OOC shenanigans

[iavatus]

Coming from an academic background, I have a strong, strong bias against plagiarism. If you spend all this time, and effort and work and resources to developing a plan, or idea or anything that you need to be able to stand criticism, the moment you leave a gaping hole in it like copy pasting someone elses work without attributing, you're stuffed. Even the way you attribute, has to be incredibly obvious and detailed, simply so you are saying "Here's the original idea. I like it, I didn't do it, but here's how I'm building from it".

Yes, this can be harsh. Yes, this makes life difficult, if you can't scribe something original but have to rely on ctrl-c, ctrl-v. So? But definitely a black mark on PD back then, for letting it pass. Too late to do anything now, without just as bad an effect. Fully a third of my characters would have memories that don't exist, or relate to the reality. Also, bad precedent.

But it is terribad, seeing logs of old discussions and having Cloud Strife nodding seriously to the points. Just .... boom, my mind. Bugger logs too. Can't you be bothered to take the effort to write something either? Or at least use notepad, frigging notepad! to ctrl-h (replace) a lot of the You say, or time stamps with nothing, and do a little formatting?

[Axiom]

Now you guys are making me a little concerned about my tendency to use RL sea shanties as a starting point for meter and format... Uh, does anyone have a problem with this? 90%+ of the words are my own anyway.

[Kyriel]

Not really? They're not generally under copyright anyway, being hundreds of years old, and you're not just copy/pasting them whole cloth without editing them or even formatting them. And even if they were under copyright, well, Weird Al is allowed to do parodies, so is everyone else.

[iavatus]

Nah, it's not academia, and basing a shanty on another one, and then changing everything, is an honoured tradition. And 10% is pretty much nothing. Had ones get bounced for more then that, because they used the same words in some places, and headers and footers.

The one it was saying I was copying? My own name and area. The others, were the page numbers and dates. Automated software, you just can't beat it for crapness.

[Wolfsong]

Look, if nobody had a problem with the catgirl/witchhunter brothel from a few years ago where everybody was named after an anime character AND HAD CAT EARS AND TAILS, I doubt people are going to care about a few altered sea shanties.

[LittleSoul]

Now you guys are making me a little concerned about my tendency to use RL sea shanties as a starting point for meter and format... Uh, does anyone have a problem with this? 90%+ of the words are my own anyway.

See that's what I'm talking about. The word plagiarism is scary, and its definition is meant to be from a legal standpoint. If you're talking about anything else I think it's better to just use the word 'unoriginal' or 'lame' because.. that's what it really is. It's fricken lame.

That's my whole point on my plagiarism inquiry from earlier. At this point I am convinced there are no real legal risks. No one cares what people put on Cantr except people in Cantr. I'm still glad it's not allowed in the game because.. yeah it's lame. And lazy.

And Axiom you're completely fine. Old old old old music that you've completely changed and have just taken the general 'beat' from in syllables it seems like. Don't worry about it. Also, AWESOME shanties by the way. I really have enjoyed them.

[Kyriel]

See that's what I'm talking about. The word plagiarism is scary, and its definition is meant to be from a legal standpoint. If you're talking about anything else I think it's better to just use the word 'unoriginal' or 'lame' because.. that's what it really is. It's fricken lame.

No, "plagiarism" doesn't exist in a legal sense. The related legal concept would be "copyright infringement". Plagiarism is still plagiarism regardless of whether something is legally under copyright or not. You won't get sued if you try to claim you wrote Romeo and Juliet. You'd just make yourself look like an idiot and prevent anyone from taking you seriously ever again.

[Axiom]

Yeah, I'm not concerned about plagiariasm per se. They're all in the public domain anyway.

And thanks! I'm glad you like them. I have a couple more queued up, so look forward to them.

[LittleSoul]

See that's what I'm talking about. The word plagiarism is scary, and its definition is meant to be from a legal standpoint. If you're talking about anything else I think it's better to just use the word 'unoriginal' or 'lame' because.. that's what it really is. It's fricken lame.

No, "plagiarism" doesn't exist in a legal sense. The related legal concept would be "copyright infringement". Plagiarism is still plagiarism regardless of whether something is legally under copyright or not. You won't get sued if you try to claim you wrote Romeo and Juliet. You'd just make yourself look like an idiot and prevent anyone from taking you seriously ever again.

I stand corrected, I must have been thinking of copyright. Thanks for letting me know!
It still sounds scary though. Maybe it's because they beat the repercussions into our brains at college.

[*Wiro]

I could even appreciate a Britney or Madonna song with changed lyrics. It's just that when a song appears in the game that came from outside, there is no suitable IC response. The character didn't copy it because the song doesn't exist in the game. It's an OOC action and responding to it would technically be a CRB. It just puts everyone in a really awkward spot.

[Marian]

But it is terribad, seeing logs of old discussions and having Cloud Strife nodding seriously to the points. Just .... boom, my mind. Bugger logs too. Can't you be bothered to take the effort to write something either? Or at least use notepad, frigging notepad! to ctrl-h (replace) a lot of the You say, or time stamps with nothing, and do a little formatting?

An older player may have to verify this, because I know it's hard to believe. But I could swear I've seen a note from way, waaaay back in the day, which implied there was actually a town (more than one?) that expected players to copy their project completion notice and actually have their characters announce it out loud, unedited. "####-#.##: Project Harvesting rice has been finished (1053 grams, ending up in the inventory of Character Name).'

...many of the really old Cantr societies baffle and confuse me, even to this day.

[computaertist]

...many of the really old Cantr societies baffle and confuse me, even to this day.

It may help you to remember (or learn?) that this wasn't always (primarily) a role playing game. It was, at its beginning, (primarily) a society simulator. The mechanics had first and final say in everything, no one was trying to get around them or ignore them. They were actually quite happy with and proud of them. Since then, over time, the player base, and consequently game itself, has changed so that what was once perfectly expectable and acceptable is now alien.

[Spillages]

...many of the really old Cantr societies baffle and confuse me, even to this day.

It may help you to remember (or learn?) that this wasn't always (primarily) a role playing game. It was, at its beginning, (primarily) a society simulator. The mechanics had first and final say in everything, no one was trying to get around them or ignore them. They were actually quite happy with and proud of them. Since then, over time, the player base, and consequently game itself, has changed so that what was once perfectly expectable and acceptable is now alien.

The game still is a society simulator. You are just hanging out in the wrong towns I suspect.

[Marian]

...many of the really old Cantr societies baffle and confuse me, even to this day.

It may help you to remember (or learn?) that this wasn't always (primarily) a role playing game. It was, at its beginning, (primarily) a society simulator. The mechanics had first and final say in everything, no one was trying to get around them or ignore them. They were actually quite happy with and proud of them. Since then, over time, the player base, and consequently game itself, has changed so that what was once perfectly expectable and acceptable is now alien.

Oh, I'm well aware of the society simulator roots. And the most interesting and satisfying RP is still mechanics driven, IMHO. I'm not one of those who sees a split between RP and simulation, even if the game is heavily balanced in favor of the former.

And I know I've argued before that the game is far more of an accurate society simulator today than it was back then. So many of the dictatorships and wars and politics from the early days were pretty obviously based on governments in RL history. Just whatever players thought would be fun to experiment with, with no basis in Cantreality. What we have now, the lazy towns with the same boring four laws that we all complain about, are societies truly based on the game mechanics. While warrior tribes squabbling and backstabbing over infinite resources was more about pure RP and drama.

[computaertist]

I was only attempting to shed light on the part about how straight copy and past of reports was the opposite of baffling at one point.

And such like.