Sell character pictures for Gil?

Hi Balmung! I wasn't sure where exactly to answer this but the community section seems to best fit. So here is a small question.

I'm an artist who does commission work. I draw a lot of anime/manga styled characters for my normal customers. I recently heard that there's a small hand full of artists on 14 that offers to draw people's characters for Gil and RL cash.

I think advertising myself within a game I love is really neat to do but is it ok? Like selling Gil for real cash is bad but is it bad to use Gil to buy something real? In my head I think it's ok since no one is using real cash to enhance their gameplay experience in any way but you know... im not the one who makes the rules, I just follow them :P

I'll have a follow up question depending on what kind of answers I get :3

And if you are wondering, the idea i had is just simply " Gimmie gil and ill draw your character(s)"

I'm pretty sure this falls into the category of RMT. You're charging in-game currency for an out-of-game service even if not straight up swapping cash for virtual cash. Your finished projects still have real-world value and therefore are placing a price on the Gil you ask for.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sakuraluna

I'm pretty sure this falls into the category of RMT. You're charging in-game currency for an out-of-game service even if not straight up swapping cash for virtual cash. Your finished projects still have real-world value and therefore are placing a price on the Gil you ask for.

---

Also I believe there would also be copy right infringement, everything in the game is copy written I do believe and would be illegal to reproduce in any form for payment of any sort.

Thanks for the reply. I guess ill just stick to drawing my friends characters when they threaten me to then |D

Also for Amalon, it's really easy to dodge copyright infringement for character and clothing designs. it's just a matter of tweaking things. only thing you really need to do is change a bow design or how the sleeve patterns are. If it wasn't then there would be a whole lot more lawsuits going on in between creators and designers :/

Edit: Well shite! My lawyer friend ( no i didn't go to a lawyer, i just happen to have a friend who went to school to be one XD) just gave me an ear full about this. This can't fall under the Real Money Transfer bit because there is no real money being exchanged. My art may have value but that value is judged by me and not anyone else. It was explained to me that I can set a value of a picture of mine to 1 million gil but since gil has no real monetary value then there is no RMT

strange though.... if I were to do this then would that make the Gil actually worth something? *gasp* Could it become a new Bitcoin from this :O. Lol this kind of sounds like an interesting discussion since this is the exact opposite of RMT XD

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sakuraluna

I'm pretty sure this falls into the category of RMT. You're charging in-game currency for an out-of-game service even if not straight up swapping cash for virtual cash. Your finished projects still have real-world value and therefore are placing a price on the Gil you ask for.

---

Its actually the opposite of RMT, RMT involves paying real money for in game items and services (such as buying gil), whereas this is paying in game money for real world services (something which SE can't really do much about as it is just an in game trade).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AmalonStar

Also I believe there would also be copy right infringement, everything in the game is copy written I do believe and would be illegal to reproduce in any form for payment of any sort.

---

It is a copyright grey area. It is very easy to argue fair use ESPECIALLY when the payment is not actually legal tender. If fair use didn't exist I'm pretty sure that etsy, deviantart, redbubble, and other fan art/craft websites would be shut down very quickly.

To answer your question OP, its a grey area legally that more often than not has you in the right, but I cannot speak for SE's policy on such activity as it is quite a unique case, though if you were to do it, I would recommend only doing it for people that you know and trust (and who trust you) to avoid any unnecessary GM disputes.

Hey Lambda. Thanks for coming in right when i was editing my post about this XD. Yea, i've played with that gray area a lot over the years with designs :P. But my services are gonna be very limited anyways. I know a lot of people who wanna give me an alternative way of pay for my pics besides real cash and i figure id share that opportunity with the good people of Balmung who might not have $75+ bucks to spare but sit on a mountain of Gil XD

I actually see this kind of thing more on tumblr then here or in game.
i've had by alt drawn a few times.

would love to see the OP style to see if I like it and maybe have some work for them

Sure Ageofwar. Fair warning though. my gallery is quite full of oversized boobs( no porn though. i don't do that). A lot of people from that side of the internet hire me for that stuff and a lot of my gallery is dictated by what group of people is throwing cash at me. One of the reasons im also trying to spread over to this community is so i can get some people to help me balance my gallery some more |D I need to draw more cool dynamic things like dragoons, paladins and red mages 8D

http://kojiro-brushard.deviantart.com/ this is my gallery. im currently working on a more presentable picture to share with the community here though. More people must learn of Wynn of the Moogle Fist!
... why am i still awake. it's past 5 am here DX

here so you dont have to go digging too deep :P. just a couple of things ive made

http://kojiro-brushard.deviantart.co...urei-646797953

http://kojiro-brushard.deviantart.co...mont-641900939

http://kojiro-brushard.deviantart.co...hour-642516212

http://kojiro-brushard.deviantart.co...Call-629153322

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kojiro_Brushard

snip

---

Wow Kojiro, your art is really really good!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kojiro_Brushard

snip

---

you might want to check your notes on Devianart when you wake up

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lambdafish

It is a copyright grey area. It is very easy to argue fair use ESPECIALLY when the payment is not actually legal tender. If fair use didn't exist I'm pretty sure that etsy, deviantart, redbubble, and other fan art/craft websites would be shut down very quickly.

---

I don't know a lot about copywriting I just know that it is illegal to reproduce something that was created by someone else that has their design, characters, intellectual property ect.

I do understand there are ways around it all thus being a bit of a grey area so it could go either way. The best thing to do would be to contact SE and ask permission to do this to avoid getting yourself into trouble.

Copyright is one thing, and SE doesn't seem to care much about it, to be honest. Fanart, videos, and such is quite allowed and seemingly encouraged.
But RMT is another. While yes, not real money is exchanged, goods are. Trading gil for anything outside of the game hasn't ever been allowed, even if they do generally only use "money" or "Currency" in their descriptions. (also including a nice 'but not limited to' somewhere in there)

Your art is great and I love the style, I hope you'll make many people happy with it. The last thing I'd want to see you is getting in trouble because of it! :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AmalonStar

I don't know a lot about copywriting I just know that it is illegal to reproduce something that was created by someone else that has their design, characters, intellectual property ect.

---

Again another grey area. What is being reproduced is a character created by a player in the character creator, there is another layer of fair use regarding the subject of the artwork being created by the player, not SE. If it were a picture of y'shtola, minfilia or Ysale then you would have a point, but player created characters? I'm not so sure.



Edit: I was browsing the terms of service OP, and while you are ok on trading and copyright, there are a few areas that might cause problems for you, these being:

- 2.3 Commercial Use. You may not exploit the Game for any commercial purpose (for example, advertising any product or service in-game, or use by the operator of a cyber café) without Square Enix's prior written consent.

- 2.8 Commercial Spamming/Spimming. You may not use (or abuse) the in-game chat and message services to distribute advertisements.

This is why I suggested only offering this service to people you trust, as if someone did report you, you are technically advertising a real world service (whether it is paid in gil or cash), which IS against the TOS. What I would suggest though is offering your service on the FFXIV reddit page, as their rules are much more lax, and they support that kind of thing.

Ah yes. I do have those 2 bullets covered :). though more along the fact that I wasn't gonna go to one of the active RP areas and spam Yells and shouts XD. I was gonna tackle the deviantart forums and reddit. If anyone on this forum ( like ageofwar) personally asks from curiosity then of course id share on the spot |D. Thank you Lambda and others for being so helpful~ Time to make more players happy 8D!