I sent a ticket to GF to inform them about a problable copyright infringement, but until now, I received no answer :( Today, I also sent a message on the official forum but the message must be validated by a moderator. Will this message be published? I really don’t know ^^”
Nevertheless, I’d like to know the opinion of people who took part in the contest & also the artists’ point of view about this matter. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment & share the post if plagiarism issue means something to you.
Below - for the ones will have the patience to read it - there’s the message I’d like to publish on the official forum:
*****
[Wings Contest] - Asking GF & NC Soft for their stance regarding heavy inspirations / plagiarism
The aim of this message is not to discuss the outcome of the contest but to ask the staff about what is allowed & what is forbidden when we take part in a concept art contest.
Indeed it would be nice that the staff shares their stance with us about the use of original / copyrighted concept arts designed by other artists. It appears important to establish the rules clearly, for the sake of future contests.
These contests are organized to find original concept art made by players, with the aim of eventually implementing them into the game. Is it acceptable in this case that among the entries, some of them are inspired from already existing concepts? That one, in particular, merely copied & pasted the contents with some minor modifications?
Of course, creating from nothing is impossible. All creation is inspired from something that exists in the real world. But in a contest, when an entrant bases their whole concept upon the work of another artist without starting the creative process with their own idea, can we consider the result to be an "original concept?"
Moreover, are these sorts of entries legitimate, regarding the damage done to the original artist and the other participants who worked hard to create their very own concepts?
If it's just regular inspiration, I suppose it's okay. And it's possible that 2 artworks end up being similar by chance without the second one being considered art theft. Within a same theme, similarities can exist.
Another acceptable inspiration is inspiration from elements already existing in the game like for the shugo wings, the drakie wings or the concepts inspired from the 4.9 new outfits' design.
But when a large part of an original concept is used for the new concept & those parts are clearly recognizable, we can talk about a copyright infringement, can’t we?
In the following example, I might be wrong – but right now there are too many similarities in the details for this to be just an impression. The entrant seems to have used 3 concepts from Zinna Du's wings concept series (concepts based on astrological signs for a game).
[image in full resolution]
They seem to blend the 3 concepts by rotating, stretching, enlarging some elements. And a lot of other shapes or details are the same. In order to conceal the copy & paste, they cropped some parts, removed all the recognizable decorations & textures, changed the lion head to a dragon head (but the back of both have the same curved shape), added some feathers & used new colors.
I guess photo manipulation is just a medium like drawing or play dough (remember that an entrant use this medium for another contest) & it's okay to use it.
But in a contest, is it morally acceptable to make a photo manipulation based on the original concept of someone else without crediting them? All photo manipulation artists I know always give their sources. Also, they usually use royalty-free images or buy the copyrights from the owners. Here, I don’t think it was the case.
Here's an extract of the rules:
"The entry must be created by the participant themselves, conform to the applicable rules and to this extent be free of rights by third parties."
So, is copying (without permission) an existing concept & modifying it a bit a valid entry? The photo manipulation here was really nicely done and it was impossible to find out the cheating – except maybe by chance. And it’s by chance that, last week, someone sent me a link to that artist’s page...
The case seems a bit complex because it can be considered like a partial copy or a concept which is just heavily inspired by another one, and that's why I'd like to know GF & NC Soft's point of view about this question. Of course, winners have been selected, they received their prizes, and now the outcome can't be reconsidered. It's alright. It’s not the problem.
But as an artist & a graphic designer, if GF & NC Soft decide to implement this kind of concepts in game, I won't be able to accept it and I'll be deeply disappointed. Every time I'll see them, I'll see a permission to steal the work of others. Aion is a game with its own beautiful & original graphics and it doesn't need to copy other games' items or style!
I really hope that the community - especially the part of the community that took part in the contest (and also the ones who wanted but didn't because they don't live in Europe) - will receive an answer from the staff about the use of copyrighted artworks.
Original artist's concepts: Zinna Du
PS: It's not the first time I see such a problem in a contest. In other famous MMO concept art contest, the second prize winner of the 2H sword category stole the concept from another artist. This case was easier to solve because the thief didn't modify anything and, as the original artist is famous on deviantArt, the cheating was discovered earlier.
kianamaiart
2087
annaxmalina
prguitarman
pixelskylines
turnnoffyourmind