Bloody Rainbow Comic Con Fire Farm Update

[brigg]

Greetings Everyone!

 

Due to complaints of Content Violation, the Bloody Rainbow Comic Con Fire Farm was banned on September 28th. I was able to republish it with some basic AE critters I had available. However, no GM had actually taken action against it, but instead, discovered an auto-ban within the AE system when complaints would reach a certain number. With this brought to light, it enabled the GM Team to make adjustments to this Auto-ban. But after a discussion, it was decided to err on the side of caution and discontinue the Cosplayers to prevent any legal actions. This allowed me to get creative and come up with a solution.

 

What made the Comic Con Farms so popular, other than the great rewards and alternative gameplay, was recognizable costumes. So to keep that theme and make it more personal to the community, I’ve decided to open it up for everyone's characters and names. The missions will be made up of all of us - our community. I am accepting multiple submissions at the moment, but realize I may have to cut it down at some point. So send me your main character, or your most beloved character, or just the character your friends know you by, and I'll add it to the AE Mission.

 

If you want to be added, send me:

Character.Costume File*

The name you want – Character or Global

Body Type

 

How to contact me:

• Discord - @Brigg#4571 - This is the easiest for me to manage.
• Facebook - Robert Jasso - Messenger can be weird, but still doable. You can search for Brigg as well, and I should still pop up.
• Homecomingservers.com - You can Private Message me your Character.costume file and info here as well

 

*To get your costume file, it's very simple.

• You'll first need a saved version of it. If you've never saved it, go to a Trainer, Icon Employee, Surgeon, or Trina the Body Sculptress in Pocket D, select the costume you want to save, and in the Tailor Tab (the main costume edit tab), click the save button under the color palette. Your player name is usually the most ideal choice.

• Next you'll need to go to your Costume folder inside of your Tequila folder. This may be different for some of you, but there's a super simple way to find out exactly where this location is. Simply open the Tequila Launcher and click on the Options button in the bottom right. A popup window will show "Install Path" just above center left. This is where you'll find your Costume Folder and your file. If you saved it as SuperJoe, the file will be SuperJoe.costume.

• Locate me via Discord, Facebook, or PM me here, drag & drop the file or use the browse option to locate the file to upload it to the message window. Be sure to add the Character Name and Body Type. Body Type just makes my life a tad bit simpler, but not crucial. Remember: I'm asking for the Body Type, not gender. Having the correct Body Type enables I don't have to go back and fix it - which resets the costume to random risking I upload it with your Character name and some hideous random costume with puke-green skin tone, ruffles, monster legs, and a hot pink scaly tale. Apologies if that's your costume. But let's be honest. You chose that outfit for that reason. 😛

 

This is something I wanted to extend to the whole community. Not just people who use AE. This is for everyone who wants to participate. 

Here's all the Players I've added!

13th Stranger	Doom	Lalani	Red Radiance
Abraxus	Dynomight	Lambda Lad	Redlynne
Aceaer	Electra Outlaw	Laure	Reverse Cowgirl
Aerial Assault	Elemental Charge	Learath	Riot Siren
Agent Kiski	Elsbeth	Liberty Star	Rocket-Cat
Agent R22	Eme	Lifeshadow	Rook Knight
Amber Gypsy	Emodied Phoenix	LightningSmurf	Rufus
American Eagle	Ephyria	Little Claw	Ruiner
Ametrine	Erick	Luminus	Sabre Tooth
Anarchtica	Ese	Luna Cee	Sammy
Angelic Fire	EverStryke (2)	Lycon	Schnauzer
Apocalypso Dancing	Evisceratude	Maelstrom Finale'	Scothail
AR1-GAT0	Extremity	Magento	Scry Me a River
Artphobia	Eye P Freelea	Magic Librarian	Sealdy
ATAK	Fairy Kisses Pink	Magus Rauch	SeerPhoenix
Ath	Ferret	MAH	ShadowPhoenix
Athanatos	Fever Blaze	MakaniNE	Shipwreck
Atom's Champion	Fire OG	Malfeasance	Shot Into the Sun
Atomic Sausage	Florence Fightingale	Mama on a Mission	SinnerSaint
Auren	Force*	Medieval Warrior	Skunk Man
Autumnal	Fox	Meta Clone	Small Business Man
Avonai Creed	Freezietude	Mightion	Snot-Shot
Azazela	FrierFly	Mikha	Soul of Saturn
Bending Waves	Fuji Yama	Miko	Sovera
Big Booty Judy	Fuzzy Yum Yum	MindPsy	Spanky the Loveclown
Big Money Hustla	Gahd	Miss Backdraft	Sparks McGee
Bionic Flea	Gamma Ray Girl	Miss Mistakke	Spiderbite
Black Eclipse	Ghetto-Blaster	Mister Ice Guy	Spinestorm
Blood Stark	Glamoure	Mitternacht	Star Fyer
BobbyQ	Glyphica	Molecule Man	Stonewall
Boiler	Gravitating Girl	Mr Bear	Sunder Arcana
Boom Shocka Bee	Gravitude	Mr. D. Bringer	Sunfist
Bovine American	Green Dwarf	Mr. Meanor	Tankerbell
Brash Blade	Gunfighter	Ms. Hotflash	TankYou
Bren	H2rO	MyJustise	Technicolor
Brutal	Halo Jones	Neon Flux	Teddie Bear
Brutucs	Hand of Gaea	NeonKnight	Tess LaCoell
Burning Luv	Harlequin Frost	NeonN	The Best
Burnt Reynolds	Hartanna	Night Prowler	The Brown Blur
Cacophany	Hazey	Nightmare Star	The Immortal Light
Canan	Healing Star	Ninja Cow	The Polaris Patriot
Candelstick	Heep 3.0	NiteLash	Together Forever
Candy Crush King	Hellion Angel	Nuclear Ned	Tootboy
CandyCorn	Hitman	Nuklon	Total Annihilation
Captain Catbirb	HoneyGold2.0	Odious	Tsunamitude
Captain Citadel	Hook and Shot	Orgo	USAngel
Captain Dung Beetle	Huler Doomgul	Orion Star	Valkyrie HellFighter
Charmer	Impericus	Pax Americana	Veracor
Chronometer	Impitude	Perla	Victim
Cinderwalker	Ironblade	Phichaya	Vis Viva
Cobalt-512	Jacques Frost	Pinky Prickles	Vixen
Combat Girl	Joyitude	Plague Tale	Void Stalker
Corax	Jungle Janet	Plasmic Fire	Voltage Valkyrie
Crimson Gypsy	Jurlique	Plowshares	VuDu Dawl
Crispy Bacon	Ka	Poison Frost	Warbinder
Cyber Girl	Kalikamata	Polarion	Warstrider
Dakota Sunrise	Kallisti Gold	Prickly Pyre	Wavequake
Daksinakali	Katara Catjitsu	Prism Pandora	White Dwarf
Dark Canuck	Khazza Doom	Proc Lobster	Who Wants Waffles?
Dark Diamonds	Kid Viva	Psyclown	Whomper
Darkir	Killer Wail	Pyrrhic	Wit Spark
Dazz Marvelous	King Pumpkin Spice	Quantum Forge	Zachariah Pod
Der Stadtschutz	Kira Kat	Rad Platinum Prime	ZeroTude
Desdinova	Knob Goblin	Radiation Onslaught	Zombie Fryer
Discotech	Krios	Ragganor

 

Thank you everyone for all your support!

Brigg

Edited October 15, 2019 by brigg
Updated Intro Paragraph

[SmalltalkJava]

sorry it got hit!  That is too bad.  I'll send Skunk Man's Costume your way.l

[Cherry]

brigg! xoxo 

[0th Power]

I loved the comiccon costumes. Sad to see it go. 

I’ll send 0th Power to you.  It will be cool to fight against me. 

[Snakebit]

What an amazing person you are.

[Andrewvm]

I'll send you Glamoure's costume too

 

Thanks for the hard work you put into this! 

[Jimmy]

Hey all, I just wanted to provide some clarification on what happened with the Comic Con arc.

 

We didn't actually ban or disable the arc ourselves; it was automatically banned by the server as it received a number of "Content Violation" reports that surpassed the threshold for a self-review ban (which allows the arc's publisher to review the ban, make adjustments, then re-post it).

 

That said, the arc does violate the updated Code of Conduct, specifically the use of other copyrighted works. The arc contains (or at least did contain) a large number of enemies wearing costumes which were recreations of costumes of popular figures and heroes from various comics, movies, and games, in addition to a few NPCs which used the names and likenesses of real-world individuals (such as Stan Lee).

Quote

 

Content Guidelines

 

Use of copyrighted characters and content without permission is not permitted when creating characters or Architect content. This includes characters and stories from intellectual property belonging to any IP that is not City of Heroes.

 

Additionally, creating copies of signature characters from the City of Heroes lore is not permitted. As with the retail version of the game, these are only to be used by staff. Use of these characters in Architect Entertainment and character backstories is permitted.

 

Although we understand and appreciate that the characters in the arc were intended to be normal people cosplaying these characters, the distinction is not one that would likely hold up if we were to be investigated for copyright infringement based on the work. In addition, due to the popular nature of these missions it served as a bad example for how the Code of Conduct should be interpreted.

 

We've spoken with @brigg and are happy he's chosen to update the arc in a community-focused way! I'm looking forward to the result 🙂

[brigg]

Thanks @Jimmyfor the clarification! I appreciate you and the GM team working with me to clear this up. 

 

Keep those Character.costume files coming. I should have it up as early as tomorrow some time!

[Yoru-hime]

This is a brilliant and ever so appropriate solution.

 

Who would people in Paragon City cosplay as? US, of course!

[AboveTheChemist]

This is exactly how I hoped the Comic Con Farm would be updated if it were found in violation of the new code. I think it's a wonderful solution and now I just need to figure out which of my characters/costumes I want to submit as my representative in the farm!

[Redlynne]

12 hours ago, brigg said:

You can message me your info on Discord @Brigg#4571

 

*To get your costume file, it's very simple.

• Find me on Discord and drag and drop or use the browse option in the message window. Be sure to add the Character Name and Body Type. Body Type just makes my life a tad bit simpler, but not crucial.

For those of us who don't discord ... can we just send you a PM via the forums here?

[ShardWarrior]

Thanks for the update!  I believe everyone figured this would happen.  Question about this though...

3 hours ago, Jimmy said:

We didn't actually ban or disable the arc ourselves; it was automatically banned by the server as it received a number of "Content Violation" reports that surpassed the threshold for a self-review ban (which allows the arc's publisher to review the ban, make adjustments, then re-post it).

I had thought it was said in the official CoC update thread that bans were not automatic as in a human had to review and make the final determination before any action was taken?   I'm assuming this is only for AE content and not individual players?

 

Not at all trying to be a pest, just asking for clarification on that.  Thanks! 😀

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by ShardWarrior

[Jimmy]

Just now, ShardWarrior said:

I'm assuming this is only for AE content and not individual players?

 

Correct. We actually didn't even know this was possible until yesterday!

[Prototech]

This is glorious 'feel good' at its best. Respect and appreciation to you @brigg

[Sanguinesun]

5 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Correct. We actually didn't even know this was possible until yesterday!

I highly suggest disabling that as now this whole thread pretty much has advertised this as a way to abuse the report system to enact an autoban simply out of disliking an arc vs there actually being something against the rules with it.

[Abraxus]

I submitted a few of my characters via Discord.  Feel free to use any/all of them.  If ya had to choose only 1, please use the first on the list.

[ShardWarrior]

2 minutes ago, Sanguinesun said:

I highly suggest disabling that as now this whole thread pretty much has advertised this as a way to abuse the report system to enact an autoban simply out of disliking an arc vs there actually being something against the rules with it.

I'm going to guess that a single account reporting an arc repeatedly isn't going to issue an auto-ban.  I would imagine it requires quite a lot of different reports from a lot of different accounts to fire it off. 

[ZacKing]

Ha!  I got jumped all over and attacked for saying there was code to automatically ban in the game and got yelled at for it by other players on here.  looks like those players didn't know how the game code worked after all. 

 

anyway, sad to see this get changed because the costumes were fun but its understandable.  great idea to use player costumes!

[Sanguinesun]

7 minutes ago, ShardWarrior said:

I'm going to guess that a single account reporting an arc repeatedly isn't going to issue an auto-ban.  I would imagine it requires quite a lot of different reports from a lot of different accounts to fire it off. 

 

Of course I wasn't implying by one account.  However we do not know the specific number of accounts required to trigger the autoban either so better to not assume on that front.  Folks stirring up a band wagon'ing against someone else's arc isn't that unlikely.  There, as we know, people who dislike AE and what it allows folks to partake in after all.

[Jeneki]

This mission could spoof itself for a few hours, and gave every baddie a blank white outfit named GENERIC126484.  At least I'd laugh if I walked in and saw that.

Edited October 1, 2019 by Jeneki
i can spel gud

[Blackbird71]

I would really challenge the idea that costumes alone are a copyright violation and should be considered a CoC violation.  There is definitely some debate about this in legal arenas, but I think the most prominent piece of evidence is the existence of an entire industry that creates and openly markets and sells unlicensed Halloween costumes that bear incredible similarities to copyrighted characters (given the limitations of the in-game character creator, I would state that in the vast majority of cases these unlicensed costumes are much closer in detail to the copyrighted characters than anything that can be done in game).  This industry is one in which money is made, and if Disney, Marvel, DC, Nintendo, or any other of these companies thought for a moment that they had any sort of legal chance to shut this down and control the market on these costumes, they would have done so years ago.

 

As noted, there are several opinions on this issue; here is one such explanation found through a simple search:  https://www.knowmad.law/single-post/2017/10/30/The-Costume-Copyright-Conundrum

 

The author delves into the differences between character copyrights and characters as trademarks, as well as the differences between fan cosplay and the manufacture and sale of costumes.  He doesn't quite make clear the position on unlicensed commercial costume sales, only discussing the possibility for claims without giving solid examples (I disagree that the "Batmobile Case," involving a custom automobile, would apply in the same way to costuming).  However, I would recommend going to the end of the article, to the images posted below of several unlicensed costumes.  Or, as this is October, go and browse any Spirit or other costume specialty store.  Are these costumes any less imitative of character copyrights than what existed in Bloody Rainbow, or anywhere else in CoH for that matter?  And note how it is that the costume makers get away with it:  they change the name to something completely different from the original work, which is how Bloody Rainbow treated it with the "con-goer in cosplay" approach. 

 

With HC operating as a non-profit, these costume makers and sellers are certainly making more money off of it than HC is.  Really, if the copyright holders had a legal leg to stand on, why haven't these profitable businesses been shut down?

[Rodumas]

2 minutes ago, Blackbird71 said:

I would really challenge the idea that costumes alone are a copyright violation and should be considered a CoC violation.  There is definitely some debate about this in legal arenas, but I think the most prominent piece of evidence is the existence of an entire industry that creates and openly markets and sells unlicensed Halloween costumes that bear incredible similarities to copyrighted characters (given the limitations of the in-game character creator, I would state that in the vast majority of cases these unlicensed costumes are much closer in detail to the copyrighted characters than anything that can be done in game).  This industry is one in which money is made, and if Disney, Marvel, DC, Nintendo, or any other of these companies thought for a moment that they had any sort of legal chance to shut this down and control the market on these costumes, they would have done so years ago.

 

As noted, there are several opinions on this issue; here is one such explanation found through a simple search:  https://www.knowmad.law/single-post/2017/10/30/The-Costume-Copyright-Conundrum

 

The author delves into the differences between character copyrights and characters as trademarks, as well as the differences between fan cosplay and the manufacture and sale of costumes.  He doesn't quite make clear the position on unlicensed commercial costume sales, only discussing the possibility for claims without giving solid examples (I disagree that the "Batmobile Case," involving a custom automobile, would apply in the same way to costuming).  However, I would recommend going to the end of the article, to the images posted below of several unlicensed costumes.  Or, as this is October, go and browse any Spirit or other costume specialty store.  Are these costumes any less imitative of character copyrights than what existed in Bloody Rainbow, or anywhere else in CoH for that matter?  And note how it is that the costume makers get away with it:  they change the name to something completely different from the original work, which is how Bloody Rainbow treated it with the "con-goer in cosplay" approach. 

 

With HC operating as a non-profit, these costume makers and sellers are certainly making more money off of it than HC is.  Really, if the copyright holders had a legal leg to stand on, why haven't these profitable businesses been shut down?

This is SO not the place for this discussion

[Jimmy]

1 minute ago, Rodumas said:

This is SO not the place for this discussion

@Rodumasis correct. Please stay on-topic.

[calash]

The ban makes me a sad panda, I would run these arcs just to see the costumes I missed.  Voltron and Prime spitting fire at me...how could you not love it.  

 

Any non-discord ways to submit?  Not a huge fan of the service myself but I would like to contribute.  If not i will look into sending the info that way.

[Blackbird71]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

@Rodumasis correct. Please stay on-topic.

My apologies; I felt it related directly to the topic of what happened to the Bloody Rainbow Comic Con Fire Farm, and it was intended as a response to this statement:

 

8 hours ago, Jimmy said:

That said, the arc does violate the updated Code of Conduct, specifically the use of other copyrighted works. The arc contains (or at least did contain) a large number of enemies wearing costumes which were recreations of costumes of popular figures and heroes from various comics, movies, and games, in addition to a few NPCs which used the names and likenesses of real-world individuals (such as Stan Lee).

Although we understand and appreciate that the characters in the arc were intended to be normal people cosplaying these characters, the distinction is not one that would likely hold up if we were to be investigated for copyright infringement based on the work.

If you still feel it is off topic, I will not pursue it further here.