Galven Solomon said:
We can not argue when Plagiarism/cross overs should stop, since they are rules, we can not break them. If someone uses a characters name, bio, picture, skills, items, from another universe, that is breaking the rules. Something that we can not argue.[/spoiler]
We can, because the rules as written provide no examples, guidelines, or a set standard to be understood or followed outside of "no cross over" roleplay. That is, as written
they are open to interpretation.
So the question I have posed in this thread and gotten no answer from the OP on is this: Who gets to interpret them? Where is the line? Who draws that line? How would that line be enforced?
I think we all agree [member="Kathryn Janeway"] is an example of what the rules prohibit. The name and likeness of Captain Kathryn Janeway, captain of the Federation starship Voyager, as portrayed by actress Kate Mulgrew, is part of the Star Trek trademark owned by CBS/Paramount (
who is currently pursuing a lawsuit against the fan film Star Trek: Axanar on the grounds on copyright infringement. IRL trademarks are no joke.)
However, I don't think we're talking about Kathryn Janeway, or direct ports from an anime into Chaos (
such as Sailor Moon, Son Goku, etc). We're talking about people making a character in our imaginary Star Wars universe here at Chaos and drawing heavily on anime or manga as a source of inspiration for their character. Such as, making a Felucian and turning it into more a kawaii neko cat-girl than a beastial anthropomorphism of a large cat.
That's not black and white.
That's nuanced. The OP's proposal is that SOMEONE (obviously not him since he's never answer the basic question of HOW his ban would be enforced) should say whose interpretations of Star Wars are the correct interpretations, in order to keep it purely Star Wars -- even though the exact appearance of a Felucian
is different in many of their appearances (owning to different comic book artists, their artistic interpretations, etc).
To that, I would again point to [member="Nerius"] who is using the likeness of Kid Buu from Dragonball Z. And I say likeness because it's more than just the avatar. He exhibits the appearance and many of the abilities of Kid Buu's amorphous body. He's not a direct port, but the parallels are clearly there.
How about a non-anime example? In DC Comics, Damian Wayne (as of the Robin, Son of Batman story arc) is an 11 year old ninja and former League of Shadows assassin, turned vigilante and member of the Bat-Family of heros. [member="Boo Chiyo"] is an 11 year old Teras Kasi practitioner and former Primeval agent, turned Jedi Guardian and member of the Silver Jedi Order. Damian's catchphrase is a sound effect, which is just
-tt-. The -tt- appears in at least half of my Boo posts.
Are those enough borrowed elements that Nerius and myself should be banned? Is there a number? Would you propose there be a checklist and each writer gets a limited number of traits, story hooks, plot elements, or character devices that they can bring over from non-Star Wars related franchises?
It is note worthy that the most egregious offender in this is George Lucas. Star Wars is basically 7 Samurai in space with lightsabers. And because of that very fact, I have no idea what "pure Star Wars" would be because its creator has admitted to drawing on external sources of inspiration for his story.
So, for a rule to be enforceable it must first be understood. That being said, how would you explain where the lines are, who gets to interpret them, and HOW would they actually be enforced?
If you're asking for the staff to be the character profile police, that questions been asked and answered already. So it would have to be something different from that.