I've been pretty preoccupied lately and somehow this thread entirely escaped my view. Great discussion so far. I'll try to stay away from the IP rights/copyright discussion as much as possible because that hits on legal stuff that I don't know much about beyond my own dealings with it.
Many points/responses to make...
Make damn sure you are getting what you want when you finalize the order, there isn't a cheap way back
Ain't that the truth? Small missed details lead to either disappointment, large bills/time delays for fixes, or both. Measure twice, cut once.
We all benefit from very reasonable design fees and I would imagine part of the reasonableness of the fees is that the designers know that they are creating something for personal use
A number of my friends are artists, and between these relationships and having created some audio content in the past, artists rights, royalties, and fair compensation are very near & dear to my heart.
@slisk250 touched on these topics in his recent, very poignant post. When we're creating content, regardless of what it is, I do hope we consistently and fairly keep our artists in mind. We have access to some truly incredible artists at rates that are unheard of elsewhere. I hope we all do what we need to do to keep them fairly compensated while protecting our own interests (that being creating awesome custom sets) as well.
Smiles per Mile for the original owner is worth exponentially more than it will be for the next guy that buys it.
Brilliant and true. Not sure I've ever heard the Smiles per Mile phrase, but it translates well here.
I would guess. k9dr's Suicide Queens and meatboy's Hungry Frogs set both got a lot of attention. Other sets such as Three Putt Poker, Lucky Lady, Hitching Post, Colony Club, or Club Courage would all get weighed in a similar fashion if made available for sale.
The very thought of some of these sets coming up for sale caused me to start feeling a little ill. Also, anxious, because you bet your ass I'd be in on a couple of those sets, and I suspect it'd be a goddamn mosh pit trying to get at them.
If somehow I managed to walk away with one (and that's a *big* if), I'd probably still be paying for them 5-10 years later.
I guess I am not understanding the finer points of this discussion. If I want to make a 4-putt poker set (which is more in line with my golf game anyway), and change the logo a smidge (which is already obviously based on Dunes), what is the hold up? Can't I do this? How far removed from 3-putt poker does it need to be, really?
Others hit on it already, but it's the difference between can and should. There's little stating that you can't, but tweaking someone's original design to use as their own w/o getting their blessing first probably makes someone an asshat of the highest chipping degree. Of course the placement of that "should" line will probably vary from person to person based on their own moral compass.
When it comes to casino designs, and particularly those such as Mapes, Dunes, Belagio, Ceasars, and other well-known, historic brands, I think those are largely open for riffing. It's somewhat similar to other author's takes on Shakespeare plays - many have taken the Romeo & Juliet story and tweaked it to make it their own, and pretty much everyone's okay with it. If we want to have Mike's, Mel's, Brett's, Matt's, Mikko's, and others using the same spots as the Mapes set...all good, IMO. Similarly, if someone wanted to make a Cesar's Palace set similar to Duy's Palace, that's fine, too (although the bar's been set high by the Duy's set and the original, so to anyone think of such a concept I'd quote Empire Records in response - "Good luck...don't screw it up!").
My set was totally original. And if anyone named George tells you otherwise he is a fucking liar.
I'll listen to George on the matter once the book series is complete and published. Until then, less talky more typie.
And dog knows the lawyers would have a field day trying to figure out who owns what in the collaborative efforts conducted here and on CT. Let's hope no case ever comes to that.
I don't even want to think about this. It'd be a clusterfuck of the highest order.
It's like I was on a safari in Africa and missed a bunch!
Not sure I can welcome you back to a place where I don't live and have never, been, but regardless, WB!
