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I think this has been suggested before, but so many story games are abandoned halfway through, I think that if an author hasn't been on in 6 months then someone should be able to finish the story game for them, as an option when you make a game.

Why?

because some ideas are good, but they never get finished

Good idea! Maybe there could be an auction or something. But only if the original author approves of it.

But, usually they just forget about and don't come on to the website ever again.

So just base your personal version of said story on their story. no need to take their version over. 

If they don't come on for six months, THEN there can be an auction (or something like that?). You can just check their profile for the last time they were on or send them an email.

Actually not a bad idea.

I'd be fine with this as long as the original author said yes. Otherwise people who went out on vacation will have their stories ruined and trolled.

Now that I think about why can't a normal author just do this by making people co-authors of the story? If the author doesn't plan to go back to the story s/he can just let the co-author do it all and make a note on the first page or something saying he didn't actually write the story.

Wouldn't you rather get the credit of being the author (unless there was like two pages left.) instead of a "co-author"?

1. You are not the original author. 

2. Depending on how much work was put into the story it's either your own version which means you didn't need to use their version to write your story or your basically stealing their story for your own glory.

That's my personal opinion at least. Also how exactly are you planning to find these abandoned story games? It's not like it's easy to find a dead profile unless they talked a lot in the thread before they disappeared.

Just voicing agreement with Fireplay. I would hate to think that Apprentice or whatever other unfinished storygames I may be working in the future could become the property of another author through the feature being suggested in this thread.

If you're just taking the basic idea/first few pages from another user's abandoned storygame then you can just write yours from scratch and don't need to adopt the storygame. If you're taking part or almost all of a storygame then coauthoring should be fine because you didn't write all of the storygame yourself. Coauthoring also ensures that the original author consents to you completing their storygame.

I agree with October and Fireplay. A lot of the stories I'm writing are ideas that I'd like to be credited with, for the whole thing, the whole story, most of which I have planned out already. If I lose or break my computer, or, (unlikely) get sick and infirm and can't access the computer without having to move my eyes in a certain direction to operate a screen, I sure as hell wouldn't want somebody fucking around with my stories while I was gone, and then see it ruined when I can write again. What should happen is, WITH THE AUTHOR'S APPROVAL, a copy of a story can be sent to another author for them to fotz around with, and attempt at finishing. If the writing turns out to be a troll, a ruination, or something the author just flat out doesn't like, he or she can flag this to be scrapped. But then again, I can see how gigantic flame wars would arise from this...

Your complaints can easily be worked over by the author specifying he will not want anyone to do anything with his story before he leaves.

"If I lose or break my computer, or, (unlikely) get sick and infirm and can't access the computer without having to move my eyes in a certain direction to operate a screen..."

I'm sure that I'll be able to send you all a message or make a thread about how I broke my computer or can't get on due to medical problems.                       (^--sarcasm if you didn't notice.)

Did I say that you had to do it after or right before the unpredictable accident? You could do it from the moment you create your story, just in case.

Seems like it would just be some unnecessary work to keep your stories.

Three seconds of typing which would, in the future, perhaps ensure that your stories finally be completed should you abandon them.

But why make me spend these 3 seconds of typing when we could leave it the way it is and not worry about our stories being stolen if we leave for an extended period of time.

The time and effort it would take you to write "Do not release story for auction" is inconsequential.

The effort it would take to change some thing from "Release story after 6 months" to "Do not release story" is just as inconsequential. Your objections make no sense.

I'm just too fucking lazy, I'd need a drop bar to select an answer, or a place where I could put in a custom amount of time. Then I'd say 90000000000 years after I'm dead.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was saying...

Honestly, this seems like a waste, since most wouldn't want to write someone else's story, and most won't want others to write their stories. I mean, all the good authors will likely already have their own stories being written, so thisll be only useful for mediocre authors, and most writers won't want a mediocre author writing their masterpiece. 

Beside all this, A person does not lose the copywrite to their own material (abandoned or not) until many decades after they're dead - so no one (even the site itself) has a right to the text after someone disappears. All the site can do with it is continue to hold it or remove it (and nothing more)...

If it were a option when making the tittle and description it might work. Think about it: They could opt in or out of the option, if they agree they could set a custom time period, like a week or 5 years.

I'm not really for this, but so long as you have the original author's approval, sure. Whatever.

There should be an agreement that the content anyone writes can be cys property if the author is already idle. . it seems a pain to leave the story unfinished.