Appeal on locked thread

[Hobbesistan]

Moddliest mods,

My bad company RP(viewtopic.php?f=31&t=305734) was locked by Nervun, on the grounds that it was a reboot without the OPs(gvozdevsk) permission, as my thread ran on the same ideas of his (viewtopic.php?f=31&t=304064) thread, so I'd like to raise several points;

1) The idea for the thread is far from original, Bad Company was a game, this is a RP to fall in with the game, not like it was a 100% original idea.

2) using the above precedence, does this mean that if I, for example, started the first Halo RP, that I can declare all Halo-RP's after mine 'reboots' and thus get them locked?

3) He straight up said he had no interest in rebooting it for at least a month and a half (September), does this mean, since theres no real limit now, that I can shelve a RP idea for years and mercilessly lock anyone's thread who dares appear after mines closed?

[Romic]

I was signing up for this RP viewtopic.php?f=31&t=305734

The RP was locked because of this lock request here viewtopic.php?f=16&t=305736

The OP of the original thread decided to close his own RP because he didn't have enough time to run it. I understand that he may not have had the time because we have lives outside here. However Multiple players pleaded and asked for him to name a Co-OP to continue the game because we had all already showed interest and were having the start of a good RP.

As Hobbesistan stated it's not intellectual property and there are many shoot offs of other RPs with the same idea. An example being the hundreds of Star Wars based RPs. Plus The original RP is based off a Real Life game so there is already a story to it. However Hobbesistan acted and made his own spin off of the game however crediting Gvozdevsk for the inspiration of doing so.

I ask a Moderator take a look at this again as I believe that if only one RP can be made from a RL game and it be considered a copy when a player tries to make there own even after the OP from the first said he was done with it, then every Star Wars based RP or any other Franchise based RP should be locked and closed for the same reason.

Please do take a second look.

[The Republic of Llamas]

I must agree, mostly on the basis of point 1. The RP's are far from similar. It's not possible to claim a whole game and not allow anyone else to use it for RP's. If this goes through, what next? Can I claim the Napoleonic era because I made a RP in that time period?

[NERVUN]

Hobbesistan, you actually state that you're rebooting the RP in your OP. Also, even though you said that this is running on a different story, your OP is similar enough to Gvozdevsk's that I could not see the difference.

Yes, for P2tM, you cannot claim a world (I.e. If I start a Star Trek OP, that doesn't make me the sole owner of Star Trek) but if you're stating that you plan to reboot it and then don't do anything to actually differentiate it, then we run into RP ownership rules. To use my Trek example, if I start a Star Trek RP set on the Enterprise during the Dominion War I don't have ownership over the Dominion War, or the Enterprise, but I can reasonably claim that someone else setting an RP on the Enterprise during the Dominion War is in effect copying mine without permission.

Edit: Sorry, forgot this. I'm taking this as an appeal and thus the above is further explanation and not a ruling, I will send up the Mod Signal.

[Hobbesistan]

Hobbesistan, you actually state that you're rebooting the RP in your OP. Also, even though you said that this is running on a different story, your OP is similar enough to Gvozdevsk's that I could not see the difference.

Yes, for P2tM, you cannot claim a world (I.e. If I start a Star Trek OP, that doesn't make me the sole owner of Star Trek) but if you're stating that you plan to reboot it and then don't do anything to actually differentiate it, then we run into RP ownership rules. To use my Trek example, if I start a Star Trek RP set on the Enterprise during the Dominion War I don't have ownership over the Dominion War, or the Enterprise, but I can reasonably claim that someone else setting an RP on the Enterprise during the Dominion War is in effect copying mine without permission.

Edit: Sorry, forgot this. I'm taking this as an appeal and thus the above is further explanation and not a ruling, I will send up the Mod Signal.

I didin't mean it in a full technicality, but reboot would be the most relateable word, even if it's not entirely accurate. I didin't entirely expect to have to fend off my apparently henious crime of giving the RP a second chance.

That said, you still didin't answer the question of time here; can I, say, do the example of the Dominion War, close the thread promising i'd reboot it 2 years from now(Because, again, no real timeframe is established - the original OP said he'd possibly re-do it in September, so 1-2 months from now.) then lock anyone who dares start a remotely similar RP between now and 2016? If he said he wanted to restart the RP within a few days that's one thing, but he's sitting on his hands for months at a time here.

For example, the "modern world" Rp's, they all basically follow the same plot and OP, just within different times and some minor changes, you don't see the OPs in a war over it.

Furthermore, you've already seen one of the guys post and I can probably get more in here, he simply wasnt running the RP correctly, He was asked repeatedly to appoint a co-op or give it over, and refused. I'm aware that's outside of your jurisdiction to rule based on how he was running the RP, but he shouldn't be able to just sit on the idea for months at a time.

If you want me to edit the OP to make it look 'not like his' that's one thing, but it doesen't require the thread be nuked from orbit(Another example of moderation ruling with the hammer instead of with a simple post 'Hey can you edit your OP to avoid it looking like blablabla') and certainly would still arguably be like his, because he's using the entire basis of the Bad Company game, which means any spinoff on Bad Company at all is now arguably going to be 'his'. it's not like a whole franchise of say Halo, Star Trek, Star Wars, ect, it's one (well, two games) with very limited potential for plots outside of that.

A simular example will be the several "Last of Us" Rp's, which is, well, one game, not a series, and is generally going to refer to the topic of surviving a apocolyspe, and, again, you don't see people poaching a RP idea like this, closing down shop, then claiming the idea for themselves for months at a time with no real intent of actually using it in the near future., So, the precedence sets here, again, would allow me to say claim a RP idea, close it, say in the last post I plan on re-opening the RP 5 years from now, and closing down anyone else who sets up the same idea. It's detrimental to everyone else involved because they just want to RP.

[QuietDad]

A casual observation is that two people can play a game of checkers. Same rules but end differently and being played by different people, the get different enjoyment/satisfaction out of the game. I am not thoroughly up to speed in the RP rules and I can understand copying not being a bad thing, but I don't think there is a statute of limitations rule for a closed game. Seems to me if players a-n start a game and stop it, and players n-z start a game, there's no issue with a-n restarting and n-z continuing. Bodies aren't stolen from a game and no one suffers.

[Dread Lady Nathicana]

You can't reboot someone else's thread, end of. Not without their permission. And the OP has explicitly stated that you do not have his permission to reboot his thread.

Now if you want to run your own Bad Company storyline, as you say you are, feel free - but you'd have to remove any references to the previous OP's work, choose a different name to avoid confusion, as he's stated he intends to restart it later in the year, and not call it a 'reboot' of anything. Regardless of how long in between, due to the fact it has become an issue now. Best to nip it all in the bud and avoid further trouble down the line. See below.

Example subject line: Blood and Money - a Bad Company RP

So while no one has a corner on the market of any popular game/book/theme/genre out there, you do have to show a minimal respect to your fellow rp'ers, whether you agree with their timeline, their methods, their spin on it all or not, and avoid potential confusion. Not to mention, not rebooting something you've no right to reboot in the first place.

Hope that clarifies things. You can start it up again in a new thread, as outlined above. Yes, this sort of thing has been done before, and handled the same way, though I'd have to search through a full Moderation forum to find it.

[Hobbesistan]

\
Now if you want to run your own Bad Company storyline, as you say you are, feel free - but you'd have to remove any references to the previous OP's work, choose a different name to avoid confusion, as he's stated he intends to restart it later in the year, and not call it a 'reboot' of anything. Regardless of how long in between, due to the fact it has become an issue now. Best to nip it all in the bud and avoid further trouble down the line. See below.

Example subject line: Blood and Money - a Bad Company RP

So, again, someone can own the exact name - Bad Company, and since he just happened to stumble upon it first, regardless of seperate legal copyrights that state he has 0 right to it, he now has entire right to it in the eyes of moderation and anyone else on the topic needs to choose a different name.

That aside, it seems like it boils down to the thread has the word 'reboot' in it, honestly. You couldove simply walked in like 'Hey, can you change the thread since the OP said it can't be a reboot' instead of walking in with the hammer it wouldove saved us all a lot of trouble. I wouldove edited the topic and it wouldove been done in 10 minutes instead of 4 hours of moderation, y'know, sometimes talking is better then hammering first and asking questions later

[Dread Lady Nathicana]

Hey - if you'd have not tried to reboot someone else's work to begin with, this would have never been a problem. But alas, no. And here we are.

Thread name repeats have /always/ been something for consideration, hence my example which still allows you the recognition of the Bad Company universe. Most folks that I've seen and been aware of, have taken care not to have their work confused like that. In any case, it isn't a matter of 'right to the name'. You straight up tried to reboot someone else's work (thread/concept theivery is what that boils down to), and the entire four hours you feel you've been tasked with is on your head. Not ours.

Next time, think before you act. Much time-wasting can be averted with a little forethought and familiarity with commonly-held NS RP conventions.

Now that the answer has been given, and the appeal has been granted with conditions, I believe we're done here. Thanks.