Wet, a new video game in development.
On April 27th, 2009, Bethesda Softworks confirmed that they will publish WET. Eliza Dushku is confirmed as the voice of the main Character, Rubi Malone. The soundtrack includes three tracks from Gypsy Pistoleros. Release is scheduled for Autumn/Fall, 2009.[5]
Nice derivative of the art there.
I need that outfit. Now.
I saw the pic before I realized it was a new game, and went OMG!
wow, looks amazing, and yes i want that outfit
Yeah, it’s just not cool to rip off someone else’s hard work.
Hey Abyss – make your own goddamn avatars. Kthx.
I saw that outfit and was like, wow, thats pretty good. Pity the whole avatar set is 2500L. Pity it’s a rip off too
I would be the only one who can do that outfit justice.
Ok, I get your point… Does that mean I can’t find it and blog it? *runs from the murder spoon*
I like the look thats all, and ive seen the jacket style done better at league anyways
And to defend my dumbnitude, I need coffee and I was blinded by lust.
Would it be ok if it *had* said “Based on Rubi, a character in the soon to be released game “Wet” blah blah blah?
I am not an idiot, I didn’t put together that this wanting feeling was bad. I do NOT support content theft or lack of originality in any shape or form.
I see so many outfits and skins/avs etc based on game characters, movie characters, freaking breakfast cereals FFS. How/where is the line drawn?
Designers out there, have you experienced this, have you done any collaborations with brands/sources to recreate known looks/personas?
I would like to know more. Ty.
Not enough pink in there for me…
LOL when I saw the pic, I totally thought this was a League outfit review.
Oh whoops, I’m joining Isle at the coffee bar now. :\
lol I have to admit, I didn’t lust after the outfit, but I wanted to know wtf viewer took that photo…
Interesting question on where is the line? I’ve seen celeb AV knock offs – is a Keanu Reeves look alike AV content theft?
I’m not sure if Abyss ripped that, since this video game hasn’t even been released yet and that avatar/outfit has been out since last year. Who created it first?
Meara Deschanel blogged about this back in December. http://mearadeschanel.blogspot.com/2008/12/wet-look.html
She noted back then the similarities…
I would really love it if a lawyer in ip rights would step forward and help educate content creators about this sort of thing. From what little I do know, I would say that the Abyss av would be considered a knock off but not actually in violation of any ip rights. Whether or not a knock off is ok is up to the consumer really. I would like to point out that in RL, unless you can afford top designer names, if you buy from a high street/major chain store, you are buying a knock off most likely.
@Isle it actually is WORSE to try to market your product as “inspired” by x character because the name is often the most closely protected part of the property. This is why I am personally especially bothered by celebrity skins that use the picture of the celeb face AND the celeb name. For a celeb, their name IS their brand.
Because my partner and I have done a number of custom avatars for celebrities and figures of note, we are careful to not do anything that would appear to violate ip or brand identity. That said, I don’t think those that create ‘tribute’ products should be strung up from a virtual tree. At least, not until we’ve been given some straight answers about how ip applies to sl.
I’m of the same mind as Roslin. I’m unsure that what might be called the “costume” of a figure in concept art is something that’s protected; especially when we’re talking some pretty straight-forward elements (camo pants, combat boots, sword, long wavy hair, and so on).
Logos it might contain might well be trademarked (which is why all these superhero homage avatars are on dangerous ground if Marvel or DC ever take an interest), but there’s no logos here I think. It’s incontrovertible that the character design for the video game was the direct inspiration for the Abyss’s Opium avatar, however.
I also agree with Roslin that it’s actually probably worse to make use of a trademark or a known person in advertising your item, since these things are marketable and protected by law.
Just a quick follow-up, but the character design is not trademarked, per the U.S. and Canadian trademark registries. Artificial Mind and Movement have two trademarks in relation to WET, one to secure exclusive right to the word for use as a title for an electronic game and one for the associated logo.
So the only real danger, I think, is if the actual image was used to source (rather than reference) that avatar and its clothing; in which case that would violate copyright.
@Roslin: The issue comes in where lawyers simply haven’t bothered to look this far into things. You have to pay musicians royalties to use their works in other things, but artists? Nah, who needs to pay an artist?
@Ran: At this point it’s more about integrity than copyright theft. Abyss seems to have none, but I have contacted all three avatars involved with the Abyss to attempt to get a statement.
I personally love Abyss’ works, and as others have said, where does one draw the line?
There is the Body Doubles shape store, its main selling point is shapes and skins based on celebrities. There are line upon line of stores selling costumes, hairs, weapons all based on video game characters.
I see no problem with making an avatar based on a video game character, it has been done time and time before in SL, and will be done time and time again.
“Abyss seems to have none…”
Oh, jeebus. Anne, is that you?
i don’t understand why everyone assumes abyss is the one who copied? ther have had that av in store for a VERY long time… is it possible it’s the other way around?
btw, the hair that comes with that abyss av is amazing.
Yeah I pointed this out months ago. And thank you Krissy for saying so! <3
And for the record, I love the av and loved that it was modeled off of Rubi, and considering what you get in the package, I felt the price back then (and especially now) was a steal.
Yes, because you know……we totally read everybody’s blogs. All the time. Yep. Especially the important ones….
Side Note: I have to be directed to interesting posts on this one and I write for it. So if you get all huffy and say “We posted this already awhile back”. Blow me.
So if a SL store gets real life inspiration from a video game that is possible wrong unless it is credited and then still possibly wrong?
If I get inspiration to write a blog post from someone else’s blog or from a “plurk”, do I need to credit that source? Just curious, since all the “experts” like to speculate here.
Dancien – I think that Meara was only mentioning in passing that she noticed this a while ago and blogged it and all without it being pointed out to her on Plurk. But way to go for responding so sweetly and without malice.
I love also how you answer on behalf of everyone by using the “we” pronoun.
@Meara : Artistic. Integrity. Abyss = none, apparently.
@Daila, It’s always the royal we.
@Tenshi: Sorry but I disagree. One derivative product out of many unique ones does not mean they lack artistic integrity. YMMV and it looks like it does.
@Dancien: That would depend on me being able to find it sweetie. <3
Meara, this is the same as buying a knockoff. It’s just disrespectful, really. It’s the same thing as the original character. It’s not even a new development on the idea. It’s the same thing.
Err if I knew my flickr picture of this was going to be made into this post I would of taken it down…
I think your plurk inspired this post Francois.
@Rea
“i don’t understand why everyone assumes abyss is the one who copied? ther have had that av in store for a VERY long time… is it possible it’s the other way around?”
Well that’s not necessarily true, the game was canceled about almost a year ago, July 29, 2008 by Vivendi Games of Activision/Blizzard
Just recently got bought and back in production by Bethesda Softworks
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/894/894587p1.html
Not trying to be a “Mr. Know it all” or a jerk just stating that fact
I don’t really have a side on the issue
off I go, whee.
Lol yeah Daila. But the dude has made Naughty and the Abyss so that shows he does have talent and you shouldn’t stop buying his stuff because he made an av based off a video game character. The end.
Copying an animated game character does not exhibit talent, it exhibits an extreme lack of creativity.
The fact that Abyss tried to pick up an obscure character like this just shows they were trying to hide it. Did you get a notecard saying “Hey, we were inspired to make this by a video game that’s coming out” when you bought it?
No. If they had done that at least people would have known, instead of being hoodwinked into buying something they thought was exclusive content.
I wonder how much of their other stuff is actually jacked off the internet.
Where does the line fall on this? Some people want avatars or costumes based on famous characters. I would love the Scarlett O’Hara’s amazing Twelve Oaks barbeque dress. If I made a costume of this in RL, would that be crossing the boundary? How is this different in SL?
It’s pretty much passable to recreate something if you either get permission from the original creators, or if you say “Hey, this is a repro of such and such.” and don’t make money off of the sale.
The problem is fooling people and making money from their ignorance.
I guess you’d think the store Hoorenbeek has no talent either, since they recreate rl shoe designs.
I am wondering why you have such a large axe to grind with Abyss. Almost every store out there gets inspiration from something or other, a lot of it comes from comic books or video games. Why have you singled out Abyss? We’re you recently burned? Did you buy that AV and think nobody has ever thought of a female in combat clothing with a sword and long hair?
With that line of thought, Rubi, was ripped from Lara Croft. Two women that adventure and fight and have long hair.
I’m just failing to understand where the hate is coming from in this matter.
I don’t get in general where all this hate comes from in this blog, where admin draws the line in her crusade (as every single designer in sl has violated some copyright laws by taking bits and pieces of textures from somewhere and mingeled them into their designs and be it just from cgtextures.com or whereever), why “fuck” and “blow” is all i hear from dancien, and why i keep reading this blog :S
I guess it’s some ‘national enquirer’ phenomenon, who is the asshole of the day, and thank god it’s not me.
@Mara : You don’t seem to know much about designers and Second Life. Some people actually do their textures by scratch from hand.
If you don’t like the blog, you know how to exit – but thanks for leaving such an incredibly constructive comment.
Just because someone gets caught doing this crap doesn’t mean I have a particular axe to grind with their name on it. My axe is, “Please, get some creativity and stop ripping other people off.”
“Please, get some creativity and stop ripping other people off.â€
That phrase could be applied to almost any store and AV out there, be it Lara Croft, Cloud, Alien, Buffy, Rocky etc etc etc.
Why so much bile and hate for this one obscure AV? (Because, the game is not in release so she is fairly obscure at this point).
Why not fire your guns at the many other creators who get inspiration from movies, books, video games, comic books, and Saturday morning cartoons?
Even a borrowed idea takes many, many hours to reproduce inworld… and who’s to say that someone inworld is not going to want it, borrowed or not? As long as their work is new within the grid, I really don’t see the purpose in picking designers apart over their sources of inspiration. The basic look may have been borrowed, but Bethesda didn’t turn it into prims. Anyone who has struggled to reproduce anything from real life in Second knows that to work it through the build-engine can take a great deal of creative thought, whether or not you authored the real-world concept. Ask a dozen auto-makers for a Ferrari, for instance… and you’ll receive a dozen visually similar models, of which no two are identical in prim-design. Thus, there is no factual basis to suggest there is no creativity involved in the building process alone (whether or not the concept behind what you build was your own, unique brainchild).
All the clothes, hair, accessories and shoes on our avatars’ are more or less inspired by or modeled after a RL brand design or something from a film, game, etc. I’m just see this all as just really redundant. I don’t think the the textures on this AV is ripped from anywhere as it is mostly shading and basic patterns, nothing intricate.
What I’m thinking is, the countless Adidas, Chuck Taylors, Ed Hardy and Christian Louboutin replicas in SL being sold and being warmly welcomed by everyone and not any of them mentions “inspired by Converse so and so” because they’re that obvious and we like them so it doesn’t matter? But come something like this that none of us are familiar with it’s source is suddenly a big issue? It’s basically the same thing. One of the new releases of Stiletto Moody is obviously ‘inspired’ by a Balmain shoe which a lot of people might’ve already recognized but then again it’s well crafted and widely welcomed so it’s ok.
I can name several other brands that are unmistakably “inspired” or a direct recreation of something off a RL store or movie or book or whatever. All SL content. Not just clothes, but hair, shoes, you name it. The only issue would be if the textures were ripped from the original source, which I don’t think applies to this particular set.
If I see an AV wearing a long ponytail, a white tank top, short cargo shorts, combat boots and heaven forbid a gun holster on her leg, can I tell her to go back from where she came from and change and get some creativity?
Just my two cents.
@ Garbage- i don’t care much about it one way or the other, i honestly was just asking the question. thanks for the info!
no one should be making anything from the wet game. i work on it. i can directly end this.
O RLY?
@ Rea – hehe, good glad I didn’t give off the wrong vibe
The Wiki calls the game “An acrobatic shooter”. I notice there’s a female protagonist. Should we alert the media that Tomb Raider has been ripped off, or, more recently, Mirror’s Edge?
Okay, double-posting, because this is ridiculous. On watching the trailer for the game (http://wet.bethsoft.com/index-1200.htm), I’m having a hard time seeing an original thought contained anywhere within. Add GTA and The Matrix to my post above, and blend liberally. Also, the character design and intros are terribly Kill Bill Part 1.
My main point is this: There are no more truly original ideas. If you look hard enough, everything is ripped off.
Why is it a problem for one creator to make an avatar, or clothes, or skins, or whatever their forte happens to be, yet there are quite literally hundreds of others, doing the same, without a single peep of discontent from Ms. Tenshi.
Other homages and derivatives mentioned in this thread (and with 20 seconds in search, you can find everything from Final Fantasy to Tim Burton’s latest visions, blissfully recreated in prims) are ignored. If this was a matter of principle, I would expect to see all of these creations shunned.
This reeks of a personal vendetta, or as is more commonly referred, grudgewank.
Be progressive.
I agree with James. You can’t walk into a Macy’s without seeing replica/inspiration/knock-offs of the runway styles. Thank goodness for us poor folks!
The problem with “being progressive” is that “progressive” means holding standards that are utterly contrary to the law of the land and general practice in creative industries. We’ve covered six ways from Sunday how clothing designs are not protected by copyright, how trademark laws work, and so on. I am heartend by the fact that some perfectly intelligent, sober commentators here are ignoring ejaculations of, “Integrity!” because they recognize its wanton wrongheadedness.
But lets, instead, broaden the discussion a bit.
I do take issue with some points James raised earlier, although I agree (with reservations) to the general thrust of his remarks. I’ve often complained about people in SL misusing the protected marks of RL established, because that’s certainly a violation of their trademark. There are way too many Adidas stripes, Converse stars, and Nike swooshes out there on the grid; Hoorenbeek, Urban Bomb Unit, Soreal — all talented designers who are sullying their work by misappropriating the trademarks that they do, and there are many others besides.
Is your sculpty shoe based on an RL shoe design? That is fine, because shoe designs aren’t generally protected by either trademarks or patents ( some certain elements may be, if they are a technological advance, but that’s patenting function and not appearance). But don’t, for love of all that’s holy, slap on the trademark, brand name, or registered trade dress of an established company. There’s great skill involved in converting a real world object into a fine prim-and-sculpt or textured item in-world, but it’s wrong to mar that skill by violating someone’s legally protected marks.
Ran – I agree, we have been over this before.
http://shoppingcartdisco.com/?p=356
Diane VonFurstenburg wasn’t suing over her logo though – the dress is what she was on about, because it was too close to her original.
Whats wrong with copying? Isnt that all armidi does and everyone still wears their stuff?
I personally dont like it, i think its RIP OFF and completely unoriginal. this worse than armidi because its a rip of someone elses ART whereas armidi is just redoing RL clothing.
They did good though. But its profiting off of someone elses work no matter how you put it.
Okay its one thing to be inspired by something but to literally copy almost everything aspect of the character is just plain lame and pathetic. I don’t know who created the character first but its pretty obvious one side “copied” (not inspired)the other. The distinction between copy and inspiration is pretty obvious. This is clearly a case of someone copying someone elses idea. Pretty pathetic….
Yeah, I actually found this out in the latter part of June this year when I was at E3. This is what I found..
http://www.girlgamer.com/zine/article/206/