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Bethesda Pulls Promotional Elder Scrolls D&D Module Following Plagiarism Accusations
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<blockquote data-quote="Stan Bundy" data-source="post: 7779561" data-attributes="member: 6929138"><p>I think those that act like Bethesda should have "known better" seems to think that every corporation has some sort of "Big Brother" omniscience. It couldn't be further from the truth. Even big publications like the NY Times and Washington Post have found out months or even years later that they had writers on staff plagiarizing others, or writing fictional "articles" that were passed off as facts. Similar plagiarism occurs on occasion at publishing houses. </p><p></p><p></p><p>There's so much out there today, especially in this era of self-publishing, that there's no way that any editor can have seen everything, and spot plagiarism on sight - and software to spot it runs into issues when dealing with fact-based writings (As opposed to fiction), as there's only a limited way to say things like "the Allied forces landed on Omaha beach on the morning of June 6". Such software actually only works well on pure fiction, yet it's typically found mostly in academic settings to check student papers for plagiarism.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Then there's the cases of deliberate malfeasance, but those are relatively rare in the gaming world. But, those are almost always a result of a writer taking advantage of editors who don't know the subject. </p><p></p><p></p><p>For example, the AD&D 2E product for DMs to design settings & campaigns (forget which), where in the example of a campaign the shapechanging alien/otherworldly spy falls for a PC, and turns, trying to stop the conflict, with obvious inspiration from the Macross/Robotech TV series episodes 18-25's Max/Miriya story arc (complete with said alien being named "Mirya" or something very similar). Whether that was considered riffing on a recent popular TV series for the example scenario (by bouncing it to a fantasy setting) or outright plagiarism, is up to the reader (and possibly their familiarity with the TV series). But, in the decades since, people have been fired for less than that.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The big one that comes to mind to me was the mysterious appearance of a bootleg version of Tri-Tac's Fringeworthy with the game name, credits and (I think) publishing date changed, that someone tried to flood Gen Con with in the early 90s (and was kicked out of the con - one of the people trying to sell them WALKING THE HALLS (everywhere BUT the Exhibit Hall - which I think was itself a major violation of con rules) tried to sell them to me and to Erick Wujcik in the open gaming area where we were set up to run pick-up games. We both recognized it instantly, and reported it to con staff (EW) or to Tri-Tac (me - I hadn't had players show up yet; so I had Erick watch my stuff for me, as his table where he was running Amber was next to mine). I knew FW from playing it for years; Erick knew it from being a game writer from metro Detroit - TTG was in Pontiac, and Palladium in Detroit itself, and there was a lot of local gamers who played both in the early years of the companies). Rich joked that he must be more popular than he thought, as over a dozen people recognized the fake game and came directly to him to report it in just the first hour.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Given how this pre-WWW RPG got pirated in an era where a 486 PC was brand new tech and digital editing was in its infancy (the selective editing, the binding style, and the number of copies printed hinted at a facility used to editing and updating scripts for filming), and the huge number of similarities found when Tri-Tac fans watched a certain Kurt Russell/James Spader movie (which was released in October 1994, so this had to be the 1992, 1994 or 1995 Gen Con - I missed 1993), led to the claim that Universal probably bought a script someone plagiarized from the RPG (possibly with the scriptwriter not realizing that TTG still existed in the 90s, since the comb-bound 1982 or 1985-ish (first or second edition, forget which) of the RPG was the one bootlegged), then the studio tried to dilute the ownership claims by flooding the market with the bootleg. Richard tried to sue, but in those days the lawyers he talked considered it to be economic suicide (for TTG and their firm) to try to litigate a movie studio as the plaintiff. He did find one willing to do it as the defendant (As they would have more control over a potential suit) - essentially, Richard pointed out the similarities on one of his company web pages (I don't think that part of the site exists after his death), and for over a decade they claimed the plagiarism there - but Universal never bit the lure. Ironically, the TV series that came from said movie were far closer to Fringeworthy than the movie itself.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Stan Bundy, post: 7779561, member: 6929138"] I think those that act like Bethesda should have "known better" seems to think that every corporation has some sort of "Big Brother" omniscience. It couldn't be further from the truth. Even big publications like the NY Times and Washington Post have found out months or even years later that they had writers on staff plagiarizing others, or writing fictional "articles" that were passed off as facts. Similar plagiarism occurs on occasion at publishing houses. There's so much out there today, especially in this era of self-publishing, that there's no way that any editor can have seen everything, and spot plagiarism on sight - and software to spot it runs into issues when dealing with fact-based writings (As opposed to fiction), as there's only a limited way to say things like "the Allied forces landed on Omaha beach on the morning of June 6". Such software actually only works well on pure fiction, yet it's typically found mostly in academic settings to check student papers for plagiarism. Then there's the cases of deliberate malfeasance, but those are relatively rare in the gaming world. But, those are almost always a result of a writer taking advantage of editors who don't know the subject. For example, the AD&D 2E product for DMs to design settings & campaigns (forget which), where in the example of a campaign the shapechanging alien/otherworldly spy falls for a PC, and turns, trying to stop the conflict, with obvious inspiration from the Macross/Robotech TV series episodes 18-25's Max/Miriya story arc (complete with said alien being named "Mirya" or something very similar). Whether that was considered riffing on a recent popular TV series for the example scenario (by bouncing it to a fantasy setting) or outright plagiarism, is up to the reader (and possibly their familiarity with the TV series). But, in the decades since, people have been fired for less than that. The big one that comes to mind to me was the mysterious appearance of a bootleg version of Tri-Tac's Fringeworthy with the game name, credits and (I think) publishing date changed, that someone tried to flood Gen Con with in the early 90s (and was kicked out of the con - one of the people trying to sell them WALKING THE HALLS (everywhere BUT the Exhibit Hall - which I think was itself a major violation of con rules) tried to sell them to me and to Erick Wujcik in the open gaming area where we were set up to run pick-up games. We both recognized it instantly, and reported it to con staff (EW) or to Tri-Tac (me - I hadn't had players show up yet; so I had Erick watch my stuff for me, as his table where he was running Amber was next to mine). I knew FW from playing it for years; Erick knew it from being a game writer from metro Detroit - TTG was in Pontiac, and Palladium in Detroit itself, and there was a lot of local gamers who played both in the early years of the companies). Rich joked that he must be more popular than he thought, as over a dozen people recognized the fake game and came directly to him to report it in just the first hour. Given how this pre-WWW RPG got pirated in an era where a 486 PC was brand new tech and digital editing was in its infancy (the selective editing, the binding style, and the number of copies printed hinted at a facility used to editing and updating scripts for filming), and the huge number of similarities found when Tri-Tac fans watched a certain Kurt Russell/James Spader movie (which was released in October 1994, so this had to be the 1992, 1994 or 1995 Gen Con - I missed 1993), led to the claim that Universal probably bought a script someone plagiarized from the RPG (possibly with the scriptwriter not realizing that TTG still existed in the 90s, since the comb-bound 1982 or 1985-ish (first or second edition, forget which) of the RPG was the one bootlegged), then the studio tried to dilute the ownership claims by flooding the market with the bootleg. Richard tried to sue, but in those days the lawyers he talked considered it to be economic suicide (for TTG and their firm) to try to litigate a movie studio as the plaintiff. He did find one willing to do it as the defendant (As they would have more control over a potential suit) - essentially, Richard pointed out the similarities on one of his company web pages (I don't think that part of the site exists after his death), and for over a decade they claimed the plagiarism there - but Universal never bit the lure. Ironically, the TV series that came from said movie were far closer to Fringeworthy than the movie itself. [/QUOTE]
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Bethesda Pulls Promotional Elder Scrolls D&D Module Following Plagiarism Accusations
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