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Drama over reusing wanted ad character, advice?


Jaxx
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A while ago I contacted an old writing partner asking if I could re-use a character I'd made for one of their wanted ads. They agreed on the condition that I only used a vague outline of the character's history instead of copying any details. I apped the character on two other sites, never heard a word from my ex-partner, but both sites died in their turns. So I recently put up a site search thread on another directory where I outlined the character's background in a couple sentences to give anyone viewing the search an idea of the character I wanted to play. I'm using the same first name and playby from the original wanted, and my own personality, abilities, and middle and last names. I've kept only three relatively vague elements of his entire history from the original ad, each common ones that I've changed the details of, and made several major changes which were mentioned in my site search. However, my old writing partner messaged me claiming I was writing an exact copy of the character they'd requested.

 

I replied to their message pointing out the changes I made and how there was very little I kept the same as the character they requested, besides what I'd come up with. They haven't yet replied but I'm expecting them to still be pissed at me and try to make trouble for me for copying the character. I'm not sure how to approach this situation further. I've let people reuse characters they made for me with zero changes, so I'm assuming I'm coming at this from a different viewpoint than my ex partner. I'm also concerned that they'll try to stir up drama with staff on whatever site I join by attempting to label me a thief. Suggestions? Is it considered normal or reasonable for someone to change the conditions of me writing a former wanted character months down the line? I've never dealt with this level of... possessiveness, I supposed it is, over reusing characters and I'm at something of a loss as to how to proceed. 

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I'm also of the less possessive persuasion. I don't put a lot of terms on my Wanted ads because my main goal is to have tie-ins to my characters and see what happens from there. The initial idea might have been mine, but the execution has typically gone farther than I would ever see appropriate to take credit for.

 

If someone's so inspired by one of those roles that they want to recreate the character? Nice!

 

I've had people change the terms on me later on for various things and pretend it was always that way, and that is a surefire way to ruin a good time. If you can, you might want to pull up the original terms just in case either of you have forgotten stated terms, quote it, and (if all is as you remember it) ask if they want to renegotiate the terms. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but our sanity is limited.

 

That said, I know some people tend to stick to a strict roster of reused characters for life - it could be that they've built up some unstated expectations or are otherwise having trouble adjusting. Alternatively, they might be thinking of joining the site and having an 'awkward' moment seeing that one of their character's Wanted slots is already filled, which sounds like a missed opportunity to me if you guys parted on good terms.

By Wit & Whitby

[Plot] | [Rules] | [Wanted] | [Discord]

18+ | Victorian Era | No App | No Word Count |

PoC & LGBT-friendly | Newbie-friendly
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53 minutes ago, Somniac said:

I'm also of the less possessive persuasion. I don't put a lot of terms on my Wanted ads because my main goal is to have tie-ins to my characters and see what happens from there. The initial idea might have been mine, but the execution has typically gone farther than I would ever see appropriate to take credit for.

 

If someone's so inspired by one of those roles that they want to recreate the character? Nice!

 

I've had people change the terms on me later on for various things and pretend it was always that way, and that is a surefire way to ruin a good time. If you can, you might want to pull up the original terms just in case either of you have forgotten stated terms, quote it, and (if all is as you remember it) ask if they want to renegotiate the terms. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but our sanity is limited.

 

That said, I know some people tend to stick to a strict roster of reused characters for life - it could be that they've built up some unstated expectations or are otherwise having trouble adjusting. Alternatively, they might be thinking of joining the site and having an 'awkward' moment seeing that one of their character's Wanted slots is already filled, which sounds like a missed opportunity to me if you guys parted on good terms.

The original terms were in DMs on Discord. We're not friends and since then I'd closed the message but I may ask them to send me a request so I can screenshot for future reference. I like that "Ideas are a dime a dozen, but our sanity is limited", it's quite true. 

 

I haven't chosen a site yet, just have a search up, so I don't think it's that. I'm also not 100% sure what terms we parted on, we were fine personally at the time as far as I knew but it's little secret that I'm not fond of a co-admin of theirs and their message seemed to have an aggressive/accusatory tone to my eyes (though they did essentially accuse me of stealing their wanted character out of the blue so I'm not going to say I'm wholly unbiased). You may be right in that they're having trouble adjusting, I suppose I'll have to wait and see what they say. 

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How can you steal a character you created?

 

Am I missing something? Is it because there are elements from a shared history from a past site? Which are still part of the character you wrote, and their history, not something you took from them, whether you created the character for a want ad or not.

 

Color me confused. I didn't know you could steal from yourself lol

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1 hour ago, dusk said:

How can you steal a character you created?

 

Am I missing something? Is it because there are elements from a shared history from a past site? Which are still part of the character you wrote, and their history, not something you took from them, whether you created the character for a want ad or not.

 

Color me confused. I didn't know you could steal from yourself lol

 

Yeah, they're super pissed I have anything in common. They listed out a bunch of stuff they want me to change and most of it is either 1) something I came up with myself for the original app 2) something that is the same base concept but has all the details changed. 

 

They claim to have found our original conversation where they agreed to let me use "a loose basis" but continued on to say that that doesn't mean I can have the same name, playby, abilities, age, any same elements of history, or even that he can have a sibling as he originally did despite a completely different dynamic and history between them. They also called me a backstabber among other unpleasant things so I've blocked them and have no intention of ever speaking with them again. 

 

I would have been happy to discuss in detail the way I changed things or tried to come to a better middle ground, had they been a rational person about things, but I most certainly am not going to sit there and let someone fling insults and false accusations at me. 

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I would not waste anymore time worry about this then. If they do stalk you to another site and cause drama, you will know if that site is for you or not based on how the staff react. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

See, I agree with others here. Sure it was a wanted, but it was your character. That you created. End of story. I have reused characters in the past that were spawned from wanteds. Never ran into the problem you have, but I certainly could have. There are some crazy people out there and... yeah. I don't think you are in the wrong at all.

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On 6/15/2019 at 11:13 AM, dusk said:

How can you steal a character you created?

 

Am I missing something? Is it because there are elements from a shared history from a past site? Which are still part of the character you wrote, and their history, not something you took from them, whether you created the character for a want ad or not.

 

Color me confused. I didn't know you could steal from yourself lol

 

This, a million times this.  This  person is being possessive of something you  made and that is completely inappropriate. I'm quite certain any site admin with an iota of common sense would see that anyway. I say go on with your life and be comforted in the knowledge that your creation is entirely yours, and you have good riddance of a bad friend. 🙂

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