Character was reset...due to copywritten costume? WTF?

[Niizzy]

Since when Homecoming have these shenanigans? I have characters inspired by Sabretooth, Psylocke and a lot of others well know characters, even their names is the same and nothing ever happened, now I made a complete Gambit replica and was proud as hell, having a lot of fun but when I logged into the game I saw the character was completely reset and received an email to not replicate the costume again because its copywritten???

 

Is this the consequences of the NcSoft thing already?

[Luminara]

[MoonSheep]

it’s always been the policy, but jeez man at least try to do something original

[PeregrineFalcon]

10 minutes ago, Niizzy said:

Is this the consequences of the NcSoft thing already?

No.

 

From Day 1 Homecoming has had a rule against recreating trademarked characters. If you copy a trademarked character that's owned by someone else, and the IP owner finds out about it, they could sue Homcoming.

[Ael]

This is why you read the EULA. There has always been a rule about not creating trademarked characters.

[Major_Decoy]

What you're really looking for is "Similar to but legally distinct from" You want two different Nickleback songs, not "Ice Ice Baby" to Psylocke's "Under Pressure"

[tidge]

My suggestion regarding obvious identical costumes is to (a) keep them private or (b) find a way to not infringe someone else's IP.

[Scarlet Shocker]

43 minutes ago, Niizzy said:

Is this the consequences of the NcSoft thing already?

 

It's not the consequence of the NcSoft thing already.

 

It is the consequence of stupidity.

 

Just because it didn't happen before doesn't mean it won't happen again but I can say with a high degree of certainty you're going to log in tomorrow to find a few more character changes.

 

What part of "don't do it" do you not understand?

[Snokle]

So do you own the copyright to the costume design, or name?

 

No?

 

Can't do it as you mentioned it is copyright infringement. You see smaller infringement takedowns on YouTube than this very blatant attempt.

Edited April 11 by Snokle

[Glacier Peak]

59 minutes ago, Niizzy said:

Since when Homecoming have these shenanigans? I have characters inspired by Sabretooth, Psylocke and a lot of others well know characters, even their names is the same and nothing ever happened, now I made a complete Gambit replica and was proud as hell, having a lot of fun but when I logged into the game I saw the character was completely reset and received an email to not replicate the costume again because its copywritten???

 

Is this the consequences of the NcSoft thing already?

You must've been ignoring the Terms of Service and Code of Conduct language every time you've played since 2019, because it's been there since the beginning of Homecoming. I'd reach out to a GM if you're looking for further explanation. Lambasting the rules in a thread isn't going to help you. 

[Haijinx]

You also agreed to not come to the forums and appeal rulings in the court of public opinion 

Edited April 11 by Haijinx

[Go0gleplex]

At least you didn't get your account shut down and banned as happened to a couple folks that refused to learn back in the early days. I think the character reset/deletion thing occurred at least three or four times a week between all the different servers. 

[Shenanigunner]

While I've whipped up a few alts modeled on characters I admire, I was unsurprised and in no way angry because they got genned. They were mostly exercises in boredom and exploring the very limits of the character creator.

 

I remain surprised at the players who think making a perfect [insert well known and copyrighted character here] is either... a good idea, even on the level of playing this game ("Heyyyy, lookit my Wolvie!"), or something to get angry about when denied.

 

I'll take it as a sign of the player base growing rapidly again, which is a very good thing, and going through a period of low selectivity, which is not.

 

Edited April 12 by Shenanigunner

[wjrasmussen]

2 hours ago, Haijinx said:

You also agreed to not come to the forums and appeal rulings in the court of public opinion 

And the donate a kidney to the staff part.

[Snarky]

I been driving on the wrong side of the road all week.  NOW a cop wants to give me a ticket.  Get a load of this guy?

 

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, wjrasmussen said:

And the donate a kidney to the staff part.

 

Actually, I added that to the ToS.  I need snacks.

[Oubliette_Red]

 

Relevant section from the Code of Conduct:

Quote

 

Content Guidelines

These content guidelines apply to anything you can create or share in-game, on our forum, and on our Discord. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Character names, descriptions, and costumes

Violations & Enforcement

A violation of this Code of Conduct may result in any of the following actions:

• The removal of your character’s name, costume, or description
• Deletion of your character, supergroup, or Architect mission
• Restrictions placed on your ability to communicate (eg: a chat ban)
• Temporary or permanent suspension from our servers

 

 

Relevant section from the ToS:

Quote

 

Section 3.xvii

 

Infringing Content.  Do not do anything in connection with the City of Heroes Services that infringes any copyright, trade mark, patent, trade secret, privacy, publicity, or other right of others, such as images, photographs, sound files, text files, graphics files, and any other material or information. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Homecoming and its officers, employees, agents, affiliates, subcontractors, members and assigns, with respect to any and all claims, disputes, demands, actions, suits, damages, liabilities, obligations, losses, settlements, judgements, costs and expenses (including without limitation attorneys’ fees and costs) made or entered into against us that arise out of, relate to or are the result of your actions which misappropriate, violate or infringe any third-party Intellectual Property right or any other proprietary right.

 

 

There rules are in place whether you read them or not.

 

[shatterpoint]

I think it all depends on what attention you draw to yourself. Doing your best to make yourself THE copyrighted character...people don't appreciate that. Setting yourself apart creatively doesn't draw attention. During CoH's run they were heavily assaulted by outside powers (Marvel, DC) about things like this. The overall community doesn't like threats like that again. So, if you outright copy something they WILL take offense to it. I understand you WANT to be Superman...but you cannot and will not be allowed to BE Superman. 

So before you punch the button on being:

The.Superman

The.Man of Steel

 

 

Understand that this game is 20+ years....and we've SEEN that stuff hundreds if not thousands of times...and are just as tired of it.

Edited April 12 by shatterpoint

[Oubliette_Red]

Tidbit: The lawyer that fought off Marvel got a standing ovation at the 2008-09? HeroCon.

 

Players have always been protective of CoH and have been very good at self-policing and reporting copyright violations. Even more so after the lawsuit.

 

Edited April 12 by Oubliette_Red

[Snarky]

On the bright side you can use what is in the public domain.  Its not original, but no problemo.  I use Nosferatu.

 

And hey, steamboat willy is now available!

 

[Major_Decoy]

56 minutes ago, Snarky said:

On the bright side you can use what is in the public domain.  Its not original, but no problemo.  I use Nosferatu.

 

And hey, steamboat willy is now available!

Book Dracula and Book Frankenstein's Monster are both public domain, but Universal Studios' Dracula, Frankenstein, and Mummy are not.

 

You can make a Mummy, but if 100% of the things you say are "Oh man, I wish I could punch Tom Scientology Guy and Brenden Fraiser" you might fail into a treacherous realm.

[Videra]

Have you tried making your own characters, by any chance? It's fun! Really, you should try it.

[NotsoevilDM]

Here's the relevant part from official guidelines:

 

Copyright Policy

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 existing characters from the City of Heroes / Villains lore or naming your Supergroup after existing groups from the City of Heroes / Villains lore is not permitted. Use of these characters in Architect Entertainment and character backstories is permitted, and you are free to present yourself as a member of an existing group or portray your Supergroup as an offshoot or subdivision of an existing group, but you cannot portray yourself as owning or being in control of any existing group.

[GM Crumpet]

Use of other peoples IP has always been forbidden. Names, bio, costumes. All not allowed. The costume creator is incredibly flexible and it's almost too easy to create a character that we look at and go "Yup". There is no animosity, sometimes there is admiration. I've seen some stunning costumes that I've truly regretted nuking. However, referencing other peoples universe, naming after a character from someone elses universe, or using the appearance will often get you reported and generic'd.

 

We also allow the right of appeal. If you have a good reason for the character not to be generic'd you can reply to the ticket via the forum with your reasons as to why it should stand. It's then passed to the Lead GM's who will adjudicate and make a decision. I'm the one who does the majority of the generics, and I'll happily apologise if I'm wrong. It has happened. Not very often though, and just going "Oh it's spelt differently. or is the offspring of who just happens to look identical to" isn't generally a compelling  reason.

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

He may be a loving Doggie Daddy and a scrumptious baked good, but Crumpet will nuke a nest of copyrighted characters while cackling maniacally.