The Reader publishes newspapers and books, not video games. They have no reason to ‘steal’ your idea.
Your idea wouldn’t fall under the rights the Reader has reserved for itself anyway - it’s not copyrightable. So, the ToS have nothing to do with it…but anyone who happened upon it could ‘steal’ it. But that wouldn’t prevent you from making it anyway.
Any game made that would need the information you’re soliciting would require licencing characters from at least 9 different companies (just from the op). Consider what this means for the game’s chances of getting made.
Calm down. You posted a rather nonspecific OP, then a ‘clarification’ that only further muddied the issue, then you flipped out at people who said so. Swearing at people isn’t going to endear you to them or make them want to help you.
andrewt, you have a very peculiar notion of “steal.”
You publish your idea out on an open website, and any fool that comes along can “steal” it. Ideas cannot be copyrighted.
The READER does have a right to reprint what you post on their website, that’s in the registration agreement. And you retain a right to reprint it, as well, since you created it. I’d guess that 99.9% of people think this is reasonable and fair.
If you want to flame the READER, or the registration agreement, or other posters who are not able to read your mind, such flames go in the forum called BBQ Pit. Not here, not in Cafe Society.
So, yeah, I’ll echo Tengu’s comment: calm down. And that’s an Administrator talking, so I suggest you might pay attention.
While I’m at it, Lemur, your comment is funny, but out of order. Personal insults are not permitted in this forum.
No, it was because they couldn’t read my posts- I said that I had an idea for a game, I said that I wanted characters both created by Nintendo and that just appeared in games by Nintendo- this info wasn’t hard to find; in fact, missing it deserves criticism.
I don’t understand why I deserved Lemur’s insult. In any case, I have pitted Chicago Reader’s policy over in The Pit. Go over to that thread if you want to discuss my Nintendo game.
I’d rather mention this here than in the Pit thread. The Pit has a discussion of Reader policy, and I’d like to talk about the idea.
Not all of the characters that appear on Nintendo games are property of Nintendo, and Nintendo still doesn’t “own” the characters. For example, James Bond was in Goldeneye - an MGM property, developed by Rare (which is currently owned by Microsoft), and published by Nintendo. Many game companies have had the idea for “let’s throw all our intellectual property together” games individually or in groups, like so:
Anything of the magnitude described in the OP would likely devolve into the various companies bitching at each other for years. But good luck with that.
Then, when somebody gave you the information you supposedly sought - the names of characters in Nintendo games - you claimed it wasn’t important.
Then, when asked what really was important, you threw a hissy fit. (A seriously misinformed hissy fit, misinformation that’s been corrected both here and in your pit thread. But that’s beside the point right now.)
People have read your posts, you’ve failed to make yourself clear.
What I said was “Okay, exact names aren’t too important right now, but thanks. Can anyone name any other major games/characters left out? I have an idea for a game. Know anyone I can pitch an idea to? (nope, can’t mention it here; Chicago Reader could steal it”
By “exact names aren’t too important right now”, I meant that I didn’t want any more responses clarifying exact names, such as that Star Fox’s real name was McCloud or whatever; I simply know him as Star Fox, and that’s enough for me right now. I say specifically that I have a game concept and that I want to pitch the idea.
How did I not make myself clear? You know, if you are a thinking person, that people are pretty poor when it comes to reading OPs and subsequent posts by the OP- that said, I admit that I was throwing a hissy-fit by using a :smack:, saying ‘fuck’, etc.; but I have so little patience for people who don’t read OPs and subsequent important posts, and that seemed- and still does- to be the case. It just contributes to this place feeling like an ‘echo box.’
But I admit that I was unclear, because posters didn’t understand that I considered Star Fox a character instead of calling him by his name, same for Kid Icarus, etc. etc. So clarification was necessary, but the question of ‘what is important?’ was clearly answered. Now tell me why that poster had to ask what was important about this thread.
If Andrew is doing character design, he might be interested in the character rather than their names. So instead of “Mario”, he wants “A fat plumber who stomps on mutant mushrooms and have a cape and can fly, shoot fireballs, throws hammer…” and etc.
You are asking people to give their own time to help you create some game. Given by your secrecy, you seem to want this to be a profitable enterprise. And then you get upset when people give you information that you don’t need. Get over yourself. Maybe other people are interesting in that information. I’m interested in the characters actual names.
You don’t want the character’s names. That tells us nothing about what you DO want. Do you, as ExtraKun suggests, want concepts? (Doesn’t seem so, since you do nothing but list games and characters, conflating several different character concepts at a few points.) Do you want a list of Nintendo games? (Doesn’t seem so, since you list several characters from several games, not naming their games.) Do you want a listing of characters? (Doesn’t seem so, since you seem content to refer to several characters by their game’s titles, several of which don’t actually have anything to do with the characters themselves (such as calling Samus ‘Metroid’, which, has been mentioned, is the enemy in the game), and you ignore many of the major characters from several of the games (such as the rest of Fox McCloud’s squad).) So. What DO you want?
Two minor points of board etiquette, free of charge:
You started this thread, you don’t own it. Insulting people for making points that you consider tangential reflects badly on you.
Insulting people in the post you’re supposedly apologising for the earlier insults in reflects even more badly on you.
The title of the thread is “Let’s name famous Nintendo characters”. Then you posted that “exact names aren’t too important.” You’re not being as clear as you think you are.
Listen, bub. You’re acting like time is of the essence and posts that don’t cut straight to the heart of your main point hurt you somehow. Even if it’s not “important,” I don’t see why you would object to me pointing out the exact names of characters. It’s not exactly a hijack, and it certainly seems related to your main point. If all you want is titles of classic Nintendo games, I suggest you look here, here, and here. You can pick out whichever ones you like are “famous” enough for your “concept.” You don’t need to start a conversation on a social forum if all you want is dry information with no commentary.
I admit- I have admitted- that I was unclear, and that I (being a video game non-expert to say the least) erroneously referred to some characters by the title of their games, leading to more confusion. My snaps were because I have to learn to have patience with people, even if they don’t remember every single word I write in my OPs or following posts. It bothers me, but it shouldn’t get to me as much, and in this case you weren’t entirely off-basis, certainly.
So anyways, let’s talk about my game, and just drop this, please?
I don’t play video games, and I don’t hope of being a ‘designer’ who has ‘what it takes’ as The Hook quoted above- I just had an idea I hoped to sell, just a simple concept. I recognize what was said about the difficulty of making such a game, having to get rights from like 9 companys to do so; what are some other games besides Smash Bros. that have involved collaboration of this sort?
Thanks for your help so far, guys.