FINAL ADDENDUM 03/03/2008 @ 2:00 p.m.
Okies, this is getting old already and since the Skin Fair has already kicked RG out I’d really prefer to just drop the subject already.
I feel the need to clear a few things, however, since some misinformed people seem to think that my blog is ruining some innocent person’s reputation. This final update to this post will prove otherwise, and then — finally — that will be that.
Before I start, there was a comment someone had made that I found pretty disturbing:
This fight isn’t yours, we don’t have the right to judge or not if someone stole or not naughty’s work… Let’s leave this to whom it may concern - the creator of the ripped skins and the people who in fact are selling it stolen.
Wow. Not our fight, huh? Tell me, what would your Second Life look like if it weren’t for these talented artists creating content that we make use of every time we’re in SL? Sorry, but no, when theft of intellectual property occurs, it’s not just the concern of the person who was stolen from, it’s something that affects all of us. I would prefer for my favorite content creators to happily remain in SL and continue beautifying my virtual surroundings, instead of taking off in disgust over ongoing theft problems. Not our concern, my ass… I’d like to see this person say that to all the fashionistas who went stir crazy over the prospect of not seeing any new Minnu skins!
Okay, enough of that. On to the screenshots that prove the alina skin base was used in the skins “candy”, “interrupted girl”, and “moon” by RG. (I’m pretty sure there were yet other skins by RG using the stolen texture as well; I saw some more for sale but there were no demos available for them and I certainly wasn’t about to spend 1000L to verify.)
These screenshots include notes pointing out where the skins are identical; you will also be able to view my inventory so that you can see for yourself that I am wearing the skin being displayed (item is in bold and will say “worn” next to it); the properties dialogue box of the inventory item is also clearly on display to leave no question as to who the creator of the skin is.
Here are the SLURLs to the shops where you can still find RG’s skin with the ripped texture, up for sale… but for those lacking common sense, may I point out the obvious once more — RG can go to these locations and delete the skins in question at any time, so just because you go there and don’t see it doesn’t mean it was never there. For those who need to actually see proof, the screenshots below are for your benefit.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Liberty%20Central%20N/215/92/51
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sanctuary%20Rock/12/96/34
Clicking on the screenshots will take you to the larger versions so that you may see in more detail.
Detail on right breast:
Detail on the butt:
Detail on the torso:
Detail on the left thigh:
Detail on the foot:
Proof that these skins were available at several of RG’s satellite shops:
Proof that they are, in fact, for sale:
And finally, proof that RG had to have been aware for some time that his skins use a stolen Naughty texture, regardless of how he originally obtained it. Revenge edited his profile roughly a day or so ago to conceal this evidence, but thanks to the way the new Search tool works, the older version of his profile was still cached for several hours and I was able to grab a screencap of the text:
Interesting how RG says that the other store owners have been to his main store and confirmed there were no stolen items there. Duh, that’s because the stolen stuff was only to be found at satellite shops that RG did not list in his profile. So there you have it. If you still hold to the belief that RG was innocent in all of this, you’re a moron.
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ADDENDUM 03/01/2008 @ 8:25 p.m.
Wow, so many reactions to this post; where to start?
All right, first thing I’d like to do is correct the misconception that I’ve deleted any comments made by others at my blog. Everyone is free to agree, disagree, whatever — it’s all good, and I’m not going to censor any of it. However, I absolutely will not tolerate comment spam or any really obvious trolling, and my method for controlling this is to use comment moderation. How does this affect you? All it means is that if you’re commenting on my blog for the first time ever, your comment(s) will not be posted immediately. This enables me to view it first so that I can make sure you are abiding by my rules regarding spamming and trolling. Because I was gone for most of today, there was a small bit of a comment backlog going back almost twelve hours.
Okay, next order of business: I’d like to address Aradia’s comments regarding the removal of “Designer RD” and about Carl’s character. I’m really glad to hear that the designer in question was removed, because as I’ve stated in the original post (which you can see below here after the block of blue-formatted text), the texture theft was glaringly obvious. Like, really really really really really obvious.
I never meant to imply that Carl’s demeanor throughout my conversation was ever anything less than polite, because he was very polite the whole time. With that said, I’d like to remind everyone that I did not pull the conversation I had with him out of thin air. He really did state quite plainly that he was not going to kick Designer RG out of the fair, and yes he really did make that comment about most skin designers using Renderosity and then posed the “who is REALLY ripping someone off” question right after making that assertion.
It is interesting to note that Aradia wrote, “It is wrong to sit there and accuse him of wrong doing, he is not a mind reader, nor does he keep tabs on every single skin designer on the grid.” Yes, quite right — that would be a monumental task, and my thanks goes out to Aradia for making my point for me! This is the reason why I contacted him in the first place. Of course I don’t expect him to be aware of every skin designer out there, and it’d be ludicrous for anyone to assume that he’d be able to identify every case of texture theft that might pass before him… call me crazy but I was actually trying to be helpful when I IM’d this information in the first place.
I’d like to remind everyone once again that my choice to not attend the the Skin Fair was in no way reflective upon the other skin designers involved, and while I understand the ideas expressed by several of the comments left by various skin designers in this post, I will not make any apologies for my original intent to boycott. Folks, this is how boycotts work — they are not meant to be half-assed, weakly performed protestations; they are strong and vocal and designed with the intent of getting one’s point across in a very noticeable manner. This is my voice, and this is how I choose to wield it.
Countering this are some compelling arguments made by Annyka Bekkers of Blowpop who wrote, “… I am extremely uncomfortable with third parties acting on the designer’s behalf, no matter how well-meaning. There’s too much potential for mistaken accusations and ruined reputations, which we’ve seen too many times in the past… “
I agree with what Annyka says, which in my mind should serve all the more to underscore just how obvious the texture theft in this case really is. I would not go on record saying Designer RG is using a texture that actually really belongs to the Naughty designers unless I were 1,000% sure of it… and really, that is how sure I am. I invite you all to go see the proof for yourselves (and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the designer goes and deletes the evidence unless they are deliberately waiting for a DMCA takedown and hoping to profit in the timebeing):
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Piccadilly%20Circus/14/90/25
Pick up the demos for the candy skin, the interrupted girl skin, and the moon skin, and then compare it with an Alina demo from Naughty.
Those SLURLs are also for the benefit of those people who’d gone to the main store and found nothing. Designer RG has only his/her main location listed in Picks and Classified, but there are other satellite locations that you won’t see in his/her profile. This place at Piccadilly Circus is one of them.
In closing of this addendum, I’d like to make it clear that in light of Aradia’s announcement that the designer in question has since been removed, I’m no longer advocating a boycott of the Skin Fair.
And now, on to the post as it had originally appeared…
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Okay, before I say anything else? I struggled with whether I was going to post this at all because I am pretty sure it’s going to invite the kind of attention I’d rather not have. I mean, after I got a taste of how some bloggers reacted to even the faintest notion that their traffic might get diverted away from their sites, I can tell you straight off that I MUCH prefer to sticking to writing about pretty clothes that make me happy.
I feel, however, that this is a subject that just cannot be swept under the rug. So here goes…
If you keep up with the Second Life fashion blogging scene at all, you’ve probably noticed several mentions lately about the upcoming “International Skin Fair”.
I got a press release which I believe was distributed to a number of bloggers. Here’s an excerpt from it:
“… More than 65 Second Life skin designers are waiting to present their existing and new products to those visiting the fair.
The huge skin variety guarantees something for everyone. Meet the known designers exhibiting next to talented newcomer and small companies… “
Naturally, my curiosity was piqued and I was anxious to know what to expect at this event. One of my brilliant friends suggested that I look at the Vanity Universe group (the group that was founded to organize the participants in the Skin Fair) to see what skin designer names appeared. Very clever!
Fast forward to the part where I learn that one of the skin designers being featured at the Skin Fair is currently selling a skin with a body that is identical to the Alina skin from Naughty Designs. (For the sake of making this easier to write, I will refer to this designer as Designer RG.) I was somewhat dismayed by this; the subject of skin theft has been a particularly sore one lately as many fashion bloggers will attest.
I decided to contact Carl Crabe, since he is listed as the founder of the group. I explained to Carl that I was a bit concerned about Designer RG being featured at the Skin Fair. I even made sure to make Carl aware that as I was speaking to him, I was alternating between the demo for Designer RG’s skin and the Alina skin, and was seeing with my very own eyes that the textures were identical from the nipples down.
Carl’s response was not what I was expecting; in fact, when you think about it it’s actually quite insulting to SL skin designers in general. For starters, he said he was already aware of the matter, and then he went on about how the majority of skin designers in SL get their basic skins from Renderosity and simply make a few alterations. After making that statement, he posed the rhetorical question of just who, then, is really doing the ripping off?
(Note: To suggest that Lost Thereian of Naughty Designs takes items from Renderosity to make his own skins seems not just a little bit ridiculous, and judging from comments he has made in the jira issue regarding texture theft, I think it’s safe to say that he probably uses sources such as 3dsk.)
It was at that point that I told Carl that with Designer RG’s skin demo, it was actually quite easy to see just who was getting ripped off. Seriously, everything on Designer RG’s demo and the Alina skin matched perfectly and their parts were lining up flawlessly. “The likelihood of two separate people applying all of these textures to the avatar UV mesh identically“, I told him, “is highly implausible.”
Further conversation with Carl proved to be a bit unsettling. After I’d just pointed out to him that the odds were against two completely different people skinning the UV mesh in such perfect unison, I can only interpret his answer as an attempt to dilute that by saying that Designer RG sells lots of other skins that Naughty doesn’t sell. What other skins that Designer RG might offer is besides the point!
Carl did say that he had tried to reach the Naughty designers to get their take on the matter, but they had failed to respond. (I do not know what methods Carl used to try to contact them, nor am I aware of the frequency/urgency with which he conducted these attempts.) Nevertheless, Carl stated unequivocally that he will not kick Designer RG from the Skin Fair. When I asked him, “Why not?”, his vague response was that if someone from Naughty could meet up with him, they could “talk” about it.
I then informed Carl that I planned on blogging about this. Especially in light of the rash of recent skin thefts that have been happening lately, with Minnu Palen even going so far as to announce that there will be no more new releases until Linden Lab acts more decisively on this, this raises serious questions about the integrity of the Skin Fair and it’s organizers.
Carl went silent after that. I continued on, telling him that I would send him snapshots of the demo skin and the Alina skin side by side so he could see just how perfectly identical they really are. In my last message to him, I said I was about to send him a couple of images… and I got the “User not online” message in return. I sent him the textures anyways so that he can take a look at them later.
Just to cover all bases, I consulted with someone who is familiar with 3D design and modeling, and they agreed to let me quote them but only under the condition of anonymity. What they had to say confirmed what I’d told Carl. “The odds of two 3d artists applying the same photosource to a UV map in the same way are virtually nil,” they said. “Mapping something as complex as a human skin onto the UV maps and having it look identical? Not gonna happen. Anyone with common sense should see right away if they look at the UV maps and consider what’s involved in the process.”
Anyhow, going back to Designer RG’s skin. It’s pretty obvious that one of two things happened for this to come about: either Designer RG ripped the Alina skin to use as a base, or Designer RG bought ripped full perm .tga files from a Business In A Box reseller. If it is the latter which applies, the fact that Designer RG persists in selling the skin while being aware of the questionable origins of the textures points to either poor judgement or a lack of ethics. (Yes, this designer is very much aware, as is evidenced by the commentary on their profile.)
So there you have it, my reason for boycotting the Skin Fair. My decision to not attend is in no way indicative of my opinion of the legitimate skin designers who are to be featured. It’s just that I find it apalling that the Skin Fair organizers would not only deliberately turn a blind eye to damning evidence, but would actually continue to promote someone who is using a ripped skin texture in their product.
NSFW shots of the skins are located after the cut.
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