Just a note...this post has nothing to do with the legality of Private RO Servers, though it slightly starts that way. Please ignore that part. This post has everything to do with art theft.

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Private servers have been seen by non-supporters as thieves of the game Ragnarok Online. While yes, private servers are running against the terms of the game's creators, they are not taking credit for the game which Gravity owns. Most servers state that the game is copyrighted by the proper people. I do not feel this is stealing, just running the game illegally. All content has been gained legally. It is the way it is used that is illegal.

A private server in many cases, or at least mine and some other small customized servers, is more similar to fan art than theft. The software we use is an emulation, not the real thing. The client side content is available straight from the official website of the game. I make custom content for the server for fun (and usually in the form of sprite/graphic art).

I make nor receive money from the server I run with my boyfriend. Those who do make money I feel are real thieves. They are selling property which is not their own. Many of them also sell the custom sprites made by private server members (and in cases like this, they often take credit for the hard work of others because not everyone is familiar with unofficial work). It's not fun to have your work ripped off and sold. I feel this about any private party or company alike.

Theft is a big issue in the private server world, unfortunately. I have seen many servers who have ripped my server's exclusive content and claimed they made it, edited it to their liking, sold it, etc. Fortunately, all these people tend to be little kids who have no lives.

But what happens when the thievery is coming from a company? LevelUp! Games is the company licensed to run the official Ragnarok Online server of the Philippines. To me they always seemed like a private server turned official by paying a butt-load of cash. Their site is very unprofessional looking compared to the other countries. Anyway, that's not important. Let's stop the rambling.

Philippines Ragnarok Online has blatantly stolen from private artists! Please, look at this image: [link]

The bottom row shows the original sprites made by private artists. They have been around since before I started sprite art, over 3 years ago. These "official" sprites have only been added this year.

Yes, there are differences, but not near enough. The cat is fully ripped off. They animated the headgear but the art is not theirs. The dark helmet with wings, only the wings have been changed. The bunny hat, well the ears are different, but there was a custom version that looked exactly like the official one (I was just not able to get an image). But even so if you look at the hat, ribbon, and flower, they are the same pixels. The horns, again I was unable to get a picture of the original custom sprite, but was able to get an image of the NPC wearing the horns.

Gravity has been known to use private servers for ideas. Many of their sprite ideas are quite similar to custom sprites that have been out for many years. I praise them for that. There is nothing better than going to your fan base, including those who are illegally running your game, and getting ideas (practically suggestions) from them. But this is absurd! I do not blame Gravity. They may have no idea this has happened. I would be interested to hear their story, though.

Now, if they had had permission from the artists, and given them the credit for the art, it would not be a problem. Maybe even pay the artist for their hard work, because now they are selling them in their online shop! [link]

None of these works of art are mine. If they had taken my original work (not my edits of their work, but my original stuff) I would certainly be contacting them. I wouldn't mind them using it, but I'd want some kinda of compensation you know But I think it would be awesome to see my work in the official version of such a popular game!

But what do you do when a company is blatantly stealing from artists?? How can you sue someone who you have been illegally running a copy of their game? Even many members of the official server have recognized those as private sprites!