Welcome to Art, Music and Writing. It's the chillest place on Armor Games for artists, musicians, and writers. Kick back and share your work.

We respect intellectual property. PLAGIARISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. Even if it's not or can't be copyrighted, it is still possible to plagiarize. Credit anything you did not create to the person(s) who created it within reason. Attempting to pass off someone else's work as your own will result in a ban.

ART, MUSiC and WRiTiNG RULES and GUiDELiNES
1.) Plagiarism will not be tolerated. We cannot stress this enough. Attribute anything that you took from somewhere else and there should be no problem within reason. Report plagiarism to a moderator.
2.) Discussion about books, art, music, etc. by other people, i.e. professionals and other people you don't know, goes in Popular Media.
3.) Obscene material is not allowed. Sex scenes, excessive violence, excessive language, explicit gore, and content otherwise better suited for mature audiences are not allowed. 'Obscene' and 'excessive' is subjective and there are gray areas. Please report content that offends you and the moderators will deal with it accordingly.
4.) Please be aware of how much data you are posting. Posting several megabytes worth of media in one post will take longer to load. Not everyone has a high bandwidth.
5.) Be polite when giving feedback to another user's work. Criticism should be constructive. If you don't like something, don't be a jerk about it.
6.) Please check out the BBCode Guide on how to embed images, use bold and italics, as well as other things.

ART GUiDLiNES
1.) Do not claim someone else's artwork as your own. That is plagiarism.
2.) Embed images using the BBCode image tags. The tag must be in lowercase. The URL must be the image URL, not the page or frame the image is shown. Right-click and View Image or Right-click Copy Image Location to get to the image URL.
3.) Images have a maximum width of 670 pixels before a scrollbar will appear. If the image is wider, please use a smaller image and/or link to the image instead of posting it on the forums.
4.) Please use a smaller image and/or link to the original image if the image is more than 10% larger than either 1000 px high or 1MB.
5.) Credit and/or source brushes, renders, textures, characters, etc. that you did not make. If you referenced at someone else's work to make your own, please include a source and/or credit the original artist.

WRiTiNG GUiDELiNES
1.) Do not claim someone else's poem, story, or other piece of writing as your own. That is plagiarism.
2.) Please post a link to a story or other written work if it is long. Anything greater than 10% more than 5000 words is pushing it.
3.) Credit and/or source characters, objects, settings, etc. that you did not create. Ask for permission before using another user's image, character, etc. in your work.
4.) The forums will only accept ASCII printable characters. Other characters will result in unwanted symbols. If your piece of writing was written in Word or similar word processor, make sure all quotation marks (and apostrophes) are straight quotes ("" '') and not curly quotes.

MUSiC and ViDEO GUiDELiNES
1.) Do not claim someone else's song, lyrics, film, music, or video as your own. That is plagiarism.
2.) You cannot embed any sort of music or video file on Armor Games. You will need to upload the file and post a link to it if you want to share it.

Please read the following posts for information on plagiarism, infringement, and constructive criticism. Any questions and comments can be posted on this thread.

PLAGiARiSM and iNFRiNGEMENT
These are rules and guidelines. It is necessary to understand the contents of this post. Please post any questions and comments on this thread.

What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the act of passing off someone else's work and ideas as your own, intentionally or unintentionally. Plagiarism is not a legal issue, but it is a moral one. The wrongness of plagiarism is based on context, intent, and social norms. There are gray areas and this post should help you avoid them.

What is Infringement?
Copyright infringement is the act of copying someone else's work without their permission while the work is still under copyright. Copyright is a legal issue. There are gray areas that fall under "fair use" and "derivative works".

Fair use allows limited copying of a copyrighted work without asking for permission under certain circumstances. Please familiarize yourselves with fair use if you are to work with anything under copyright that is not your own. This post will not go further into fair use.

Plagiarism vs. Copyright
Plagiarism and copyright infringement are not the same thing. It is possible to plagiarize without infringing on someone else's copyright and it is possible to infringe on someone else's copyright without plagiarizing.

Example I:
If you copy Romeo and Juliet without giving credit to Shakespeare, you are plagiarizing. Shakespeare's works are not under copyright, so there is no infringement.

Example II:
If you copy Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and give credit to J.K. Rowling, you are infringing on her copyright if you did not get permission to copy Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. You did not plagiarize as you had stated the work was not your own.

Plagiarism vs. Allusion
The use of allusions can be construed as plagiarism but the difference is in the intent. When intentionally alluding, you hope that someone will notice the similarity to another work. When intentionally plagiarizing, you hope that someone will not notice the similarity to another work.

Avoiding Intentional Plagiarism
There is no avoiding intentional plagiarism except by not doing it. Intentionally stealing someone else's work will earn you a lengthy ban if not a permanent one. It has been said enough times in this thread that plagiarism will not be tolerated and the fact that plagiarism has its own post reiterating some of what has already been said means you're more likely to be permanently banned for intentionally stealing someone else's creative work.

Avoiding Unintentional Plagiarism
The best way to avoid unintentional plagiarism is to credit and source what you did not create, within reason. You cannot plagiarize common knowledge and facts. The more unique or obscure the part you used, the more likely you will have to credit or source it. (Also read "Plagiarism vs. Allusion" above.)

Permissible use
You must follow any stipulations by the original creator if you are allowed to use their work. Read any and all copyrights, conditions, etc. attached to a work before using it. Credit the creator unless they say otherwise.

Fair use
If you are using someone else's character, settings, etc. you must give them credit. Not crediting the original creator may or may not be infringement but it is definitely plagiarism.

Use of other users' works
Using another user's image, work, characters, ideas, settings, etc. without their express permission is not allowed if you do not know that they would be okay with it. Even if your use falls under "fair use" or may not be copyrightable, please respect another users wishes if they do not want you using their creative material.

CONSTRUCTiVE CRiTiCiSM
This is not a set of rules, only a set of informative guidelines. Applying these guidelines is a matter of personal preference. Please post any questions and comments on this thread.

Please keep in mind that criticism that was not asked for may not be well received and brutal honesty is a worse course of action, especially if the other person does not know you. Also keep in mind that if you post your work for other people to see, you may be criticized.

What is Constructive Criticism?
Constructive criticism is criticism of a person's work that would help that person improve upon the current and future works. Constructive criticism is helpful and not hateful but can be both positive and negative. Positive criticism highlights what is good about a piece and outlines why it is good. Negative criticism points out what is bad or needs work and how it can be improved.

Positive Examples
Worse: You're good at drawing.
Bad: Your drawing is good.
Good: The booger colors are good.
Better: I think the color choice is excellent. The reds and blues really make the flying turtle booger stick out against the drab background.

Negative Examples
Worse: You suck at drawing.
Bad: Your drawing sucks.
Good: The background color choice is bad.
Better: I think the background colors don't work well together. The cream and gray is very boring and doesn't provide a good contrast for the flying turtle booger.

Tips on Giving Constructive Criticism
Give and take. An effective way to give constructive criticism is to start and end with positive criticism. Positive criticism will be better received and enables the creator to be more receptive to negative criticism.

Be honest. Honesty lends credibility to your criticism. Dishonest praise helps nothing but the other person's ego. Dishonest criticism is not appropriate. Without honest criticism there is no improvement.

Be nice. Being brutally honest will more likely make the creator feel threatened. Vitriol should be nonexistent. Hateful comments help nothing but your own ego. This isn't about you but the other person's work.

Avoid making things personal. Criticism should be directed at the work and not the person. Criticism directed at the person may make them feel uncomfortable or threatened.

Be understanding. Be aware of your bias. Seek to understand the work in addition to interpreting it. Suggestions are tentative, not definite. Rules can be flexible and your opinion is not universal law. Do not feel offended if the other person does not accept your criticism.

Tips on Receiving Constructive Criticism
Be receptive. The best way to improve is to be open to criticism. While practice makes perfect, it is near impossible to remain objective about your own work, except months or years in the future when you have inevitably gotten better, but that takes time.

Distinguish between good and bad criticism. Criticism can be positive or negative. Good and bad criticism can be both positive and negative. Good criticism is constructive and can help you improve. Bad criticism is not helpful at all.

Consider what was said. Answer questions the critic may have. If the critic misunderstood something or interpreted something in an unintended way, clarify that. Ask the critic questions for better clarification or understanding.

Avoid being defensive. While sensitivity differs from person to person, avoid being defensive and understand that criticism can help you improve. Being dismissive or retaliatory diminishes your credibility.

Be understanding. Be aware of your bias. As the creator, you will have a higher (or in some cases, lower) opinion of your own work. Try to see things from a more objective point of view to try to understand where the critic stands.

Check out the Programming Help forum.