PolyCast Episode 124: "Patch Your Eye Out"

[DanQ]

Ever alert. The one-hundred-and-twenty-fourth episode of PolyCast, "Patch Your Eye Out", features regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, "Makahlua" and Philip "TheMeInTeam" Bellew with returning guest co-hosts Annalee "Cartimandua" Barney and "MadDjinn"; it has a runtime of 59m59s.

The summary of topics is as follows:

- 02m22s | News
Initial impressions following first playthroughs of the substantial June Civilization V patch. Starting with Social Policies, the conversation then moves onto science and technology, including Research Agreements (13m22s); Infinite City Sprawl, also known as I.C.S. (25m22s); difficulty levels (29m42s), and finally Declarations of War (34m58s).
- 44m01s | Forum Talk
What to think, and make, of CivV's starting bias for civilization placement on maps.
- 50m12s | Miscellaneous
Weighing in on the substantial examination into stock image use in Civilization V.

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
A warm welcome back to a Very Important Person to the show, soundalike mishap, and setting priorities.

PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; sibling show RevCast focuses on Civilization: Revolution, ModCast on Civ modding and TurnCast on Civ multiplay.

 

[OrsonM]

I enjoyed the episode quite a bit. I think the Stock Image Scavenger Hunt issue matters more to people who either work as artists or that, at least in my case, are trying to break into the industry (it's a pretty depressing outlook as it is).

Purchasing most of the rights for these pictures would had been just a few dollars per picture (no royalty fees) or just writting a polite letter requesting permision (for images that are not Public Domain, as far as I know). But I've talked to a few artists that were affected that recieved neither and were just as surprised as everyone else.

In any case, hope things clear up. Great show as always.

 

[DanQ]

I enjoyed the episode quite a bit.

I think the Stock Image Scavenger Hunt issue matters more to people who either work as artists or that, at least in my case, are trying to break into the industry (it's a pretty depressing outlook as it is).

Purchasing most of the rights for these pictures would had been just a few dollars per picture (no royalty fees) or just writting a polite letter requesting permision (for images that are not Public Domain, as far as I know). But I've talked to a few artists that were affected that recieved neither and were just as surprised as everyone else.

Your comments above reflect mine from the recording, I believe, and my position remains the same.

In any case, hope things clear up. Great show as always.

 

[evirus]

Regarding the scavenger hunt, i think its interesting to see where the graphics came from but i honestly don't don't see that much harm in the similarities, if you want to look at similarities between two different things you'll find a lot of them, not to say that they don't actually exist but that it's rather unrealistic to expect something totally original in this day and age, for example check out this site http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage specifically the random button near the top.

 

[MadDjinn]

I enjoyed the episode quite a bit. I think the Stock Image Scavenger Hunt issue matters more to people who either work as artists or that, at least in my case, are trying to break into the industry (it's a pretty depressing outlook as it is).

Purchasing most of the rights for these pictures would had been just a few dollars per picture (no royalty fees) or just writting a polite letter requesting permision (for images that are not Public Domain, as far as I know). But I've talked to a few artists that were affected that recieved neither and were just as surprised as everyone else.

In any case, hope things clear up. Great show as always.

I think we were all agreed that any art used needed to be properly licensed for use.

Though, a fair number of the early images shown in the thread were Public Domain images, so not really an issue. Frankly, none of those, or even the ones of 'public' buildings really needed to be done in house, given the costs.

On the whole though, it'd have to be a 'branded' (ex: type of car) item (or very famous image) for anyone in the gaming industry to start paying attention. (A few lawsuits might change that, but unless the game is 70%+ about the art, it won't matter)

Artists should use watermarks if they think it's actually their IP. (though even then, it's rare that it could be their IP when it comes to landmarks and a lot of the stock images used since those are public)

and no one is paying dollars per picture when they have 1000+ images. It would only be for the above mentioned famous or branded that they would pay. Most stock art creation jobs are in places that pay a lot less than Japan or North America due to the costs. (rising salaries vs. actual value of the output in the game)

 

[DanQ]

I think we were all agreed that any art used needed to be properly licensed for use.

Indeed.

On a more general show note to you, OrsonM and evirus, how long have you been a listener?

 

[OrsonM]

Since the episode of female Civ players, which was a very good episode.

 

[DanQ]

Since the episode of female Civ players, which was a very good episode.

Ah, the special that concluded the show's first season... I remember it well! It's been awhile since I've had an exchange with as longtime a listener as yourself (or, at least, that I'm aware of).