Please be original

[Cross]

I don't think anything is copied at all, if I may say my opinion. It must have all happened by coincidence. I bet there are some sites that have things like 'captives' or 'Moon and sun' so I hardly see anything wrong with using the idea for this site. Just because you had the idea, does not mean you have to be greedy, and say your horse rpg can only use the same thing.

And I hate the idea that your saying we should change everything. I bet the admin worked hard just to make the plot, and the ideas, even the characters involved in it. If we 'change' everything, then they would have to go through some real work just to make up something else.

And something else I may add. You using the sun and moon god thing, is not original their, a lot of other sights I seen uses this concept, this is the first horse rpg site I've seen involving this. Captives have been used SO MANY times in rpgs before. Light vs Dark has been used in almost all rpgs I ever seen. So don't act surprised, I may not roleplay here much, or even log on, but I know whats fair, and whats not.

And I don't think you should put a copyright thing on us, if your thinking that...

[D.evious]

Look, Spectra & Ami, you can cry all you want. We aren't going to change everything just because your site believes that we stole you idea. Which we didn't, and Cook has a point -- do you honestly expect us to change our entire plot, site, characters, et cetera, just because you think your site is so original? No matter what you believe, I've seen plenty of roleplay sites that go along the lines of this one: the evil, the good, and the captives. And more often than not they are known on the site as the "North" and the "South". Because what the hell heck are we supposed to do, call it the "east" and the "west"; or make up some flowery fantastical name for each side? No, because that is just stupid silly.

( edit : yes, this may sound rude, but that kind of irked me )

[Cross]

Heh, you don't sound rude to me. Your actually making since, lets just hope they have some since, and listen...

[Spectra]

I'm trying to be fair, but when I keep getting people coming to me saying your site is too close to ours, then at that point it isn't just me. I would appreciate it if you would try to see things from my perspective, given the information at my disposal. I'm not trying to shut you down, I just have a few concerns.

Thank you for your concern, Cross, but I already addressed the issue of the sun and moon gods. You can read it on the previous page.

I am not asking you to change the whole site. I am merely requesting that a few turns of phrase be altered. If you find this unreasonable, I'm willing to talk this through. I'm not a bad person, and I would appreciate it if you would treat me fairly and with respect. Despite my hurt and frustration, I have done my best to do the same to you.

[;; S O N O R A]

*poofs in*

Ok Imma back.

I had previously thought of calling the lands different than North and South, I was going to call them east and west, because I didnt want to seem like I was copying your site, I tried it out but It just didn't sound right, I thought of many other things to call them but nothing seemed to fit, so eventually I just went with north and south =/ I can understand why you think Im stealing ideas, and Spectra, you are right you are being very nice about this, but there and hundreds of RP's out there like this, personally the only similarity I can see is the North and South names =/ Also, how is my board layout similar to yours?...

[Spectra]

-sigh- I guess I should have reversed North and South back in Feb 08 when Schatten and I were planning the site. It didn't seem so "obvious" to me because I live in Canada, which is the northernmost country in North America. As the stereotype goes, we're pretty polite. But further south is where the action happens, there are guns and there are a lot more people and a lot more conflict. As hard as winter is, I don't see North as inherently dark and malicious. In fact on the old Avatrai the darks lived in a cruel desert-like place. But I digress.

As for board layout, I think it's the arrangement of the first two categories that caught people's eye. Especially calling your character creation board "Join the fight" when ours is "Join the ranks". Personally I don't have a problem with the similar board grouping, but it probably wouldn't hurt to branch out a bit more. Also, having a cliff in the captive land that is described as not high enough to kill you is quite similar to the Slate Cliffs sub-board.

Again, that isn't a HUGE deal, though I would really appreciate a bit more differentiation. Mostly my concern is with the north-captive-south thing. You could call the captives slaves or the abused, etc. The north and south could be darks and lights, cruel and kind, villains and heroes, anything you like! I think it would be advantageous for you to eliminate any confusion between our sites, some people reading your ad might move on without clicking your link cause they feel like they've heard that story before.

Am I making any sense? I hope so. I have a tendency to under-explain things when I think they're already clear (which doesn't do me much good in essay-writing, that's for sure!).

[Dreambig]

Spectra, nothing was stolen. Perhaps it is some-what like yours, but you do not own the idea of it. The plot, you do own. But not the idea. You do not own master/slave equine RPGs, and you cannot come on here and act as if you do. I haven't came on for a while, but I just got the url for this site again, and when I do come here, it really pisses me off to see you coming on here and try to say we copied you. -.- You say the same thing with just about everything

[/i], and news-flash Spectra, you really do piss me off, and I'm about ready to delete this thread. So, I suggest that you back off, and get off your high horse.[/size][/center]

[Spectra]

Dreambig, please try to be mature. I don't want to fight about this. I just want a tiny change that will keep people from saying your site was based on ours.

[Angry Sarrie]

Hah, how can you say this site isn't almost exactly the same as The Secret, bar a different description here and there? Liars. Shameful liars. It's not a hard conection to make either as a lot of people have already noticed it; this site is clearly plagiarised! Theft of idea. And guess what, plagiarism is a crime. Same as claiming stock images as your own work, or using other peoples ideas or information in an essay without citation or accreditation. You are claiming ideas as your own when they are not. This is clearly a poorly hidden attempt to copy off ot the concept of The Secret, obvioiusly because you can see TS is so popular and successful. Shame on you.

You have every right to create a game around a similar idea, as one cannot possess the rights to an idea, however I would change the names if I were you, you're doing something illegal. It is against the law to copy or take inspiration from intellectual property without accreditation. Spectra's plot, names and every way she has expressed the idea on her site and in her way is HER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. You are stealing. Not only that, it also makes your site look childish. Children and immature individuals with no brains copy other people. Intelligent people have the imagination to come up with their OWN ideas or their OWN spin on a concept.

Obviously you don't posses the required intellect. Fail.

[Schatten]

Look. You can argue all you want about how we don't have a copyright on all the individual elements. That's true, but the idea for TS as a whole is ours.

If you were just a new RP that happened to have a sun and moon god, or happened to have a harsh Northern Realm, do you think we'd come in here, claim that we owned those ideas, and make you change everything?

...Of course not. We're not ridiculous.

But that doesn't cover up the fact that there are a million-and-one parallels between The Secret and Forgotten Equines. Not just one or two. Heck, even if you openly admitted to stealing one or two ideas, I wouldn't be that mad. Say, even if you had a Fate named Artemis and one named Apollo. That'd be annoying, maybe, but I could maybe excuse it as a coincidence, or even just let it go. It's not like mistakes don't happen.

But you keep insisting that you haven't stolen a thing, and I feel the need to outline just how many "coincidences" both sites share. After all, I'm sure you guys aren't idiots. You've all heard of probability before. The chances that one element of two RPGs are the same in a world full of RPGs? Very high. The chances that three or four such similarities were accidents? Probability getting lower. Chances that this many of the ideas were just a "mistake"? Ridiculous.

See what I mean: (The Secret in red, Forgotten Equines in blue)
Apollo and Artemis- The sun and moon god
The Weaklands- The Wastelands
Join the Ranks- Join the Fight
The Weeping Willows- The Thick Trees
The Slate Cliff- The Small Cliff
The Northern Stallions- The Northern Stallions (come on, how obvious can you be?)
The Slate Cliff's Description:

These cliffs are dark and imposing, but provide a good lookout over the land. Many a mare has tried to throw herself off these cliffs to her death, but they are not high enough to kill you. You'll just end up bleeding and crippled.

The Small Cliff's Description:

This is a small cliff, some mares have tried to kill themselves by jumping from it, but it isn't high enough to kill you, just enough to hurt you. Sometimes stallions push mares down to hurt them.

The Weeping Willows' Description:

The long flexible branches of this weather-worn tree reach almost all the way to the ground. Stallions and mares hoping to avoid being noticed can hide here in the foliage. There's no guarantee that you'll be alone for long.

The Thick Trees' Description:

These are several huge tree's with lot's of bushes and thing's to hide in.

...And I'm certain I've missed a few things. This is just after barely glancing over your board.
Now, come on. You are not telling me that all those things are coincidences, especially after several of FE's members used to be members on TS! They quit, start their own RPG, and look what turned up.

Cross Said:

I bet the admin worked hard just to make the plot, and the ideas, even the characters involved in it. If we 'change' everything, then they would have to go through some real work just to make up something else.

...Well then. How do you think Spectra and I, and all the other staff and members of TS feel? I worked my butt off on that plot, and I know Spectra did as well, and so did Azurade, and many others. And that was months before TS had even opened, let alone before you guys had even joined, let alone before anyone ever thought of making an RP called "Forgotten Equines." It hurts to see this much hard work taken advantage of.
And yes, cross, I'm asking them to make up something else for their RPG, seeing as the RPG you guys have now didn't actually involve you making up much.
Haven't you guys ever taken a writing class? Plagiarism 101: Just because you take a concept and switch out some words, doesn't make it yours.

[Sin]

I'm here to just give a simple opinion.

Perhaps instead of accusing you of stealing, I will offer something more constructive. It seems as though this site is relatively new. Finding original ideas can be very hard to do when there are so many rpgs out there.

Before I get into this, I'd like to say something.
Sonora - you are being very mature about this and I thank you sincerely for acknowledging the similarities.
DreamBig - telling Spectra that she pisses you off is just immature and honestly, it makes you seem like an idiot. Sorry, but I'm an honest person and saying things like that just make you seem like the lower person.

Ok, as Schatten stated above, there are more similarities than need be. If you would like, perhaps we can help you create more unique names and such for your lands. Originality is what makes an rpg great. If you can come up with something completely creative, then yours can be great too!

Otherwise, here's an idea. The admin here and Spectra would have to talk this over themselves, but if you don't want to change the names and such, perhaps you can credit The Secret for the suggestions.

Some words are copied right off of TS, as Schatten showed you with the Slate Cliffs and the Small Cliffs.

Spectra and the staff at TS worked very very hard for their concept and ideas, all we are asking you guys to do is show originallity, which shouldn't be a big deal.

I am completely willing to help out and WITHOUT CREDIT help this site show more uniqueness (or however you spell it)


Having things like Dreambig said 'spectra you piss me off' makes this site look terribly bad and desperate. Really you don't need that! Ask for help, or credit the original creator or the ideas.

I wish you the best of luck with this site, and again, I'm offering my hand for help.

You can find me on TS and my username is ||Sin||

[Kiakoura]

Ok, I request people stop posting here unless they are Spectra, Sonora, One other staff member from The Secret and Myself. The reason I say this is because there has been too much conflict and it gets confusing/iffitating when more people than needed start taking part.

I have made a start at changing the forums in hope to save it from either being deleted or dying completely.

If Spectra and one other staff member from The Secret wish to check back every once in a while to be sure that the changes I have made please you do feel free to, but as I request only the two highest ranking staff if you please it makes things easyier for everyone.

Thank you for your understanding.

EDIT;;

I Have changed the discription and title of three lands, and the titles used for the original North-Captive-South, now it is

Bys-Tadoli-Myr

The Aistysar (Immortals) and there realms are being renamed.

Mel Kyr (Was Sun God)
Tyl Kyr (Was Moon God)

Mel Vaer (Was Sun Realm)
Tyl Vaer (Was Moon Realm)

Everything is slowly being changed in hope to give this site a more orignal feel to it.

[Spectra]

Wow, those are some awesome names! Nice work Koura.