Monday 21 June 2010

About This Prison Drama...

In the past few days there's been a lot of hoo-hah over people 'copying' my Prison story, and I just figured I should make my feelings about it known.

Back in the days of Sims 2 it was Candi I believe who started the whole Uglacy thing. Since then, Uglacies have been cropping up all over the place. Now that doesn't mean that people were copying her, it just means that the concept was a good idea and her stories inspired others to do their own version.

The Stanford Prison Experiment may have been the first prisony type story out there, but even that wasn't an original premise- it was based on an actual psychological study. I'm not surprised that people have started to follow in my footsteps, and I'm not mad about it. Admittedly, it did sting a little when I glanced through some of the other prison walkthroughs and saw that they had laid things out just like mine- the whole misery for prisoners and luxury for guards thing, and this is the reason why I will now probably never put my prison on the exchange.

I'm not really the type to go all RAHHH on people with the vengeance and the outrage; I've had people who've used my Sims in stories 'without asking' or whatev, and even some who have been reuploaded, and I've never got pissy about it. You know why? Because no matter what people try, no matter what ideas they steal, their stories will never be like mine, and I have enough confidence in my own abilities to know that that's okay.

To all the people who accosted the prison 'copiers' on my behalf- I do appreciate you fighting my corner. It was nice to see that others were willing to defend me in my absence, and it's probably the reason why I don't feel the need to do it myself. Having said that, I wouldn't step off on people just because they're doing a prison story, cause that in essence isn't terrible. Regarding the whole Biff thing I can see why people were mad- she lied; said she'd asked my permission, then when called out on it said she'd never heard of my story so wasn't copying anyways.

Hmm, I've just looked around the latest one and again it does seem there may be elements of copying... Okay, maybe my hopes that people were just borrowing the idea and not actual parts of mine were in vain... *sigh* I know people who've actually had their entire stories ripped off; people have stolen the words and just added their own pictures. If that ever happens to me I'm gonna be pissed...

Anyways, I guess the point of this was thus: people doing a prison story= not bad. It's not bad until real plagiarism happens, and you don't need to attack people to get your point across; it can be done calmly. I appreciate the support and the fact that you inform me when these things are going on, but I'm just gonna hope that no real plagiarism occurs.
I can hope right?

13 comments:

  1. I'm sorry people are stealing your ideas. :( I see a lot of things on the exchange that have been stolen from various creators and CC sites and it's really not fair at all.

    I hope you don't mind me using Drew on my blog. I made sure to credit you as his creator, but I didn't really ask for your permission. :/

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  2. I was SO reluctant to post my first (and only) story on the TS2 Exchange a couple of years ago, not only because I'm terrified of sharing my work, but because I was so afraid people would copy it. It wasn't an original theme -- fairies, merfolk, & other creatures -- but I put SO much work into creating a unique storyline and characters. It would've been tough to have seen it copied very closely (luckily it wasn't really good enough to have been copied, lol).

    When I first saw you mention the idea of the prison experiment, I knew people would jump on the bandwagon. And like you said, the general THEME is not so unique that any related stories would be straight plagiarism, but you have many unique elements that people probably want to emulate and incorporate into their own stories. Hell, I sure wish I'd thought of it! But then it wouldn't have been half as good...

    I kinda missed out on the whole Biff thing. I'm sorry that the girl is 11, I'm sorry that she got her feelings hurt, but she straight up LIED. At 11 you know right from wrong, and you know a lie from the truth. I really didn't see where anyone ganged up on her that badly for her to get SO upset, but yada yada yada blah blah blah. xD

    Keep up the kick-ass work Fury. You could find 100 prison experiment stories, and NONE of them would be in the same league as yours. ;)

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  3. @pentameter: Ah y'see though things like that I don't mind- as far as I'm concerned when you put Sims on the exchange they're open to anyone, so as long as people credit me with making them it's all good in the hood ;)

    Stories though are another matter. It takes a lot more time and effort to come up with a premise and write a story than to make a Sim I feel, so it bothers me when people rip that off.
    I haven't experienced that too badly though, so it's okay :)


    @Cele: I know what you mean about the Biff thing- I did feel kind of bad for her, but she did lie and the others weren't too harsh- they were just annoyed about the fibs like me.

    Thanks for the love ;) I shall continue to try to be kick ass.

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  4. Excellent news! :D I figured you weren't talking about stuff like that, but I wanted to be sure.

    And I totally agree with Cele, your stories are awesome and there really is no comparison. You had me hooked on The Mars Legacy from the first chapter and I've enjoyed your other work just as much.

    I've got some happier news though. I managed to get Connor uploaded. There's a link to my new blog on my main blog's page. I uploaded two versions of him, one without the Ambitions trait because I wasn't sure if you were playing with it yet or not.

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  5. Yuh-huh, I just found him XD

    I gots the basegame version atm, should be getting my new compizzle very, very soon though so I can switch to eco-friendly Connor.
    Now I just need to sign up to Sexy Sims...

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  6. You'll have to let me know how they files work out and everything. This is the first time I'm uploading things and I was just guessing as to how to do it. xD I really hope I didn't screw anything up.

    I'm scared for you to sign up at Sexy Sims. I've seen what you do with the mods for dangly parts and there are A LOT of those on that site. xD

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  7. I had people copying my apocalypse story for a while. It was really annoying at first (though some people said I should be flattered), but then they either settled into their own groove and made their story their own, or they just couldn't handle the challenge and gave up.

    I guess the same will happen here - either they'll develop their own way of doing things or give up and even if not, people know you're the first one to do it.

    PS More chapters soon?

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  8. Sorry people have been copying you Fury. I just wanted to post those links because I wasn't sure you knew. Either way, their stories will never compare to yours.

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  9. @Rad: Am looking into what computer to buy right at this moment. Assuming once I've bought it everything goes okay then I should be able to get a new chapter done in a couple of weeks (with shiny new graphics!) Let's just hope there are no complications :)

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  10. Hmm, I guess this was expected since it's never been done before and it's a good idea. But I don't get the point of it! Whats so great in copying? Why do it? Do it descretly.

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  11. i always thaught, as long as they credit you, then its quite, flattering for them to use them. Your prison thing inspired a project which is still in the making, but its how sims would react if they were a superhero and a villian, but if you think its copying, i'll delete it.

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  12. I think its bad in a way that people are coping your idea, on the other hand though it must have been a good idea for so many people to copy, its like this 1 person thought of a legacy(yeh?) but it was such a good idea that there a LOADS of legacies out there. in a way u should be houred that people would copy but u have every right to be annoyed. I love your Escape to riverview and Prison Experment and they are both one of a kind and no matter how hard they try the copies will NEVER be orignal or better than yours. Also im starting a blog up could u help me with a name, im going to be posting just random stuff, erm stuff about my sim self and all that. Would u mind helping me out for a name please?

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  13. Hi Fury. I've been following your blog for a while, and I've loved it from the first Mars Legacy chapter I've read. Your new prison story is original and refreshing, and any copies will most certainly not come up to scratch. But I just wanted to comment because I think this post was very classy of you (heehee, if this kind of thing happened to me, I'd be FRACKIN' OUT!!!).
    Anyway, just tres cool! <3 A.

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