Umm...Staff. Is This Allowed?

Aspie_Gamer 2016-12-22 16:28:04 UTC #1

Umm....why do I see a Final Fantasy XV fan comic as part of Staff Picks?

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with people using existing characters in pop culture as a way to help boost their signal as an artist. That's why fan art is easily digestible compared to an original work. That's all well and good so long as in the case of a webcomic, they aren't profiting off of someone else's hard work. (People making money off of fan art is another subject altogether that I don't feel like discussing). Anyway, having clicked on the comic and by extension the author's profile, he's been around for quite a while and at over 6,000 subs seems to be doing well for himself all in all. However, my beef isn't with the "Ry-Spirit" guy.

That is, so long as he doesn't have ad revenue enabled for his "Four Guys In A Car" comic which of course would be in direct violation of a rule Tapastic has for fan comics as pictured below

And if he doesn't, then that last bit doesn't apply to him.

Anyway, my beef is with Staff for choosing to give this comic of all things a Staff Pick. Granted, the author hasn't been flooded with like 5,000 new subscribers like some staff picks have before, but still and while there technically isn't a rule against fan comics being promoted, I can't help but feel that the decision to give this comic a staff pick is an insult to us creators who are either grinding away on something original (which to be fair has a huge hill to climb in the first place) or maybe have a gaming comic of our own, but don't go so far as to directly take characters that aren't ours and make them the focus of the entire comic. That to me feels like cheating.

Again, I bear no ill will towards the author of "Four Guys In A Car". Like anybody here who's been given a Staff Pick, I'm sure it wasn't his intention to make a comic solely to get staff to notice him. However, again, it rubs me the wrong way that this sort of comic is sitting on the front page under Staff Picks for I feel that it isn't fair to creators that are grinding away on their own comic(s) whether its gaming related or not and lastly, in the event the creator does have ad revenue enabled (which unless they changed it applies to all comics you make on here once you enable it), then it doesn't look good on staff's part promoting a comic profiting off of someone else's hard work.

shazzbaa 2016-12-22 16:48:18 UTC #2

Yeah, Michaelson has said before that fan comics are fine, as long as they don't have ad revenue on.

So if that's true, then why would fan comic creators be second-class on Tapastic? The idea that there should be a mentality of "well, you can be here I guess, but you're just a fancomic so of course we won't treat you like a real comic" isn't one I'd expect to be assumed.

If your goal is to promote Original Content, then yeah, it's weird to specifically recognise a fancomic, but if your goal is just to host good comics and recognise talented creators, then those things aren't mutually exclusive, I'd think?

PotooGryphon 2016-12-22 16:57:14 UTC #3

Yeah, there isn't anything wrong or even against staff policy to feature a fancomic. And the ad revenue business is strictly between the artist and Tapastic, it'll be on them whether or not anything is violating copyright law. However, since they picked the series for Staff Pick they probably know the series, the artist, and the situation better than any of us could and it's probably all good.

I'm not seeing any issues here, personally.

69Michi 2016-12-22 17:00:26 UTC #4

Personally to me, a good piece of work is a good piece of work, be it's fanart or original art. Some audience prefer original work, some prefers fanart. I have been told to do more original work before and no one had encouraged me to work on any fanart piece. So for a fancomic to be staff picked, I really don't see a problem with it. If it has the quality that passes for Staff Pick, then it deserves staff picked.

VermillionWorks 2016-12-22 17:05:42 UTC #5

I have no problem with a fancomic being picked for that. It may not be original but hard work is hard work still, and if the staff likes it, that's also cool. I think the only thing that would bother me is if they like, picked nothing but fancomics all the time for the Staff Picks section. XD Which I don't see happening.

nolongerusestheforum 2016-12-22 17:22:34 UTC #6

I have nothing against fan comics, and like CyndiFoster said, the Tapastic staff probably checked to make sure that the author isn't earning Ad Revenue for a fancomic. However, I find it frustrating that so many of the Staff Picks lately have been comics with only 1-2 episodes. I'm not trying to imply that the recent Staff Picks didn't deserve to be picked; I just wish that the Staff would wait a little longer before promoting comics that have just barely started, or at least mix those brand-new comics with longer comics. Barely-started comics may have great art, a great concept, and a strong beginning, but what about the comics that have been running for longer that have all of those things, plus things like good plotting and character development?

69Michi 2016-12-22 17:29:57 UTC #7

Peek in real quick to say that I think it's the ENTIRE point of Staff Pick. Staff Pick most of the time picks a new comic that at first glance caught the staff's attention and they think would do good in the long run. It's why some people that was staff picked in the beginning slowly losing subscribers in the long run because the comic slowly turns out to be completely different from the initial impression that their comic delivered. It has always been like that. The daily snacks on the other hand is randomly picking all sort of comic from new to old.

nolongerusestheforum 2016-12-22 17:33:20 UTC #8

Oh, I didn't realize that! I thought Staff Picks were comics that the Staff thinks deserves attention... my bad, sorry!

Also, would you mind telling me what the Daily Snack is? Is it exclusive to the App? I haven't seen it on the website and I heard it was discontinued a while ago.

69Michi 2016-12-22 17:37:00 UTC #9

No worry at all. I would actually like if the Staff Pick extends to old running comics too if the contents and quality gets better through time. Not a lot of comic starts out strong you know. But at the end of the day, Staff Pick is still... a bit mysterious to most of us LMFAO No one sure how it actually works, we only see a broken pattern.

The Daily Snack is app exclusive yes, for mobile only. Every day they send people a list of random comics to check out. I was lucky enough to be picked for Daily Snack once not too long ago. (And my series has been running for at least 5 months now) I think it was discontinued long ago but they brought it back!!

nolongerusestheforum 2016-12-22 18:20:09 UTC #10

Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't really understand how it works! I'm still fairly new to Tapastic, so I thought maybe I was just missing something obvious.

Thank you for telling me what the Daily Snack is! I don't use the app at all, so I've never seen it before. That's awesome that your comic got picked!

JessJackdaw 2016-12-22 18:47:29 UTC #12

Actually this happens fairly often, there was a lovely MGS fancomic one shot last month, gorgeous stuff really. But it falls on Tapastic's responsibility doesn't it? If SquareEnix files a claim, Tapastic will have to respond. Then again, on the wide face of the internet, copyright is so muddled with fanart it's hard to say what is fair-use and what isn't. It's the same conundrum as fanart being sold at cons.

Regardless, Tapastic did put it in their rules, and likely whoever did the picking didn't notice ad-revenue was on.

Honestly though, it really doesn't bother me. Ad revenue is such a small profit for most creators on Tap... It would be different if they were an exclusive comic being paid for by Tap, but this comic is just something a staff member liked.

Aspie_Gamer 2016-12-22 20:24:43 UTC #13

Yeah...that's another thing that has irked me. How can you tell just from a 1-2 episode synopsis if you might've hit the jackpot with this one should you choose to promote it over all the other comics some of which are far more deserving of a staff pick than something that's just barely getting started. Now, to be fair, every now and again, the staff will choose something that's been around awhile and put it on the front page, but that seems to be the exception, not the rule. Sadly, this site isn't run like a meritocracy, (though I'm of the personal opinion that it is exactly how Tapastic should be run) so for now we as creators will just have to deal with (and occasionally roll our eyes at) whatever Michaelson and Co. pick to promote on their site. They will go about their business and we shall go about ours.

Oh heavens no! If Tapastic ever gets to the point where they are blatantly promoting whatever tumblr esque looking fan work is popular this week, then hopefully by that point, there will be quite a few good alternatives to Tapastic.

Hey you were the one who made a thread actually complaining about being a staff pick iirc right? Anyway, yeah fan art is one of those morally grey situations. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Like, on YouTube with "Let's Plays" for example, some gaming companies don't care and even encourage it, but not uncle Nintendo. Oh no. God forbid you give them free advertisement of their games or remake a level from a popular game of theirs in a gorgeous looking game engine for kicks. Now illegal "fan made" games like what happened with a Pokémon fan game somebody made awhile back that Nintendo put a kibosh on, it made sense because they didn't want to lose out on sales as a business given that Sun and Moon were just over the horizon, but for some people, they saw it as yet another middle finger from that company even though in that case they have valid reasons for shutting that project down.

No worries. I've been here a year and a half. Some of us have been here since at least 2013 and are still at a loss for how things like Staff Picks actually work. My theory from what I've seen the past year is that staff seems to have a fetish for whatever looks pretty (which logically makes sense) or whatever they think has a good shot at getting big and thus giving their site more money in the long term even though from what I've both heard and seen for myself, some of these comics that get a staff pick especially if they are just starting out tend to either decrease in quality because of the pressures that come with being "popular" or the artist quits altogether again bc they can't handle the pressure.

Wishjacked 2016-12-22 21:26:33 UTC #14

A fan comic is still a comic, and there's absolutely no reason it shouldn't be a staff pick. I've never understood the "original art is better than fanart" elitism… or even the "fanart is easier that original art" argument that's so often made. I'm an original artist, I've only ever drawn like… maybe 2 pieces of fanart in my entire life. My sister is a fan artist, doesn't ever draw original art, and works every bit as hard as I do to make her art beautiful and find an audience for it.

So yup, I'm sure the creator of this comic is doing their best to make a really good comic and I don't get why the fact that it's a fancomic should make any difference in why staff should avoid showcasing it.

And as for low episode count… sure, it's a little discouraging for those of us who've been around a while, but then again, perhaps the staff doesn't have time to read through 50 episodes? And I know several webcomic readers-only in real life who like to get a feel for a comic site before they make an account… having several very pretty, interesting-premise but snack-sized comics on the front page is probably a good way to give prospective users a good taste of the site. Eh, that's just conjecture though.

Herofeeder 2016-12-22 22:38:40 UTC #15

i like his drawing

ReroOnyx 2016-12-23 21:39:06 UTC #16

It just bothers me how little some people have to work to get noticed. Most of those on Staff Pick have no right to get such attention. It's not because they're bad. Most of the art looks pretty good and I'm sure if they continue, they will have some excellent material. But that has not come yet.

What we get out like 2 episode previews (usually only two pages as well) of material. Not all of Staff Picks are like this, but a lot are. This is nothing against the artists themselves. But it's a huge thing against the Tapastic Staff itself. Let these artists and series grow a bit, 10-20 episodes (or a certain number of pages I suppose.)

Let it feel like these Staff Picks have had effort put into them beyond the first two episodes.

It would be like if JK Rowling sent in a two page manuscript for her first chapter and said "Alright, give me money and fame."

It's like, Rowling, we love your work, but you got to give us more than that. Once you do and it feels deserved, we will gladly give you the attention your series deserves.

aivesse 2016-12-23 22:15:00 UTC #17

@ReroOnyx I don't think we should be saying that these comics have no right to get the pick. I for one don't mind having these new comics get Staff Pick, it allows for people to find new quality content, and many of the comics I've seen on Staff Pick do end up continuing on making comics. It's not like Staff Picks are THAT important. All Staff Picks really does is just promo whatever comic that the Staff like. No one has any more right to getting on Staff Pick than another.

ReroOnyx 2016-12-23 23:19:54 UTC #18

That's just the problem, it's fame and promotion for lack of material.

Let's take the example of the opening post "Four Guys in A Car"

You have a series not even a week old at only two pages long consisting (from what I can tell) two jokes. I think the art looks good and I won't get into whether the jokes are good or not, but that's it right now. That's all this series has offered.

Let's compare that to another Staff Picked series. "Revenge of the Queen." I'm a manga fan so I won't say I'm not biased when I chose this as example. But look at this, you have something with what I think is decent art. You have 16 episodes each one a few good pages long. The series has currently been updating regularly and has been around for nearly a month (a week or so less.)

The above to me is a decent Staff Pick. There's always going to be some level of bias in what the staff chooses, that's just how judge a book by its cover works. But at least here, I feel the series has done enough to earn it's place and both lasted long enough and produced enough material that I feel it has earned it's Staff Pick fame.

PotooGryphon 2016-12-23 23:28:33 UTC #19

Honestly, it's in the name Staff Pick. It's what the staff is reading. Similar to any book store or movie outlet there's staff favorites or staff pick and it's material that the staff is into. That's simply it.

Staff pick isn't a feature for creator to use or decide what's should and shouldn't be in it. It's the Staff's Pick what goes in there.

ReroOnyx 2016-12-23 23:45:12 UTC #20

Yeah, you might also notice that books or movies have had effort put into them, and by effort I mean, more than two pages consisting of more than two jokes.

Staff Pick isn't just a way for for the staff to find out what they like (they could do that own their own if they wanted) but as a way of saying that these series are good and that you (the readers) should also check them out. Much like the "Popular" section, Staff Pick is something the reader's are given a full view of and thus, these are series meant to catch the attention.

If I'm a reader and see "Four Guys in a Car" on Staff Pick, I'm expecting something good, or at least unique. I'm thinking if Staff believes this is good enough to be put on the front page for some time, it must be worth the read. And I come in and...well to be honest, I expect more than two jokes.

Even if I think the jokes were good, even gut busting hilarious, I expect more and I certainly expect more from Staff.

and you know what? Some people have said, well this is just Staff picking series that they think is going to be worth reading later on or has potential. Very well then, let staff favorite these series on their own and when the times comes and these series have produced more material, then happily put them up on Staff Pick.