Hello Passengers,
I've always received from time to time messages from players telling me to "go look at this or that song contest because it's using an idea from Silja Contest and making it pass as their own". As those players will reckon, I've just taken note of the information, but mostly ignored the situation, due to reasons I'll later state in this message.
However, the last two weeks I have received no less than 7 e-mails coming from 7 different players, all of them accusing 5 different online song contests of being "copycats" of Silja, and asking me to do something about it!!. For some of the "accused" contests it's not the first time I hear about them ( I do take part in some of them, as a matter of fact), but I must say I'm quite amazed that so many messages about the same matter have been sent on the last two weeks when I'm used to receive only one of such complaints per edition. Maybe it's a sign that I must stop just "ignoring" the situation and make an "official statement" about it. So here I go...
First of all, as far as I know, there's no such thing as "Online Song Contest Copyrights". Indeed, we've all taken the idea from the Eurovision Song Contest which should be the biggest complainer in that case.
Guys, there's so many contests out there that's almost impossible to determine who came out with which idea at first. Plus, it's totally plausible that two different persons come out with the very same idea at about the same time without being aware of each other's existence!. That's the main reason why I have always handled all the accusations on the premise of giving the "benefit of doubt" to those managers, and not taking any measure and stepping out of any polemic. Many of the ideas in Silja Contest are inspired by players, who could also have seen them somewhere else and brought them in, there's just no way to control that for me as a manager, and I believe it can be a struggle for anybody else.
HOWEVER, I totally understand that when a given contest "casually" uses one idea after it was seen in Silja, then another, then another one, then more and more, the situation becomes, as in one player's words... "at least suspect". I'm perfectly aware of it, and in many cases, believe me, I'm also aware that the managers of those contests do inspire themselves in SSSC, because they told it to me themselves!. That's why I never saw a problem on it, for me it has always been crystal clear... actually, I'm flattered Silja can inspire someone else's contest! It's an honour.
I do not know all contests out there, and I don't know anything about some of the accused ones, but in those cases mentioned above I do believe that it's not a matter of managers "trying to make Silja's ideas pass as their own" and that there's no bad intentions at all behind them.
Of course, and I have to give that to my players, all this could have been avoided if it was somehow publicly recognized by these contests that SSSC is the place they took inspiration from, as Silja itself did when it was born, recognising FM and VVV as its parent contests, and as I try to do everytime something in a Cruise comes out from somewhere else that my own mind. Failure to do so is obviously offending some fellow SSSC players who happen to take part in these other contests. Yet, come on, we talk here of only virtual games we're supposed to have fun with... do not count on me to raise a polemic "against" another contest because it's using SSSC ideas without acknowledgement. Let's just keep it cool and feel honoured that this thing WE created is having an impact somewhere else...
...and if you believe that a contest is taking ideas from SSSC, before running to me full of indignation and asking me to take revenge, I strongly suggest you to directly contact the manager of the implied contest and ask him/her whether your suspicions are fundamented. Only if this first contact is unfruitful, I may come in and ask for "explanations" if need be and find a friendly solution to the problem.
Once again, Siljans, I really appreciate you care about the contest enough to feel offended when it is """robbed"""... but keep always in mind that this is only a virtual thing, let's focus in our real life problems and keep this cool.
Online contests are made to share, and remember that YOU ALL MAKE THIS CONTEST WHAT IT IS. What we have here, this energy, this dynamic, this passion, is something UNIQUE, is what makes us what we are and what has kept us sailing all this time. We have one of the most restrictive rules out there, the most limited choice of countries... yet we have one of the most creative contests there is. Nobody can never take that from us!
So, this is SSSC's official position about copycats. If you believe a contest is "copying" SSSC, remember, contact YOURSELF the manager first and only if his/her explanation does not satisfy you, call me to intervene. I'll always give the "benefit of doubt" to everyone and I'll avoid all polemics as much as I can without compromising SSSC's name.
Under this "benefit of doubt"-philosophy, I am not going to give here the names of the accused contests or not even the accusing players. Some will recognize themselves. I really hope that this message responds to all your concerns.
If you have something to say about this, please use the Guestbook in Silja's website (http://siljacontest.webs.com/ ) (unless strictly confidential, in which case send me an email, of course).
Happy sailing!
Nathalie
SSSC Manager
