Hello,

I'm playing and creating games on this website for some time now and I really like this site. But I've got some questions now about backgrounds.

Is it possible to change backgrounds of your games without losing the rest of the information and the highscores. I wanted to change some backgrounds so they all look the same but I couldn't find out how.

I was also wondering if we are obliged by PurposeGames to name the source of your background in the background or at least in the comments of the game? Personally I think it should be, but I don't see many people doing it.

Greetz,
Esar

Esar:

As Niklas says, there is no way to change backgrounds w/o losing the other information. It might be possible for David to transfer information from one game to its successor,but for that to be a valid request the games would have to be almost identical (same number of dots in about the same arrangement, very similar background, same clues and answers). And it may not be possible at all. In any case, I wouldn't ask that of him lightly: he's very busy with the site and with his real life.

I've often changed a game by replacing it, and have never asked David to migrate information. Like Niklas, I have lost many plays, people's scores, game ratings, and comments on the games I replaced.

Anymore, unless there are only a few plays, I don't usually replace a game after a certain period of time has elapsed. In several cases, I have created an 'updated' version when I came by a better background. So I've got 2 starfish games, 2 bird beak games, and a few others. I usually reference one to the other in the game comments, so people can find the other game. I also usually label them so that old and new are not the same (i.e., advanced version, updated, etc for the new game).

Re: attributions, I usually do that. Niklas and a few more sometimes do that. A lot of the material in Wikipedia/Wikimedia is "copylefted" (vs. copyrighted). In effect, these are licenses to use the material. Although you are free to use it, most such licenses say that you should attribute the source. I'm glad to oblige, and reference the URL so people can find it.

Giving attributions also helps people who take an interest in the subject to learn more about it. Usually, I give a URL not only for the background image, but for an article containing the background (and/or other relevant information). That keeps with the spirit of the "Purpose" in "PurposeGames".

And some of the more general backgrounds I've found have been used by other people in making games. If you find a good world, Europe, US, etc. map, people will want to know where you found it, so they can make games with it. It's not unheard of to see "where did you find that map?" in game comments.

The two most common "copylefts" are CreativeCommons and GNU Free Documentation. I don't think the CC/GNU police will be beating down your door if you don't do attributions, but I think it is a very good thing to do. It also doesn't usually take long to do it for any one game, but in the aggregate, I've probably spent several hours putting attributions and pointers to more information on my games. That means I could've been 3 games ahead of where I am now! If I had all that time as a single block, that is. It's really all the background modifications that are time consuming, not the attributions.

Then again, if I didn't pontificate on the Community Page, send PMs, comment on games, or leave messages of encouragement and advice on people's message boards, I might be 89 games ahead of where I am now. Would that be somehow better for PG?

Well maybe, but better for me? No....

So if you think people should give their sources, you should do it. It'll just be part of your style, and we all gotta develop our own PurposeGame styles.

Good luck, and good games (playing *and* making them).

Tickman

Esar:

I forgot to mention:

In a few cases when I changed a game, I contacted players of the original to let them know that their scores would be lost (same when I added more dots and reset the highscores).

That's fair to the players and to you.

But very hard to do if there are more than a few players...