It’s an interesting situation at the moment because we can mark our textures as private, which shows we don’t want people to reuse them. What happens with these private textures is when a person downloads the items, the texture doesn’t show in their textures options within the game. The texture is still downloaded to the player’s computer so the item will appear properly in their game, though, so if they go to the file’s location, they can just take it and import it themselves, and then the system gives them credit for the texture. That’s a thing and obviously people will do that.
The way I handle things right now is that I upload hoping people will be respectful and knowing that some definitely won’t be. Currently, I upload things with the full knowledge that they will probably be stolen by someone. There are certain things I just won’t upload.
But for the most part, I want to share my creative ideas and visions with others and I would certainly prefer that the items can only be used in the game by the person who downloads them. I want them to enjoy the wall art, outfits, zois, buildings, or whatever and even change things however they want to, but just not to re-upload.
The way things are going (larger creators stealing content from smaller creators, and getting the stolen items showcased on the in-game loading screens), it’s making me not want to upload anything at all.
I think if the devs can come up with a system to actually prevent unwanted re-uploading of creations, it would help so many people feel comfortable to share their creations that took a lot of work.
I understand what you mean, and I think this really shows how mixed the current system is.
On one hand, it is actually helpful for players who are trying to be respectful. If private textures do not appear in the in-game texture options, then for someone like me that would make things much easier. I could treat the visible textures as the ones that are okay to use, while the hidden ones simply would not become part of my own creative process.
On the other hand, I completely agree with you that this still does not solve the real problem if people can go into the folders, take those textures anyway, and then re-import them as if they were their own. That should not be possible.
What I find especially frustrating is that people who want to be careful and respectful are trying to work within the system, while people who want to steal can still get around it. That is exactly why I think the game needs much better protection for creators.
And honestly, I do not really understand the mindset behind intentionally stealing someone else’s work just to claim it as your own. I understand wanting likes or recognition, but it is still sad to see people do that in a creative community.
So I really think we need a system that both helps respectful players and actually protects creators properly.
There might be some options they could implement that potentially wouldn’t be foolproof either would be to download Private textures to a hidden folder and read-only files.
Currently, textures are accompanied by a file with some data including the creator (that used to bug out at times and credit other creators!), and it shows if it’s imported, or what the prompt was to create the texture with the game’s image generator. THIS SHOULD NOT EXIST, in my opinion. For one, prompts should be private (I’ve made some very nice inZOI-generated patterns and artwork that tiles by using somewhat complex prompts) even though reusing a prompt will only produce the same image if the same random seed is applied, but running a prompt multiple times and keeping the best results makes sense to me. I got some of my favourite textures that way.
Not everyone who creates with AI want to keep prompts private, BUT I think all of that information should be included as meta data in the texture file, and there should be meta data applied to all additional things that are uploaded to Canvas. For the images, they would need to have a way to detect meta data tampering, but they seem to have that with the photo mode in the game. I’ve never been able to upload a modified image with a lot (such as a floor plan image edited to add text labels to rooms) or other upload.
I think if meta data is applied to lots and all other uploads, that would prevent people from just saving a new preset of something they downloaded that has “protected” as part of its meta data, nor delete everything with a lot and build an entirely new thing without starting with a blank stale and upload the new creation. While the latter is particularly restrictive, the game can let players know that modifying another person’s creation doesn’t change ownership, no matter how much it is modified, so always start with a clean slate in the Build Studio, or click the bulldoze button to completely delete a building before you build on a lot, or you might not be able to share your creation on Canvas.
Ideally, any preset a person downloads that has meta data like “Protected” should also be clearly marked in the game as not for re-upload.
Embedding meta data, plus putting “protected” downloads into a hidden folder with read only properties, could be a much easier solution than blockchain technology, but I don’t know that for sure. It’s just my best guess considering what I know about computers.
It should be that anything a creator wants to protect is clearly marked in the player’s game, so they know everything else is fine to use and re-upload in any form. Additionally, anything a creator wants to keep protected should be protected to the greatest extent the company can reasonably do.
I know what you mean. It’s clear that some want the likes, downloads, and feeling of popularity, but they know they didn’t earn it. I can’t imagine wanting attention so much you would steal it from someone else. I am a small creator, and I know if something happened to me like what happened to VIBES, and I was forced to see my creation with someone else’s name on it right on loading screens I have to see all the time… I would not upload to Canvas any more.
Exactly this! I fully understand being proud of something you have created and have worked for hours and hours to make / build it. And then if you are happy with the result of course it is nice to see when others like your work too via downloads, likes etc.
But how can you have this feeling if you did not create it yourself but just stole it from somebody else? And only for attention? Does not make any sense to me.
Fully agree: if I would see my houses shown to me in Canvas as a creation from somebody else like it was for @VIBES and even without credit, I would likely also reconsider if to upload at all.
It was really frustrating when one of my buildings was uploaded again and I saw the download numbers there. It’s not a problem if someone makes changes and uploads it for their own personal use. But taking credit for someone else’s work is shabby behavior, as has already been mentioned elsewhere. We’re happy to share, but inZoi needs to take action.
Well, regarding the texture issue, I didn’t mean to downplay it. Anyway, it would be enough if things marked as “private” were actually private when others download the creation that has this label
See - this I don’t agree with - you can save the build or creation to your own personal library without uploading to Canvas. People are not dumb - they know when they reupload to Canvas. My build was credited and all but I did say no reuploads in my description and they went ahead and reuploaded it anyway and this I find unacceptable and I really hope the Developers can change this.
@Starwing I’m a small creator too and this is why it pains me so much - the likes and downloads matter to us and I don’t want to see this behaviour anymore
@VIBES Thank you for pointing that out. I’m afraid I didn’t make myself clear. I agree with you. I’ve added the following to my description: Please don’t reupload, especially to paid sites or claim it as your own.
It’s actually really sad that we are forced to do this and have to police our creations like this but if we can get an option to allow or not allow reuploading of our creations - it will be happy days again
@EllaEstella@Starwing I don’t download private textures because I build and share my builds on Canvas but I still love to show my support and will like and comment on nice creations.
@VIBES That is very much my point too. I do not use those textures either, but with so many assets involved, it is still possible to overlook something. That is why I basically always exclude all downloaded textures when I start building a house or creating a Zoi. So at least it helps that we have a filter separating textures from Canvas downloads and the ones we imported ourselves.
Still, I really hope the system will improve. There are many different kinds of creators and players in this community. Some focus on building, others on Zois, others on items, pictures, or textures, and some mostly enjoy downloading content without uploading anything themselves. Not everyone contributes in the same way, and I think that kind of creative variety is actually one of the best things about a community like this.
I do not know what the perfect solution would be, but I do think there should be a system that fully protects creators who never want to see any part of their work uploaded again, while also leaving room for creators who are comfortable with others using their work as long as clear credit is given.
To me, the ideal solution would be one that protects boundaries clearly, but still supports the idea of sharing and creativity in a way that works for different kinds of players and creators.
@VIBES yesterday, I told my husband about the situation and showed him your creation without telling him yet what happened. He commented on the images and I pointed out how long it takes to make even one room so detailed. Once he was thoroughly impressed, I told him it got downloaded and re-uploaded by someone else. He reacted instantly with, “How can this be?! That’s someone’s intellectual property and you can’t just steal that.” I agreed, and when I told him about the loading screens he didn’t even have words—just a complex facial expression. I know he was shocked and appalled that it was even possible.
I thought I would share the reactions of someone who has no involvement in the game.
@VIBES@EllaEstella I never use anyone else’s textures either. I never create a zoi by modifying another person’s zoi or face preset either.
Every time I upload one of my Let’s Play videos, I showcase someone’s mod-free zoi, face, makeup, outfit, or style preset. I’m very picky (unless a viewer wants to share one of their creations), and no matter what type of preset I downloaded to showcase, I delete it as soon as I’m done recording the showcase. I make it easy on myself by having my inZOI creations folders display creations by their modified date. That way, even private textures are deleted.
The process I use makes it easy for me, but it would also make it easy for people to take other peoples’ textures. Without adding meta data to the texture images, people can just take them and re-import them. That strips away the identity of the original creator. I know people do this even when the texture itself is available for public use. Adding meta data still doesn’t prevent other forms of copying images (which I won’t mention, but I’m sure content thieves would know it, but I don’t want to tell them if they didn’t think of it themselves).
However, even if a protection system isn’t 100% foolproof, I think it’s important for the company to do everything in its power to prevent content theft and improve the reporting process. Any upload that has multiple reports for copy violations should get hidden by the system once a certain number of reports are made, and then a human moderator can check the content reports and make a final decision about removal and potential punishment/penalty to the offending account.
I’ve been reading the Canvas Content Agreement and it’s important to clarify something: while KRAFTON has a license to use our work, the agreement states that ‘Users shall own the User Contents’ (Section 1) and explicitly prohibits uploading content that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others (Section 3).
When someone re-uploads a creation with minimal or no changes, they are violating these terms. It’s not just about the ‘original author’ tag at the bottom; it’s about the lack of a Report Plagiarism tool. I have seen my own creations being re-uploaded up to 5 times by other users just to farm likes.
Furthermore, according to the Canvas Guidelines, users must respect the rights of others. If original work isn’t protected, the Canvas stops being a safe space to share.
It’s exhausting to feel like a ‘police officer’ constantly monitoring your own content for theft. Even worse, the current layout makes it easy to accidentally support a stolen creation because the original author’s name is hidden at the very bottom. We shouldn’t have to fear being robbed every time we hit ‘upload’.
We need real protection to keep this community creative and safe.
I’m always happy to receive textures and love giving them a like. I use downloaded textures in my buildings, but when I upload a building, I replace them because - despite crediting the creator - I would otherwise be opening the door to misuse of others’ work.
And as Lixy noted… Quote: “We need real protection to keep this community creative and safe.”
