(Originally posted July 31st 2009)
There seems to be a growing trend here at Deviantart, Exclusive Species.
Exclusive Species: An open, free (not tied to a story)original species created by an artist, limited to anyone but close friends, on the grounds that what they've made is being persecuted creatively, hence exclusive.
What I target here are the species that the artist adamantly refuses any new ideas, or personal spin-offs of that idea. That, and those who attack an individual for making an Original character in this species. Here's a few things that should be pretty evident that species artists on DA tend to forget that I will go over in detail.
- NO ONE IS GOING TO CARE IN 20 YEARS
- You can NOT limit what a person does. You can only take unnecessary steps to make it more a pain in the butt for both you.
- Contrary to popular belief, there is not a mass group of people waiting to draw your creation badly.
- An OC in your exclusive species is a creative thing, merging your ideas with some of theirs. Don't like change? What are you, 90?
-If you are paranoid about others taking your idea and expanding on it, WHY ARE YOU ON DA?
Point one: NO ONE IS GOING TO CARE IN 20 YEARS. Let's roleplay, alright? We're twenty years in the future. 2029. Besides the flying cars, guess what? No one gives a crap that you posted some species back in '09. People, while tied to artists a respectable amount, are not going always be here. Most people here will get a normal job, commute to work everyday, and live their lives outside of Deviantart. Not twiddle their thumbs at whether or not you created something that you shielded like a disabled child. What the heck does it matter that you if they drew a picture of your sacred species with 6 extra legs? You think someone's seriously going to hold that picture close to them each night to get to sleep? At best, you'll get a "Oh, i remember that" moment, and life resumes. You're not that big of a deal.
Point Two: You can not limit what a person does. Shock! You are not God on DA! Trying to impose the barrier between you and your friends and the rest of the internet is like throwing a stick at stampeding elephants. If they want to draw a picture of your exclusive species their own way, it's going to happen. The amount of hullabaloo you put into your opposition of that fact won't keep people from drawing it, it will just change their opinion of you. You ever watch an artist incredibly paranoid about their exclusive species? It's almost fun watching them self-destruct from the paranoia.
Point Three: Also, there seems to be this idea that if you make a creative species, there are just thousands of people lined up to make their own and screw it up. That is not the case. Unless you really publicize this species, people are very lazy and don't care. Seeing a species once makes them remember it about as long as a goldfish remembers the time. Check any "exclusive species" that isn't tied to someone over 10,000 pageviews as a casualty to that. If you are so paranoid about them doing it wrong, have rules, have back story, have guidelines to help them. If they don't follow the guidelines, tough! It happens! Again, people are lazy, they don't always read all the rules, but as such is life.
Point Four: HALP. A fan of mine made a character using my species! That's great! A person has taken a general interest and likes your idea enough to make an original character in that species! Both are very personal things. But Oh no! The original character has a different storyline or uses something weird that interferes with what I came up with! ---Welcome to the world of artistic interpretation, aka, I liked the idea you had for that species, and I'm adding this detail. It's a compliment! Your idea has sparked new ideas, and has created artistic inspiration for something new. Does that mean you have to change everything you've done? No. Does it mean that everyone will only know it for this new variation? Are you retarded? Artistic interpretations are everywhere, and your exclusive species is no exception. Accept it and move on.
Point Five: DA is the internet. Internet is people. If you are paranoid about people stealing your creation, you picked a poor place to post your super-species. More then that, why did you post any of your artwork here in the first place? You're taking risks, you want your art seen by others. It's the same thing if you post a species. You risk your species turning a weird tangent if it's here at all. Stop using up all your time and effort trying to change that.
This protecting your species because it's yours BS is getting out of hand. If don't want anyone to draw your species but you, don't post it. When people see something they like, they replicate their interpretation to you as a compliment. They're not trying to piss you off, they're not trying to undermine you, they just appreciate what they see. And limiting who can, and can't draw for you is an annoying, over-controlling amount of teen angst that DA can do without; a noisy waste of everyone's time.
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