fuzzy post-it

Anonymous asked:

About the floraverse copyright -- It comes off as if let's say I make a character, then anyone can make an entire comic of the character, draw it however they want, and sell merchandise and other things of the character I have created? This makes me a bit uncomfortable, like I wouldn't want to explore this character because of the potential of someone else taking it and doing whatever they like with it without my permission. Or is it more so with "canon" characters like the ones admins make

kecrambles answered:

Adding to the last ask, but what I was asking is if it were possible to have others not claim ownership/take over the storyline of the characters we make if we choose to? I am just hesitant to make a storyline with a character if it can be taken at any point and done by someone else. Like, fanart and stuff is okay, but I wouldn’t be comfortable with someone else taking a character I made and saying “hey I like this character but not your story so I’m going to make my own with it w/o permission”

I understand your concern, but I have to use the “creative commons share alike” license, which means that everything in floraverse or using floraverse things also has to attribute the original (by way of linking to the group or being in the group or mentioning it or whatever), and also be share alike

the chances of someone taking your idea/story because they think it would be profitable would be very slim. the work would HAVE to be attributed to you and to the group, and with the spirit of openness we’re trying to promote, it doesn’t make sense that someone would do something against the grain or without even mentioning it to you first if it involved your idea.

please keep in mind that we have to do this so we can use anyone else’s ideas at all, but that *we admins* will always ask before we take and make something canon —even if we don’t need to— just because it’s polite to ask

if you make a note that you’d like people to *ask* about how they want to use your characters first, that should cut down on any incidents that will ruffle your feathers! I’m going to have to make a post on the group to address this specifically later, probably in the big FAQ we have to craft, but I hope for now that this helps!

the spirit of openness is what will lead to the success of this sandbox group for everyone, and I know it’s really hard because a lot of awful “what ifs” arise, but the positive aspects of contributing to something everyone can use I think should outweigh the negative aspects where people are disrespectful and inconsiderate.