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如何保护你的手机游戏理念不被窃取

发布时间:2015-03-18 10:07:19 Tags:,,,,

作者:Jovan Johnson

你拥有一个很棒的手机游戏理念。这并不是像《Flappy Bird》或《Temple Run》那样,你知道一旦投入开发并将其带到市场上,每天便会有无数人在玩这款游戏。然后某一天你可能在饮水机旁与一个同事提到这个理念,4个月内你就看到这款游戏出现在应用商店里。你知道是这个同事窃取了你的想法,但是当你尝试着去维护自己的权益时却发现版权法并不能真正保护你的理念—-它们只能保护理念的表达方式。

protect idea(from ehow)

protect idea(from ehow)

那么你该如何做才能避免这种情况的发生呢?以下是保护你的手机游戏理念的4大方法:

不要到处说你的理念。这是具有创造性之人将会犯的最大错误。他们想要分享自己的想法,看看别人的反应,参考他们的意见并继续开发与完善这一理念。但是这也等于提供给别人许多信息让他们可以将其用于自己的创作中。你应该谨慎地选择能够分享信息的对象并决定想要与之分享多少信息。如果你想要获得别人的看法,你就应该寻求来自可靠对象的看法而不是随便的任何人。

准备好保密协议。除非你计划独自完成游戏设计,开发和市场营销等工作,否则你都需要外包一些任务给其他个人或公司。保密协议是你和任何共事的人之间所签订的协议,要求对方要对你所提供的信息和理念保密。这并不能完全保证你的理念就不会被窃取,有些人在未得到任何有关游戏的信息前可能不会愿意签订保密协议,但这一协议的确能够减少你的理念被扩散的几率。

谨慎地选择外包对象。你需要做的最后一件事便是挑选最昂贵或最便宜的公司或自由职业者。在泄露给将共事的人游戏的完整理念前,你应该先浏览对方在网上的一些评价,寻找是否存在投诉,并与其过去的客户联系。与具有良好信誉的公司或自由职业者合作意味着你的理念被窃取的几率更低。一旦你选择了能够安心递交游戏理念的公司或个人时,你需要确保与对方签订有效的合同。

完成并发行游戏。阻止别人将你的理念据为己有的最有效方式便是完成你的手机游戏开发并将其呈现在应用商店。当然了,作为受欢迎的手机游戏总是会招来一些模仿者。但是它们并不能使用与你的游戏完全相同的代码。他们不能使用你的游戏角色,设置或故事线。尽管理念相同,但是它们永远都不会是第一款出现的游戏。即使还会不断出现模仿者,但是将你的游戏与它们区分开来的一种有效方式便是暂时隐藏一些功能并在之后的更新公开它们。

知道对于理念的保护非常有限的时候我们总是会很受挫。但如果你能够遵循这些方法的话便能够保证你的理念的安全。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

How to Protect Your Mobile Game Idea

by Jovan Johnson

You have a great mobile game idea. It’s nothing like Flappy Bird or Temple Run and you know that once it’s developed and on the market, millions of people will play it every day. Then, one day, you tell one of your coworkers about it at the water cooler, and in four months, you see your exact game in an app store. You know that this coworker has stolen your idea and used it himself, but when you try to find out what recourse you might have, you discover that copyright laws do not actually protect ideas—they only protect expressions of ideas.

What can you do to keep this from happening to you? Here are four ways to protect your mobile game idea:

Do not wear the idea on your sleeve. This is one of the biggest mistakes that creative people make with their ideas. They want to share them, see how others respond to them, and even get the input of others, to continue to develop and improve the idea. This gives a lot of people a lot of information that they can then use as their own, without any real repercussions. Choose who you share information with very carefully and decide beforehand how much information you really want to share with that person. If you are seeking insights, seek insights from reliable sources, not from everyone you come in contact with.

Prepare non-disclosure agreements. Unless you are planning on doing all of the game design, development, and marketing yourself, you are likely going to outsource some tasks to other individuals or companies. An NDA is, simply, an agreement between you and anyone you work with that affirms that your information and ideas will be kept confidential. This is not a guarantee that your idea will not be stolen and some people may be averse to signing an NDA without first getting some information about the game, but these agreements do decrease your chances of seeing your idea spread around.

Choose outsourcers thoughtfully. The last thing you want to do is just pick the first or least expensive company or freelancer you come across. Before divulging your entire idea to those who will make it a reality, read online reviews, look for complaints, and even contact past customers or clients. Working only with companies and freelancers that have spotless reputations means you are far less likely to see your idea stolen. Once you’ve chosen the companies and individuals you are comfortable handing your game over to, make sure the appropriate contracts are in place.

Finish and publish the game. The best way to prevent someone else from being able to use your idea as their own is to actually finish the mobile game and have it added to the app store. Of course, as is and will always be the case with popular mobile games, there will always be imitators. They cannot, however, use the exact same code as is used in your game. They cannot use the characters, the settings, or same storyline (if applicable). The idea is still fair game, but they will never be the first, nor will those imitations ever be exactly the same. One good way to continue to set your game apart, even if imitators will emerge (and they will if your game is worth its salt), is to hold some features back and roll those out in future updates.

It is frustrating that there are limited protections for concepts or ideas. However, sticking to these guidelines can keep your original idea safe until it’s ready to be played by millions.

Jovan Johnson is a California licensed attorney who focuses on SEO, mobile games, and apps. He is passionate about mentoring students and steering dollars to scholarships, and speaks regularly about career opportunities. He is a principal at Johnson Moo, Furzy, Paymaster.Co, and 320 Instrumentals.(source:gamasutra)

 


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