Copying ideas as an issue of Honor and prestige.

As we all know there is nothing from under the sun and all "new" is just the old in a different way.

That being said, there are ideas that you technically won't be having any copiright issues at all, but the real issue is that people will undoubtedly call you a "RIP OFF" for using those ideas.

For example Thor the god is a public domain character, but if anybody tried to make a superhero Thor. No doubt people would say that's a ripoff of marvel's character no matter how original, and different that character might be.

I have some ideas like that myself, but I am worried about actually using them for those reasons.

How do you deal with the idea of people a copy cat. After all you might not have issues in court ,but if your audience thinks you are cheap, your work is done no matter how legal it might be.

edited 21st Dec '14 9:01:21 AM by RPGLegend

Pander to your fanbase and smash anyone who points out "It's Been Done" with the Banhammer.

edited 21st Dec '14 10:00:44 PM by dvorak

Be absolutely honest and transparent about where you got each and every idea.

My giant sleek robots were inspired by mecha anime, not Scott Westerfeld's cutting-edge clankers (although those were cool, and I wouldn't be surprised if Westerfeld also watched mecha anime and I would even geek out myself over his geeking out.)

I never watched Cutthroat Island. My pirate queen is a mix of Grace O'Malley and Princess Alfhild.

Every team dynamic I have has a vitriolic friendship/romance, and a superhumanely intelligent little waifish girl. I would want to say that I based that group dynamic off the Commedia Dell'Arte, but I really ripped off from Joss Whedon.

Did The Lion King rip off Kimba? I thought they ripped off Hamlet, except that they didn't do that either because there were survivors. Kimba was more like Robin Hood than Hamlet.

Why does everyone keep comparing The Hunger Games to Battle Royale? Battle Royale has no showbiz. Suzanne Collins was more likely inspired by Roman gladiators, her own career in television writing and the experience behind the scenes, maybe even her own concern for kids these days in some ways having a harder childhood than she'd had, what with the war on terror and the economic bust.

Random question: if you were to write a book, how would you be able to pinpoint where you got your information from? Novels don't tend to have bibliographies, or at least none that I have read that would tell you what inspired them. I'm asking because I tend to synthesize a lot of information, and it would be weird to try and explain where everything came from as a result. I'm more worried about obscure pieces of information (e.g. a flash game with a similar plot) than established works.

I'd think the best way to handle that is to go the "Word of God" route — Whenever someone asks about your inspiration, be honest (see ). Alternatively, put up an FAQ page on your website and explain there.