My game was stolen

[Goat-Man]

I've never been more upset in my entire life.
I am angry beyond belief, I feel like locking myself in my room and just sitting there for a week.

The game I was working on for a month, was finally in talks with ArmorGames (of all sites) for a sponsorship deal.
Now, days before the deal was about to go through, my game was stolen, and is on probably 20 sites already. All it took was one asshole to grab it from god knows where, and now I'm fucking boned.

Is there anything I can do?

[Connor-Black-Inferno]

Is there anything I can do?

Tell Armor Games.
Do something like that.
Or just cry in a room for a week.

[Goat-Man]

At 6/17/09 02:05 PM, Connor-Black-Inferno wrote: Tell Armor Games.

They were the one who alerted me to the problem

Do something like that.

If I e-mailed sites, would they be willing to switch it out for a version with ArmorGames on it?

Or just cry in a room for a week.

Sounding tempting right now

[StaliN98]

I don't know what to say. We put so much effort into this, I was so relieved to finally get an offer...
Shit.

[Dugh]

That sucks, dude!
I'd contact the author and threat him with lawsuits. Maybe he would get scared enough to remove the copies? Worth a try, I guess.

Also, what's the name of the game?

[ughanation]

At 6/17/09 02:09 PM, Dugh wrote: That sucks, dude!
I'd contact the author and threat him with lawsuits. Maybe he would get scared enough to remove the copies? Worth a try, I guess.

Also, what's the name of the game?

If you got a copyright on it you really can

[StaliN98]

At 6/17/09 02:28 PM, ughanation wrote: If you got a copyright on it you really can

Then we have a problem.

[CaiWengi]

Threaten all the sites that have it with lawsuits, also threaten anyone whos posted it with lawsuits

Try to sound as formal and serious as possible. Say unless they remove it immediately you will sue

A major bluff really, chances are they will just take it off their sites.

[Yambanshee]

that sucks :/ Threaten with law suits is the best i can think to do

[NinjaGuy]

At 6/17/09 02:33 PM, Yambanshee wrote: that sucks :/ Threaten with law suits is the best i can think to do

If you got offered $ then you might wanna go for actual prosecuting these guys

[Scarraban]

Even still, you must have some form of idea as to who could have pinched the game from you. Just think where you have it and where it will have most likely have been the most vulnerable.

If you have an idea of who has managed to do this, then you will have a better chance of fighting it.

Also, submit the game as you would, and attach the common "this was posted to Newgrounds only, if it is anywhere is it is stolen, please contact Leeroy Jenkins with details".

This will probably help catch you culprit.

[Jimp]

That fucking sucks man. its a good idea to use Mochi version control for things like this, maybe even set up a beta version for sending to sponsors, then just delete it once you have your deal sorted.

[liaaaam]

At 6/17/09 02:29 PM, StaliN98 wrote: Then we have a problem.

If you created the game, you have copyright over it.

[LeechmasterB]

Contact all the sites and ask them to remove it imediatelly, they have to do so or you can threaten them with a lawsuit.

Also try to find out who it was to avoid it from happening again.

Once its off the net you can try to get a new or refresh the armorgames deal.

[StaliN98]

From my last count there are at least 35 sites with it on already. I don't think emailing them all will help, expecially because some of them aren't english sites.

[Thelostcup]

At 6/17/09 03:45 PM, StaliN98 wrote: From my last count there are at least 35 sites with it on already. I don't think emailing them all will help, expecially because some of them aren't english sites.

But they probably got it from an English site.

You should ask some of the sites where they got it from, since a lot of flash game sites just take games that have been uploaded to other ones.

Do you know how it was the person got a hold of the game?

[Chaz]

Hate to say it dude but you should always watermark a beta with something like 'NOT TO BE DISTRIBUTED' in bold red lettering on the menu or something. They never take things then. And you only remove it once you recieve payment.

[U-Gamer]

what's the name of the game?

[Xeptic]

At 6/17/09 04:06 PM, Chaz wrote: Hate to say it dude but you should always watermark a beta with something like 'NOT TO BE DISTRIBUTED' in bold red lettering on the menu or something. They never take things then. And you only remove it once you recieve payment.

Better yet, make sure you site-lock the version you're distributing to sponsor (upload it to your own site), add a watermark and encrypt it so it can't be decompiled and the watermark can't be removed. Of course this won't help you out anymore now...

I'm not sure what the best course of action is here. The game is your property, so officially speaking they aren't allowed to place it on their sites without your approval. I'm not sure how you can stop it from spreading now that so many websites have it though...

[cumSum]

There are a number of things you should do to ensure this does not happen.

Upload the game to a secret location with a big watermark on it. Site-lock and encrypt it and don't send the link to all your friends / doubtful sponsors, etc.

Now there really isn't much you can do. Try to work this out with ArmorGames first if they would still be interested, otherwise it's probably not worth the effort.

[Darkware]

Yeah, I've always said that if I ever do a game, I will have all kinds of code that will be triggered throughout the game at certain points that will bring up watermark type things.

[Johnny]

At 6/17/09 02:28 PM, ughanation wrote: If you got a copyright on it you really can

Technically, you can still fight it. Copyrights don't work like patents. If you can show proof of ownership, then you have no problem. Something can by Copyrighted just by publishing it. It's just not a 'registered copyright.'

Also, if you contact those sites and tell them it was stolen they may remove it. If they don't, threaten to contact their hosting company or ISP and they will. If they don't, contact the hosting company.

If you have the .FLA, you can still still prove ownership 'enough' to get people to work with you.

[doctormario]

Bummer man. For real. I've had a lot of music stolen, but not a game. Like people have been saying, if you have the original files (artwork, sourcecode, music), you'll be in a great place to issue a cease and desist notification on anyone who shouldn't have it. Get a lawyer to draft up something professional but threatening.

That's the nice sugar coated version.

The nasty reality is, that if it's posted all over the place, the most addictive dopest game in the world, and hosted anywhere in Czech Republic...you're screwed. Encryption, site-lock, and watermark are your friends, but even they are mild deterrents to the truly dedicated and talented pirate.

[Goat-Man]

Is nothing else this has been a learning experiance. From now on I will guard a game with my life, and pull out all the stops in protecting it.

I'm not revealing the name of the game, just to maybe avoid spreading it's name. Unless that can help. Maybe if people complain that it's stolen it will be removed.

I believe my partner said he counted around 35 sites. I've e-mailed close to 20, and have had 5 take it down so far. Hopefully I can tie this off quickly.
Although one site it said uploaded on the 10th. So this has been going on a WEEK without my notice.

Thanks for your help guys. Hopefully things get sorted out

[Johnny]

Most sites will be willing to work with you, just under the pretense that taking down one game on their site is easier and more productive than dealing with the potential backlash that can come about from not taking it down.

It's easier for them to fold than fight.

Take that business knowledge with you, and all business related activities get easier. I've had the misfortune of being on the other end too.

You'll never find the person that did it, so don't bother with that. Just repair the damage and plug along. They'll probably be willing to put the game back up with the new logo as well.

[Archon68]

I can relate, I've had my game stolen... 9 times now?

What I do is contact the admins of the websites he posts it on, and they gladly remove it. You have to have proof it's really yours, though.

[Croire]

Man that sucks!!!!
But look at it this way.....Lesson learned: Don't put your game out where any old tom dick and harry can steal it and make money off of your work.

[Jackhos]

well you have all proof of you giving it to em, you working on it, original flash file .etc

[Kwing]

Did you put your name on it, like in the menu?

[smokinjoeevil]

Did they get their hands on just the SWF, or the FLA/original source? If it was just the SWF, then I suggest you start doing what I know some others do... you encode it directly into the Flash file to do a domain check. If the file isn't being called up from the correct domain, you have it jump to a frame reading "nice try suckers". Better yet, just have the thing go all glitchy and not work. Then they'll just think there is something wrong, and will be less likely to try and decompile the SWF to get rid of the domain checking.

And all it takes is updating one line of code for each web-site you want to distribute it to, and you give them their own version. It's a pain if you just want people to be able to grab it AFTER you've officially "launched", but it might have saved you this headache.