How Important Are Face Claims?

Tt enhances the role-play, sometimes choosing my fc is my favorite part of character creation. its like the final touch that gives it a more full character. images can also quickly give information to the viewer, allowing fellow rpers to quickly get a sense of the character.

 

I am vehemently against real life face claims. I don't like them, for multiple reasons. The first, is that it's really weird. Like, 9/10 I know who these people are. Do you know how many "Jensen Ackles" face claims there are? Chris Hanson? Chris Evans? Who's the guy that plays Loki? It's really strange to me, because sometimes multiple people will have the same faceclaim on a website and that just screws it up even more.

Second reason I don't like real life face claims is because of part of the roleplaying ecology. Roleplayers are a source of income for artists. I especially don't like it when websites have Mandatory RL face claims, because you are effectively removing your website from that ecology.

Personally, we don't allow any art that the user does not have explicit permission to use, or, is not made for/owned by them.

 

Most roleplays don't actually allow shared face claims, so that's not usually a problem in most circles.

As for the second - MOST pictures are in the public domain and allowed to be used. The only exception to that is those who have said they don't want their likeness used for RP.

 

Generally speaking, the only things in the public domain are works by governments, images that are really old, or images specifically released to the public domain by their creator. If you come across an image on the web you'd be generally right to assume it's copyrighted unless something says otherwise. In the case of celebrity images, they're usually copyrighted to the photographer or the actor's employer (e.g. if their show is on Fox, Fox probably owns the rights to any still image from the show). To avoid breaking the law, don't use images that are not yours unless you have permission to use them (e.g. creative commons license, etc). This post is only a simple summary, so you should learn more about copyright law by searching about it on your own.

 

I personally don't agree that it's breaking the law and as someone who comes from a family full of lawyers, let's just leave it at that.

Roleplayers have been using real life face claims since before I even started roleplaying over 25 years ago and nobody has ever been sued because of it.

 

I'm not a lawyer but, according to Title 17 USC, section 501:

That said, it's only criminal infringement if money is being made off the infringement (See 17 USC Section 506). Otherwise it's a civil thing (money only). The claim has to be filed in within 3 years (unless it's criminal, in which case you have 5).

I suspect that reason going after RP sites is almost never happens is that RP sites almost never make money. If there's no monetary damages done it's simply not worthwhile to spend money taking someone to court over misuse of a photo because you can't really expect to recover much, if anything, in the way of damages. Additionally when companies do go after tiny groups (like when Games Workshop went after people for using the term Space Marine) they can see a public backlash.

I did some research before posting this and I did find several cases where celebrities have sued over use of their picture on community websites, but they were almost always on sites that made money and I couldn't find an example of an RP forum facing such a suit.

Legal stuff aside, I still think it's kind of shady to use someone's face without permission even if they're famous, especially for any RP that involves adult situations.

 

We'll just agree to disagree then, because over 90% of roleplayers use real face claims for their RPs. The fact remains that MOST RPs use real faces.

 

I mean, if you're a site about the X-Men, I imagine you're going to have some sort of X-men-based comic or movie-based artwork because that's what your RP is based around.

Images used without permission isn't just a Face-claim-specific issue, though, sites with anime avatars or comic book ones are usually full of stuff they don't have permission to use either so we can't single out Face-claims. RP sites in general are really fast and loose with using images. Other RP forums have even taken and used artwork I made, or I own copyrights for, from my RP site. In fact I just did a search and found one just now...

 

When I first set up my site I was going to have real-life f/c only, but have now changed the wording so that a player can have real-life, anime or none at all. I still expect the majority will do real-life f/c. The reason for the change is to maintain creative freedom as much as possible.

 

I have always been a fan of face claims rather than worded descriptions. It's easier to look at a face and writer than constantly needing to go back and look though a description when a character looks at eyes or if there's facial hair when face snuggle or things like that.

Never was a fan of mixing face claims. My imagination is pretty vivid at times so it's very hard for an anime person and a real life person to interact in my head.

 

I'll separate face claims from more general graphics

Graphics are immensely useful. The human animal is extremely visual so things like maps, diagrams, silhouettes, photos, paintings, drawings, etc, can all add a layer of engagement to text. Clearly it isn't essential. There are novels with no pictures and on the other side there are comics and graphic novels that are more pictures than words. Whatever works, works. I've seen people use anything available, add a text disclaimer ("except black hair instead of red" or something) and just get on with the getting on, because the fun of the game is the game itself and a visual is just a tool to enhance the game play

Like Flahme said, "creative freedom"! Which is why making it optional is nice but absolutely requiring and absolutely restricting are not so much

 

While Faceclaims have their purpose, it may help that it is possible to treat an actor or actress in real life as one, and each of their acting roles as one apart from each other. Okay did that make any sense? So each role of an actor/actress is treated as a different faceclaim allowing players to use the same person but different persona? Okay I think I got that better worded. lol

 

Personally I could do without them, I don't think they are that important, but I know the value others place on them and so I go along with it. I could do fine with a physical description of the character and honestly that's easier for me because I'm visually impaired so it's better for me to have things described anyway but I know most find face claims easier so I go along with it.

 

I like having both--I don't think a FC is an adequate substitute for a good visual description of the character. We don't require them on my site, and the only restrictions we have are that RL ones are photos of public figures and/or that if you're using art that you have the permissions to use it. (IE--you drew it yourself, or had it commissioned, or have otherwise gotten permission to use the image.) There are too many little individual feature quirks for a FC to cover. I mean I'm an artist myself, so I prefer to draw my characters anyway, but for a written medium I wouldn't consider it necessarily 100% adequate to fully replace any other character descriptions.

 

I would personally love for sites to start adopting a more lenient approach to the use of claims. It is true that sometimes writers just want to describe what their character looks like and not be forced to find a visual representation. I don't see anything wrong with that, and it is sad that sites with optional claims are nearly non-existent nowadays...

I'm not necessarily someone who doesn't want to use a claim. But, I have found myself frustrated by the strict rules of claims and the heavily enforced mandatory status that is found nearly across the board with them.

 

I just want to second this. Faceclaim requirements tend to follow guidelines I just cannot deal with.

On another note, I'm not a huge fan of FC's to begin with as I feel it takes away the uniqueness of my character. With https://www.artbreeder.com/ coming to light I've had such fun 'breeding' my characters looks that I don't know if I could go back to using a FC as the sole look of my character.

 

I think it's just a generally accepted/used thing at this point. It can help define/give a personality to characters, specifically as most people I know try to match the claim with the character. ie I wouldn't use Vin Diesel as a claim for a wimpy basement dwelling hacker character the same as I wouldn't use Jason Bateman as an action oriented Rambo-esque character.

 

The addition of a photo is fine. However, Roleplay is a text-based medium. Not a visual. A point I see mostly absent in the discussion.

Regarding "Match my character," I do the opposite in some regards, as people are not that simple. One of my long-running ocs wouldn't match her appearance. She is curvy, and most think she is a sexual person. She isn't. She is more cunning and defined by her ability to observe the scene than that. This has led to many looking at my picture and assuming what my OC is instead of reading what I wrote.

However, I know most don't read sheets these days or lore. And so, using images to aid the user is a must. And its benefits or detriment will always be subject to debate.

I don't have to worry much about copyright issues as I draw my OCs. However, the user who laid out how it is technically illegal to grab someone's photo for your OC is both right and wrong. Yes, if you steal my piece, I could press legal action. But why would I? Unless you tell me I can't use the face claim I drew because another member used it. And then again, in most cases, they wouldn't target you but the platform itself. Just easier that way.

And then you can get into the whole transformative side of the law. Intellectual property is one of the hardest things to establish in such legal cases. I'll be frank, most artists, if you ask to use their piece, will say yes as long as you credit or don't claim it as your own.

Lastly, I do not support face claim requirements. Allow me to elaborate. I don't just mean you must have one. But those who demand you use a specific style. Anime, real face etc. And to me, it shows a lack of imagination. Perhaps contentious, but that's my thoughts on the matter. I have the ability to look at an anime picture and construct how they'd look in a different style. I can do the same for those without face claims. Although I get the suspicion this issue isn't limited to the microcosm discussed here and, feasibly is quite ubiquitous. A rant for a different day. Lol

To close it all out, this is mostly my subjective thoughts on the topic and many points underscored throughout the myriad of posts. You're free to disagree, as it isn't law or fact. Either way, I look forward to lurking and reading what follows. Thank you everyone, and have a beautiful day.

 

No way! Faceclaims feel archaic and mostly like a preoccupation of aesthetics over substance.

I mean, I don’t personally see anything wrong with finding faces that look they could fit your character just for some non-serious fun, but you could also use a site like Artbreeder or other AI to get a realistic image, or even just draw or commission a picture of the character. I don’t really understand having stylistic hangups about it, anyway.

 

This is such a fascinating discussion, and seems to reflect what I've experienced in my own RP sites. About half being very concerned about face claims and having a regimented list that is closely curated, and the others not even caring to record them and duplicates can show up as a consequence of player choice.

I don't have a strong opinion either way. While I like being the only person to use a particular face or art, as it strongly associates my character with the visuals that work in my own head, it wouldn't bother me if someone else had the same idea. Especially if our characters don't interact, and it's never occurred for me.

Most sites I see now tend to lean heavy on the claims, often with eclectic rules about who or what I can use for my character. That part is something I dislike heavily, but it's the site choice and mine to join or not. On my own site, I offer a list where players can post their "claim" as it were, but it isn't a dibs or barrier to others. It's just a common record for anyone who wants to be courteous or creative by keeping character faces unique, there's no rule against using someone else's face.