Subject: On the Subject of What-Ifs
Author:
Posted on: 2016-10-20 23:12:00 UTC
I think that perhaps the stolen OCs would simply be returned to their original fan-canon. It makes the most sense to me, seeing as they're OCs and are not part of the original canon.
Seeing as how agents deal with canons being replaced or taken out of their continuum with putting them back I wonder.
How would the agents handle if an oc was stolen for a fanfic they were on a mission for?
Would it be considered a replacement or could the oc have the uncanon influences removed and sent back to their own rps and fanfics? Could the agents even be able to tell if the oc was taken from someone else? How would the oc have gotten there?
I ask because as someone who is modding a DR Oc group someone aped an oc and had stolen the design of an down to even tracing the art for the oc and copying their talent. They didn't get into the group obviously but it makes me wonder about what would happen if something like that occurred in a fanfic. I've seen rp groups who have had to kick people out for stealing ocs too.
Note that this would apply even to writers who don't know using others oc designs and art for their own oc isn't okay.
I think that perhaps the stolen OCs would simply be returned to their original fan-canon. It makes the most sense to me, seeing as they're OCs and are not part of the original canon.
I used someone else's fanmade Pokemon designs, with permission of course, but then I had to drop the fic later on because of college. In-universe, I returned all the fakemon species and the other person's characters to their original owner and region (partly due to the fact that he was starting to update their designs at the time, and still is), and then destroyed the fic and everything else in it.
For my taste, though, using or copying someone else's OC for use in RPs or fanfics is a very insulting gesture TBH. If I see such a move in any of the communities I'm currently participating in, including the PPC, somebody will soon be eating their own teeth.
Are you going to start at the top, with Jay and Acacia's recruitment of Ranger? Or maybe something more recent, like my sneaking off with Arwen/Hypatia?
What's your plan for when the recruitment was done by someone other than the person who used the character? Do I get punched for Ithalond too, or are you going to be hunting down Tungsten_Monk? And who gets the blame for Ilraen - Twiggy or Neshomeh?
Please, do tell - I'm excited to hear all the plans behind your random threats of violence towards your fellow PPCers.
hS
Recruitment is understandable and certainly done with credit, and heck, I have an agent based on someone else's character (Rayner, based off Trotsworth's genderbent Rainbow Dash) AND have recruited someone else's OC at least once (though granted, I handed V.R. off to a fellow Boarder afterward). The difference, though, is that in all of these cases I openly cited where all these characters came from or were derived from. It's when someone uses someone else's character WITHOUT CREDITING THE ORIGINAL CREATOR that things get ugly. Replacements are of course exceptional due to being derived from a canon, but use of someone's fanmade OC without credit technically DOES qualify as plagiarism. You both are on the same tier, so to speak.
I am so sorry that I failed to clarify this from the beginning. I know I should've, and darn it, I WANTED to, but I pressed the post reply button too early and I can't edit Board posts. WHY, BOARD, WHY?! DX
Namely, when a PPCer recruits a character, they don't remain the exact same character. The badfic version and the PPC version share certain superficial traits, but the whole point, IMO, is to take the kernel of an idea that was done badly and show how it could be done well.
Ilraen, for instance, is not the same Andalite who showed up for one line in a fanfic to give some OC morphing powers. He did that thing, but that other guy was just a one-dimensional bit character without so much as a name. Ilraen is, I devoutly hope, much more than that. You couldn't say at this point that they're the same character.
Same goes for Derik. He had a bit more to his badfic origin, but Derik is not the same guy as E'rik, because he has an inner life with conflicts all his own. E'rik... doesn't. He was just there to look impressive and play backup to the main Sue of the story. Derik remembers being Weyrleader to Alanna's Weyrwoman... but he remembers a lot more about having been a harper and a generic bronzerider, none of which was actually in the fic; and he also has these strange moments where the fact that he's a Phantom photocopy seems to go further than skin-deep, and they freak him out.
Even Gall, who's the most similar to her badfic counterpart, I wouldn't say is the same character. Luga is a generic schoolyard bully who bullies for the sake of bullying with no real rhyme or reason to it. Gall is a self-centered jerk who likes to throw her weight around (such as it is), but she's also perceptive, insightful, and intelligent; she respects power, loves her dragon, and wants to jump her partner's bones if he'll ever take a hint. Her best friend is Gremlin, and they like to bond over raucous girls' nights and physical activities such as AHAIRQ and the PPC Hunger Games. They're different people.
At best, you could say these characters were inspired by their badfic counterparts. They share similar origins, but nothing more. And that, I think, is how you avoid plagiarism. Credit to the original not required.
~Neshomeh
Thanks for clarifying.
As to why you can't edit Board posts - if you desperately want that ability, you can post and ask the Board's opinion (it's an option that can be enabled for logged-in users, I think). But I will argue vehemently against it, on the grounds that a) we've had enough bad apples around that letting them alter their posts is asking for 'no I never said that you bully', and b) acknowledging and discussing your mistakes is far more in the PPC spirit than just deleting them. (Oh, and c) I hate the idea of losing information - any information.)
hS