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Originality: What the hell is it anyway?

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DrThresh's Avatar DrThresh
Retired Moderator
Level 45 : Master Batman
263
Hey, my first PMC blog.

So, I've been reading a few blogs lately, ranging from the blocky skins, to fake pixel art, Hell, even the Hunger Games servers. Every single one of them touches on the idea of originality. Most know where they're coming from, but many don't know what is acceptable.

Originality is the aspect of created or invented works by as being new or novel, and thus can be distinguished from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or derivative works. An original work is one not received from others nor one copied based on the work of others. It is a work created with a unique style and substance. The term "originality" is often applied as a compliment to the creativity of artists, writers, and thinkers. The idea of originality was invented by Romanticism, with a notion that is often called romantic originality.

Excerpt from Wikipedia

Given this description, one would consider many things now to be derivative works of some nature. I'd go into the laws pertaining to it, but it's best to stick with what applies here, to PMC and the creative community as a whole.

Derivative work is basically taking a pre-existing idea or work and basing your work on it. For example: you take a character from a popular anime series and make a skin from it, basing its likeness and features to match the character as close as possible. The work itself is done from scratch, so originality applies. Legally it's still considered derived work.

Another example would be that of a remixed skin. This form of derived work displays the apparent lack of effort in comparison to other skins. Often remixes range from the obvious to the indeterminable (whereupon it becomes judged that there's been enough effort to disguise the fact, it appears to be a completely new skin anyway). Then there are the ones that are completely made from scratch, but the subject material is that there are only a few ways they can be represented, they do end up looking very similar, thus creating the appearance of plagiarism, albeit unintentional. e.g. Link, Ezio, Master Chief etc.

The general rule for Originality here is that you, the creator, did it yourself without any means of third party duplication from other sources.

So why are there rarely any truly original pieces of work around, not just in PMC, but the world in general? One would consider that we've merely come to a point where there is nothing new to think of, given our current situation. Some might say more exploration would lead to more original thinking, However in any given situation, we would normally recall past experience to deal with a new problem, adjusting to fit. No evolution, just adaptation. Humans have been doing that for thousands of years.

Getting back on track, why do we pick things, be it anime, video games or real world as our muses, our inspirations? Because we want to. Whether it's because we like the subject matter very much or figure that it's a popular subject material that you know other people will like and want. Whatever the case may be, we do it because we want to.

Essentially, even if it's based on something else, if you didn't place all the pixels, blocks or words by hand, you're faking it, bro.

Addendum: The Fair Use Policies has it's definitions, my advice is using an age old law called Common Bloody Sense. ^_^
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1
11/21/2013 7:43 pm
Level 3 : Apprentice Explorer
biddyboo8
biddyboo8's Avatar
Hmm, my server is very mixed, but I think it is pretty original. I love inventing things, and not copying that much.
1
08/19/2013 1:52 pm
Level 40 : Master Artist
Giggimish
Giggimish's Avatar
That thumbnail.
1
06/03/2013 9:15 am
Level 42 : Master uwu
Woodstockk
Woodstockk's Avatar
Amazing blog, thank you for a full description :)
1
04/12/2013 11:24 pm
Level 29 : Expert Scribe
_DioM_
_DioM_'s Avatar
This blog is unoriginal in concept. -.-
1
04/12/2013 11:53 pm
Level 45 : Master Batman
DrThresh
DrThresh's Avatar
Quite so. The notion has been repeated ad nauseam, and yet still many just don't get it. So often the best, tried and true way of learning facts is through repetition.
1
09/18/2012 8:01 pm
Level 38 : Artisan Ninja
HeroGuy426
HeroGuy426's Avatar
I just searched my One-eyed K'jurn'ji skin for the monster contest on google and the only thing that popped up was a link to PMC saying, "Recently updated minecraft submissions/skins by HeroGuy426" and "One-eyed K'jurn'ji(MITC contest) Alien from the future different in preview". I must have thought it up with nobody else. Unless somebody else just didn't post it online. And don't say they named it differently because if it isn't named One-eyed K'jurn'ji then it isn't a One-eyed K'jurn'ji. :)
1
08/14/2012 5:41 am
Level 25 : Expert Pixel Painter
Trident3
Trident3's Avatar
Yes, quite. I think that, as you said, we will run out of ideas. Who knows? I have made-up many different worlds, creatures, stories, people, etc, etc. But for all I know, many of them might have been thought of by people all across the world, thinking that they have created a thing that no-one else knows of! To quote Alice:
"Sometimes I think of 6 impossible things before breakfast!"Of course, then she picks up a sword and kills some kind of dragon that breaths lightning.... but It sort of relates to what im talking about.But evenculy, we will run out of ideas. There are only so many "Magical sword", "Amazing Monsters", "Dangerous curses" out there! SO, as long as you don't copy the person.
I.E, if two people come up with the same monster, with the same name, same home-world, etc, etc, then it is ok, as long as they have never heard of the other, and dident do it knowingly.
Thanks for reading-Trident
1
08/14/2012 7:15 am
Level 45 : Master Batman
DrThresh
DrThresh's Avatar
Yes, I believe I mentioned the concept of typical original thinking (a bit down there in the comments). It'll always happen when people come up with ideas, not knowing that it's already been done before. That's why to come up with something truly original, you have to do your research to make sure it hasn't been done before.

Then again, if they're only ideas, it doesn't matter until they're implemented in some form or another, be it written works, digital art, or a technological breakthrough.
1
08/14/2012 7:47 am
Level 25 : Expert Pixel Painter
Trident3
Trident3's Avatar
Yes, I agree. But, (back in wonderland), there are only so many impossible things out there! what if she thinks of all the impossible things in the world? Would everyone else who thinks of an impossible thing be accused of being unoriganl? I hope not! For then there would be no prosses in human evelution! Then again, when we get to that point, we will know every thing.

so, I guess my point is that doing the samething as someone else does not make it unoriginal.

P.S., sorry about the spelling, horrible at it!
1
08/12/2012 7:47 pm
Level 7 : Apprentice Miner
theawesome2
theawesome2's Avatar
*Makes paragraph about originality*
*Uses unoriginal paragraph from wikipedia*
XD
Im just kidding man. Love all your stuff Dr!
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