Is It So Bad To Plagiarise?

If you don’t know, I also run a gaming blog. In that, I reviewed a really bad game called Unturned. I promptly realised that the game was made by a 16 year old and then felt awful because I’d crushed the dreams of a promising young individual.

I hated Unturned because it did everything we’ve already seen before but worse. It was not only a terrible game, it was also completely pointless because there are several other games I could play instead of it – and I would have a much better time. But then I realised that of course everyone has to fail.

I remember when I was ten years old, writing my second novel. My first one was awful, my second even worse. I’ve disposed of both these novels lest they fester and grow into a hideous lifeform beyond my control that’ll attempt to destroy the world. But both of these novels were exceptionally derivative of other works. I would’ve been taken to court if they were published…except they never would have been published because they were worse than a minor disease.

My point is that I’ve learnt from this. My novels since have only been worse than the common cold. So I’m improving then. And so will the creator of Unturned…eventually. Unturned itself is the equivalent of that really terrible first novel that rips-off about five previous properties without shame and without irony. But it’s for the sake of progress. Perhaps the next game will actually have a monocule of charm and flair, just like my tenth novel did (it still sucked, by the way. Just slightly less…)

But the problem with the internet is that you can immediately publish anything without any sense of quality control. This blog, for example, is entirely me. No-one proof-reads or approves a post before it’s actually posted. So, whilst before every indie band would suck all by themselves – and it was only when they stopped copying from other artists they would become well-known – now people don’t have any time to cultivate their talents before the world sees and judges it.

So, it’s OK to plagiarise just so long as you do it in private. It’s like sex in that regard…