Thoughts on closed species
Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:48 pm
There's something I saw people talking about a bit which struck me as a bit odd - closed species. I'm using the term very widely here because some species, like Dutch Angel Dragons, are just controlled and others, like Primagens, are "restricted." That means that someone came up with the species and now says that they can tell everyone how the species is used. In the case of Primagens, this can even mean forbidding people from using the species at all.
However, to say that no one can use a species at all is ridiculous. This is a fandom with a huge amount of fan art from various properties like Pokemon, Digimon, My Little Pony and various Disney films. The idea of closed species is kind of spitting in the face of all that fan work and says that fan art is wrong. We should be able to make Primagens or Dutch Angel Dragons in whatever way we want, just as we make Lion King fan art.
I don't know how others feel about that but it seems really wrong to me. I support saying that no one can use personal characters (e.g. fursonas) without the specific person's permission. Those characters represent a specific person and using them is tantamount to misusing someone's likeness or misrepresenting them. I'm not even completely against all kinds of copyright. I agree that others shouldn't exploit the ideas of others. So I don't think someone should take Primagens and then sell Primagen stuff to make a profit. Although there are some more blurred lines there which I won't get into.They are a closed species which means that I hold all rights to the creation of each Primagen and unauthorized use will be considered design theft.
However, to say that no one can use a species at all is ridiculous. This is a fandom with a huge amount of fan art from various properties like Pokemon, Digimon, My Little Pony and various Disney films. The idea of closed species is kind of spitting in the face of all that fan work and says that fan art is wrong. We should be able to make Primagens or Dutch Angel Dragons in whatever way we want, just as we make Lion King fan art.