Not original art?

Rochelle

This person placed in the art awards but I fail to see how.

http://www.imperian.com/artisanal/the-wild-huntress

As my comment below the picture states:

Here is the bear: http://www.tips-for-backwoods-alaska-vacations.com/images/standing-brown-bear-lg.jpg

Here is the wolf: http://www.massimorighi.com/wp-content/uploads/howling_HI.jpg

Here is how someone else used the same wolf: http://dickland.deviantart.com/art/Wolf-Howling-143267466

Didn't the rules say use your own original works or be shrubbed? How is this considered an original work of art?

This was more than a little disappointing to see, especially during an anniversary event.

Alesud

I haven't specifically looked into any of the images, but if there's a creative commons license, I'm not entirely sure how IRE may take that into account as far as these "collage" works go. As a photographer, I know I would be offended if somebody ripped off my stuff (as it's not under such a license) for a game's art tournament. That said, I've also reported another instance of something akin to plagiarism and didn't hear back about it.

Lionas

Alesud said:

but if there's a creative commons license, I'm not entirely sure how IRE may take that into account as far as these "collage" works go.

All work submitted becomes property of IRE. Since CC is almost always share-alike attribute, even if it is CC odds are IRE owning it is a violation, therefore it cannot be submitted in the arts contest.

Roven

Out of curiousity, where are the rules for bardics and artisanals kept these days?

It's interesting that there is a big copyright notice on http://ertacaltinoz.deviantart.com/art/Laurana-198965621, which would seem problematic unless the artist is the same person who submitted the entry?

Garryn

If you find any cases of plagiarism with the art/bard entries, please file an 'issue me' or leave a message to Jesse, and we'll investigate further. Thanks!

Lionas

Preface: IANAL

Copyright and licensing are two different issues. Solely using the image as part of a collage can be covered under fair use/parody, and is legal if the image is not also licensed under a restrictive license that is stricter than US copyright.

The issue would rise when the item is used for promotional purposes, as IRE now has legal right to do - if they never do, it isn't a violation of copyright.

The specific image @Roven linked is NOT covered by Creative Commons, but copyright is claimed.

Azefel

Where is that lawyer-type person who wanted to sue someone for interrupting their hound sex RP when you need it!

Veratyr

I wanna know where you found the time and motivation to dig through countless web pages to find these pictures. Surely, the judges of this contest checked the submissions for plagirism already. 

Gurn

http://tineye.com/


Pretty easy. Also, the picture was fairly obviously thrown together, so it's pretty obviously it was sewn together. Add that to discontent that you didn't place, a quick reverse image search, and tada!

Delrayne

With the art in question here, if you guys feel slighted enough about it then by all means I invite the admin to strip my points from the arts contest and give them to whoever was #11. Now with that said, I'd still be more concerned with how two or three other people placed ahead of you. I mean at least mine was somewhat aestheticly pleasing to the eye. Again if the consensus is to strip my art points, then feel free. It's a game after all, and if its agreed upon that I "cheated" then I don't deserve it. Trail by a jury of my peers is fine with me. Post your verdict and contact the admin if it calls for it.

Sarrius

I personally don't understand why we do Arts contests still. Literary and design are fine, but we run in to this every year.

Azefel

@Sarrius is the only person who doesn't play Imperian for the graphics.

Roven

Delrayne said:

I mean at least mine was somewhat aestheticly pleasing to the eye. Again if the consensus is to strip my art points, then feel free. It's a game after all, and if its agreed upon that I "cheated" then I don't deserve it.

Actually, I loved the leafy swirls embellishment of the letters that you did - I think it's quite beautifully done and clearly must have taken a lot of painstaking effort to develop. Having absolutely no artistic ability of my own, it's hard not to admire that talent in the works of others, and I'm a sucker for swirls.

If I understood @Lionas correctly, it seems that there may not actually be a problem with the use of other people's works anyway. If the rules and boundaries on incorporating other artworks wasn't clear, enough that even judging it didn't raise any flags, I don't see why any reward needs to be stripped away. Could an attribution to the artist simply be given in the comments, perhaps?

Delrayne

Sure, go ahead. You guys know where the pics came from, so comment away. I honestly couldn't tell you where they came from.

Lalitana

As far as judging goes, straight-up plagiarism runs rampant through IRE games and for every three players who submit their own original work, there's some misguided soul who lifts an image wholesale and thinks they won't be found out, or recolors someone else's art. They're usually found out by the playerbase, not the administration, and after at least a couple of Imperian's ToAs there have been shrubbings when a player submitted an image that wasn't theirs and won.

Whether collages are considered OK or not is a different question; I'd err "yes" if the images were manipulated stock photos/art and "no" if they were someone else's artwork, but I'm not a member of the administration.

Ahkan

Delrayne said:

 I'd still be more concerned with how two or three other people placed ahead of you. I mean at least mine was somewhat aestheticly pleasing to the eye. 

At least places 1-9 made an effort using their own using their own skill (or lack thereof). ZING! Which really, I think is why some people are butt hurt. For example, I have zero artistic talent. Kat watched me make my submission in microsoft paint. The process of developing my meager contribution was an ongoing comedy that amused everyone involved. Personally, I had a great time doodling my submission and had even more fun poking fun at it and laughing with my online crew. I had no idea it was going to place, let alone end up middle of the pack.

Now, I don't care that you ganked a bunch of photos off the net and photo-bombed a collage into the contest. I'm not some e-art purist and it doesn't really bother me. What gets weird is that it kind of violates the spirit of the competition, Player created art.1-9 are at least attempts that have, as you so gently stated, flaws and may or may not be aesthetically pleasing. That's probably because 90% of it wasn't made by a professional or lifetime artist. So, I can really understand that part of the argument, especially if it's coming from ranks 11-infinity. The only reason your submission was aesthetically pleasing was because someone else did the lion's share of the work. 

P.S. @Hastati, I'm sorry you look like some sort of Roman, avenging angel, licorice jelly bean. At least your sword is on fire?

Kanthari

Ahkan said:

P.S. @Hastati, I'm sorry you look like some sort of Roman, avenging angel, licorice jelly bean. At least your sword is on fire?

Look out for @Olanre, Jelly Bean

Jesse

Thank you very much for bringing this to our attention and for providing your input. I've taken the image in question down.

We only had 9 entries to the artistic contest, and this image came in last place. In the rankings of the tournament, it was 9th, but it did not place higher than any other submissions. Nobody was denied anything because this image came in 9th place.

Again, thank you all for helping us resolve this.

Mathiaus

Slightly on and off topic, after seeing the submissions and knowing what I can do, I regret not having attempted to put at least some form of my work into the competition.

Olanre

The Olanre picture is beautiful. Love it!