Posted by Kim on March 13, 2018, 9:50am
Following a public comment period about the specifics of how moderators would enforce a rule about RL characters and what the community would like to see, we are announcing a new rule for the RP Repository:Quote:
RP with fictional characters only
We are primarily a site for fictional characters. We do not allow the creation of characters based on other real life humans. We believe that human beings should have as much right to say how their identity can be used as players have to ask that other people not copy and use their original characters.
We make exceptions for respectful portrayals of historical characters (typically defined as over 100 years dead) or accurate references to/minor NPCs of real life public figures that provide contextualization of plots that occur in the real world.
We are primarily a site for fictional characters. We do not allow the creation of characters based on other real life humans. We believe that human beings should have as much right to say how their identity can be used as players have to ask that other people not copy and use their original characters.
We make exceptions for respectful portrayals of historical characters (typically defined as over 100 years dead) or accurate references to/minor NPCs of real life public figures that provide contextualization of plots that occur in the real world.
In many ways, we believe this is essentially a clarification on our "Be nice" rule, which asks us all to be considerate of one another. We know that the majority of people who create characters of real life people do so out of great admiration or love for the subject, and don't realize they may be overstepping or doing something that could make the person they are so excited about uncomfortable.
Over the next week, the moderators will reach out to those people we know who are currently utilizing real life people as RP characters and work with them to either retool those characters into originals, or help remove those characters from the site. Since this is a new rule, we're offering a 30 day grace period before any actual mod-deletions occur; hopefully this gives everyone a chance to save their work for private storage or do needed rewrites.
Faceclaims
Rules regarding the practice of "faceclaims" or "muses" (the use of an image of a real person, usually an actor, to give a starting place for imagining what a character looks like) have not changed. As a reminder, these are the guidelines that govern the use of faceclaim images:
- You must ensure that you have permission to use all images that you upload to the RP Repository.
- Keep in mind that 99.9% of images you find online - including those from a general Google Image search, things posted to Facebook and Instagram, etc. - are copyrighted and not technically okay for use here.
- This means that largely only people of whom "open license" images specifically exist of can have face claims made of them.
- Keep in mind the "be nice rule" and consider how many people would be squicked to discover that someone was encouraging people to picture a carbon-copy of them, only with a different personality, doing things they maybe would never do, and try to be sensitive to that concern.
- Remember that if we receive a complaint from the copyright holder or the person the picture is of, the images will be immediately taken down and repeat offenses can impact your account.
Comments
I feel like this update shouldn't have been allowed comments.. It's causing more trouble within the community than needed.
@pockets: My apologies for interjecting here, but... To be fair, there is a major difference between using purchased artwork for RP and pulling photos of real life people and putting them on RPR profiles so they can be portrayed as themselves. One is fine because that is what they paid for with agreed upon terms and conditions, and it's usually of their own characters or ideas. Thus they can do whatever they like with it, disturbing or not. (Unless it's a stolen piece of art or it depicts a real life person, then I feel it should fall into the same sort of violation as the current topic. I for one, would not feel comfortable seeing drawings of my babes placed on different characters in certain RPs, for example. Or someone paying for a drawing of my image just so they can RP with it.) The other is basically taking a real life person's photos and using them and their personality as they please without consent or their knowledge. Which, despite the appeal for some, is not okay to most people. It's mostly just wish fulfillment placed on real life people and their lives, and to me that's degrading.
Yes, there may be some kind people who respectfully play real life celebrities/YouTubers/public figures/etc., and maybe even keep them "in character," but they're not the main ones we're addressing here. From what I've seen so far, it's mostly been real life people shipping and other sexually-based things involving real people. Who are we to play out what we think someone else's real life should be like, no matter how benign it may be? It feels judgemental to me. I perfectly understand that this may affect some nicer souls who are mostly/only comfortable playing real-life people, and for them, they really do have my sincerest apologies; as long as they remain respectful, I will never see them as bad people for what they wish to do with their roleplaying habits.
@Kim and the Current News: I also feel that this is an improvement; in my personal viewpoint, it even incites a challenge to create characters that are even more realistic than real life people I've seen portrayed in RPs. I adore it.
Yes, there may be some kind people who respectfully play real life celebrities/YouTubers/public figures/etc., and maybe even keep them "in character," but they're not the main ones we're addressing here. From what I've seen so far, it's mostly been real life people shipping and other sexually-based things involving real people. Who are we to play out what we think someone else's real life should be like, no matter how benign it may be? It feels judgemental to me. I perfectly understand that this may affect some nicer souls who are mostly/only comfortable playing real-life people, and for them, they really do have my sincerest apologies; as long as they remain respectful, I will never see them as bad people for what they wish to do with their roleplaying habits.
@Kim and the Current News: I also feel that this is an improvement; in my personal viewpoint, it even incites a challenge to create characters that are even more realistic than real life people I've seen portrayed in RPs. I adore it.
@Tate, I understand what you mean but.. I've seen plenty of disturbing things roleplayed by characters who only use purchased art. We run into uncomfortable things a lot. Not everyone using a real-life person is doing so maliciously. But the reason I left the comment I did was because I don't think anyone here is intentionally being malicious either, but I know of at least two people who these comments have upset because of the way they're being presented. Not attacking anyone here, just trying to remind everyone that there are kind people who are going to be effected by this and need some time to adjust without being made to feel awful about the way they've been roleplaying. 
@Sheogorath - Use is use is use. Different creators will have different policies regarding hot linking, but in general, images on the 'net are way less free for use than most people think.
Draken901
March 13, 2018
10:11pm
Here's another site that allows you to use it's icons and pictures for free. Says it right on the main page. Of course, most of them are vectors, but hey, it's something right? This is great for me because I usually want my character's icons in vector style anyways.
https://www.freepik.com/free-icons
https://www.freepik.com/free-icons
I didn't know people actually roleplayed real life people as... them???? Been RPing nearly 20 years and thats a new concept to me LOL [insert i'm old joke here]
Seems like a fair enough rule though!
Seems like a fair enough rule though!
@Pockets It is a victory for me. I've seen some absolutely disturbing things, such as someone yanking pictures of some girl and 'playing' her in non-consent things. Granted that part is more on the reminder / clarification of face-claims, but I highly doubt there's not at least one person on here that's using real life people for sexual RP. I understand your view point, definitely, but for some of us, this is a victory after the disturbing things we've seen. So I'm offering that as a counter-point; I, at the very least, am not malicious in my celebrating, and I doubt anyone else is, either.
Now might be a good time for everyone to remember the "be nice" policy? I get that many people are excited about this but there's also going to be many who are upset about it, as well, so perhaps treating this like a victory instead of a simple rule change/site modification is a little over the top.
It's about time.
Thank god.
Very nice!
"We are primarily a site for fictional characters. We do not allow the creation of characters based on other real life humans. We believe that human beings should have as much right to say how their identity can be used as players have to ask that other people not copy and use their original characters."
This right here. I prevented from commenting in that forum topic, as much as I wanted, because I was trying to get THIS point across - but I felt my words were too forward and really harsh. But, this. Because people seem to think that someone's identity isn't "copyright-able" or something...
While it's not a "copyright", I mean, there ARE laws against identify theft so............may not be the exact same thing, but if you think about it, isn't exactly NOT the same either. Still using someone's identity, whether you change their name or not.
This right here. I prevented from commenting in that forum topic, as much as I wanted, because I was trying to get THIS point across - but I felt my words were too forward and really harsh. But, this. Because people seem to think that someone's identity isn't "copyright-able" or something...
While it's not a "copyright", I mean, there ARE laws against identify theft so............may not be the exact same thing, but if you think about it, isn't exactly NOT the same either. Still using someone's identity, whether you change their name or not.
Hades_
March 13, 2018
11:30am
I am SO happy to see this rule taking place. I am SO. SO. HAPPY. THANK YOU!
I like this rule. However, I didn't think this was a thing. Thanks for the info!
@Kim Alright, thanks. That was what I was thinking, but I thought it better to ask explicitly, to make sure.
@Thylonicus - Fictional characters are not real people, even if an actor portrayed them at some point. The relevant restrictions will have to do with whether the images you have are okay for use or not, or whether you're infringing on some other copyright.
Taciturn
March 13, 2018
11:01am
I'm curious about a clarification - when you say you have to have permission to upload images to RPR, does that also include hotlinks you put into a character's profile, or just from uploading it to the RPR gallery?
I'd like to ask for clarification: What about characters only portrayed by real actors? E.G., characters from Supernatural, which is only a television production as far as I'm aware. Or something like live-action movies with no related animated or drawn companion.
I'm hugely grateful for and supportive of this new policy, this will be a big sigh of relief for a lot of people.
Clove
March 14, 2018
1:39pm
I agree with this statement. I feel like the comment section of the update to the website and forum rules has brought unnecessary hostilities between users and inflammation of an already heavily debated topic (as seen in previous topics and discussions broaching this). And any questions and concerns should be directly messaged to staff members instead of having their potentially inflammatory commentary aired out. Because as good as it is to debate and discuss topics such as these not all participation is considered constructive.