I''m going to try and avoid getting into the flame war and simply state my view of the issue.

If you post your ideas here, there is a risk that someone else will use them. These are public forums, so *anyone* could read your concept and do write their own version.

However, if your idea is ever going to turn into an implementation, you will need to tell someone about it at some point. An idea that is kept completely secret is never going to get anywhere.

I can offer a number of reasons why you might want to share some of your ideas.

1. You think your ideas are great - but then everyone thinks their ideas are great. The real question is - do other people think they are great? If you never tell anyone, you will never know. It is better to find out that an idea sucks early rather than later.

2. There''s nothing new under the sun - There is a fairly good chance that someone has come up with similar ideas before you. This isn''t necessarily a bad thing, and you can learn from their mistakes and refine the idea further.

3. Advertising - If your idea really is great, there are people around here (programmers, artists etc.) who might offer to help you realise your idea. And at the end of the day, as Seibharrin said, an idea without implementation is next to worthless.

4. Copyright - The same medium that enables people to steal your idea also gives you some protection. As Kylotan pointed out, an idea is copyrighted the moment you write it down. If you post an idea here, and it gets ripped off, there is a dated electronic record that you came up with the idea here stored at Gamedev.net. Most companies will not take ideas from public forums for these reasons.

5. Finally, everyone here has their own ideas which they are trying to realise. For most of us, that doesn''t leave us a lot of time to quickly steal someone else''s game.

So in conclusion, I would say you are pretty safe posting your ideas here.

Incidentally, you mentioned you have been ''ripped off before''. How exactly?

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
What do I know? What do you know? I know that I''ve been reading these forums for quite some time...how am I like a broken record, as an AP are you sure I might be someone other than whoever you apparently think I am?

And yet, we DON''T know who you are and you seem intent on keeping it this way. If you want to be taken seriously, take off the mask. And quit acting like some fuckin'' superhero in your Underoos. Run along, child... get real or get lost.

Dave Mark
President and Lead Designer
Intrinsic Algorithm Development
"Reducing the world to mathematical equations!"

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
Why are you a mod here?

Because I'm active, consistent and knowledgeable. Nice isn't a requirement. And constantly getting at my being a mod is lame.

quote:
What about that was so offensive? Was it his friendly tone to your less than friendly reply? Or was it him pleasantly thanking you?

No, it was me answering that it was safe, and that this was a very good location to get feedback and ideas and him then coming here to ask the same question. I don't mind naive, but idiocy bothers me.

You know the real way to determine the tone of a board? It's standard netiquette - something I can't assume you're familiar with since you're too cowardly to create an identity we can associate with your personality. Look around. Lurk for a while, read other posts and see how people interact. Given this fundamental tenet of social human behavior (it applies even in kindergarden; the new kid is tentative as he determines how the others respond to him), the posters inability to apply himself is bothersome.

Furthermore, the reason I'm a "pissy bitch" is because I demand netiquette. You have a question? A general, entry-level question? It's most likely been asked before, and answered several times over, so look first. Many people find me caustic and offensive when they first encounter me online, but after observing how many times I provide the same answers to the same questions - and my amazingly low questions:answers ratio (which means I actually spend most of my time helping and contributing to others) - they see my point. Hopefully you will eventually.

Now register or stop posting anonymously. It makes flamewars much more rewarding.

[ GDNet Start Here | GDNet Search Tool | GDNet FAQ | MS RTFM [MSDN] | SGI STL Docs | Google! ]
Thanks to Kylotan for the idea!

[edited by - Oluseyi on March 18, 2002 10:52:16 AM]

Well! Thank you for your thoughts. As I indicated, I am very new to this arena, and was, I thought courteous enough to apologise for any unintended offence. I shall tread more carefully in future. (Especially around Moderators whose principal function appears to be criticism rather than encouragement. I REALLY didn’t expect my somewhat eccentric spelling to be scrutinised for mistakes! Never mind).

Thanks especially to the Anonymous poster, Shmiznac, Impossible etc for helpful notions… You are quite right, I’m NOT a programmer or game designer. I have not been to any of these areas but will make sure I do before risking a flaming again. (Although I understand this was a relatively gentle mugging!) Here’s my idea… (At the risk of offending the Moderator I shan’t try to use clever intro phrases..)

It seems to me that the PC is generally used to its fullest potential. There is a push towards bigger and better graphical innovation. How about using the potential for the players mind to provide the very best graphics and design a game that has none on screen. I don’t know if this is feasible but you should be able to create a sound environment with six-point cinema surround speakers. Just take a second to imagine how scary and immersive this could be. A mystery or thriller based adventure that begins with a quietly ticking clock and indicators of local objects and leads gradually outside across traffic, upstairs, in crowds…. A scuttle behind you in the dark. A shot from afar…. Does anyone think this may work? How to do it?

And that is to say nothing of those folks who are denied a lot of the enjoyment of Adventuring due to visual impairment?

Thanks for listening.

It is an interesting idea (and as I suspected, isn't entirely new)

There are problems though.

1. Gamers happen to like their pretty graphics, and are willing to fork out huge sums of money for the latest graphics cards. They won't necessarily be too quick to embrace something so radically different.

2. You would need excellent writers and sound people in order to keep it interesting, set the mood appropriately. With impressive visuals, you don't need to worry so much about setting the scene - it is done by the graphics.


[edited by - Sandman on March 18, 2002 1:43:43 PM]

You want to do what...?

Er, that doesn''t sound like a game at all, more a work of abstract cinema. How are you going to control what you''re doing? Clearly standard "up moves you forward" etc. key mappings are going to have you stumbling around like a blind man, which basically leaves control back to "break window, move north" text adventure style. So how exactly is your idea different from a text adventure with sound?

If you''re going to create a big hoo-haa over your idea, then i was expecting more. As it stands i can''t see it being practical (or well thought out) at all. Games are about interaction, and you can''t interact with a blank screen.


(NB before anyone jumps at me, i''m an entirly different AP from the rather vocal guy previous...)

First, I''d suggest you start a new thread, as few people would slug through this one to find your idea after all this mudslinging.

Second, take a look at New game concept, which is virtually identical to your idea which proves our point, but let''s not get into that.

Scaring the player also has some suggestions on audio. I found both links by using the GDNet Search tool (see sig).

[ GDNet Start Here | GDNet Search Tool | GDNet FAQ | MS RTFM [MSDN] | SGI STL Docs | Google! ]
Thanks to Kylotan for the idea!

quote: Original post by Oluseyi
Because I''m active, consistent and knowledgeable. Nice isn''t a requirement. And constantly getting at my being a mod is lame.

What exactly is the "constantly"? Outside of this thread I''ve never said any such thing.

quote:
No, it was me answering that it was safe, and that this was a very good location to get feedback and ideas and him then coming here to ask the same question. I don''t mind naive, but idiocy bothers me.

Idiocy is taking the word of a single person you don''t know at all at face value. He wanted more opinions, which is entirely reasonable.

quote:
You know the real way to determine the tone of a board? It''s standard netiquette - something I can''t assume you''re familiar with since you''re too cowardly to create an identity we can associate with your personality.

I know what netiquette is. If the original poster did not, that isn''t reason to flame them. Your behavior clearly does not conform to "netiquette" either I would point out. Unless your definition of netiquette includes that jumping all over people for the slightest infraction is very reasonable.

As far as being "cowardly," I have my reasons for not registering. You allow AP''s, tough. I''ve made attempts to sign my posts but I often forget.

quote:
Now register or stop posting anonymously. It makes flamewars much more rewarding.

Make me.

Actually, I''ll tell you what. Tell me that I can provide a garbage e-mail address and I''ll register. Otherwise no thanks.

Blabla bla. close this already.

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
As far as being "cowardly," I have my reasons for not registering. You allow AP''s, tough. I''ve made attempts to sign my posts but I often forget.

pussy.

quote: Actually, I''ll tell you what. Tell me that I can provide a garbage e-mail address and I''ll register. Otherwise no thanks.

get a free one from hotmail and then never check it if you are that afraid that someone might send you a note...