I like the idea, but I think that most people are willing to share their findings, and tell everyone what they've done. Most of the time, people that find innovative features and don't share them just encourage others to do the same thing, and share it, to avoid the flames directed at the original creator. If you want to have something super uber secret, keep it that way, don't hint that you can do something no one else can, and annoy and tease them with it. I personally will share just about anything I learn about the game, and about using it, and just ask for a credit in the mod. If I don't get it, I don't mind, I prefer to share my knowledge, and let others expand and improve on it. The credits are nice, but I don't have the time to spend checking every mod for my work, and quite frankly, I don't feel a need to waste my time doing that. I trust people to be honest, and tell me when they use my work. If they don't, I don't much mind, since I made it public in the first place. If everyone was just open, and didn't mind sharing, it'd work much better. I don't see a need for a patent database or any of that, people just need to be willing to accept the fact that there will always be people that abuse the system, and get on with it. I'd much rather spend my time thinking of ideas, than searching the internet to find people using my work without credit. If you made it public, people will use it, that's why you made it public in the first place.
