CGS is Plagiarizing to Win
The Championship Gaming Series is making great efforts to make professional gaming a reality. Their players and website readers are exactly the right audience for my book, Playing to Win.
It looks like 18-year-old Avtar "Paddaman" Padda, an official writer for CGS, felt the same way. Here you can read his sloppily written rehash of my book/articles where he attempts to define the word "scrub," the concept of cheapness, and asks how far you should go to win. I wonder if he got that last question from my chapter of exactly the same name, or if he just saw it in one of my urls:
http://www.sirlin.net/ptw/intermediates-guide/how-far-should-you-go-to-win/
The cherry on top? He didn't even change the title (Playing to Win), created an image banner with his picture and the words "PLAYING TO WIN," and now the Championship Gaming Series makes ad revenue off this. The author doesn't seem to realize that he's done anything wrong. Let's see what Wikipedia has to say:
Plagiarism (...) is the practice of claiming, or implying, original authorship of (or incorporating material from) someone else's written or creative work, in whole or in part, into one's own without adequate acknowledgement. (...) In journalism, plagiarism is considered a breach of journalistic ethics, and reporters caught plagiarizing typically face disciplinary measures ranging from suspension to termination.
This is hardly the kind of thing CGS wants to be known for. I mean, what if the gaming press picks up this very post and links it all over the place, putting "plagiarism" and CGS in the same sentence? It's a shame since my content is such a great fit for them.
The best solution would probably be to replace the offending article with a written apology and a link to www.sirlin.net/ptw. Another acceptable remedy is simply giving proper credit. The author could have been much more effective in the first place by starting his article with an explanation of my works and then giving his own spin on how this might apply to certain games or tournaments. This would have allowed him to achieve his goals while still following those pesky standards of journalistic integrity.
In closing, I'll just say that I'm almost as flattered as when my friend asked me if I applied to his World of Warcraft guild, when in fact a Sirlin-impersonator applied, trying to spice up his application with a little internet fame. The lesson to be learned from all this? Don't apply to my friend's guild using my name, and don't rewrite my articles using only your name.
Thanks,
--Sirlin
Update 1: The article in question appears to have been removed. That was fast.
December 21st, 2007 at 3:09 am
I find that incredibly offensive and just outright disrespectful. Are you planning to file suit against CGS?
December 21st, 2007 at 3:36 am
Hi Sirlin,
I’m sorry to see that this has happened to you. I notice several comments towards the bottom that are calling him on it. Perhaps someone needs to contact someone in charge?
December 21st, 2007 at 4:07 am
I must agree, as well, that he did a poor job of rewriting your work. Although it’s clear he’s following certain aspects of your chain of reasoning, he lacks all of the vigor and competence in your writing. Although I can tend to the scrublike sometimes I always enjoy your articles. Keep up the good work!
December 21st, 2007 at 4:39 am
Looks like it got removed.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:30 am
Cheaters never prosper… Neither in gaming nor in journalism. And to do it on the web is just retarded since someone’s BOUND to notice. I’m glad his article was taken down and I hope he’s appropriately penalized.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:35 am
Score one for the good guys.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:50 am
Paddaman isn’t just a CGS writer. He’s the male DOA4 player for London Mint.
December 21st, 2007 at 7:05 am
That’s a good thing, since he obviously doesn’t know a thing about grammar or punctuation.
December 21st, 2007 at 8:54 am
What a wanker. Paddaman’s plagiarism is inexcusable, but what really struck me was how bad his writing is. (You can lift his article off google cache by searching for ‘paddaman playing to win’). It’s rare to see plagiarized text that’s orders of magnitude worse than the source. He should have just copy-and-pasted, since he was stealing everything wholesale anyway.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:04 am
Ouch, that’s harsh.
And it’s not like you’re super-stingy with your works either. It wouldn’t have killed him to have said “this is pretty cool, here’s a link”.
No. It’s gotta be blatant plagiarism…
December 21st, 2007 at 10:30 am
Sue.
No, really. Sue.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:39 am
Lawyers are no fun unless they work for the EFF.
“Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky.” –Fake quote that fictional professor Henry Jones attributes to Charlemagne
“Let my fierce and roundhouse buttons be the press and popular opinion.”–Sirlin
December 21st, 2007 at 10:43 am
But…popular opinion typically won’t take the whole plagiarism thing into account (since most people who read that wouldn’t know that it was ripped off).
Either way, it seems to have been taken down.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:18 am
Hey Sirlin, I just want to show my support in this matter; it’s pretty sad that people out there have such a hard time thinking for themselves these days, everyone wants acclaim, but they’re not willing to put in the hard work to achieve it.
I don’t know how you feel about having your readership flood CGS with emails, or any other such aggressive action, but if you think there’s a good way to use your “net weight” and get this problem resolved, I would almost certainly be on board.
Sincerely
Erik
December 21st, 2007 at 9:45 pm
I’m glad that the matter was resolved so quickly. One should first seek out solutions that doesn’t require a lawyer anyway, because while many people may do something like this, it’s a fairly good chance that they will back down as soon as you contact them. Sure, it might well be because they’re afraid you will put a lawyer on them, but it really doesn’t matter why they comply, as long as they do comply. It’s cheaper too.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:36 pm
What a douche bag.
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:51 pm
“Let my fierce and roundhouse buttons be the press and popular opinion.”–Sirlin
I would quote this regularly if it wasn’t so fanbase-specific. ^_^
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Holy shit, Sirlin, that quote is awesome. You rolled a 20 with that one.
Also, cheers to taking the high road. I salute you.
December 24th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Yeah, but while rolling the 20, he RC’d into a CvS2 CC with Blanka for 80% damage.
December 25th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Maybe lawyers aren’t all fun, but money is very fun. You should at least threaten to sue. You’ll easily get the guy off their writer’s list (if he’s not already), a public apology, including a link to your site, and however much this loser was paid to write your article.
December 26th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Ouch. Good to hear he was caught.
Why would he do something like that when the original author is RIGHT THERE? lol
December 27th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I loved reading the comments to the article. (What’s that sound I hear Paddaman? Could it be the sound of something ripping? Ripping off, perhaps? -McMystery)
Now that I’m actually reading the article, though, I’d like to say that the last sentence in the second paragraph is basically a complete and total plagiarism, and he seems to have run out of veiling-his-lack-of-original-thougt steam by the time he starts talking about scrubs.
December 28th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
i know paddaman, he’s a fool.
doa4 is the only game he can play and he isnt even considered to be high level at it.
im gonna catch some joke next time i see him.
December 28th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Yup, you are the first person in history to put in to words that people should play to win…
December 28th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
It’s so easy to say something was “obvious” in hindsight, Please… care to name an example? (Don’t say Sun Tsu, since Sirlin acknowledges him in the book).
December 31st, 2007 at 4:06 am
Its almost a shame that one persons actions could potentially bring shame to an entire organization. But, I guess thats just how it works, huh?
December 31st, 2007 at 10:01 pm
http://www.doacentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=411481&sid=9165839def73a66a548dd1a2d611a009
The article is here, with a half-arsed defense of his actions (something to do with relevence).
Behold the U.K. education system failing the nation. n_n
January 1st, 2008 at 2:56 am
kick his ass sirlin!
January 1st, 2008 at 3:04 am
You are being to kind, Sirlin. Don’t be lenient.
Contact him first trying to have explanations, or, sue him, if needed. Remember yourself, “play to win”, use all weapons available to you.
This is a shame, do not allow things like this.
January 1st, 2008 at 3:29 am
You didnt even read the article. That guy plagiarized every paragraph. Its like a 3rd grader doingh some school work. You get something from the Internet and change its words.
Actually, he just copied some sentences and parts of sentences in full. That’s really bad.
January 1st, 2008 at 4:51 am
Hey Sirlin, After reading about this incident on doacentral I visited your site and I decided to get a copy of your book :)
Btw #27 dont base the uk eduction system on 1 person :)
Loving the book Sirlin ;)
January 1st, 2008 at 10:11 am
“lol, i seemed to hav created quite the stir. lemme explain.
these articles r shown as features on cgs franchise sites. i thought about just takin a chunk of sirlins book, labellein it so, and put tht up as it is.
however, it wud hav been lengthy nd not relevent to the cgs titles. it may jus b a rehash but its a lot more relevent, but at the same time most of sirlins core principles were to b untouched as i believe they shud b brought out for the cgs players.
i’ll ammend it nd credit sirlin.”
Wow. That’s Paddaman’s “logic.”
He may have plagiarized your Playing to Win articles, but he clearly skipped your articles about writing.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:56 am
Hello Sirlin
Can I just clear some things up, Paddaman is not an official writer for the CGS, he plays for the London Mint franchise. I do write for theCGS.com myself as a writer.
While I cannot condone nor condemn Avtar’s actions as I did not have a chance to see the post, the CGS had no knowledge of this and to tar them with the same brush is forward. These are the team sites and the CGS has no day to day involvement with them, each site has it’s own set of staff employed by the General Managers, the editor in question of the London Mint site is my good friend felix, feel free to contact me if you wish to talk to him.
I apologize for this incident and will pass it forward to my seniors and see if anything can be resolved
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
You should really confront him about this, God knows he probably hasn’t learned his lesson.
Give him a bit of a scare, for a laugh at the very least.
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Well it appears that regardless the original article has been taken down, though nnlemon’s link in post #27 shows what it was. Have to say, his explanation is… incredibly weak. At least it’s been taken off the main site, though instead of “Sorry, the file you are looking for cannot be found” there really should be an apology and a link to this site’s playing to win section.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:55 am
wifiwars.com uses the phrase playing to win in some of its titles.
MLG also has a guitar hero III banner ad for one of their ladder tournaments that says something along the lines of “play to win”.
Shrug. I don’t know if the phrase is copywrited.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:48 am
AZ, this isn’t about the phrase “playing to win”, that happens to be the title of Sirlin’s book, and it was content from his book which was plagiarized. Please try reading what the issue is before you comment.
January 4th, 2008 at 6:37 am
I know what the issue is, I was simply asking a question.
January 4th, 2008 at 6:38 am
I know what the issue is, I was simply asking a question that was also on a somewhat related topic.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Oh, sorry about that, I see what you were saying now. Though I will note that your first post doesn’t actually contain a question >.>
January 7th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
You should really sue. The guy’s paid to write articles and stole them from you.
January 7th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
He should obviously lose his job for publishing that on their website, at the least.
January 10th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
So glad you picked up on this Sirlin, I was thinking about emailing you it just in case. That guy is an absolute moron, and epitomizes everything I hate about stereotypical console gamers (and the now growing stereotype of CGS ‘pro gamers’).
Try not to judge the UK gaming community by this degenerate moron.
January 11th, 2008 at 4:02 am
What do you mean “stereotypical console gamers?” Hate to tell you, but that’s just about all there are these days.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I mean average Joe Halo.
And no, although the PC market is hardly booming, it still has some huge pools of players, don’t make me name them!
That and the fact that the PC platform is still at the forefront of competitive gaming/eSports.
February 5th, 2008 at 3:43 am
He isn’t paid to write articles.