Thoughts on Content Theft

Content Theft, Content Theft, Content Theft...say it three times and it must be true. At least that is the theory of some. If they say it, they claim it, they insist upon it, then it must be true. Right?

One of the larger issues surrounding IW for some people isn't the grid maintenance, it's not the lack of Truth hair or the fact that the prims are so much more tiny or larger then papa grid. It's not the sims that crash, sometimes not being able to figure out the whys behind the crash for a few days. And it's definitely not the ever loving techno-color bug that makes avatars turn into sparkling rainbows.

It's the content theft.

Now, before we go any further and you sit there going "WE DON'T HAVE CONTENT THEFT IN IW!" you may want to take a few deep breaths and read just a bit further. You might even enjoy this post. Although, then again...maybe you won't. Time will tell. It's a long post, so you may want to grab a cup of coffee and get comfy, cause here goes...

It's not an uncommon occurrence to sit in the IW coffee shop, welcoming new residents and a freshly minted person suddenly starts yelling from the freebie area "you stole this stuff!" at anyone willing to listen. These particular people are fond of traveling to different stores and laying into any poor soul who happens to be there claiming they are thieves and will be reported. Sometimes it's after they have de-ruthed themselves into the supposedly stolen content and other times it's done in ruth form. The more interesting part is when they say "That belly button on that skin looks like 'x' skin on papa grid. It's stolen! But I'm not telling...hey anything for good content."

Face palm much?

Before I get into whether or not IW has content theft, I would like lay down a few ground rules for content theft police people, here after referred to as CTPP. Please, if you wish to be taken seriously, at the very least don't use capital letters and shout at anyone. You have seriouz bizness and shouting gets you nowhere. Second, as a content creator myself, I would be mortified if those who liked my products started randomly accusing people based on leaf texture or belly buttons or any other likeness. By all means, drop a note card on the creator with your suspicions and let the creator handle it. I heard a story once where information was dropped on a creator in the papa grid about their alt in IW. You never know who is where and what name they are using. It's always best to keep things on the low lest you embarrass yourself or worse...give a bad name to the content creator you love so much by bad-mouthing their alt.

Now for the Big Question: Does IW have content theft. Let me ask you this...does any virtual world have content theft? If I answer no, would I be lying to you? If I answer yes, would I have a residents of the world after me for lying to you? If I say I don't know...would I be speaking the truth?

I'm going with the last one...at this point...I really don't know. IW has had content issues in the past and the founders have done take downs. They've had drama surrounding some content (due to refusing to take it down until alleged original creator came forward) and then took it down. As to whether they currently have stolen items on their grid...I really can't answer that. You can wave an object in front of my face and scream at me "EVERYONE KNOWS THIS IS 'enter x creator here'!" stomp your feet and demand that I accept it's content theft. The only response you're probably going to get is a blank stare as I tell you to contact the original creator so they can handle the issue properly. Probably because other then a few select creators on the papa grid, I really won't know one from another just because you do and I'm not going to assume others are as knowledgeable about content as you are.

Inworldz takes content theft very seriously. If you suspect someone has stolen from another, please do the right thing and contact who you believe to be the original creator. Proper DMCAs must be filed in order to have a take down completed (rightfully so) and if something has not been taken down, then don't always assume the worst. Creators have no obligation to inform you of their alts, if the item was really theirs or just a similar product to one they make. It is not up to CTPP to decide if something is stolen or not and often, the more you scream about it, blog about it, and throw tantrums about it...the more horrible you look and less seriously you are taken by others. It also makes a mockery of real content theft and makes it that much harder for creators to be taken seriously when true theft actually occurs.

Remember, Inworldz does not want stolen stuff on the grid any more then you do. Please handle the matter like the adults we are supposed to be and do the right thing by reporting it to the original creator. Anything else is immature and lacking of manners with no real accomplishments towards ending content theft.