How severely will they check copyright?

StoryNexus
1

I have lots of images on my hard drive I’d like to use in my game - whole or cropped. Plenty of them are old, and I don’t remember where I got them or who the author is. Just found them somewhere on the web, pulled them out of an archieve and kept. I don’t mind giving credit where credit is due, but very often that’s just not feasible. I’m perfectly ready to take down anything the author of which shows up and objects, but otherwise will Failbetter be okay with letting me use them? If I put an &quotall copy rights belong to respective authors&quot disclaimer somewhere?

2

I’d only use images that you absolutely have permission to use – don’t use anything else! You can usually find out about an image you’ve got by using Google Image Search though (it lets you upload an image and searches for matches these days).

3

Well, I would use only those too, except that limits me to, like, five. You can really go too far with copyright protection, way beyond common sense. I don’t plan to monetize my game either, ever. But I’d like to hear something definitive from the Failbetters. Their policy is clear enough, only zero-tolerance runs so contrary to sense that I have to believe they’ve made caveats.

4

I’d be absolutely strict about it. There are loads of Creative Commons licensed images on the web you could use though. Try Flickr – they have a Creative Commons search.

5

Unfortunately, that would result in everyone using the same bland set of clip art…

6

There are a lot of Creative Commons licensed photos on Flickr…

7

:D Trust me, the sort of images it will delight my soul to use aren’t there.

8

From this thread about fanfic on StoryNexus:

[quote=Alexis Kennedy]To summarise the FBG point of view:

(i) the risk is yours, if you want to write fanfic. Some rights owners are fine with it, some are not, and it’s up to you to determine which. If in doubt, contact the rights holder.
(ii) Be familiar with our Takedown Policy. Our first response to a lawyer’s letter will likely to be to suspend the offending world.[/quote]
A few other considerations:

  • Failbetter is a relatively small studio, without the resources, time, or willingness to contest legal matters on your behalf.
  • Fanfiction has a generally accepted tacit &quotlive and let live&quot attitude, largely because it is inherently transformative work. No one (seriously) attempts to upload the complete text of the Harry Potter series to FF.net.
  • Commercial artists and graphic designers are usually trying to pay the bills through freelancing, unlike Warner Bros. or Disney.
  • Using unlicensed 2D visual art for interactive fiction is roughly akin to copying an entire novel into a readable book object in a 2D game.
  • This thread is the most recent time flagrant non-approved usage of artists’ work happened around here. Nobody approved.
9

My images aren’t like that. I wouldn’t use digital art as such, portraits, scenes with an author. But I might put up a crazy half-naked bunny from a porn site of anonymous origins. No one’s gonna sue, I just want the Failbetters to be okay on their end. Anyway, question answered.