I'm going to post a response, just so my position, intentions, and opinions are clear. Note that much of this information could be biased, coming as it is from the OP for this thread. I will endeavor to make plain what parts are fact, as best I can determine them.
I do not hold any grievance towards the "Originals" (the first "Multiverse: You are the Character" members and creators). I did not come up with an original concept for this RP. I saw the old RP on this site a long time ago (before I even registered, and obviously before The Great Guildfall of 1-2014), noticed it again on TVTropes, and thought it would be fun to join. I poked around on the site to see if it was alive. Failing to find it, I asked on the IRC a few times to see if there was anyone around who was involved with the original RP. Having failed to contact any of the Originals in this manner, I took it upon myself to recreate it.
Had I thought to search for the users involved, or perhaps create a thread in Spam, I may have ended up in contact with the Originals and therefore would not have created this RP.
From the Originals' point of view, as best I understand it, here's what happened: They started "Multiverse You are the Character", here on Roleplayer Guild. It failed. Someone re-started it. It went spectacularly. So spectacularly, in fact, and drawing so many members to it, that they felt it merited its own website. After (some number of years, I imagine), they created their own website, and moved the RP there. Then along comes me, recreating
the same roleplay (almost explicitly) with the
same title. That could be an issue; especially considering how it seems like I was stealing potential RP'ers from them.
That seemed silly to me; after all, I just wanted to play as my Siren-based avatar. Now realizing that their RP was still alive, I decided to try and redirect interest toward them.
I do not, personally, believe that anybody has ill-will directed towards anybody else for whatever reason. So let's not make that mistake.Now, seeing the previous arguments here, I can see the potential for a separate, inspired by Multiverse You are the Character. I even laid a few potential roots down for it, with my characters-from-franchises are deities (more or less) angle. I think that's fine, as long as the original RP is noted as an inspiration. However, I'm pretty full-up on RP's at the moment; further, I'd like to distance myself from the drama that (I see) this thread attracting.
On that note, I'd like to recommend two actions:
- Creation of a separate RP (not by me). People seem to be doing this naturally. Good.
- Creation of an Off-Topic Discussion thread so we have a forum to civilly and informedly talk about some of the interesting points this incident raises. Such as: at what point does an RP become no longer associated with the Guild? When it makes a new website?; Is there an unspoken rule of RP "copyright infringement"? These topics seem interesting to me and important to more than just us.