something to read, and lo and behold, I find a familiar post. My initial post from the messenger. Word by word. Not rewritten, not inspired on, it was my post down to my misspellings and with the same exact character background (also word by word!), idea, etc. The only difference? The character. She renamed him, changed his looks and kin (it became an angel), and stuck him in the exact same setting. The background didn't even make sense anymore then! She was playing it with another friend of hers, so after the second post it went differently, but it didn't change the fact that I had basically written the first post and done the character for her.
No need to say, I was pissed. I told her I was pissed, I didn't care what she did about it now, but if she liked the idea and character the least she could have done, being my friend and all, was ask me and then rewrite to her own words rather than take all my work as it was.
In the end she apologized and brought it down, but the damage was done.
But... It happens, just like one might take a pic from x manga to represent a character, or something like that.

SAMPLE ONE
Totally ripped off, if they are not giving credit to you. I might speak to them first to ask them to give credit, because they might not realize that they did something offensive. If they did not comply, then complain to the site admin and source the original, and write-block him/her by searching out phrases or unique words from the original on the internet to do the same. It's not always likely to work, but perhaps the people who write well and know the difficulty in making your own interesting originality would take part in avoiding those types, so the copiers can't get their jolly.

SAMPLE TWO
Harder, but I wouldn't consider it a lie, especially one causing and/or intending damage (passively or otherwise). Again, if I find it causing me hardship for one reason or another, I'd go to them about it first and follow through with alternatives, if not received well. I would think that they wouldn't be against listening, if they appreciated your work. I might feel flattered, but discuss with them that I made this so that I might RP with people. I might even offer to join that site, so that they don't feel like I'm some snobby artist about it, maybe.

SAMPLE THREE
That's one of the reason I don't like orphaning characters (my babies!), though making a clone would have been a good idea. While stupid of me, I didn't force that person to take my charry and, depending on the situation, it could be either the GM's and/or this other person. A. Did the GM have the ability to prevent another from playing the charry? B. Did this person know that it was never intended by you to have someone else play this character?

Intellectual property has always been a point of contention between libertarians and they have the best arguments on the subject, on both sides of the fence.

UPDATE: I understand how difficult it is emotionally to see these things happen, but at this point I don't know how to ease someone's pain on this. It's still not in good taste to copy; it's called a knock-off for a reason. I mean, even billion-dollar movies fail a lot to recreate stories.

I don't see the harm in it. I wouldn't do it personally, but I think imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Besides, it's not like you have a copy right on your material.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Xavirne

SAMPLE ONE
You poured your heart and soul into making a roleplay. Although the idea is not new, the concept, theme, and location were your own creations. One day, while visiting another roleplay site, you notice that your story, the whole gist of your roleplay, is being used by someone else. Not only did they steal your idea, but they also stole your paragraphs, layout, and setup!

---

I would join the site and PM them, preferably with screenshots and evidence :/ Whether or not the idea is new, they're using my words and my layout. I suppose that it gets a bit sketchy if, for example, the images I used in the layout were someone else's artwork, but I'd still say that if I changed it up enough to be covered under creative commons (or asked the original artist for permission) then it gets doubly bad on the person who stole my stuff. Totally call them out on it.

Quote:

---

SAMPLE TWO
You recently finished making a roleplay and really like how it came out. It had its own twist, which made it all yours. Your best friend happens to google your username and discovers it is on some site he/she knows you are not on. Being a good friend, he/she enrolls on the site and discovers that they stole your roleplay. They did change some things up, but the idea was taken from you. However, they did give you credit for making it, but they never asked for your permission. In fact, you don't even know who they are or how they found your roleplay.

---

Ideas are a gray area. I know that during middle school my English teacher told me that it was, in fact, possible to plagiarize ideas but it's one of those things that's hard to prove. I'd be less stern about it, especially if they linked back to the me and just tell them that it's not cool to knowingly use someone else's ideas regardless of given credit. I wouldn't ask them to take it down though.

Quote:

---

SAMPLE THREE
You've just spent several hours designing a character for a roleplay. You come up with a name, a history, and even a personality. You spend hours looking for a piece to match your character's physical appearance (or you draw one yourself), and you finally settle on this one image. You enroll in the roleplay, but, soon after it has started, you realize you cannot commit to said roleplay. Seeing as you hadn't posted, you figure pulling from it would be easy. You ask to be removed and go about your life. A few weeks later, you return to the site and notice that someone has completely taken over your character. They are using the same name, the same character, and hell, the same exact layout you made. The only thing different is... the name of the person controlling them.

Who's at fault? The GM or the person that stole the character? Or is the original creator of the character (you) at fault?

---

This actually happened to me, although in a different way and believe me I was so salty that I actually had to have my friend calm me down. Essentially I submitted a small blurb for an original character in said RP who happened to be a sibling of one of the premades and I played them all out and it was all cool until I logged into another site that I happened to RP on. I find that the GM of the RP used my blurb without crediting me (as well as removing the character's original name). Yes it was their RP, but technically my character and my words. The urge to confront them was pretty big, but in the end I didn't and in the end the version of the RP I was in died and no one joined the one she started on the other website so karma?

http://media.giphy.com/media/mG8hIJoSDG48w/giphy.gif

As far as the fault goes, it is all on the person who stole the character as the GM wouldn't really have known whether I gave the other person permission to take the character over or not. Still, it's a shitty of them not to at least ask if the thief has permission or not.