Ethical dilemma: I think i might have, subconsciously, stolen someone's idea

[daydreamer]

I traverse many writing forums on the internet from time to time and i'm finishing up on my current wip's first draft but this has been eating away at me for sometime. My magic system is a unique one, at least in my opinion, and i have been struggling with it for a long time. Eventually i perfected it only to remember that i might have seen something similar before so i went back to a Reddit forum on magic systems and guess what...yep it was my magic system but not a carbon copy, in fact it is very much different but we used the same fuel for our magic though mine is much more extensive and we share two very cool abilities where its uses, strengths and weaknesses are almost identical.

our systems are very different but when it comes down to it it is kind of the same, for instance lets say elemental magic wasn't a cliche and two guys have it as the bases for their system. one guy has the avatar like system while the other ingests the elements for different effects, also some of the abilities might be the same like water can heal. what bums me out is that this guy thought of it first and i really like his system a lot but i don't know if i thought of it on my own or i subconsciously remembered it and STOLE it, it was month apart and i had hardly remembered what the system was about but the brain works in mysterious ways.

what do you think?

 

[Steerpike]

General ideas like that can't be protected, nor should they be. Lifting the system in its entirety from another person would give me pause; having similar ideas and concepts does not.

 

[Michael K. Eidson]

I'm agreed with Steerpike. Research copyright law, and you'll quickly discover for yourself that ideas can't be protected. This is why you don't want to share your best ideas with anyone until you've published them yourself.

 

[Peat]

I wouldn't sweat it too much. This could have been independent development from similar sources and thoughts and if you don't remember directly lifting it, it probably was.

 

[SerpentSun]

What idea is truly new anyway? Perhaps information, like energy and matter, has no beginning nor end? Some of my best characters started as carbon copies of other favorite characters, until they found a new life of their own. Your magic systems are as unique as the individuals who invisioned them. Everything influences another.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Write it anyway...by the time it is written, it likely will change so much it's no longer discernible as "stolen."

If anyone cares. I don't think anyone really cares.

 

[elemtilas]

i don't know if i thought of it on my own or i subconsciously remembered it and STOLE it, it was month apart and i had hardly remembered what the system was about but the brain works in mysterious ways.

what do you think?

I'd be concerned if it were identical to the point that you plagiarised the exact words. Other than that, don't focus so much on the similarities! What makes your system of magic distinct and different? That's where it's going to be at!

 

[Alyssa]

Since Tolkien wrote lotr there's been a huge upswing in elves and dwarves and dragons and epic battles. That doesn't mean we're all plagiarising Tolkien. We get inspiration from what we read. Your is not a carbon copy, you didn't purposely take it, you built it up, you put time and effort into it. It will end up different to the similar magic system anyway. It's concepts are one thing but it's applications are another.


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