Best way to protect an RPG idea?

Debutstudios

Ahoy there...

Got a question...one I think is quite sensable to ask...hope you all agree.

So, I have this idea for an RPG. It'd like to test it out on some people, but protect my creation.

Now, assuming that I (like everyone I know) don't have much money...here's my question...

 

Q: Where is and/or what is the easiest and most affordable way to protect ideas as your intellectual property.

A: ???

 

Thanks, hope this generates some interesting ideas.

 

Jim

Slineer

Why not share your ideas in hopes that someone with money agrees thats they are good and turns them into a game you might enjoy? To be honest, I dont think it matters, even if you kept your ideas and eventually developed them, someone would steal them and release a watered down cheap version before you had a finished product. That or in the case of an MMO they could just steal them and patch them into their mmo. Especially in MMO's, ideas and concepts are constantly stolen, its the way of the industry and all industry for that matter.

 

Edit: If you are serious about it and hope to one day profit from it though, copyright and trademarks are your friend. You will also probably need some sort of lawyer that knows how to do all that properly.

Arndur

Copyright it, right it down with some kind of proveable time stamp such as the US postal servuce,

Jori

Well if you're serious about it you'll probably have to spend money. Should probably talk to a patent lawyer. Have you researched your idea? Never know if someone else hasn't already thought of it.

swyndle

A fairly easy and inexpensive method is to find a law student. Check nearby colleges that have legal programs, as part of their grade the students have to do something involving copyright law and often will file a copyright on an idea or property for friends or for less than a c-note.

 

Best to have as much detail written up as possible ahead of time so you don't run the risk of them moving on to somethng else because you're taking too long to get the thing together. It's a graded time sensetive project for them after all.

Rajen

If there is a way to produce your idea with a timestamp of some sort then you probably have protection on it automatically? I'm not sure really...

 

Maybe this might relate:

You should take a look at the DMCA law, I know some websites have it. Pepsi was sued by some kid because they stole some art design he had uploaded on deviantart.com and they put it on their pepsi cans. He didn't spend money or anything to protect his art but he still owned it in a way, and was able to sue a major corporation because it was on deviantart.com before the pepsi cans were produced.

 

Sozzals

 

Protection will be based on where you live  - mainly, which laws govern you and your ideas.  Copyright will exist automatically in a lot of countries, and in other countries will require registration.

A lot of countries will have specific government-run organisations set up to assist you with ideas, often providing funding for the use of intellectual property lawyers.

If you're in the UK, have a read at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/  or if you're in the USA, have a read at http://www.uspto.gov/ - generally, most countries will have a government run website which can at least give you the basics on how to protect your ideas and where to find a suitable attorney.