Made my responses in the form!
This will be left up for a few days so everyone can have a chance to get their thoughts in.
I'm currently reviewing a change in our fandom character ruleset in light of feedback regarding fandom characters. This was supposed to be a reply to the following thread, but I thought it'd be better to split it off into an official thread for better visibility: https://toyhou.se/~forums/14.suggestions-bugs/95652.-rules-edit-kin-characters-albums
To clarify, our current rules do not disallow upload of fan-characters as long as the canon permits derivative content, the characters are correctly credited, and all fanart is being used with permission. The reason being that up until now I haven't minded this platform being used for fandom RP.
I'm up for changing the site rules if fandom characters are a nuisance, but just wanted to verify since there seems to be some confusion: do people want both canon characters and derivative characters banned, or just canon characters? Where these are defined as the following:
- Canon characters:
- EG: Re-uploading Naruto with no changes made to his design or history (usually includes GIFs and screenshots from the anime or copy pasted paragraphs from the character's wiki page)
- Derivative characters:
- Any characters derivative from canon content - this includes:
- Explicit redesigns (eg. Naruto as a dog or furry)
- Characters that're described as an OC or sona but resemble the canon character in both personality and appearance or cosplay them 24/7
- Personalised playable MCs (eg. customised Kamui/Robin, Frisk, Gudako/Gudao)
- Personalised pet site/game characters (eg. FlightRising dragons, Neopet/Subeta/ChickenSmoothie pets)
- Characters belonging to a canon species (eg. pokemon OCs, LOZ OCs)
- Characters belonging to a canon setting (eg. BNHA/Hogwarts OCs that use the school uniform taken from canon designs)
- This is quite a wide range, so if you have specific thoughts on what you find unacceptable or acceptable for a derivative character that'd also help with gauging the community's opinion for the new ruleset.
- Any characters derivative from canon content - this includes:
I won't be making this a poll; please do post if you have feedback even if you just want to add a +1 to banning one or both of the options.
For people who would prefer not to post in thread but would still like some input, I've popped up a Google form where you can drop off your feedback: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeaQVmEpF1r8vAqEoHomYa7u_2cMcpoXWKBfhVDjpPWaNQwJg/viewform
Keep Kinsona's / Self-Inserts / Fan Oc's / Pokemon Oc's/gjinkas and the rest gone. It's that simple, Idk why this is an issue, it's not a bannable offense either.
As long as people credit where it comes from as well.
I have filled out the google form on my end but I really do have to say that I don't see a problem in Toyhouse's current set of rules. If there are people that don't wish to see any sort of derivative character, then they should block the character(s). I don't feel like there is this massive influx of characters either based or in a canon setting for this to be seen as such a big issue. Maybe it's just my luck, but I have never seen a character on the random page under those terms(nor canon character for that matter). I think people are making it seem like a much bigger issue than is actually is, as there are people who are using this site for far worst matters that go against the rules already in place.
Responded to the form!
Honestly I'm only here to save my WoW RP characters from being wiped as I store their TRP profiles here lol
Canon characters being banned makes sense. But anything derivative does not as even naruto drawn as a furry can be considered fair use from a legal standpoint.
Other than that it really just feels like a lot of people getting upset over others having fun- plus you need to factor in the logistics of moderating something like this.
At the end of the day i think banning any derivative work is a bad idea. Itd cause more work for moderators, squash any kind of ocs made with "inspiration" from an anime character, etc. It can become very gatekeepy- and then we have to go over people posting things such as, for example, their ffxiv characters. Does that also count as a no go under these rules? Technically they were designed by the creator but still use armors, clothes, and lore belonging to square enix.
Also just thr fact someone could make an oc from a very unpopular/underground anime and no one would notice.
Im not active in the th community but, if this does become a rule, where is the line drawn between naruto as a furry vs. A furry ninja who happens to be blonde and like ramen? Technically its not naruto. But people could still throw a fuss and report it.
These changes just seem unneccissary if th is not in any legal trouble and that the only problem is that it annoys a few people.
Alright so; I won't go on too long but here's a bit of my opinion on a few things. Re-posting actual canon characters by themselves should totally be banned, as this website is not in any way a place to store a kin folder? For example re-posting a bunch of pictures of some random anime character that you in no way own is technically theft despite a character belonging to a big series that won't see it.
Now the deal with kinsonas or canon character-based furries is that for most part the designs take inspiration from clothing style to hairstyle; I myself am fictionkin and honestly don't take it as seriously as the next person, but I know for sure that some people may treat it like it's a major part of their life. Not only that but like I said before, kinsona and character-based designs will only go as far as basing hairstyle, clothing, and a color palette at most, markings features and many other aspects of it, the design and art would be 100% original except for kin or other purposes the person chooses to add features of existing canon characters; this itself is as long as the creator doesn't deny the fact that the character they've uploaded is in fact based.
I don't have much important opinions on the others but not only does that apply to the other polls but I feel like it should be heard from both sides of the story, people that would in this case get their characters removed, and people unaffected alike.
Now I skimmed over this and wrote it really quickly, I'm open for discussion in any case.
Oh boy this thread looks like it's a mess and I haven't read it all but I just have to give my own two cents.
I... really don't care. Expies and filing the serial numbers off has been a thing for ages. I'd be okay with a ban of 100% canon characters, and tbh I didn't even realize that AU versions of canon characters were allowed either, but I'm not down with anything else being banned. I am guilty as charged of being inspired by other characters, and some of my characters started off as fandom AUs before I went "you know, this isn't even them anymore" and just made it original but mostly kept their look. I also have characters from a fandom AU set in the future where everybody is clones that look just like the canon characters, so I don't even know where that would stand.
tl;dr just leave it be unless you're afraid of any legal issues. It's literally just a thumbnail unless you click it so I don't get the big deal. I'm not viewing this from a selling and trading perspective, though, because I'm not really involved in that.