The Give a Point Rip Off Game
By Liberty 25 Comments
Oscar Wilde said "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”
I was not the first person to do a blog like the Give a Point games. A few years ago I saw someone who made a series of Give a Point/Take a Point games a couple years ago. Each one had their own set of guidelines, themes, rules and goals. They were a lot of fun and we did about twenty or more. People would suggest ideas and many of them were made. I remember asking to do one on public domain characters and was told that I could do it using their guidelines based on not having time to do it at that time.
Years later I made my first Give a Point game. At the time there were not any others. I looked first and made sure. There hadn't been any in a long while so I thought it would be a great time to do one again. I changed the rules to the game a bit, and I came up with perimeters to find ten characters that would be the most “quintessential” to a lead character in a television show The games were pretty popular and some users asked if I was going to do more. I said yes. They also asked if it would be alright if they made similar ones. I said I planned on doing a bunch in a series and asked if they wouldn't mind waiting so we didn't have too many at the same time. They were cool about it and I continued to post different ones. Other uses never contacted me and just went and made their own.
I have to admit I was crest fallen when I saw the first one. Then another one popped up and another and another. I felt more bummed with each one. As I explained I planned on doing more for several characters and I was making lists of each one showcasing the results. I had even made a list of what ones I was going to do. I felt like my thunder had been stolen. What made it worse was not just having the game copied but my whole idea of basing the game around the ten “quintessential” characters around a television show was also copied. My entire vocabulary was copied as well completely plagiarizing me directly. My blog was pretty much cut and pasted in another users blog and then the names of the characters were changed. Take a look for yourself. They are not hard to find.
I know I am not the first person to do a game like this. I am not Shakespere. I don't own the rights to the Give a Point game franchise. All of this is true, but I cannot help but feel wronged. I cannot help but feel a little ripped off. I could have just pumped out a million blogs all at once trying to beat others to the punch but I didn't. Now, I see twice as many blogs out there the ones I have. Others users are already doing blogs on the same characters I was going to do. I feel as if I unintentionally created a new "Give a Point Rip Off Game" where users just copy the blog above them and make their own.
Am I just a fool out of time thinking that this is rude. Am I being too controlling? Am I making to big of a deal about this? Am I too sensitive. I wish I could just delete all the copies and move forward. I look forward to hearing any intelligent responses to this blog. I hope it is not just copied by another user who may feel the same way.
25 Comments