My position on so-called "fan fiction" is pretty well known. I'm against it, for a variety of reasons that I've stated previously more than once. I won't repeat 'em here
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Agreed, and a query: what about licensed role playing games?shiranaihoshiMay 8 2010, 09:58:42 UTC
It was very kind of you, midnight_birth, to type out something very similar to my own thoughts on the matter and save my fingers a little strain. I am firmly in the camp of "respect the writer's wishes, regardless of your own feelings."
It is strange; I haven't thought about fan fiction in a while. I call it strange because like many, fan fiction is where I got my start at the keyboard. It was always a private affair, shared with close friends in print copies or email. I never posted it to the internet, nor, have I ever considered doing so. So it effectively avoided many of the issues mentioned here (not on purpose, just out of shyness).
Some time ago I evolved to the desire to publish my own work with my own worlds and my own characters. Ironic when you consider that my first paid writing work has been in a world of extremely vigorously guarded intellectual property (at the owner's invite and with them reviewing the output, I assure you).
Which brings me to my query- it seems that the domain of role playing games muddies the waters. Here, the author has essentially allowed people to pay a licensing fee to play in their world, and in many cases with their characters. Perhaps the license granters imagine that role playing is still only a group of people around a table in someone's living room, but this is not true. A great many groups play in text-based medium over the internet. They play in chat rooms and forums and via email. This leaves a text trail more or less identical to fan fiction. If this is done in a forum, it is there for the internet to see. Some groups might post logs to a website.
Now, I know that there is a Song of Fire and Ice role playing game. I'd be very curious how Mr. Martin thinks this weaves in to the topics at hand.
It is strange; I haven't thought about fan fiction in a while. I call it strange because like many, fan fiction is where I got my start at the keyboard. It was always a private affair, shared with close friends in print copies or email. I never posted it to the internet, nor, have I ever considered doing so. So it effectively avoided many of the issues mentioned here (not on purpose, just out of shyness).
Some time ago I evolved to the desire to publish my own work with my own worlds and my own characters. Ironic when you consider that my first paid writing work has been in a world of extremely vigorously guarded intellectual property (at the owner's invite and with them reviewing the output, I assure you).
Which brings me to my query- it seems that the domain of role playing games muddies the waters. Here, the author has essentially allowed people to pay a licensing fee to play in their world, and in many cases with their characters. Perhaps the license granters imagine that role playing is still only a group of people around a table in someone's living room, but this is not true. A great many groups play in text-based medium over the internet. They play in chat rooms and forums and via email. This leaves a text trail more or less identical to fan fiction. If this is done in a forum, it is there for the internet to see. Some groups might post logs to a website.
Now, I know that there is a Song of Fire and Ice role playing game. I'd be very curious how Mr. Martin thinks this weaves in to the topics at hand.
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