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Date Posted: 16:07:26 08/07/02 Wed
Author: Macha
Subject: Well...
In reply to: Badhbh Catha 's message, "Ah.." on 14:04:04 08/07/02 Wed

Y'kno, I just figure those folks have just completely overreacted, and haven't done enough on their end to prevent stolen pics (no-right-click is a javascript function easily found and used, and there are many tricks to use to hide source code). I wouldn't want any of the players on Dreamscape to get hit with lawsuits becaues they used copyrighted pics. I myself, if the players of MW actually used pics (which they don't seem to... go figure, eh?), I wouldn't go up to every last one of them and demand to see if they've got permission. Not only would it be purely a waste of time and fairly non-productive, you wouldn't be sure about whether they had permission or not - some may lie, but I'm sure a lot of the players here are fairly honest. Another thing - many get their pics from Webshots, where they're essentially free. Yes, some do ignore the 'don't use unless the pic was made especially for you or you've asked' ditty for the personalized ones, but generally the pic may be passed on for a loooong time without anyone knowing the origin. So, even if the pic's not copyrighted on the pic, there might be a copyright on it on the page that it was originally from... And if it's gone from player to player for a long time, how can they know?
Also, they'd have a tad bit of trouble with the lawsuit, according to a fellow player on another game. She is a bit familiar with this sort of thing, and brought up that most (if not all of these pics) are being used harmlessly on sim games without bringing profit to the 'stealer'. Plus, most kids that play in sims are younger-ish, and probably are not familiar with the copyright laws.
Anyway, Morgan - outlawing pics just seems... Unfair. Lots of folk tend to use them to spice up their posts, and let others have an idea of what their character looks like. I think you've done right in copyrighting everything but the pics... You *could* write a disclaimer and link it to your copyright things, detailing this further, and discouraging use of copyrighted pics & material without consent... Maybe make a big notice about it, link it under the news section, under Roleplay 101 - basically say that it's not a good idea to steal pics, and hold up that article as proof. It will make a lot of people pause for thought - and probably will naturally cut back on the pics used. I'd think it may be a good idea to write up something on it anyway... It just seems to fit in, with developing a character - the optional choosing of a pic that isn't pilfered. Just to warn the population of Dreamscape about this. It may stop the more honorable folk from knowingly using stolen pics, both here and in other games....
Ya, that's just my $0.02 worth, anyway... I'll think on it some more, but outlawing pics wouldn't be a very great solution. It is one solution, but there are sooo many more... Speaking to those who openly use copyrighted pics (the watermarked, stamped or copyrighted ones...), asking them if they have permission to use them... It's a start, and easy enough to do that. But like Badhbh said, it won't solve the problem.... It will help somewhat, but won't solve it entirely... Maybe, like with the survey, we should bring this to the attention of the players and let them give us some ideas... They seem to handle stuff like this responsibly, as judged by the survey replies, and probably will answer honestly on what they feel might be appropriate... And then maybe we could go over the suggestions and decide what to do, in the best intrest of the games, keeping in mind the opinions of the players...
Anyway, now I'll stop and consider this further... But currently, that's all I can think of...

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