Developing IP online in public
Recently I’ve stumbled onto topic on cgc forums on developing original IP online in public. I believe it was inspired by the recent deal with Disney acquiring Marvel. If you look at the entertainment industry you’ll see how heavily it rely on various IPs. So why not to develop a new world from scratch openly in public [that was the message of the thread]?
The first issue that pop-ups immideately is copyright and possible idea/concept theft. The hard truth is that most of ideas has zero value until implemented. It’s a long, very long road between rough idea and finished product you can hold in your hands or enjoy other way. A lot of people fall into this trap thinking of their ideas as game-changers and thus highly securing them. You will be amazed how your precious concepts, business plans or ideas would be smashed down. I remember I was sending unpublished dark elf ladies designs to appropriate toy doll company and their response was a cold-shower for me. Literally it was like, go f*ck your elfs. By the way, it was Yona, a character from Steam Fantasy project. I’ve got the same experience with my fellow buddies in game development when I proposed a new business model and game pitch that costs me a few months of designing and writing. So basically you learn that world around you isn’t that friendly to your ideas.
Next, how ’bout moving online and share your treasures with the rest of the world? Hell, it’s scary! What if people wouldn’t like your work? What if you’ll be ignored? What if…? A lot of fear right? This fear is a sort of inner buffer that prevents you from external communication. It’s both good and bad thing. It’s good because it buffers you from wasting time on various online resources. And it’s bad because you can possibly miss something or someone. Personally I prefer to talk about my projects but not too much, so it won’t generate much noise yet someone could see it.
You can read more on this topic by following the thread but basically everything leads to one question – what benefits you can get from this IP developing model?
I can imagine people want to keep it quite until the project really has some progress.
But when new stuff keeps coming I would really enjoy to have some insight in the world of the developer. Developers who choose to keep a blog have a chance they’ll get me more exited for there upcoming show. I think somehow I as a reader/viewer then feel more connected. This is of course because I’m sort of interested in the creation part of these kind of projects.
Otherwise, I think it is not so smart to show all your cards before release. You’ll want to really surprise the viewer with so much more than they have ever seen or imagined when the real thing is ready to be revealed for their eyes.
But the good part of showing some stuff… When even the people who where already following the progress of the work for some time eventually get an amazing surprise in the end, they’ll want to come back for your next story and so do the people they tell about your story.