general media What are your thoughts about character theft / usage?

[Pandora 38,004]

Please forgive me as I don’t know where this thread goes. 
 

What are your thoughts about users using oc’s that do not belong to them / character theft (example: using said oc for rp etc when it’s not theirs) using oc’s without the original owners permission?

for me as an artist, I absolutely hate this. I have had multiple of my characters stolen and used this way and even people trying to sell them. Note: one of my oc has 1000€ worth of art and not a single person asked me for permission. I’ve found her back everywhere and one of my oc even had been stolen by EQD sethisto >~<

my characters whom are still partially stolen right now: Sakura, Tulip, Nawa, Pandora

usually I try to approach the user before taking it to staff as I never allow others to use my oc’s (fanarts etc are a different story though)

what are your thoughts about this? How do you handle that situation? What if they use your oc? 

these are my thoughts and I’m curious to hear yours!

[Splashee 28,537]

I don't know specifically about OCs being stolen, but I have had 2 of my own created fonts stolen and stripped off the copyright text completely (which is illegal), uploaded to various free font sites, and I keep seeing those fonts used today on t-shirts and even in real gaming magazines. It's painful, yes, but there is absolutely nothing I can do about it now.

So when I developed a free game to be shared online a few years back, I decided to protect all the resources such as graphics using my own crypto scheme, which thanks to its low rate of success didn't get hacked. Sadly you cannot do something like that for images. And if my game had been popular, it would have been hacked after a while.

The main problem is of course Internet's web browsers allowing all and any data to be downloaded (one way or another). There is no way around this. Not even images off Ebay can be protected from being downloaded, or Youtube videos for being downloaded.

 

I don't have more suggestions than to try to limit the resolution for your art, and use a watermark on it. Then only share the real art with trusted people, if they are interested to see the full art.

[The Kaeya Simp 13,953]

i hate it, 

i may have not spent money on my oc's art, but is mostly either me or my friends who have drew it, which hurts evenmore

[Pandora 38,004]

@Sherbie them drawing your oc is not theft though but admiration for your oc! you should be happy about that.. what i mean is, other people using your OC as if it is their own.
example: Many of my oc's are used by users idk at all on RP sites, facebook, VK, equestriaamino etc.. therefor i had to join several sites to ask them take it down as i paid a good amount for the works of my OC's and I love them to death but the joy of having them just.. vanishes when others use what's not theirs.

[Pentium100 2,053]

16 minutes ago, Super Splashee said:

The main problem is of course Internet's web browsers allowing all and any data to be downloaded (one way or another). There is no way around this. Not even images off Ebay can be protected from being downloaded, or Youtube videos for being downloaded.

DRM does not work, it cannot work, especially for non-interactive stuff. Suppose you manage to create an awesome DRM scheme for music - it is unbreakable, there is no way to decrypt the file without permission etc. Well, I can just connect my tape deck to my PC and record the music that way. Then record it back to digital and upload that to a torrent site. OK, now your DRM file can only be played on a special device that has built-in speakers, no outputs for me to connect my tape deck and the device is potted so that I cannot get to the speaker wires. Well, I can get a couple of microphones...

DRM is like putting something in a safe, but then giving the key for that safe to anybody who asks, while telling them that they can take the item from the safe, they also cannot take the item from the safe.

[The Kaeya Simp 13,953]

10 minutes ago, Cinnamon-Bun said:

@Sherbie them drawing your oc is not theft though but admiration for your oc! you should be happy about that.. what i mean is, other people using your OC as if it is their own.
example: Many of my oc's are used by users idk at all on RP sites, facebook, VK, equestriaamino etc.. therefor i had to join several sites to ask them take it down as i paid a good amount for the works of my OC's and I love them to death but the joy of having them just.. vanishes when others use what's not theirs.

yeah, being sent fan art is amazing, I'll not lie

i meant that it hurts more because its stealing my and my friends  art when usin it in that way for like rps etc

[Splashee 28,537]

38 minutes ago, Pentium100 said:

DRM is like putting something in a safe, but then giving the key for that safe to anybody who asks, while telling them that they can take the item from the safe, they also cannot take the item from the safe.

I'm not as crazy as StarForce's DRM But I did almost get to a point where it was questionable.

I was protecting the data from being modified, which I regard as worse than theft, as it can be viewed as sabotage.

[Pentium100 2,053]

21 minutes ago, Super Splashee said:

I was protecting the data from being modified, which I regard as worse than theft, as it can be viewed as sabotage.

So you dislike game mods then ? DRM for interactive things is a bit more difficult to break, but the best defense against this is to have very few people interested in the application or game, then nobody will bother breaking it.

[Splashee 28,537]

Just now, Pentium100 said:

So you dislike game mods then ? DRM for interactive things is a bit more difficult to break, but the best defense against this is to have very few people interested in the application or game, then nobody will bother breaking it.

It is useful to have mods of games, but not before the final game has been released.

 

Compare it to art that hasn't been finalized yet. Releasing it as a preview, and all of a sudden having 2 or 3 different alternations based on it, and one takes off and becomes the product, and you have nothing. Your work was stolen, and the reward was taken from you.

[Fluttershyfan94 5,737]

To be honest I just feel it is sad really, like creating your own character is what it's all about when you doing so. So to literally pick another ones design and use it as if it were yours I mean doesn't it just sound like they are losing out of the fun of doing it on their own. Yet like I guess anyone would be mad if someone were to pick your design then do some art with it and potentially make some money of it without so much as getting your okay for it. That said though I personally feel like you can only draw so many designs so eventually one would look like yours. Only if it was intentionally done would I be against it that is, I mean a lot of OCs were Rainbow Dash with other colours so I mean I am not for it and like with any theft I am against it as in if it was intentionally done so.

[SharpWit 2,472]

I think it depends on the situation.

If someone is just using your OC, name and appearance, that's not alright.

If someone is using your OC's appearance but not the name, then it's like selecting an actor. I understand that sometimes somebody or something has that perfect look they've been searching for and/or couldn't quite come up with themselves, so in that instance I think it's ok.

If someone is using your OC from a publicly available piece of writing/fanfiction, then that's fine because it's no different than anyone within the fandom writing while using a character from the show itself.

If someone is copying your OC exactly, as in they might as well have traced over it, and are selling it as though it were their own, that's not alright. If it's your OC but drawn in a different pose and they credit you as the creator of the character, then I don't see any problem, but if they're profiting from it then they should stop if you ask them too. This can be difficult however, if the piece was actually a submitted request from another person.

Besides having the oldest post as evidence there's really no way to prove that your OC is yours. I've never ran into this in terms of my OC's appearance being used, but I've found at least one other person in the fandom who had the same name, and on that front it can be very difficult to find something unique sometimes.

[Dreambiscuit 8,003]

As far as I know I’ve never had my OC stolen or used by anyone. But if it happened I wouldn’t like it. I don’t want someone using an image, name or backstory that I created and using it in ways I don’t approve of, especially if they’re doing so for profit. It’s plagiarism and unless I give permission it’s a violation of my rights and personal property.  

[EpicEnergy 22,053]

I think character theft is wrong.

[Splashee 28,537]

22 hours ago, You said:

Am I a sucker for using a random pic I found in google in my sig.

Google is quite lazy with the copyright laws, letting their search engine copy pictures off your webpage without permission, then blaming somone else for using the image. The deed was already done by Google themselves 

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

I think usage is fine as long as it’s fair or permission is granted when it’s requested. Theft, however, is very annoying to me and I think people should be a little more creative than that.

[Yakamaru 3,050]

People reeeeeally hate character/art theft in the Furry fandom, myself included.

As for character usage it's not AS hated, but still very hated.

[CameoShadowness 251]

You can legitamately sue someone for using your inteletucal property.

[Stardust 640]

People can take inspiration but to just take someone elses character without permission is no good. Its stealing particularly if u claim its ur own. Unless it's from a tv show or based on a real life character or something or a meme that is meant to be used and even then u wouldn't say its ur own original. Ofc if it's a very simple character then coincidentally similar designs can happen. If u can't design ur own u can buy if u can afford, there are character making tools and templates and even free adopts sometimes. A little more forgiving though if someone is just using a popular oc as a profile pic cuz they are a fan of the art or the character but it can still come off as stealing.

 

[Venomous 18,813]

Stealing is stealing straight up. It’s wrong.

[DixonTheAdversary 1,631]

I think it's wrong, you put no effort into the character/art/backstory and yet think it's okay to just use without permission...

[Splashee 28,537]

Well, but in the topic about lewed drawings (basically someone stealing your character to make inappropriate or NSFW art), it seems perfectly fine for a lot of members to have their character taken/stolen (which makes me really conflicted about everything previously said):

(Note that the topic linked to is heavily guarded by admins, and I will send @Bakugou is my Man here to guard as well)