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In my class, we have project groups of 4 or 5 students. This period has everything to do with game development. The project is to build a XNA game for children at primary school.

Now, there is one group of students in my class, who snitched a game from the internet and are going to hand that in. I saw a Facebook post from one of the students about "their" game, and a fellow student found almost the exact same game on a Dutch game site.

What is according to you the right way of handling this -in my eyes, plagiarism? Should I inform the project teacher, to have them exposed to the exam committee?

Buffy
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user3710669
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    Related question on "informing" on classmates: How to handle someone propositioning me to collude/cheat with them on an assignment? – ff524 Jun 10 '14 at 20:14
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    I removed the links, because we should not judge if there is plagiarism or not, that's the role of your teacher and/or of the committee. –  Jun 10 '14 at 20:14
  • @ff524: I am not sure how I would use that question in my situation, could you please make it more obvious for me, please? – user3710669 Jun 10 '14 at 20:18
  • @CharlesMorisset Thank you for straightening me up on that! – user3710669 Jun 10 '14 at 20:18
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    Yes, you should report it to the lecturer or TA. If you feel uneasy "snitching", you could even create an anonymous email address to send the report from. But it's the right thing to do. – Moriarty Jun 10 '14 at 20:19
  • Many of the answers to that question also discuss when one should/shouldn't "tell" on a cheating classmate. So, that question and its answers are related to yours. – ff524 Jun 10 '14 at 20:21
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    @Moriarty: I haven't got a problem with "snitching", I actually felt I have the kind of duty to report this being class representative.

    They have also "cheated" before (2 times), so I guess it's time to finally let them face the music.

     – user3710669 Jun 10 '14 at 20:22
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    I agree you should tell the TA/Instructor, but you have to confront your classmates first. This happened to me in grad school and I called my classmates on it and said, "I'm not putting my name on this assignment if you hand it in like this and if you do I'm going to tell the teacher what you did." They reworked the assignment. – Raydot Jun 10 '14 at 20:34
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    Stop being subtle. – JeffE Jun 10 '14 at 22:20
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    @DaveKaye I believe in this case is a different group, so he is not involved. – Davidmh Jun 10 '14 at 22:29
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    @Davidmh is right, it involves classmates from a different group. – user3710669 Jun 10 '14 at 22:31
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    Was being terse for purposes of getting my point across. That they're members of another group maybe changes my opinion a little bit but looking at it from the teacher's point of view if it were my classroom I wouldn't foment the culture of students ratting each other out. In every other profession colleagues have to learn to work out their differences. I know academics is quite a bit more prone to indirect confrontation, but I've never been a fan. Subtle enough for ya? :) – Raydot Jun 11 '14 at 17:01
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    surprised no one has suggested "tell them to quit cheating, privately, or you're going to turn them in" – rogerdpack Jun 11 '14 at 20:20
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    @user3710669 unless that game you linked is open-source (and it doesn't seem to be), it looks like your classmates must have written all the code themselves. I don't see anything wrong in modeling your game mechanics off of someone else's work, unless that's something your class explicitly forbids. Especially given that the game is intended for children, I can't imagine that "novelty" is more important that "good execution." – Patrick Collins Jun 11 '14 at 20:55

5 Answers5

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Should I inform the project teacher, to have them exposed to the exam committee?

Yes. Tell the teacher exactly what you know: that there is a game that seems very similar to your classmates' project.

As a student, it's not your responsibility to decide what is and isn't plagiarism, or to decide who should be punished for dishonesty and who shouldn't, or to start a "movement" to let the cheaters know you're onto them. If you believe you have evidence of misconduct, report it and let the administration handle it from there.

ff524
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    Recognize also that, depending on what the assignment was, creating a game that "looks like another game" may or may not be plagiarism. If implementation of the idea (writing code) is what counts, starting with something you found on the internet is not too bad - although you might want to attribute the source, if you know if. But if you were writing a chess game, would it be considered plagiarism? There are chess games on the internet… you may even have seen them. But you wouldn't quote all the chess playing sites you may have visited. So this advice is sound. Inform, but don't judge. – Floris Jun 10 '14 at 23:53
  • even if they copied ideas or code, that might not be a problem -- provided that they cite where the idea or code came from. It might be another kind of problem to copy/paste code, but, depending on what it is and how it is cited, it might not be plagarism. IMHO. – Thufir Jun 11 '14 at 04:26
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    If you wish to refrain from looking like a snitch, you can just tell the teacher about that cool game on that Dutch game site a few days before the deadline. This way you haven't really said anything compromising, but you've still done what has to be done. – zovits Jun 11 '14 at 08:35
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    @zovits I'm inclined to agree with JeffE's comment to "stop being subtle." There is no guarantee the teacher will make the connection or even remember the Dutch game when he gets around to grading the project – ff524 Jun 11 '14 at 08:38
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    "Stop being subtle" - the OP may come from Europe and subtleness is understood in Europe, even if it may not be in the US. – Captain Emacs Nov 15 '16 at 13:15
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Teachers have the resources to check for plagiarism and would be able to check for such things. I would recommend checking the project through one of these resources and let them know if you could spot it, so can your teacher. Then, you protect your reputation and put the responsibility back on them. So that once your teacher spots it, you will have proof you let them know in advance how you felt about the submission.

aeismail
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Pixiestik1
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    This isn't his group's project, all he has seen of it is a photo on Facebook - not something you can run through a plagiarism detector. – ff524 Jun 11 '14 at 05:14
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    I know that there is software that claims to find plagiarism in natural language texts, but compiled software? Even if they have to hand in the sources, I'd guess that many such software would go so crazy on all these getters and setters as to render the result virtually useless. – Raphael Jun 11 '14 at 06:33
  • @Raphael if the source code is posted online, I generally find that googling a snippet is enough to find matches. Additionally, code style is very personal. Mixed code styles are very easily detected. The best anti-plagiarism measure for projects is small, incremental submissions, or better even, mandatory version control. – tucuxi Jun 11 '14 at 10:26
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College is competitive enough without having to compete against cheaters lazy enough to represent an entire work that is freely available online as their own. Grading is often quite subjective, and your work should not be compared to work of those working outside your class's structure.

You don't need to give the information to the instructor with your name on it. You can leave an anonymous note to the professor (and give a copy to the department chair if you want to ensure they will at least investigate, because the temptation is to sweep it under the rug).

You need to be careful not to overstate your case. Just state that you believe they may be passing off that particular work as their own, point to the evidence, and let that stand and do not pursue the matter (unless you have hard evidence, the instructor and the department sweep it under the rug, and you feel the need to act further, but be careful because you may quickly become a target for political retribution yourself.)

Aaron Hall
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Mind your own business - it's not your problem.

If someone working in your group suggests or does plagiarism, or someone tries to plagiarize your work, or does something which could affect your mark or your academic record, go ahead and report them.

But you shouldn't get involved with this. It's not your job to police other students behaviour. It doesn't prevent you from learning, nor does it prevent you from getting the grade you deserve.

You are laying yourself open to unpleasantness and ill-feeling between you and your classmates. Other students who are honest, might resent you or feel that you will be surveilling them in future. You might end up with your own behavior being closely watched by classmates who are trying to get you in trouble. It is also possible that the information you have is wrong or that you have misinterpreted it. For someone who is innocent of cheating or who has been co-erced to be disciplined for plagiarism is a serious thing to have on your conscience. In some (rare) situations various forms of cheating are tacitly being tolerated by the teacher, and you will be seen by them as 'rocking the boat'.

In short, you have a lot to lose and very little to gain by reporting them.

jwg
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  • It's not clear to me how anyone but the teacher would know who the "snitch" is (unless he tells people, of course)? – ff524 Jun 11 '14 at 12:53
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    @jwg I disagree. We have moral obligation to report wrong doings and discourage unfairness. If you see someone shoplifting would you not report it to police because it doesn't concern you?

    About possibility of misinterpretation, it is up to the authority, teachers in this case, to conduct fair and thorough investigation, it's not the student's fault if he is simply reporting suspicious behavior, doing of which should be encouraged. If the offending party was innocent, that's fine, no harm done, but if they are not, it would have been unfair to other hardworking students on other projects.

     – Mobius Pizza Jun 11 '14 at 13:12
  • @MobiusPizza reporting wrongdoings and discouraging unfairness are two different things. The claim I would not report shoplifting in all circumstances, although I might in some, depending for instance on whether the shoplifter was in dire need, and whether the shop owner would suffer from the loss. Note that is already a different situation as the act is illegal (a rule accepted by society) whereas cheating on a piece of coursework is not. – jwg Jun 11 '14 at 13:39
  • @ff524 So you are saying whether or not something is right to do depends on the possibility of getting caught? – jwg Jun 11 '14 at 13:40
  • @jwg no, just disagreeing with your argument that "You are laying yourself open to unpleasantness and ill-feeling between you and your classmates" - I don't really see how the classmates would know – ff524 Jun 11 '14 at 13:57
  • @ff524 By reading about the case on a public forum for example? – jwg Jun 11 '14 at 14:16
  • @jwg I don't know how they would identify who "user3710669" is in real life – ff524 Jun 11 '14 at 14:29
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    Mind your own business - it's not your problem. Oh but it is. What if a scholarship is involved and the plagiarizing group got better overall mark? They're studying game development. What if after graduation they get better job opportunities? – profitehlolz Jun 11 '14 at 14:39
  • @profitehlolz People often make these type of arguments but they are basically bogus. Life is not graded on a curve. – jwg Jun 11 '14 at 15:32
  • But the class certainly could be – Brian S Jun 11 '14 at 19:08
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    @ff524: I would not rely too much on the anonymity/pseudonymity of the user profile (http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/07/got-an-account-on-a-site-like-github-hackers-may-know-your-e-mail-address/) nor on the staff not (inadvertedly) exposing me (http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21401/should-i-chase-up-confidential-feedback-not-being-sanitised). – cbeleites unhappy with SX Jun 11 '14 at 21:35
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    I disagree with tying whether to take action or not to whether their grade affects yours (or other ways how it could possibly affect you directly). But I think the part " It doesn't prevent you from learning, nor does it prevent you from getting the grade you deserve." is most important. Likewise, I would not tie the action to whethe or how much you risk to have the classmates react unpleasantly - but all the more to the risk of false positives: harming someone who did not plagiarize. And yes, false accusations (also when given in best intentions) do cause harm. all in all +-0 – cbeleites unhappy with SX Jun 11 '14 at 22:33
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I agree with jwg. I don't intend to be rude, but I would call this squealing. It shouldn't be your stuff as it doesn't hold you from achieving what you want to achieve. Actually after the grading took place, if you detect that your grade has been dimished because of the 'exceptional' work of the other group, well then it is another situation. In this case you could still think about reporting the issue.

Jakob
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    What's so wrong about "squealing"? – ff524 Jun 11 '14 at 16:33
  • It's the ghetto "don't be a snitch" ethic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Snitchin%27 – Aaron Hall Jun 12 '14 at 03:56
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    In response to the use of the word "squealing" in a pejorative sense, I would draw your attention to the old phrase: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." – Desty Jun 12 '14 at 09:29