Hahah, I definitely know what you mean! I was debating posting about some ideas in here, but I'd rather not.
And it's not just an irrational "What-if-someone-steals-them"-fear. But after you've spend some time working on an idea, fleshed out scenario, story, characters and gameplay*, it's a) not easy to put in few sentences anymore, necessarily (at least not if you want to talk about it in more detail), and b) it's scary to do.
... Or maybe it's just me. But these things can easily become crazily personal. I'd much rather offer the idea for harsh criticism after I spend some time, well, "preparing" it. I know it may not make sense - you guys aren't exactly the type I'd expect it to flame it to death - but still. I don't know. Maybe I'm just not sure I could NOT take criticism of the pure idea personally. A prototype? No problem. But before that - that's always difficult for me.



That being said, I do agree though that, at least for me, "just" the character concept isn't really a game idea. Don't get me wrong, I think there's value in sharing that - as you've said, it's inspiring in a way, and a good starting point for discussion. But it's not quite there yet to be called a game idea. I don't mind you sharing it, though.


(Btw, Toast, I really enjoyed your long post, and I hope you haven't taken me only replying to one idea in detail personally or as a sign of criticism - it really isn't. I rather just, well, didn't feel like I could add much. I only add this because I only realized now that given the huge amount I've posted, and only a short bit about your ideas, it may have given the impression that I was avoiding some of the ideas - that's not the case. Just wanted to clear that up )


* - Umm... I wonder what the order of those things says about my idea