|
Copyright and Gaia
Last week there were a lot of comments and opinions about copyright and how it is perceived and handled. I thought that it would be interesting to mention how Gaia stand within all of this aspect of copyright and what can individual artists do regarding Gaia's copyright materials.
In general, copyright is a huge grey line that everyone has their own opinion on what's right and what's wrong. North America does a great job in protecting creators with very broad rules to help foster creativity. At Gaia the virtual goods we create are always based on these basic premises:
Gaia original - Items that artists thought up, mostly fantasy items that belong to the Gaia universe.
Referenced items - Things like uniforms, skateboards, blue jeans, many items are simply based off of things around us. They're not creative, but fits the need from ourselves and our users for expressing ourselves in ways that most of us can relate to
Outside world inspired - From famous people, memes, anime, or games, we are just as much of fans and geeks ourselves, and we would like to celebrate our fandom, so either we seek the rights to create the actual items from series we like, or we make inspired items
From the past 7 years, we've released so many Gaia original items that Gaia users wouldn't have a doubt towards the level of talent and creativity of our artists. As I'm writing to Gaia audiences, I doubt that anyone here really question our artists's creativity or moral standards.
On the other hand, inspired items that aren't original are usually slipped into daily chance or rare boxes just for the joy of spreading the fandom and let everyone geek out. Technically we step on the grey line where some of those items have their own copyright, and if the copyright owner wants them gone we'll have to take them away. If we can gain the rights to release the items, we would. (the weird part is that usually we get paid to do that, because it'll act as us advertising their brand)
So turning the table around, I often get PM asking "what can or can't I do as an artist?", "can I draw and sell stuff based on Gaia designs?".
The short answer is that we welcome individuals to use Gaia materials for inspiration. Avatar art, NPC art, item designs, they're all in the same bucket.
The inspiration of how we act and think is mostly from seeing how things work in Japan. Taking Japan's Comic Market for example, twice a year, more than half a million people celebrate more than 50 thousand artists who create merchandise based off of other people's properties. Within that scene, there is no right or wrong in originality, it's all about artists being fans and creating merchandise as they hone their crafts and hoping that one day, they'll work on their own creations with their own fan following.
The unspoken rule is that the biggest stars (as in publishers and companies) allow the rising stars (individuals) to copy, while the higher and bigger the stars are, they face less flexiblility on what they can do, as the rising stars get inspiration from the bigger stars, but not off each other. There are no rules saying how original you must be, because the audience by nature will end up supporting those who end up evolving from today's standard into tomorrow's inspiring style. Tens of thousands try, hundreds successfully evolve and become recognized. The big picture is that at the end of the day, Japan have an eco system that drives fandom to its fullest and they have a nation with armies of creative talents.
Naturally, Gaia is a high and bright star being a company and all, and so our flexibility is little, and it'll be natural when we face more scrutiny. Meanwhile, we don't place judgement on the rising stars out there. We just like to see more artist drawing more stuff.
Lastly, there's the aspect of the individual artists themselves seeking copyright protection. This usually ends in paragraphs of debate than a resolution. To sum it up, the act of claiming ownership often doesn't attribute to success of the individual. Most artist become great because they find their strengths and keep building upon them. The secret is that "strength" are often skills outside of art. Whether it is the ability to manage time, communication, or the ability to make friends who can cover each other's weaknesses. My second company faced a situation where the idea was taken by a team member and was made into a different company under different owners. I moved on and started other companies then eventually Gaia. Looking back, every day I spent being upset over how the idea was stolen was a day that delayed me from reaching the final goal. Hope this little analogy is remotely relevant. smile
That's how I see our little eco system work. Anyone else is welcome to think or act in their own ways of course. smile
|
