MOVED ! AT HARTSPRUNG

please learn the difference between finding inspiration in other’s creations and flat out stealing OCs.

whether you’ve been making and roleplaying OCs for years or you’ve only just gotten into the OC scene, this is a lesson that you’ll have to learn at some point in your character-creating-career. it’s a massive annoyance, a source of anxiety and in general just a Shitty Time for both parties, but especially for that of the person who has been robbed of their original idea.

i’ve always seen OCs as being like an unlocked treasure chest. there’s plenty of goodies inside, but unfortunately those goodies, non-trademarked and lacking an official wikia page, don’t appear to belong to anyone in particular, so they’re up for grabs to whoever gets their hands on them. canon characters’ treasure chests, on the other hand, are secured with a padlock. they don’t need to worry about someone coming along and taking certain unique characters traits ( personality, appearance, backstory ) for their own idea, because if someone did do that they’d be shunned by their fandom and called unoriginal. and unoriginal is the keyword here.

original characters are called original for a reason. everything about them is of someone’s own creation. they may have been inspired by other creations to use certain personality traits, or similar plot points in their story, but ultimately they have sat down and developed a new idea from the very beginning, or put a unique twist on an idea they like. it’s a manifestation of their individuality. all OCs have some part of the mun entwined in their DNA and i think people’s characters say a lot about them– their inner feelings, their aspirations, their beliefs. creativity and individuality go hand-in-hand. people have spent hours, months, maybe even years developing and researching an idea, and now they’ve presented it to the public on tumblr because they want to see that idea flourish among other awesome ideas. they found this massive block of marble, and they’ve chiselled away at it until they discover something good underneath. some people are STILL chiselling even if they have a blog that seems like they’ve got it all figured out.

and then suddenly, out of the blue someone comes along and grabs a massive chunk of that marble and slaps it onto theirs, claiming it as their own.

“but it’s a form of flattery! i was inspired!”

this is the age-old excuse and it’s absolute bullshit. no. it isn’t. it’s a form of thievery. flattery would be you asking me if i can help you come up with a new oc idea, because you like what i’ve done with my own. flattery would be you asking me to review a new idea you have to see if i can suggest any improvements. that would certainly flatter me, but making a “new” idea that is identical to mine and then trying to pass it off as your own is not flattery and i can’t believe that’s a lesson some people still need to learn.

the rpc scene is forever dismissive to OCs due to a supposed lack of originality. this is hilarious when you consider that every canon character ever was an OC at one point. people fight so hard in this community to get noticed by others, devoting their time to developing an idea to the point that it’s deemed acceptable whilst also being something totally new, which is a very hard thing to achieve. and for some OCs—female and muses of colour—this never happens! they never get that acceptance even if their idea meets all the requirements. 

making an OC is not an easy task. it’s a real strain on your creativity to make something for this website that will be both new and unusual enough to gain attention, while being something that’s attractive to the masses, and also well-written and realistic. it can be restricting and frustrating because you’re trying to see what works while also staying true to an idea you don’t want to give up on, and some people take bold risks. i roleplay a farting vampire ( seriously ) and i never expected for him to get me over 20 followers—forget about having someone who’s ‘influenced’ enough by my idea to try and take my idea.

stripping someone of their originality by taking their ideas is setting them back in so many ways, especially on such an elitist site like tumblr. it can ruin their reputation because some people don’t make the effort to find out who actually created the idea as opposed to who snatched it, and on a personal level it feels like something you’ve worked so hard on has been taken from you and is no longer your special thing. it’s not longer personal to you. it’s no longer your work.

it’s theft. no matter how you look at it, it’s theft. 

because OCs aren’t regarded as ‘official’ characters, their traits are seen as open source. anyone can come along and use them. anyone can replicate an idea because that idea isn’t set in stone, it’s just some poor person who has devoted a hell of a lot of time to developing their creation and coming up with the origins and the hobbies and the motivations, all these things that were never there before and can’t be accessed in an already existing comic book or movie. so who cares if you want to use it too? it’s not like it’s trademarked. it’s not like it belongs to anybody.

but it does. it belongs to someone who loves that idea very much and has been chiselling away it from the beginning. someone who is writing a novel with this oc that they’d love to publish someday. someone who is making a webcomic with this oc. someone who’s just here to have some fun and doesn’t want to worry about people stealing their own creations and trying to pass it off as their own!!!

i’m not talking about traits like sarcasm, or a hot-headed attitude. i’m not saying that you can’t have a character who owns a book store or rides a pink motorcycle if someone else you follow also has these things. but if you follow someone with a sarcastic oc who is prone to a temper and owns a book store and rides a pink motorcycle and you decide that your OC will also have these traits, you’re stealing someone’s idea. you can’t treat being inspired as an excuse.

my whole reason for writing this post is that i had it happen to me recently. my oc is not attractive by any means, and it took me a while to get to the point where i felt comfortable advertising him in the tags. of course i feel great about paving the way for other unattractive OCs on this website, but i didn’t intend for anyone to then decide to take my idea because they feel they have the confidence to use it since i can, and they want to reap the benefits i have. that isn’t the intention at all. and i have no issue in defending myself by confronting this person about it.

the solution, unfortunately, is where it can get tricky. if someone has taken an idea from you that you believe is unique to your own character–and most people on this site should be self-aware and know when they’re stepping into sheer possessiveness, but you can take that statement with a whole heck of salt–then you have every right to confront them about it. but what happens then? 

you don’t necessarily need to be rude. you don’t have to be aggressive. unless it gets to the point where a callout post is justified because that person is refusing to listen to reason, you don’t have to escalate the matter. people who take inspiration from you to the point of re-claiming your ideas are often stuck with coming up their own. you can help solve that by offering your time. be polite. be civil. you can take charge of the situation and resolve it peacefully with both sides having a positive outcome. it doesn’t have to immediately resort to a war if the other person is willing to listen and receive help.

but if the other person isn’t willing to help– to be honest, i don’t see the harm in a callout post. people have got to learn and sometimes they have to be #exposed in order for that lesson to be learned. i’ve not had to do it yet, but i’m not afraid to if it gets to that point. this is YOUR idea and someone has taken it from you. if someone took something of yours IRL, wouldn’t you seek to get it back??

some people without OCs might wonder why anyone would give this much of a shit and not just move on. i’m sure it comes across as childish and maybe it is!! but i’m also sure for many people, their tumblr rp blog is an absolute safe haven. it’s where they can let their creativity flow and bask in other’s creativity too. they might not have other things in their life that brings them as much enjoyment as roleplaying does and they shouldn’t have to be satisfied with roleplaying in an environment where they feel their ideas aren’t precious anymore and can be used by anyone. they shouldn’t have to feel like their creativity is something they have to hide because someone else is always going to claim it as their own.

OCS ARE NOT AN OPEN SOURCE FOR YOU TO PICK-AND-CHOOSE TRAITS FROM.

YOUR THEFT ISN’T FLATTERING. 

COME UP WITH YOUR OWN IDEAS.