Is an idea shared, an idea lost?

Since starting this blog I've embraced my childhood dream of becoming a game designer; whether that is just as an eternal hobby or eventually as a professional, it doesn't really matter. What matters to me is that I want to put my name on something I've created that I can feel proud of and know that there are some people that enjoy it. To that extent I've often chatted to friends and interested people about game design, my own ideas and their ideas. As time has gone by I've noticed a trend, when I've shared ideas early it doesn't end up moving forward, the idea gets crowded or lost in a sea of speculation and then dies out. However, when I've kept an idea to myself and built it in my head or in a note pad, it's normally developed into something, even if that is just something to take up again in the future I feel like there is more to that idea than if I had shared it and tried to push it forward through discussion.

The prototypes for Wastelands and Ganglands were made very quickly, in both cases I never mentioned anything to anyone until it was done. I even made a prototype of a kids game, based in the Redwall universe, over a weekend after spending time with my Girlfriend's brother and his young son. None of these prototypes were very good and in all cases they had pretty glaring holes and flaws, but having something solid to move on from, I feel, has allowed other people to then get involved in a positive capacity. I think that if I hadn't made the prototype and instead chatted to people about it or wrote concept ideas to share with people, in all cases, the prototypes would have never been made.

Tim Schafer, of Double Fine, in one of his interviews by 2 player productions, during the early stages of the development of their Kickstarter project, Double Fine Adventure (or as it's now known, Broken Age) said that he had to wait before sharing his first game design document with his friend and mentor, Ron Gilbert. He felt he had to form his idea and get enough of it onto paper before he could even mention it to anyone. Because as soon as you share an idea you lose a little bit of it, you start to worry about what that other person thinks or whether it's actually a good idea at all. If you wait until you've given it enough form that it can stand on it's own, even just a little, then exposure to other people's thoughts and opinions will possibly help it to grow.

The short version of this rant is: if you have an idea, do it, then share it; don't share it first, because chances are you'll never do it. At least, that's how I feel like. I'm interested to hear if anyone else has thoughts on this?