Thread: A curious thought...

Since RP is a form of creative writing, surely the etiquette for our art should be the same as for more conventional fiction. If someone invents a story, then it is extremely bad manners for someone else to steal it and use it in its entirety. Given that international copyright legislation does not only apply to professional or published works, it is also illegal. However, only that specific interpretation is copyright - you can't copyright a concept, a plot, a title, or a type of character. If, for example, I created a RP with sexisuzi called Love in the Glade, about a romance between a red-skinned elf called Sianora created by my partner and a snake-scaled demon called Alfonz created by me, and we decide to bring the RP to a halt, then I regard Alfonz and everything I have posted to that date as copyrighted by me. sexisuzi should not carry on the RP with another player, and neither she nor anyone else may use Alfonz without my permission. Neither may I use Sianora, or carry on the RP with another player, unless sexisuzi gives her permission. On the other hand, there's nothing to stop sexisuzi or anyone else doing another RP with the same title, using different characters, or creating totally different characters called Alfonz, or using the same plot with different characters. Or, for that matter, doing exactly the same characters and stories again with my permission given to use Alfonz, and there is no requirement for them to even acknowledge or reference that permission though it would be a courtesy... Example from recent literature In 1999, Koushun Takam wrote a novel called Battle Royale which was about a group of children forced to slaughter each other in an arena by an oppressive government. Some years later, Suzanne Collins wrote The Hunger Games trilogy, about a group of children and later, adults forced into exactly the same situation. Though Collins used the same central idea as Takam, she developed it in an entirely different way, with markedly different characters and settings. There is no question of either copyright infringement or an artistic rip off. Similarly, if some other author wrote a story using the same concept, but with different characters, this is perfectly OK. However, if they wrote, say, a novel dealing with Katniss Everdeen's life after the events in Mockingjay it would be a copyright infringment of the character, unless they had the original author's approval. All Collins' invented characters and places Peeta Mellark, Panem, Alma Coin, Primrose Everdeen, etc are her artistic property. But they could, with impunity, write a story about children being made to kill each other called The Evil Arena,, or a story about a starving family in Africa called The Hunger Games, or call a character Jennifer Everdeen... Similarly, in RP you can't copyright a pairing Mermaid x Sailor, or a plot Bad girl falls in love with good girl, or a setting Vampire High School, or a name Wendy Jackson, - if you could, then hardly anyone would be able to RP at all, until the RP of the previous person to bag the name was finished! All this, I stress, is my personal view only - maybe someone else has another take on it.