Stop Stealing: A Lesson in Stock Photography and Copyright

I love stock photos! Not only you don't need to worry about copyright, and they're often more beautiful and diverse than one would imagine, but they don't come with all the baggage famous people have. No issues of typecasting, unwanted implications etc.

However, there's a big drawback - that is to say, most people in the community will only join if they "can have their favourite actor". I have mixed feelings because on the one hand I like doing things my way, on the other, you know, you need members to RP.

 

I love stock photos too! I always make sure the members use images from stock places or they are made to remove the image and find a new one--its not right to take copyrighted images

 

This is quite informative and really needed.

 

It is our job to turn around and dissuade that mentality I think. Don't allow it just because people want it. It's possible to make sites that don't allow any pictures under copywrite. If they won't join cause you won't let them break the law, my next line would be "Alright, there's the door."

Now, if you wanted a more in depth approach that could convince them to stick around, there is one, but it involves talking to them listening to them, identifying what they need out of a roleplay and then offering a way to provide it in a more manageable way.

 

One thing that's happened in the last few years is the rise of AI-based sites where you can generate unique faces like artbreeder.com (photos and painter-style) and waifufactory.com (anime). These new type of sites let you make realistic-looking character images and the images are almost all public domain (since a robot made them) or CC0 (which is a public domain declaration) depending on the site, meaning you can use them in your sites legally, even without credit.

Example: I made this on Artbreeder


Example 2: Generated with StyleGAN 2:


Example 3: Waifulabs

 

I'm not sure if this one has been listed, but https://www.pexels.com/ is licensed so all of their stock photos can be used in a number of ways including for commercial use and can be altered. The way it works is people upload their photos and agree that they may be used by anyone. You don't even need attribution but it's nice if you do. Check it out, and their license isn't a ten pager so it's easy to read and understand.