This is a new angle on story stealing

[lovecraft68]

Received an e-mail from someone on Literotica to inform me that a online "game developer" is using my story Spellbound as the premise of one of his games, Other than character name changes its word for word all the way through. They have a Patreon so they are making some money on this in some way, which is different than the usual, someone lifting a story and putting it on another free site and crediting me-or whoever they do it to.

I could find no way to contact them on one of the free sites they demo the game on, so had to pay $3 to join their patreon to message them that I either want it down, or they credit me and work out a way that I get something on what they're making.

At least for me, this is a new one.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

And get a refund on your three bucks.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

The name of the game?

 

[lovecraft68]

The name of the game?

Echoes of the Curse.

There's a site you can find a free version on, but you have to register as a member, that's how I was able to check to see if it were mine, but its only sample bits, but enough to know. No way to contact the designer there though.

The game has reviews and most of them say the game sucks....so now I'm offended as well LOL.

 

[lovecraft68]

And get a refund on your three bucks.

And also, as a 'friendly' tip tell them they are not supposed to be promoting anything involved with incest on there.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Echoes of the Curse.

There's a site you can find a free version on, but you have to register as a member, that's how I was able to check to see if it were mine, but its only sample bits, but enough to know. No way to contact the designer there though.

The game has reviews and most of them say the game sucks....so now I'm offended as well LOL.

Yeah, apparently the game isn't much, even though the developer has released four episodes so far.


There is so much trolling potential here

 

[TheLobster]

Yeah, apparently the game isn't much, even though the developer has released four episodes so far.

View attachment 2357244
There is so much trolling potential here

Hey, at least the game has good premise and engaging story. Maybe someone here should make a novel out of it?

 

[RejectReality]

That really blows goats. They steal a story that folks are apparently intrigued by and ruin it with shitty gameplay. Would be great advertising if it was good. Could be decent if the developers make up for their scumbaggery by giving you proper credit and enough people share the sentiment of the posted comment. They could dump the shitty game and just come get the story.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

The interesting part is the overlapping of Lit's and gaming audiences. Somebody has actually recognized LC's story.

 

[lovecraft68]

The interesting part is the overlapping of Lit's and gaming audiences. Somebody has actually recognized LC's story.

View attachment 2357246

I didn't get that far, gamers have a thing for their mom, who'd have thought it...

I just took a closer look and the poster "Desbat" is the one who contacted me today, its part of his e-mail address.

Cool of him to reach out to me.

 

[Areala-chan]

I got an email a year or two back from someone asking permission to use one of my stories for a video game, with the promise of payment later if the game did well. I did not give permission. Now I'm wondering if this could be the same person who stole yours, and I really don't want to give this person three bucks just to find out if he went ahead and used shit without my permission too.

Edit: Did a little digging, found the email, and yeah, I'm pretty sure this was the same person, given their email address combined with the name of the website where they're hosting the games. They only have four at the moment, and none of them have anything to do with my stories.

 

[Plathfan]

It made me laugh to think that you are probably his only patron on Patreon.

 

[lovecraft68]

It made me laugh to think that you are probably his only patron on Patreon.

That would be funny.

Also would be best for him seeing I commented on his update about the game that they're using my story without permission, so not a good look if his other supporters see it.

As the creator, you can delete any post a supporter makes, so my plan is if he does that, I'll have to go to patreon itself and say he's plagiarizing. I'd rather not do that, but he needs to remove that game, or credit me and kick me a percentage. If you're on his site he advertises the better version of the game with all the "secrets" but to unlock it you have to sign up to be a $10 member, so he's making something on it.

 

[mildlyaroused]

As the creator, you can delete any post a supporter makes, so my plan is if he does that, I'll have to go to patreon itself and say he's plagiarizing.

You can probably have it removed on incest grounds too, if it's a hassle to prove ownership to Patreon. On another note, all the thief's Patreon posts read as though they were written by ChatGPT (or, since they seem to be German, put through an aggressive translation tool). It's quite funny, really. I've never seen someone so infatuated with the word "thrilled" before!

 

[TheLobster]

It's quite funny, really. I've never seen someone so infatuated with the word "thrilled" before!

I see you haven't spent time around corporate PR drones.

 

[mildlyaroused]

I see you haven't spent time around corporate PR drones.

No. If I ever do, I think it just goes in one ear and out the other: I'm a non-believer in "emotive language" or whatever else they call their overzealous marketing language. Yuck!

 

[lovecraft68]

No. If I ever do, I think it just goes in one ear and out the other: I'm a non-believer in "emotive language" or whatever else they call their overzealous marketing language. Yuck!

I work with a man from El Salvador. He's been in the US a few months and his English is minimal. I'm passable in Spanish so I can communicate with him, but whenever people ask him to do something, or say pretty much anything his response is a thumbs up and "Que Bien!" "That's great" or "How exciting" depending on the dialect. I keep thinking, this guy has a career in politics or advertising.

 

[lovecraft68]

Updating this as he just responded to my message through Patreon. His English is rough, but I can understand him easy enough. He gave me his e-mail and says he asked permission, but I can't find his e-mail when I search mine, especially in sent where if I replied with permission, or not, it would be there. And when I asked him if he had the e-mail where I agreed, he said he took my non response as being a green light....

He then mentioned how much work he'd put into this and didn't want to have to remove it, so is going to credit my pen name, and offered a cut of the proceeds-which going by the download screenshot he sent and how many $10 Patrons he doesn't have isn't much. The money is negligible, he probably needs it more than I do, the credit is the most important thing, so he's going to post on patreon who's story the game is based on, and add it somewhere on the sites he has it on.

Also offered to send me a sum of money through paypal in "Good faith" and buy some of my e-books by the end of the day to support me, and offered to make a post on his Patreon whenever I release a new book. Then asked if I'd promote his game once my name is on it, so its an actual collaboration.

It's one of those things, he did this in what I consider an unethical sketchy way, and I have every right to tell him to pull the damn game, but...if my name goes on it-and he has two days to do that and that was his offer-and he wants to throw me a few dollars or buy some books and help promote my work, then it seems fair moving forward. I'm also going through a lot in my personal life with my wife and other situations, so do I really want to go hardcore on this guy, especially seeing he gives me the impression he's fairly young.

Now of course if I did not get a response of he was snarky about it, then I would have blown it up, but he was polite, border line fawning, and offering whatever I wanted and things I hadn't thought of. But like many of you would agree, something like this is less about money and more about credit and principle, so...

If he does what he says, and my name goes on it within a couple of days, I'll leave it be.

I held back on saying "And worst of all, everyone says the game sucks!"

 

[TheLobster]

I held back on saying "And worst of all, everyone says the game sucks!"

He seems cooperative enough but that's the rub -- do you really want your name associated with this mess?

 

[lovecraft68]

He seems cooperative enough but that's the rub -- do you really want your name associated with this mess?

I've had people here say my stories suck.

I think in the end, its kind of cool to have someone make a game of your story

 

[mildlyaroused]

 

[lovecraft68]

View attachment 2357352

Except in Loving Wives

 

[NoTalentHack]

Except in Loving Wives

As it should be.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Glad you worked things out in the end. By the way, this guy is developing like four games at the same time, so maybe it would be a good idea for the rest of the gang to check out the website and see if maybe their own story didn't end up serving as plot for the game

https://twistedtwist.com/

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Updating this as he just responded to my message through Patreon. His English is rough, but I can understand him easy enough. He gave me his e-mail and says he asked permission, but I can't find his e-mail when I search mine, especially in sent where if I replied with permission, or not, it would be there. And when I asked him if he had the e-mail where I agreed, he said he took my non response as being a green light....

He then mentioned how much work he'd put into this and didn't want to have to remove it, so is going to credit my pen name, and offered a cut of the proceeds-which going by the download screenshot he sent and how many $10 Patrons he doesn't have isn't much. The money is negligible, he probably needs it more than I do, the credit is the most important thing, so he's going to post on patreon who's story the game is based on, and add it somewhere on the sites he has it on.

Also offered to send me a sum of money through paypal in "Good faith" and buy some of my e-books by the end of the day to support me, and offered to make a post on his Patreon whenever I release a new book. Then asked if I'd promote his game once my name is on it, so its an actual collaboration.

It's one of those things, he did this in what I consider an unethical sketchy way, and I have every right to tell him to pull the damn game, but...if my name goes on it-and he has two days to do that and that was his offer-and he wants to throw me a few dollars or buy some books and help promote my work, then it seems fair moving forward. I'm also going through a lot in my personal life with my wife and other situations, so do I really want to go hardcore on this guy, especially seeing he gives me the impression he's fairly young.

Now of course if I did not get a response of he was snarky about it, then I would have blown it up, but he was polite, border line fawning, and offering whatever I wanted and things I hadn't thought of. But like many of you would agree, something like this is less about money and more about credit and principle, so...

If he does what he says, and my name goes on it within a couple of days, I'll leave it be.

I held back on saying "And worst of all, everyone says the game sucks!"

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable response.
Your comment about him seeming young probably plays into it. For most of my generation everything is digital, so sharing, copying, using things isn't seen as a big deal. Copyright is kind of an abstract concept to them, and if they aren't actually creating anything they don't much care. Even if they are, they are more interested in likes and clicks than copyright.

Not saying that excuses him, just makes it more understandable.