Forums » Help » Are we allowed to RP Fandom's here?

I know this may seem like a weird question, but I couldn't find anything about it.

Are we allowed to roleplay characters from pre-existing material, like Harry Potter? Or does that fall under 'copyrighted' material that we're not allowed to post?

Fandoms are okay to RP! It's impossible for Kim to track down the copyright statements of every single thing in the world that might be roleplayed. Technically it's your responsibility to check with the content holder (e.g. J.K. Rowling/the publisher) what their copyrights are in terms of fan created content.

The only time this truly becomes an issue is when the copyright holder contacts Kim and specifically requests the removal of the content. If this happens, you may face consequences as described in the rules. This commonly doesn't happen with something like a Harry Potter fandom (or most big fandoms for that matter), but we've had cases where people stole artwork and the artist/copyright holder wrote to Kim about it.

I believe there are authors, like Anne Rice, who forbade that people publish fanfictions of her vampire novels on the internet - this is one of the few exceptions where you are NOT allowed to RP a fandom because the copyright holder explicitly said so (RPs can count as collaborative fanfiction). However, as I recall she started allowing it a few years ago. It truly depends on the creator.

It's a bit of a hefty read, but if you want to get really technical and go deeper, this Wikipedia entry may be interesting.

Ohh okay! I think I understand now ^^ As long as it's public domain and the creator says it's okay, then it's alright! Thank you for clearing it up, I just didn't want to do fandom RP if it was against the rules. Thank you so much!

Public domain are things where the copyright expired and nobody retains copyright over the work - which does not apply to fandoms like Harry Potter. Careful using this term, many people misuse it! (It's kind of a pet peeve of mine to be honest )

I think what you're looking for is things like the Creative Commons license. You just need to check with the copyright holder if they have any similar licenses that allow you to create fan fiction with their content. If they don't, it's best not to RP it!

Ach, you're totally right about the "public domain" thing - I just thought it was the best way to describe a fandom that isn't copyright policed. Thank you for all the useful information though!