"Stealing" Characters?

[unnbrellas]

We've all see a fight break out over "copied or "stolen" characters, but I wonder, how many of these stolen charcters were actually stolen? Is it possible to simply have two similar designs?

I personally feel like people jump to conclusions alot when it comes to stealing characters. I rather recently had someone accuse me of stealing "their" character. I had never seen this user before, much less have stolen their character. While, granted, my characters design wasn't all to complex, I do find the chances of our characters looking so similar odd. Even their backstories were similar. The user got mad at me for this, and luckily I had to leave anyways.

So, what do you all think about this? Is is really possible to have considenttly silimar charcters? Do people over rect to these "thefts" or are they right in being protective over their OCs?

[Wyldercat]

Hmm... I've seen this quite a bit lately.

Yes, some of these people actually may have copied eachother's characters (in which it would be justified for accusation), but it's also very likely that their characters similarities are a coincidence.
Well, for one thing, if the characters are both of a certain species, there may only be so many realistic options for that species in terms of appearance. Even with personalities, many people like to make characters with similar backstories and natures.
Another thing I've seen is common designs and personalities. For example, there are many jetblack wolves named Shadow, and quite a few of them are evil. So this could just be common character concepts that cross ways.

So, yeah, I think that there are simple coincidences when it comes to "copied" characters. Once again, there are actual character thieves, but not every similar character is stolen.

[Hylocereus]

I can understand being protective of an OC - A good OC is something that really does feel specific to you, 3-dimensional, something you've poured time and effort into. Having someone come along and just copypasta all your hard work - while not even portraying them correctly in most cases - is infuriating. Once upon a time I would have declared war just for people looking similar.

But - particularly when people take their inspirations from the same source - overlap is quite often inevitable. Just as in IRL, there are going to be people who look like your character, act like your character, have a similar story to your character, not because it was copied but by pure coincidence.

Now, blatant copying, that gets my hackles up, and it always will, though I'm not as nutty about it anymore. I don't even particularly like it when people RP established characters from games or shows, because as said above it's rare to see them actually pin down that character's traits and really get inside their head.

It's ok to share an archetype. For example, I have a "bard"-type wolf, a friendly guy who travels the world telling stories and weaving new ones. I've not seen anyone else on FH with the same archetype yet but that doesn't mean I have a right to be the only one - maybe I'll log in and there'll be ten bard wolves, and maybe they'll even be dire wolves like my boy Kouden too.

That's ok. People have every right to do that. It's not stealing to be similar - and overlap can come subconciously, if you really like a particular trait about something.  Doesn't mean they set out to steal your intellectual property. That's just the way it is.

And whether we like to admit it or not, most of us like to copy small details that feel like they'd fit when designing a new character from scratch. I personally try to get my inspiration from vague archetypes and music than other characters, but other people do that too so maybe one day I'm going to log on and be sitting next to a character based on the same thing. They're still not copying me. I'm not going to be mad.

Because even if you have an identical source, and settle on an identical personality, with an identical appearance, there's going to be little quirks that make it all your own, that nobody else is ever going to be able to replicate. That's what makes a character "yours", and nobody can steal that even if they try.

That said I do discourage overly blatant imitations whenever I see them. Because I know that people do get really attached to their characters, and it's a bit like someone trying to woo your cat away from you.

[Jango_Fett]

Character copying... Hmmm....

Honestly, I did think that this one person had copied my Hyena character, Meeyu.
And to double check I did a side by side comparison.
It was a dead set match, except for the eyes.

Though looking back on it, it probably was just a coincidence...?

Those things do happen, but I do believe that there are people out there who do steal other's characters, because they either look nice or they just want them.

It's a sad thing to see, but hey, not everyone wants to take the time and be creative with their own OC.

[Morqque]

I had an issue when someone accused me of copying their character just because it had the same name. When I refused, they changed their name to my originial username. Now this was on an IT server a while back. We looked nothing the same, though. So, in a real life situation when you see a person with the same name as you, do you report them for a violation and argue with them to try and change their name? No. It's just a name, many people have the same name. Same with characters.

[GhostPuma]

Depends. Having the exact name and design is edging over the "not actually stealing" line. It's hard for it to be a coincidence if both characters have the same name and design. Especially if this character is complex. Even then the name can kinda break it.

For example, I have a character named Thirty-Six. He is an Artificial Intelligence, but resides in a robotic body like Ultron. While I am vague on the fact he is an AI in his bio, someone did create a "Thirty Six Robot". In those exact words. It's not very common that I see people writing numbers out anymore so I knew something was up. Robot kinda gave it away, too. While I have not seen them since, I think they created a "troll character," or made him "because they thought it was cool." I dunno, that just seemed a bit too much to be coincidence. It could have been coincidence, but...ehhhh. Not really buying it. I mean, I probably was a marshmallow to them so that explains with they had the character white, but eh.

It's worse if the characters have similar bios (though Thirty's backstory is not in his bio because it won't ever fit, so he's safe for that), which means the person took the time to be just like you.

But, when people go nuts because another character has the same name as theirs? Bogus. Or those all pitch black wolves fighting because their characters look the same. Also, bogus. The line is fine, but it is there. Unless you get permit to make a clone for a reason (multi-headed animal, random clone party, etc.) then you shouldn't create copies of other peoples characters. It's rude, and people don't generally act nice about it. Most people, not excluding me, would flip and attack in all sorts of ways. Maybe even edge on harassment for the thievery. Some may even steal that persons character at a later time (taste of their own medicine), but that is a bit rude. It could be a kid who doesn't know better, or it could be an internet troll. It's hard to tell on these kinds of games.

[WolfQueen]

tbh it's just that a couple of folks these days try waaayyy to hard to be original and edgy so they go and attack any character at least similar by 10% as their character, and send armies of white knights if they are that desperate.

most character stealing assumptions are bogus and/or over dramatic. yes some poor kid may steal someone's character but i've seen quite a lot of people become way too whiny and cranky over their precious characters in these situations. sometimes the character isn't even that much of a copy, and the certain owner of a character will blow off unnecessary steam for attention or they're just so full of themselves. bluntly copying characters is very bad but jesus christ on a stick let people create their characters. even if they actually got a little idea from someone else's character, people get inspired by nature and instinct. getting inspired isn't copying unless you take it too far.

it's a fight to be the most edgiest for the most part. a lot of people treat their characters as trophies and not much as a state of art too.

[TheExperience]

Right, well I take a lot of time to think of names and stuff for my character. Like my girl Wulfric has some seriously deep backstory that would probably not be suited for FH, LOL. Anyways, before this incident, I had probably had Wulfric for a year (On my Flying cow acc ) and one day when I logged on, there were now two Wulfrics. I wasn't about to dump doodoo on their heads about it but instead complimented and said its cool that we had the same name.. I even took note that the character wasnt  copied because mine was a girl and the other a boy.

However, said person had said they had made the name first which I disagree because I had used the name since 2008 where I had made my Draenei bab on WoW which is irrelevant but what I did do on this particular char is put their date of creation in, an observation I did not point out.

Now though it entirely irked me that the person said that, I paid no heed for their were distinct differences, not to mention Wulfric 2 was a Skyrim reference where my char was wholly and entirely not.

So anyways, we proceeded to have a chat about our chars and that was that. What I learned was that people could possibly think of chars similar to yours without ever knowing about your character but it wouldnt be considered as copying. There is no copyright in a name, but the character itself and how you play them is yours. Normally if I see people running around with the same name, I am flattered, even if it takes me half an hour to think one up, but never will I allow my character and their exploits be copied. There is a fine line. We all need to cross it one day to protect whats ours, but its not like we're all out there to deliberately take someone's stuff to look cool. People should be flattered but still politely ask to make changes. Thats what I do, angered or not.

I'm not trying tk encourage copying, because I too dislike people taking my girls and not know how to RP them, because it is bogus. But what makes me incredibly angry are as Ghostpuma said. But lets all be realistic here, there isn't much out of the marking pool we can fish out of in the first place, especially if you restrict yourself to one boring pelt color just to look cool. So stop bickering.

I might no be making sense here, but i wanted to get a point across.

[unnbrellas]

You all have some very nice points here! Although it does raise the question; where do we draw the line between copying and drawing inspiration?

[Spottedbears]

well,
having thought about this way too many times,

here's what I think. I'll give some cases of each I guess

Drawing inspiration:
 - entirely different character; perhaps similar colors because the way they go together is nice, or similar markings because of, again, the way they go together is nice. personality and name are not the same.
 - personality is rather close to the original character's, however, the looks and name are different.
 - having the same/a similar backstory, however a much different character.
Copying:
 - character with the same markings, colors, style, personality, and history as original. name is different, not always.
 - character with the exact same markings and colors, different name and personality. original was extremely unique and it can not have been/wasn't a coincidence (slapping your character onto my design)
 - exact carbon copies

yeah. the backstory part is where I draw the line on inspiration. this is because while the character is not the same, their history is -- that doesn't mean they are an absolute copy. however, this is rather iffy because backstories are supposed to be unique.

yeah, I guess these are just my thoughts.
while one cannot entirely "copy" a design, it is only, I think, really copying if the original character was extremely unique with a complex background, history, and personality that is not similar to, well, anything. which is an awfully hard goal to accomplish.

despite the fact they copied you, I (having never been copied except in name which doesn't actually matter) believe that it could be considered a form of flattery. they liked your design so much, they copied it. now, normally these cases are with younger kids and therefore we shouldn't be too quick to judge..

this was probably really contradictory but yknow