I was just browsing Flickr when I learned that there are authors that don’t feel good about making pictures of their builds. The following quote (also the avatar and sim in the image) is of AM Radio but it seems this is somewhat a widespread issue:
I might sound extreme, but I’m really conscious of what I’m trying to do with my builds. They are extremely personal to me.
That’s what makes his builds so great. And yes, it sounds extreme. This is not about copyright and the IP rights on second life creations, it’s more about life of an art piece.
Many artists feel that their works are their children. And they are damn right about it. But we have to let our children go outside and live. We might know our kids the best, but it’s a crime to keep them enclosed in a room, for nobody to see them. And once they go outside and live, many things will happen. They will influence the people, and they might be photographed or used in some other people’s works. Maybe they will be snapshoted or filmed, maybe somebody will make an event or set up a roleplay scene there, maybe it will inspire music or a story. Those derivative works might be more or less successful, some will be loved by the original author, some will not. But it’s always a compliment. Nobody takes pictures of ugly sims.
Once that a piece of artwork is finished and ready for the audience, it really starts living. And (hopefully) it starts to influence people. That’s what art is all about. If the idea catches the eye of an another artist, it might provoke a new piece of art. That means that the idea grows. This is especially true in second life. Many pieces of art here are not to be enclosed in a glass box with "don’t touch" sign. On contrary, they are here for us to walk through them, to interact and live them. That’s what makes this world so charming. Of course there will be a lot of snapshots around. For many residents that’s the way they really experience the world and creations inside it.
I like what you say, dandellion, sounds nice, even poetic. I know is only an opinion, and as opinion is interesting, acceptable and worthy… but exactly the same interesting, acceptable and worthy than AM’s one.
I think creators have the right to choose if they want to share or not their works, and is not a legal thing, is what i really think not considering the laws, is what i consider fair and right. Creators have can choose different licensing on their works… from the pure "All rights reserved" to the options of Creative Commons. AM seems to prefer the pure copyright, i think is totally up to him and i think the rest should respect that, is his right, not only legally.
Personally, most of my works are Creative Commons licensed (attribution-non commercial-share alike), but some works, for personal reasons are "All rights reserved" becuase they are special for me… or too personal someway… or just are a "gift" i’m creating specially for somebody important for me and i don’t want it to be modified by another creator.
You’re right, it’s not about law, it’s about what’s right and what might be a good practice. In that matter, I do respect author’s possibility to choose the further destiny of their works.
And, you probably guess, I wrote this one to try to push sharing atmosphere of second life a bit further ;)
/me shares a cheezburger with dandellion… ;-)