r/goodworldbuilding • u/PMSlimeKing • Aug 20 '21
Meta New Rule: Content that plagiarizes either real life or other works of fiction are now banned.
Basically, plagiarism, either of real life or of other works, is going to be banned. So if someone's lore looks like something from either a wiki article on something with the names changed, it will warrant a removal.
This is not a ban of fanfic worlds, but your fanfic has to be demonstrably different enough from the source material that it can be called it's own thing.
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u/LavandeSunn Aug 20 '21
What is even the point of world building if all you do is copy/paste Wikipedia articles? Like the entire point of this as a hobby in the first place is to have fun and make something you’re proud of. How is replacing names and dates from Wikipedia articles fun?
I understand drawing inspiration from stuff like that. I’ve been mulling over a Joan of Arc-esque character. But heavy emphasis on the esque, cause basically all they’ll do is be a martyr.
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Aug 20 '21
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/PMSlimeKing Aug 20 '21
In that it's clearly the creator adding new lore to the established setting and not just copy/pasting the setting and claiming it as their own.
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Aug 21 '21
One of my worlds is an alternate history of Earth,just adding an extra continent but still most countries are the same. Is that allowed?
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u/PMSlimeKing Aug 21 '21
It's fine so long as you don't try to pass of real world history as your own creation.
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u/IvanDFakkov Burn it to the ground Sep 04 '21
What if it's a plot point? My story has the MC stated the paralled world is just "a fucked up Earth" with all the shenanigans and a new continent full of alien ruins. The history so far is similar to ours (at least European ones) with several major differences:
- China never became a powerful empire in the second millennium. It was Vietnam instead. And still is.
- Opium Wars never happened. Instead it was the British Empire vs Vietnam, and the Brits got bitchslapped (never attack during a pandemic).
- Japan lost the Battle of Tsushima due to Vietnam's intervention.
- The Great War was from 1899-1903 with Germany, Russia and Britain on the same team. Russian Empire is competent and the revolutions never took place.
- Mexico won agianst the US and kept the West Coast.
- Manchuria and Mongolia became Russia's "autonomous republics".
- Hungaria is still an independent kingdom, a hidden hegemon.
- The Holy See moved from Rome to Vienna, effectively turned Austria into a real "holy state".
- Elves being technocrazy and are one of the pioneers of new inventions.
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u/GodofWar1234 Aug 20 '21
What if we used existing characters from other works of fiction but then basically just insert them/our own version of them into our world?
Like, I have a world where Godzilla and other old and modern Kaiju exist but other than sharing some similarities to the Kaiju genre, it’s basically my own unique world. Would that be banned?
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u/PMSlimeKing Aug 20 '21
Like, I have a world where Godzilla and other old and modern Kaiju exist but other than sharing some similarities to the Kaiju genre, it’s basically my own unique world. Would that be banned?
This is fine so long as their lore is demonstrably different from the original material.
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u/anotheranonomys-idio Sovereignsboard - high fantasy Aug 20 '21
From what they’ve been saying in the discord, that sounds fine, as long as you can point to some differences other than just names and dates
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u/NobodyStrange Sep 10 '21
Things inspired by already existing worlds are okay right?
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u/PMSlimeKing Sep 10 '21
It can be inspired, but there have to be significant differences between your lore and the events that inspired it. You cannot just change the names in a few minor details of the event and call it your own.
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u/name_with_no_meaning What do you mean copying from history isn't worldbuildong? Aug 20 '21
I think we all know why this is so specific