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[digsource]

Hello.

I've made a fair amount of resources for about 5 games now.

I want to look for collaborators but just can't find myself to click the "post" button when creating threads for fear that someone
might create the game him/herself. Who knows how many lurkers are out there just looking for ideas to steal.

Has anyone ever stolen ideas or even straight up ripped resources from you and profited off the game?
Anyone else experience the same feeling?
 

[cynicalsandel]

stop worrying about it

first off, your idea probably isn't as good as you think it is, so people probably won't want to steal it.

secondly, even if someone does "steal" it, your execution of said ideas will always be different.

thirdly, most clones exist off previously successful concepts, and if you never finish a game and have success with it, chances are it's not going to be "stolen".

fourthly, i keep saying "stolen" in quotes because no idea is original. it is completely possible for many people to have a very similar idea without "stealing" it from someone else

fifthly, you are assuming people don't have a shitload of their own ideas they want to make and thus will resort to stealing yours. the same thing applies when people try to get me to work for free on their game. i have my own ideas that i want to execute so why should i give you my time for nothing?

this feeling is some 12 year old bullshit mindset you need to get over. just make your game. being vague about your game when seeking collaborators is one of the most frustrating things to deal with.

[s0]

the only recent case i can think of where this may have happened is this and that guy submitted his game to a publisher who then (allegedly) cloned it.

seriously, no one scours random forums for game ideas to "steal"

[bombjack]

don't be afraid of this. we're nice people
You could be sure that some already had the same idea that you had. 25 years thinking of game ideas thought me that 
As already said most people around here have so much idea of their own that they probably would prefer to work on them than stealing yours.
And concerning big companies, most of the time they prefer reusing something that sold well that start stealing idea from someone unknown.

[Pfotegeist]

This is a psychological issue. It's true if you told elementary grade kids an idea or copied a comic book character they'd steal it, and the current maturity economics suggests that the same exact people are wandering around the internet. You just have to ask yourself, how many of them could actually do anything with your idea?

[digsource]

don't be afraid of this. we're nice people
You could be sure that some already had the same idea that you had. 25 years thinking of game ideas thought me that 
As already said most people around here have so much idea of their own that they probably would prefer to work on them than stealing yours.
And concerning big companies, most of the time they prefer reusing something that sold well that start stealing idea from someone unknown.

Thank you. I'd like to believe that but the internet in general has been such a hostile place lately. Even good people tend to lash out as a defensive move against real world hostiles. As a result, they are labeled as assholes themselves. I mean look at what happened to Phil Fish. He seemed like a real good person once.
Even in my first two posts in this site someone claimed my art "is shit" before I'd even had a chance to post examples.

fifthly, you are assuming people don't have a shitload of their own ideas they want to make and thus will resort to stealing yours. the same thing applies when people try to get me to work for free on their game. i have my own ideas that i want to execute so why should i give you my time for nothing?

this feeling is some 12 year old bullshit mindset you need to get over. just make your game. being vague about your game when seeking collaborators is one of the most frustrating things to deal with.

You give good advice, friend (I'd like to call you that if you don't mind.) but my assumption isn't baseless. Take a look at the app stores and you'll see even copies of something are taking a chunk of downloads the original deserves. Let's say the original has 20 million and the clone has 1M. A million downloads is a significant number which equates to a significant amount of revenue. It's nothing to laugh about. I know how hard it is to come up with fresh ideas in an age where pretty everything has already been done. Your second point tho really encourages me to finish my game so thanks.

[battlerager]

Let's say the original has 20 million and the clone has 1M. A million downloads is a significant number which equates to a significant amount of revenue. It's nothing to laugh about.

True, but the reason those things are copied is because they have success first. It's a huge risk to take someone else's idea and steal it when you could instead be making a ripoff of something that clearly sold well.

[Pfotegeist]

Let's say the original has 20 million and the clone has 1M. A million downloads is a significant number which equates to a significant amount of revenue.

Also a significant amount of organized crime being funded.

[Oddball]

The whole point of stealing ideas is to eliminate the risk of going with an original idea. If your idea is truly original then nobody is going to clone it until you've made a shed load of money already. Notch was posting builds of Minecraft on these very forums from the day he made the first prototype. It didn't get cloned until he started making millions. I think your idea will be safe.

[battlerager]

Notch was posting builds of Minecraft on these very forums from the day he made the first prototype

Link for those that weren't around

[Schoq]

of course minecraft itself was an evolution of the ideas behind infiniminer but that's kind of beside the point

[Moth]

I mean look at what happened to Phil Fish. He seemed like a real good person once.

phil fish has made a couple dick moves but the internet's reaction to him was WAY more infantile than he is. I wouldnt say someone's not a good person because of a few faux pas... that's just part of being human.

you dont have anything to worry about with people stealing ideas here, everyone here has their own projects and ideas they want to see through. I mean there's a 101 page topic about people giving out ideas for games to be made. I think that's where directionless people would plunder instead

[quantumpotato]

To combat the concerns of over-protective "it's my code", and in honor of the open source which has enriched my programming output, I've started publishing my game code open source.

http://github.com/quantumproductions

Ideas are free. Execution is everything.

[diegzumillo]

The thing is, this is a forum filled with people who like making games. So every single user has their own ideas and is too excited about them to worry about someone else's ideas. Idea theft will usually happen by a different kind of person, someone who wants a quick product to sell, (which excludes almost everyone on a gamedev forum) AND he will steal something that is already out there fully working, not some idea still on paper. The key word here is "probably". Yeah, ideas can always be stolen, but the pros of being open about them in a community like this definitely outweights the cons.

Also, in the off chance it does get stolen, having written about it here serves as proof of authorship. Not much use commercially but artists like authorship and recognition.

[s0]

here's another thing: ideas on their own are not that important. unless your idea is literally a single mechanic game there are like 100 different implementations for every idea. so let's say you post an idea on tig and someone else thinks it's good and "steals" it (i.e. gets inspired by it), their implementation of "your" idea will probably be so different from your own that you won't even be able to tell whether they "stole" "your" idea in the first place.

ok that's all the standard talking points that usually come up in threads like this done with. 

[starsrift]

the only recent case i can think of where this may have happened is this and that guy submitted his game to a publisher who then (allegedly) cloned it.

seriously, no one scours random forums for game ideas to "steal"

Well, it keeps happening to Vlambeer, but they take past the idea stage...

[battlerager]

the only recent case i can think of where this may have happened is this and that guy submitted his game to a publisher who then (allegedly) cloned it.

seriously, no one scours random forums for game ideas to "steal"

Well, it keeps happening to Vlambeer, but they take past the idea stage...

I'd love to hear / read more on this, since I'm unfamiliar with these happenings.

[starsrift]

I'd love to hear / read more on this, since I'm unfamiliar with these happenings.

Here's a starting point, on Radical/Ridiculous Fishing.

Luftrausers was cloned too...

... But the OP shouldn't consider this a cautionary tale. Vlambeer is in a unique position of their own. As you can see, hundreds of devs are posting ideas and devlogs on TIGS. Not to be offensive, but your idea isn't unique and special enough for someone to pick out and steal. You're one of many, my friend. Be free.

[Polly]

I want to look for collaborators but just can't find myself to click the "post" button when creating threads for fear that someone might create the game him/herself.

If you need collaborators, but don't want to go public because you're afraid someone else will profit off your idea .. you're only preventing yourself to profit off your idea.

[s0]

the only recent case i can think of where this may have happened is this and that guy submitted his game to a publisher who then (allegedly) cloned it.

seriously, no one scours random forums for game ideas to "steal"

Well, it keeps happening to Vlambeer, but they take past the idea stage...

yes they have actual gameplay previews and stuff, that's different. theyre also already famous.