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Forums > Home› Support› C-Store, ZEN, and Promotions

New C-Store item idea - "Self-portrait" avatars

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited June 2010 in C-Store, ZEN, and Promotions
I experimented briefly with the character generator, and found that I am not skilled with it at all. Which led me to the following idea:

What if there was a C-Store item that would allow the buyer to submit a drawing or a photo, and have one of the character modellers at Cryptic "draw up" the character for use as your captain/avatar? They could dictate the submission guidelines (face/body angles, limits on alien designs, etc...), and part of the process would be to have a waiver/disclaimer for IP and legal stuff.

I'm sure the demand would be there. I'm sure I'm not alone with the being lost on the character editor. And I'm sure there would be plenty of players who would love to see themselves as the captain of their ship. Or to see themselves slightly modified as a Trill or Vulcan, or even just a different skin color...

The only real problem I can see from this is having some players using other people's faces/likenesses (i.e. celebrity photos) without their permission...

Just wanted it out there for Cryptic to stumble upon, or see what everyone thinks.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    An interesting idea. There's no way that you could use actual live Cryptic artists to do this, however. It is simply too much time and effort. Tens of thousands of people play this game. The artists have things to do besides draw your character. Did you know the character art team for this game is only a couple of people?

    However, what if there was some kind of web application where you could upload a pic of someone and the application would create a head for that picture, which you could then save like any other uniform file, and then upload once you got into the game.

    That seems like something which an enterprising independent person could do, and it wouldn't take any time or effort away from our character art team. You'd also be able to upload any photo of anyone, which means we could all expect to see a few more Kim Cardassians running around.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    Doctor Comics wrote:
    That seems like something which an enterprising independent person could do, and it wouldn't take any time or effort away from our character art team. You'd also be able to upload any photo of anyone, which means we could all expect to see a few more Kim Cardassians running around.

    Don't forget the Lucy Lawless of Borg, or the numerous Chuck Norris/Bruce Willis/Jeri Ryan/... Clones.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    Valenn wrote: »
    Don't forget the Lucy Lawless of Borg, or the numerous Chuck Norris/Bruce Willis/Jeri Ryan/... Clones.

    Which is exactly the reason why such a feature will never exist. It´s illegal, plain and simple. And i love Lucy Lawless btw. :o
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    It's not illegal to make a character that looks like a real person. Plain and simple.

    Heck, even devs chipped in and contributed to the "Make an famous person in STO and screenshot it!" thread.

    Someone made a pretty good Christopher Walken, as I recall.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    Doctor Comics wrote:
    It's not illegal to make a character that looks like a real person. Plain and simple.

    Heck, even devs chipped in and contributed to the "Make an famous person in STO and screenshot it!" thread.

    Someone made a pretty good Christopher Walken, as I recall.

    I´m pretty sure that using the likeness of a real person without that persons consent is illegal, but i´m not a lawyer. :o
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    There is another great idea for any entreprenuerial programmers out there: a photo to character skin generator that could be saveable to various game character formats. If it could work for various games, a lot of non-techie people would buy it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    Well, I have been known to help out a fellow Trekian down on his luck.

    ESPECIALLY when it comes to the character generator (One of my FAVORITE parts of the game.)

    I actually have been mulling starting a thread where I offer "the numbers" for different looks. IE you would come in and say/post "I want to look like THIS!" I would make what you want, to the best of my ability. Then, when it looks all fancy, I send you the saved template (or screenshots of the slider positions).

    Meh, that is alot of work. Writing the thread that is, I'd rather be making characters....gotta go!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    Ashur1 wrote:
    I´m pretty sure that using the likeness of a real person without that persons consent is illegal, but i´m not a lawyer. :o

    I can draw a cartoon with Angelina Jolie in it, publish it in a newspaper, and it's not illegal.

    I can draw a picture of Angelina Jolie and sell it on the internet or on a streetcorner. That's not illegal either.

    I can take a picture of Angelina Jolie and sell it to anyone I want. That's not illegal either.

    If you defame someone, they can sue you on the basis that you are decreasing their ability to make money. But Angelina Jolie's face is not trademarked or copy protected. We could go through our lives afraid that Angelina Jolie will sue us because we made Lt. Jolie in STO, or we can just do it, have a laugh, and go on with our lives.

    As said, it would be a lot of work. But it's possible.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    Doctor Comics wrote:
    I can draw a cartoon with Angelina Jolie in it, publish it in a newspaper, and it's not illegal.

    I can draw a picture of Angelina Jolie and sell it on the internet or on a streetcorner. That's not illegal either.

    I can take a picture of Angelina Jolie and sell it to anyone I want. That's not illegal either.

    If you defame someone, they can sue you on the basis that you are decreasing their ability to make money. But Angelina Jolie's face is not trademarked or copy protected. We could go through our lives afraid that Angelina Jolie will sue us because we made Lt. Jolie in STO, or we can just do it, have a laugh, and go on with our lives.

    As said, it would be a lot of work. But it's possible.

    Well okay, but using her name ingame for one of your characters is not allowed by Cryptics Code of Conduct, that i´m sure of, i looked it up. :o
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    I believe you.

    I did just read on Huffington Post about a dating website which has "virtual dating" -- code in which you upload a photo of yourself and it makes you an avatar, which can then talk and have drinks and dinner with another online person who has done the same thing.

    The site is Omnidate and they call it their "Photofit" feature. This sounds pretty much exactly like what the OP is asking for. Upload a photo, get an online avatar based on that photo.

    Just put Vulcan ears on'im and you're good to go, Captain!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited June 2010
    Doctor Comics wrote:
    I can draw a cartoon with Angelina Jolie in it, publish it in a newspaper, and it's not illegal.

    I can draw a picture of Angelina Jolie and sell it on the internet or on a streetcorner. That's not illegal either.

    I can take a picture of Angelina Jolie and sell it to anyone I want. That's not illegal either.

    Actually that is not true... You are not allowed to use someone's likeness in the pursuit of profit. Same goes for taking pictures with people in them. Technically, if I got to the beach and take a beach photo and there happen to be people in it, I have to get them to sign a waiver if their faces appear anywhere in the photo.

    As for using someone in a newspaper comic, that is sometimes covered under the satire provision of US copyright law, but one has to be very careful that it is properly satirical.

    Here are some reference materials.

    http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/using-name-or-likeness-another

    Another example would be any case involving Albert Einstein's likeness. Upon his death, his likeness was given to Hebrew University. In fact GM was just sued for using his image in a magazine ad without getting the proper permission.
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