# Tracey Alley - plagiarist



## BOZ (Jun 15, 2013)

I don't know if this story has made the rounds here yet, but apparently an Australian author by the name of Tracey Alley has made a near-duplicate of Mystara / The Known World and sold it as part of a novel series.

http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/06/winners-losers-and-tomb.html
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2pv04?Mystara-setting-stolen-for-hack-novels
http://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9472

Also see the Facebook group Mystara Reborn for reaction from game designer Bruce Heard and fans - https://www.facebook.com/groups/mystara.reborn/585364398174796/?notif_t=group_activity


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## Morrus (Jun 15, 2013)

Blimey.  That map really is the same map, names and all.


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## AdmundfortGeographer (Jun 15, 2013)

And she appropriated some art for the covers of some kindle books she sells.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jun 15, 2013)

O.M.G.: Maps, place names, character names & art lifted from all kinds of TSR/WotC sources without a thought of being caught.

Reminds me of a student a professor friend of mine caught lifting pages and pages of material from another work as part of a final pepper for the class.  It was from a book written by _the professor's own father_.

Or how The Verve got caught doing uncredited sampling from The Rolling Stones.  (And there was another piece on the same album that likewise ripped off early work by Vangelis.)

What are these people smoking?


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## El Mahdi (Jun 15, 2013)

deleted


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## Hand of Evil (Jun 15, 2013)

IF she has permission for the art, she should just photo-copy and post it.  Remember this from a last year:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...yne-Reynolds-art-for-Rush-Limbaugh-newsletter

wonder what happened with it?


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jun 15, 2013)

Given the "author's" denials and claims of "coincidence", permission is unlikely...


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Jun 16, 2013)

Oh my.

When I first read the title I was like "what's the big deal, if it's just a fan creation for a home game" ... but if the author is selling products, that's just plain wrong.  I assume Australia has some sort of copyright reciprocity with the US to allow appropriate action to be taken.


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## Dungeonosophy (Jun 16, 2013)

*A pat on the head, but no medal.*

What good little boys and girls you are. You know US copyright law so well! There's no question that she "broke the law". Those good boys at the Mystara Piazza get a nice pat on their little heady-heads for turning her in. Maybe Hasbro will give those nice boys an awesome little gift certificate for their service to corporatized culture...
***​
The original goal of copyright law was to provide for individual human creators so that they would have a livelihood, for a relatively short time (14 years), while they produce entirely new creative works.

Yet via corporate influence in the legislation of rights law, this has grown into a monster:

In the case of _natural persons (human beings),_ the creative works are locked down for the life of the author plus _70 years after they're dead_. This provides a pension to a family lineage, who they themselves perhaps have done nothing to contribute to humanity's creative commons. 
And for works which were authored by _legal persons (non-human corporate beings) _these stories are locked down for _120 years_. 

Gigantic media and entertainment corporations have commoditized and locked down our culture and stories and shared mythologies.

The Mystara Piazzites and ENWorlders don't get a medal for pointing out who "broke the law". You do get a medal for sensing what a vibrant, humane, free cultural sector would look like, and enacting that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_culture_movement
https://sites.google.com/site/threefoldnow/free-cultural-sector


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## DornWaraxe (Jun 16, 2013)

If I remember right there was a case a few years ago, that revolved around a map. Only the map. But the author or whoever chose to use the said same map in their own personal endeavor. Which of course led to a law suit and subsequent payment of back royalties and the issue of a public apology and a cease and desist of anymore use of said map. And this was just the map, not the names of cities and countries, just the general map.


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## AdmundfortGeographer (Jun 16, 2013)

DnDPhilmont said:


> What good little boys and girls you are. You know US copyright law so well! There's no question that she "broke the law". Those good boys at the Mystara Piazza get a nice pat on their little heady-heads for turning her in. Maybe Hasbro will give those nice boys an awesome little gift certificate for their service to corporatized culture...



Shove your patronizing.

Her theft of ideas had little to do with the law at first. It was about her work looking so much like it was set in Mystara that Mystara fans were duped into buying it because it resembled the object of their fandom. When asked about the resemblance she insisted everything was the object of her imagination and completely coincidence.

When someone owes their work on the work of others so directly, honor would assume acknowledging the obvious heritage. That is where the Mystaran outrage grew from, it escalated to narcing on her when she raised the stakes to threaten suing people for "lying" (her claim) about her use of ideas.


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## billd91 (Jun 16, 2013)

DnDPhilmont said:


> What good little boys and girls you are. You know US copyright law so well! There's no question that she "broke the law". Those good boys at the Mystara Piazza get a nice pat on their little heady-heads for turning her in. Maybe Hasbro will give those nice boys an awesome little gift certificate for their service to corporatized culture...
> ***​
> The original goal of copyright law was to provide for individual human creators so that they would have a livelihood, for a relatively short time (14 years), while they produce entirely new creative works.
> 
> ...




If that actually were the law now, that would be all well and good. But it's not. This author could have easily worked within the law but either fails to understand it or chose to flaunt it. This is no principled act of civil disobedience. This is appropriating stuff that isn't hers for her own gain and that puts her in the wrong.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jun 16, 2013)

DnDPhilmont said:


> What good little boys and girls you are. You know US copyright law so well! There's no question that she "broke the law". Those good boys at the Mystara Piazza get a nice pat on their little heady-heads for turning her in. Maybe Hasbro will give those nice boys an awesome little gift certificate for their service to corporatized culture...
> ***​
> The original goal of copyright law was to provide for individual human creators so that they would have a livelihood, for a relatively short time (14 years), while they produce entirely new creative works.
> 
> ...



US entertainment lawyer- and creator of intellectual property- here.

First of all, the motivation to increase copyright duration bean with private copyright holders and their successors in interest- usually families.  You complain that the families contributed nothing.  People who found companies can pass along ownership of what they have brought to the world to whomever they want, regardless of their contributions to society.  Why do you think there should be a different rule for those who write books, paint, create music, etc.?

Second, the duration of 120 years applies ONLY to works of corporate origins.

Third, by any standard of measurement, the amount of intellectual property created AND the number of those living solely off the profits of their creative efforts is greater now under copyright (and other IP) enforcement regimes than ever before.

Fourth, as has been pointed out by others, this person didn't engage in any honorable behavior: the author lied about the origins of certain elements in the works in question, and threatened leal action against those who questioned the explanations given.  This was no Robin Hood, this was an unrepentant thief.

Fifth, certain elements of the "Free Culture" movement- like the Creative Commons- foster the sharing of ideas in a way that is entirely consistent with the scope of existing Copyright law...namely, with conditions specified by the creators of the IP.  The existing IP regime is merely the default- any IP creator is within their rights to modify the conditions of use to foster the sharing or that IP more freely.


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## Scrivener of Doom (Jun 16, 2013)

Olgar Shiverstone said:


> Oh my.
> 
> When I first read the title I was like "what's the big deal, if it's just a fan creation for a home game" ... but if the author is selling products, that's just plain wrong.  I assume Australia has some sort of copyright reciprocity with the US to allow appropriate action to be taken.




It sure does.

It's part of the misnamed Free Trade Agreement between Oz and the USA.


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## Umbran (Jun 16, 2013)

*Folks,

This is not an appropriate venue for discussing whether current copyright law is good, useful or what have you.  If you have an issue, please take it up with your duly elected Representatives and Senators.  So, please, let it be.

Thanks, all.*


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## Ashtagon (Jun 16, 2013)

@_*DnDPhilmont*_

Yes, I reported her to WotC for suspected IP infringement. Guilty as charged. As owner of _The Piazza_, I have a duty to protect the integrity of the forum I run. Had I not done so when I became aware, it would invite questions as to whether and to what extent my forum protects IP thieves, which in a worst-case scenario, could result in messy (time-consuming and expensive) legal action. It might also get a forum shut down.

I'd also have reported her to the other copyright holders whom I believe have had their IP used without permission, except I don't have the relevant contacts there. I understand though that other people have since made them aware of the situation.

You might be interested in noting too that Bruce Heard (who actually wrote a huge amount of the stuff being infringed upon) is very upset over this, as present copyright law stops him from writing with that IP. When the original, still living, author himself can't use the IP, it makes no sense to defend the "right" of third party writers to use that IP against both the present law and your idealised version of the law.


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## FlareStorm (Jun 16, 2013)

I don't post here or use this site much, but it is turning into a Facebook fight. Or it was a Facebook fight that we won. So yay social change? The Mystara Reborn Facebook group has more developments and opinions (which you should join anyways, its for Mystara fans)


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## DornWaraxe (Jun 16, 2013)

I think it gets summed up here, fairly well.

www highprogrammer com/alan/rants/tracey-alley-plagiarism/index html (spaces are . )


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## AdmundfortGeographer (Jun 16, 2013)

What's the reason for breaking a web address? I can understand for an email address, but not for a web address...


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## Mike Eagling (Jun 16, 2013)

Eric Anondson said:


> What's the reason for breaking a web address? I can understand for an email address, but not for a web address...




There's a (possibly not universal) restriction on posting links until a forum member has posted 10 times. I ran into something similar myself a few months ago.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jun 16, 2013)

I _knew _I recognized those covers...

As my profs might say, her claims don't even pass the sniff test.


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## DornWaraxe (Jun 16, 2013)

Because my sign-in for this account is new, so until I have a few more post they said I'm not aloud to post links.


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## DornWaraxe (Jun 16, 2013)

Eric Anondson said:


> What's the reason for breaking a web address? I can understand for an email address, but not for a web address...




Because my number of post for this account are to low. They said I can't post any links yet


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## Gaming Tonic (Jun 16, 2013)

It is unfortunate that this person thought that nobody would notice or that if people did happen to notice wouldn't care.  There are a couple of bright spots.  The first being that perhaps some new fans of Mystara will be created.  It is a great world that is richly detailed and a lot of fun with a lot of classic fantasy elements.  The second is that after this "author" is done getting sued they will never have an ounce of credit in the industry again.  So I hope the money made balances what they they will have to pay out in legal fees and damages because they will never write professionally again.


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## FlareStorm (Jun 16, 2013)

Third: showing the IP holders that there is an interest in new official Mystara material


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## BOZ (Jun 16, 2013)

These blogs are worth looking at...

http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/rants/tracey-alley-plagiarism/index.html
http://scribesforge.com/lyceum/100/2013/06/fanfiction/


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## TarionzCousin (Jun 17, 2013)

Morrus said:


> Blimey.  That map really is the same map, names and all.



I've learned two things from this thread:

1. Don't steal other people's work (okay, I already knew this one).
2. Some Brits really do say "blimey."


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## trancejeremy (Jun 17, 2013)

I'm sorry, but D&D was built upon IP infringement.

Hobbits, Balrogs and Ents were lifted from Tolkien, not folklore. A lot of the early art (from the original booklets) was traced over. This has been fairly well documented. Worlds were based on the Outdoor Survival map. Iconic D&D monsters were based on toys.

Legally it's wrong, but morally? is Hasbro being harmed by this? No, not in the slightest. They haven't cared about Mystara in a good what, 20 years?

The cover art is a different matter. But again, I dunno. It's possible to license art. Steve Jackson used a cover of one of my favorite books (Triplet by Timothy Zahn) for one of their supplements. Did they steal the art or license it from the artist? The latter, presumably.


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## Hussar (Jun 17, 2013)

trancejeremy said:


> I'm sorry, but D&D was built upon IP infringement.
> 
> Hobbits, Balrogs and Ents were lifted from Tolkien, not folklore. A lot of the early art (from the original booklets) was traced over. This has been fairly well documented. Worlds were based on the Outdoor Survival map. Iconic D&D monsters were based on toys.
> 
> Legally it's wrong, but morally? is Hasbro being harmed by this? No, not in the slightest. They haven't cared about Mystara in a good what, 20 years?




And, you'll note that hobbits and Ents and Balrogs no longer exist in D&D.  TSR got bent over more than a few times for IP infractions.  The entire RPG industry has a pretty poor record for respecting other people's IP (FASA anyone?).  Based on is fine.  There is nothing wrong with derivative works.  Heck, art is all about derivative works.  But trying to pass off someone else's work and charging money for it is wrong.  

If it's okay to sue TSR for copyright infringement, surely it's okay to sue other people too.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jun 17, 2013)

> Hobbits, Balrogs and Ents were lifted from Tolkien...




...which is why they were called Halflings, Balors, and Treants- to avoid lawsuits.

And its not like TSR avoided all their lawsuits, as Hussar correctly reminds.  There's a reason there are different versions of 1Ed's _Deities & Demigods_, one with Melnibonean & Mythos material, and one without.



> But trying to pass off someone else's work and charging money for it is wrong.




And as history has shown us time and time again, people are willing to forgive immoral and criminal acts...*IF* you 'fess up.  Coverups & denials- and she has made many denials- _really_ tick people off on a whole other level.


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## Gaming Tonic (Jun 17, 2013)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> And as history has shown us time and time again, people are willing to forgive immoral and criminal acs...*IF* you 'fess up.  Coverups & denials- and she has made many denials- _really_ tick people off on a whole other level.




See that is the rub. The fact that somebody would go on the offensive when caught in the act and threaten legal action or what not.  For that there is no coming back.  It is sad because this individual probably enjoyed Mystara and I wonder if a Kickstarter to get the license or something would have been a better use of her time.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jun 17, 2013)

Yep.  Her initial statements in response to this have poisoned her resume.

She could become a world-class writer, but this incident will dog her from now on.  A lot of people familiar with this won't care about what her future writings may be like.  I haven't read her stuff, and now I probably never will.


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## Dethklok (Jun 17, 2013)

I wish more people saw these issues the way that I do. There was no theft; there was never any theft. Ideas can't be stolen, only copied. The copyright holders still have the ideas she used, and nothing she has done affected anyone else's ability to use those ideas in the slightest.

What Tracey Alley really did was lie, and break the law for personal gain. Yes, I agree that the world would have been better off hadn't done this. But I don't agree at all that we need copyright laws. Such laws do not protect ideas at all. They protect profit, and ensure the livelihood of a class of priests we refer to as lawyers.

Is making one's livelihood on technicalities and legal disputation really any more honorable than plagiarism? I'm open to being persuaded that it is; maybe wealthy lawyers and incredibly complicated legal codes do genuinely offer something to society. But the ancient Greeks outlawed lawyers entirely, and they seem to have done perfectly well for themselves.


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## Hand of Evil (Jun 17, 2013)

Dethklok said:


> I wish more people saw these issues the way that I do. There was no theft; there was never any theft. Ideas can't be stolen, only copied. The copyright holders still have the ideas she used, and nothing she has done affected anyone else's ability to use those ideas in the slightest.
> 
> What Tracey Alley really did was lie, and break the law for personal gain. Yes, I agree that the world would have been better off hadn't done this. But I don't agree at all that we need copyright laws. Such laws do not protect ideas at all. They protect profit, and ensure the livelihood of a class of priests we refer to as lawyers.
> 
> Is making one's livelihood on technicalities and legal disputation really any more honorable than plagiarism? I'm open to being persuaded that it is; maybe wealthy lawyers and incredibly complicated legal codes do genuinely offer something to society. But the ancient Greeks outlawed lawyers entirely, and they seem to have done perfectly well for themselves.



The problem, she is making money off of someones work, this was not ideas, it was time and effort that people put forth that she claimed as her own.


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## Mike Eagling (Jun 17, 2013)

Dethklok said:


> But the ancient Greeks outlawed lawyers entirely, and they seem to have done perfectly well for themselves.




Firstly, that's factually incorrect but I digress.

As far as I can ascertain this author has written original stories that are entirely her own work (according to her, at least. I've never heard of her before this all kicked off). Assuming she's being honest about that then these stories are her own and she owns the copyright to that arrangement of words. However, they appear to be a derivative work of the Mystara setting, which is a violation of copyright law because someone else owns the intellectual property in which her stories are set. She also appears to have infringed the copyright of the artists or owners of the artwork used on her covers--a further set of violations.

I've read a whole bunch of websites today where (a minority of) people have bemoaned how truly awful copyright law is, how it impinges upon creativity, and how the world would be truly lovely if we got rid of lawyers and laws and intellectual property. Apparently the world would be shiny and new and covered in pastel pink and blue flowers in a ratio of two to one.

I'm not claiming the legal systems of 21st century Earth are perfect but I'd rather live in a world where should I create a fictional setting it isn't ripped off by someone else unless I say it's OK first.


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## Dragoslav (Jun 17, 2013)

One of the more interesting facts in this case is that her books are surprisingly well-reviewed. 

http://www.amazon.com/Erichs-Plea-B...dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

The first book has overwhelmingly positive reviews, and even the few poor reviews say that she has a lot of potential and talent. The only one star reviews are from very recently by people who found out about the plagiarism.


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## Umbran (Jun 17, 2013)

trancejeremy said:


> Legally it's wrong, but morally?






Dethklok said:


> But I don't agree at all that we need copyright laws.





*Some folks seemed to have missed my point above.  Please allow me to reiterate:

Feel free to discuss what the law actually is, how it is interpreted, how the laws apply here, or discuss the facts of the case.  But don't bother going into whether or not we should have copyright laws in general. This is not an appropriate venue for discussing whether copyright laws are good to have, morally correct, whether we need them, or what have you.  Not that it isn't a fine discussion to have - there are some really interesting points to consider on the matter.  However, we have a pretty solid "No politics" rule on EN World, so this isn't the place to have that discussion.  Thanks, all for your time!*


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## AdmundfortGeographer (Jun 17, 2013)

I believe she's got talent, probably honed through prolific fanfic. This likely developed out of her fanfic vaults and she just lost track of the heritage. If her writing kept to the realm of free fanfic, we'd all not be the wiser.

Her appropriating the art though, that's got no positive explanation.

I sense we have a reason to expand Echohawk's Mystara compendium with a possible sidebar.  For a short moment in time, Mystara had an unwitting novel expansion!


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## Mike Eagling (Jun 17, 2013)

One possibly interesting fact in all the scorn being poured on Ms. Alley (given the recent discussions about sexism) is that she doesn't appear to have received any threats to her personal well being, unlike some other women being savaged by the genre crowd.

I hasten to add: that's a good thing!


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## darjr (Jun 17, 2013)

http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/rants/tracey-alley-plagiarism/index.htmlhttp://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/rants/tracey-alley-plagiarism/index.html


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jun 17, 2013)

Mike Eagling said:


> ...she doesn't appear to have received any threats to her personal well being, unlike some other women being savaged by the genre crowd.
> 
> I hasten to add: that's a good thing!



Agreed.  I have often said that there is no situation so bad that people can't make worse.  The world doesn't need more of that kind of nonsense.  I'm glad that restraint has kept things from crossing that particular line.


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## Wycen (Jun 17, 2013)

The goblin art reminds me of when we were working on Dawning Star Operation Quick Launch.  The original artist on the project had produced some cool sci-fi artwork, possibly "concept" work or maybe specifically for marketing.  1 or 2 pieces were posted on an art review or freelancer site.  This was back in 2004 so my memory is fuzzy.

The piece I can recall was a woman in armor, or a space suit, holding one arm up with a gun.  The original image had been flipped and the arm changed into the up position.  Anyway, someone on the art site recognized it.  So, we ended up finding another artist, Danilo.

What really sucked was that I had gone to Gencon SoCal as a sort of ambassador for Dawning Star and handed out flyers teasing the project.  It had that picture on it.  I still have a couple leftovers somewhere.


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## billd91 (Jun 17, 2013)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> Agreed.  I have often said that there is no situation so bad that people can't make worse.  The world doesn't need more of that kind of nonsense.  I'm glad that restraint has kept things from crossing that particular line.




I'd like to think of this a little more optimistically and say that it's not restraint, which would imply that degenerating to that level would be a normal tendency. Rather, I'd like to think that the posts aimed at the author didn't get infected with that particular variety of douchebaggery.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Jun 18, 2013)

Cover art aside, there could be an easy fix for her in this: apologize, admit that she's wrong, withdraw the books, change the names, cover art, and maps, and then republish.  Given that they are self-published works that's easy and inexpensive to do (I know, I've self published using the same companies).

The early denials and accusations don't help, but quick action might fend off counter legal action and at least allow some recovery.


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## AdmundfortGeographer (Jun 18, 2013)

Olgar Shiverstone said:


> The early denials and accusations don't help, but quick action might fend off counter legal action and at least allow some recovery.



and maybe earn some new fans out of it!


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## Janx (Jun 19, 2013)

Olgar Shiverstone said:


> Cover art aside, there could be an easy fix for her in this: apologize, admit that she's wrong, withdraw the books, change the names, cover art, and maps, and then republish.  Given that they are self-published works that's easy and inexpensive to do (I know, I've self published using the same companies).
> 
> The early denials and accusations don't help, but quick action might fend off counter legal action and at least allow some recovery.




If we take her words at face value, that kind of comes to the point where she was too stupid to do any kind of name search on Google to verify these things are original.

I expect everybody and their uncle who play's D&D to know that published game worlds are copyrighted.  At the minimum, they are owned by the GM if it was homebrewed.  You can't just publish books set in a game world you played 20 years ago, without doing some safety checks to see if it was copyrighted.

Any other intelligent writer knows to make up their own world, so they can avoid any copyright issues.  They AVOID using anything anybody else made up.

This Alley person was in just as much risk from being sued by her old DM if the world hadn't been Mystara, but his own creation.

the high programmer blog lays out the evidence much better though. It's not just names.  The place names AND positions on the map are the same.  Her cover art has been sourced to top artists like Jeff Easely.  Which she probably didn't pay for.

Art is harder to google for a match online.  But it's likely this person didn't even THINK that other people would recognize it.

She deserves all the legal trouble the IP holders can muster.

Which in turn, will hopefully teach other aspiring writers to USE THEIR OWN MATERIAL WHEN PUBLISHING.

I am always surprised by how many people don't stop and think about what's legal, what will get you sued.  If you think you have a good argument on why your THING would in a lawsuit, you've already failed.  Your THING must not be enticing for somebody to want to sue.  Never assume you have a perfect exception or argument to win a lawsuit.  Develop your ideas to AVOID a lawsuit.


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## Janx (Jun 19, 2013)

Dethklok said:


> I wish more people saw these issues the way that I do. There was no theft; there was never any theft. Ideas can't be stolen, only copied. The copyright holders still have the ideas she used, and nothing she has done affected anyone else's ability to use those ideas in the slightest.




Let's avoid the legal part of the discussion that Umbran admonishes for.  Suffice it to say, if she broke a law, the lawyers will be happy to sue the stuffing out of her for it.

My name is on a patent that my former employer owns (meaning, I know a thing or two about IP).  I design software for a living.  It's all my ideas, expressed in code.  While you can't steal one of my 10 ideas and now I only have 9 to sell to other people, you would still be violating my wishes and potentially reducing the value of my 10 ideas.

Firstly, there's credit that's being stolen.  I am prideful in my work, in that when you know something was built by me, versus another builder, you are happier (as my customer).  Therefore, it benefits me everything my idea is used, that I am associated with it.  That gets me future business. If you steal my idea (and start selling your own version of it), they customer is happy with YOU, and not Me.

Nextly, I am a control freak to some extent.  I don't use my front lawn for much.  But I absolutely don't want anybody else using it for their dogs to crap on or some other purpose I am not aware of (like the 2 kids who were screwing in my bushes until my dog found them).  I don't want somebody else taking my lawn for their own uses even if I'm not actively using it (the Mystara situation with WotC).  And that is my right to do so as the OWNER.

The same is true for ideas.  Minecraft (made by Notch) is directly inspired by a game called Infiniminer (made by Zach).  Minecraft has made millions of dollars, Infiniminer has not.  And it's not because MC stole the idea from Infiniminer.  Nope.  Instead, Infiniminer died because other developers reverse engineered the code of Infiniminer and began making their own variant versions.  Thus, the dev couldn't establish his own work as the definitive version, so he gave up.  Once Infiniminer died, Notch was a fan of it, and had new variation idea on the general concept.  Unlike Ms. Alley, Notch had the courtesy to code his own version from scratch.  Had this theft and forking of the code not happened, Infiniminer might have evolved into Minecraft and Zach would be rich, instead of Notch.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/01/20/proto-minecraft-abandoned-due-to-epic-error/

once, as a young lad, I was making a game called Arena.  This was in ye olde times of floppy disks and Apple IIe's.  It was coming along great, and my friends really liked it.  One of my friends who also programmed borrowed my disk and copied it.  He then begain making his own changes.  this was NOT a good thing in my mind.  I tossed a magnet into his disk case to take care of the problem (back in the day, one carried your stack of disks in a plastic box that fit in your backpack).  

I wasn't sitting on the goldmine that was Minecraft (after all, you've never heard of my game).  But I knew that I would lose control of my audience and my product if I let rogue variations develop.  It was non-trivial to write code back in those days.  Even harder to integrate changes from another developer into a common code-base after the damage is done.

Whether it be a real physical property or just bits of magnetic pattern on a disk, the guy who owns it is protective of it.  It hurts him emotionally, economically or physically.  It don't matter what the thief thinks, it's the Owner who matters.

I hope that this gives some perspective on how an Owner feels.  Even in cases where money isn't involved, if you take my idea, that makes me mad.   That's harm.  If the owner gives his idea away (like Zach effectively did, AFTER the theft), that's his choice.


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## Morrus (Jun 19, 2013)

Incidentally, Mystara is being used by WotC in a licensed deal with CapCom for their new arcade game.


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## JohnRTroy (Jun 19, 2013)

Actually, it's not a new arcade game Morrus.  It's a combination of the two D&D action games Capcom released in 1993 and 1996, packaged together and ported for the current platforms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons:_Tower_of_Doom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons:_Shadow_over_Mystara


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## Hand of Evil (Jun 19, 2013)

As an FYI for those going to Gen Con who find interest in this, there are a few seminars on the subject.


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## Janx (Jun 20, 2013)

Hand of Evil said:


> As an FYI for those going to Gen Con who find interest in this, there are a few seminars on the subject.




Me thinks Ms. Alley should have attended... 

Those kind of seminars sound enlightening for anybody who's got their head in the clouds or up their arse about publishing stuff.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jun 20, 2013)

Hell- any writer's group or book or magazine about publishing will tell you enough of the basics to help you avoid this kind of mess.  I know this not only from a professional level, I speak from experience.


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