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Monroe
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I have made the decision to shut my site down for awhile. It was, of course, due to the subject I created prior to this one. 

Now that I have put it on hiatus, I have staff trying to duplicate my site. I had to take my board offline because they are literally copying things over and going to reopen with the ideas I came up with all by myself.

I am wondering how I should feel about this? Is this something that is common in the rpg world? Just to copy someone else's site?

I am a bit emotional right now but like in my last post, I just want to know what is right in this situation. I feel like I have a right to reopen my site with my original ideas at a later date.... But I can't if they are working to put it's twin back up. 

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I never sweat the imitators. If they have to take my ideas to start something of their own, then I know their site won't last. They will never be creative enough to cater to their member base if they can't come up with their own fresh concepts. If they start stealing from new sources then they'll be blackballed from the community at large once it becomes obvious.

 

That being said, there's very little if anything you can do about a copy cat. You shut your site down, people weren't done playing there. They will find a way to keep going with their plots and characters. It sucks. This used to be a very prevalent reality in online roleplay, but seems to have settled down at least in the circles I tend to play in. I would suggest for the future that you separate yourself from the ooc drama so that you can get rid of those causing it without doing something as drastic as closing down your site. That's really all I can say on the subject without really getting into personal bias. Best wishes.

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This provides minimal information to work with, so I'm going to attempt to answer as broadly as possible. Unfortunately, there isn't really a satisfying answer: 

 

13 minutes ago, Monroe said:

ideas I came up with all by myself.

 

If the source material is 100% original to you, then it isn't generally viewed as acceptable for your staff to blatantly copy and rip what you created - now, this is specifically in relation to lore/plot/world locations.

 

Copying something like your rule template is bad form, but doesn't qualify as a copy right infringement because a role play site's rule system simply isn't "original" enough. I am mentioning this solely because your options for correction are limited in this case. There isn't much you can do beyond reporting them to the host for copyright infringement - and this is only worth pursuing if you can prove that your material predates the imitating sites. For that reason, only including unique material will do you good. 

 

Now, if the staff in question contributed significantly to the source material then, generally speaking, they have rights to the material as well. They would be within their rights to rebuild and tweak to keep things moving along unless there was a written agreement to the contrary. So, even if the site started out original to you, its important to consider how much staff helped to expound and build from there - if they did at all. 

 

Cases like this are an example of why the copyright line at the bottom of sites is actually an important factor. That and your TOS agreement upon membership are the strongest means of protecting material.

 

However, As @Jones mentioned above, lack of ability to create original content will come back around to bite them in the ass; and habitual thievery will result in black listing among the larger community. Regardless of the copy cat site, there's really no reason that you can't revisit your endeavors in the future other than your own thoughts about it, though, so don't let them discourage you from it. 

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19 minutes ago, Jones said:

I never sweat the imitators.

While I agree, you should not sweat or worry about imitators, the fact that they have done what they have done can very well be quite disheartening. It hurts to see those that you have trusted (I gather your staff from first post) are taking your hard work and going somewhere else with it.

 

21 minutes ago, Jones said:

That being said, there's very little if anything you can do about a copy cat. You shut your site down, people weren't done playing there. They will find a way to keep going with their plots and characters. It sucks.

There is MUCH truth in this, Jones is right. If people want to play in the world that was taken from them they will likely find ways to do it. However things like copy and paste and taking important lore, settings, mechanics, etc. to basically mimic the entire site you created is not okay. I personally do not mind if someone was to build on top of my ideas to continue playing else where, that means they took my ideas morphed them and used their own creativity/imagination which is cool! How else did we get our own ideas? We seen something that made it pop into our head what we want and then we build from their own own creative piece. Thats cool I like that BUT that is not a copy cat site in my opinion. Copy and paste, using everything similar and more is a copy cat and its not cool.

 

Have you tried to discuss to said staff that you are not comfortable nor appreciate what they are doing? A civil discussion is always nice to have on these things. Perhaps bring it to their attention that you are overjoyed they liked your idea so much that when it was closed they felt the need to take it elsewhere but at the same time you are not happy they have just copied exactly the story you created. Maybe encourage them to add their own twists and ideas, to change the nature of things to be something more unique instead of the same exact site. They can still bring storylines of characters from your site to theirs as a 'past' but the new history is their own and not yours.

Now if they are legitimately copy and pasting I would bring this to their hosts attention! That is not cool whatsoever and especially if you gave no such permission to do so. I suggest you take comparative screen shots and keep links with screenshots so when you approach the host with this information you are giving a very detailed outline of what is yours and not theirs. Most hosts will remove said content. It is usually better to take it to the higher level first instead of doing what I mentioned above and discussing with them if this is a case of copy and paste (not just similar attributes) because if they feel threatened by your ability to see their site they will likely ban the IP address and you will no longer be able to see what content they have stolen from you.

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They are literally copying the lore. I have print screens of them discussing who is replacing my characters. They are copying it down to the characters. 

The place is on hiatus and will be re opened once things are smoothed out so I can't appreciate the blatant copying and pasting. But I definitely do understand what you're saying JD and I appreciate the positive outlook.

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I also want to note that the main reason the place is being put on hiatus is because all of the staff believed the game was for their use and that the members were replaceable. I don't see members as being replaceable, I get attached to people and characters.  I need to take more precautions when electing staff next time around. 

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When things like this happen its often because of deep toxicity within the site, paired with deep love for some aspect of it. Then toxicity is what breaks it up, causing staff or members to feel driven away, yet they loved the stories they had, or the setting or their friends enough to want to continue it. I know of one site that has had a ton of spin offs just cause the problem was so bad that people kept leaving and taking their stories and settings with them.

 

When you shut down your site, it sounds like it might have come as a shock. Don't keep it offline too long without communicating with your members. If a site I was on shut down suddenly, I might be willing to start looking for a new home, and might even follow a copycat if I felt like the place I came from was not likely to thrive, or if I didn't know the copycat was the source of the drama.

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Morrigan put this perfectly. Your actions, from the limited context we have here, seem extremely abrupt and your members had little to no warning. So be up front with them. Open the lines of communication. By being open with them about what's going on, you're showing that you're trustworthy and that you're doing what's necessary to protect them and the community you've built together. Do not keep them in the dark. That's how you're going to lose them. 

 

As for your sketchy staff members - you can report them to the host, but honestly, just take it as a compliment. You're awesome. You created this amazing world that they feel the need to copy. If your host doesn't do anything, then there's really nothing else you can do, but don't be disheartened by that. Instead, take that rage you're feeling and make your site even better. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But they will never be you. They will never bring to the table what you can. So let those losers fade in your rearview mirror and just move tf forward. And learn from what happened. When you inevitably reopen, things are going to be 8000% better than they were before.

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On 11/19/2018 at 4:55 PM, Monroe said:

They are literally copying the lore. I have print screens of them discussing who is replacing my characters. They are copying it down to the characters. 

The place is on hiatus and will be re opened once things are smoothed out so I can't appreciate the blatant copying and pasting. But I definitely do understand what you're saying JD and I appreciate the positive outlook.

 

This is where I'd freaking put my foot down. I absolutely despise people who rip off characters. Like come up with your own in a similar role, whatever, but copying them down to name and face claim? Real original. Get off my potty and make your own shit. If I said it was fine, then fine. But if not, then it's not fine.

 

As for the lore and blatant copy/pasting, that's also heinous. I get that people might have been angry at how abruptly things happened. You already know now that you need to open up the lines of communication with the non-toxic people, so that's good. As for the people taking your stuff and copying and pasting exact lines word for word, I'd definitely screenshot all that and keep it for whenever you need evidence on who came up with what. It's happened to me before. I didn't take legal action or force anybody to take anything down. I just closed shop like you did (made things unavailable for them to see to steal). 

 

But yeah, you do need to talk to the members about it and tell them what's going on. Because otherwise, they're just going to go along with it so they can continue writing their characters and plot lines, with the belief that it's a spiritual successor built from the ashes of a site that's not coming back. If you have intentions of bringing it back, they need to know. Good luck though!

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My site has around 100 active members at any given time so I get a lot of these when people get banned from the site or join and like it so much that they wish they were running it they will often create copycat sites and try to duplicate my success. It doesn't work. I gave up caring about it years ago. In your case you should be flattered because it means people liked your work.

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Copy/pastaing lore they did not create or write is bad business. Go ahead and report their copy cat site and then actually talk to your members.

 

I don’t know why some staff think everything they do should be some great big secret or mystery. Surprises are nice but shuttering your members in the dark like children is just ridiculous. Talk to them so they know what is going on. Because I am sure your crappy staff members are telling anyone who will listen some serious bs. 

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12 hours ago, dusk said:

Because I am sure your crappy staff members are telling anyone who will listen some serious bs. 

 

This 100%

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As others have said, it's one thing to copy a general idea. But really, if they're copying your lore and characters word-for-word, these are not the types of people you want around. How are they accessing this information? If your board is offline I thought they can't view any of that? Anyway, if the copying bothers you, consider taking all measures to lock it down so they can't view/take anything more.

 

You might also want to contact the providing forum host about it. If they're blatantly copying your information, you can report their forum for that on most hosts.

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