Feasibility is one of my favorite words to use in the suggestions thread. You pretty much covered everything succinctly.
I would add that while getting sued is a big deterrent for copy-write infringement, some ideas can be inspired by other peoples material then altered and added on to make it different. Like Jeb taking inspiration from the Lapitua Robots to make Iron Golems. You stated this already but I wanted to stress that it shouldn't block people from making suggestions like adding Myst Link books to Minecraft; with a few alterations it can be something new and unique to the game.
So, now I know where this disappeared to.
Originally I had this posted as a suggestion for the content on the Suggestions board. Apparently someone decided it was not suggestion-y enough. As always, though, my thanks to the people who have nice things to say here.
As for taking inspiration from things, yes it is perfectly acceptable. The difference comes, though, when "taking inspiration" becomes "blatantly copying". Sadly, some people don't understand that distinction. That's why I put in the bit about making sure an idea "no longer resembles the earlier work". I wanted to emphasize the point that when you use something you got from somewhere else, you need to make it your own. Did I succeed on that? I can't say for sure, but I would hope that most people will get the point.
A great example of inspiration done right? I've heard it mentioned that Notch drew inspiration for the Nether from "The Ways" in Robert Jordan's series of books, The Wheel of Time. Both are a dangerous land reached (and exited) through mystical doorways, which allow vast distances to be crossed quickly. However, the two realms are so different in every other way that most people wouldn't notice the connection.
I like this, it actually makes sense, and one can make their suggestion better from reading this. I wish more people would read rule #4 and #5, because a lot of suggestions go along like "Unbreakable Pickaxe which instantly kills everything" or "Helper Ninja from [Insert game here] crafted with 9 diamond blocks and heals you and makes it rain diamond blocks". Though there are a lot of good ones too, but I wish this would be added to the rules of suggestions or something. Because it would hopefully help clear out a lot of bad suggestions (of course, a lot of people who don't make good suggestions are lazy, so they probably wouldn't read it, but it still should go up on the suggestion rules).
Very good, well reasoned post. While some more things could be said, you've summed up most of the things that need to be considered when making an idea work.
I would add that while getting sued is a big deterrent for copy-write infringement, some ideas can be inspired by other peoples material then altered and added on to make it different. Like Jeb taking inspiration from the Lapitua Robots to make Iron Golems. You stated this already but I wanted to stress that it shouldn't block people from making suggestions like adding Myst Link books to Minecraft; with a few alterations it can be something new and unique to the game.
Originally I had this posted as a suggestion for the content on the Suggestions board. Apparently someone decided it was not suggestion-y enough. As always, though, my thanks to the people who have nice things to say here.
As for taking inspiration from things, yes it is perfectly acceptable. The difference comes, though, when "taking inspiration" becomes "blatantly copying". Sadly, some people don't understand that distinction. That's why I put in the bit about making sure an idea "no longer resembles the earlier work". I wanted to emphasize the point that when you use something you got from somewhere else, you need to make it your own. Did I succeed on that? I can't say for sure, but I would hope that most people will get the point.
A great example of inspiration done right? I've heard it mentioned that Notch drew inspiration for the Nether from "The Ways" in Robert Jordan's series of books, The Wheel of Time. Both are a dangerous land reached (and exited) through mystical doorways, which allow vast distances to be crossed quickly. However, the two realms are so different in every other way that most people wouldn't notice the connection.
Marv