News

Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 2:12am

tl;dr

how is fan art of aywas thing not derivative work? plus stuff that is more or less what miss mally said I think? (or in this way, that might be a different question- how is silver work a derivative work at all?) I'm not sure. Meh. I really don't feel like doing this tl;dr thing. I suck at it and I stopped caring in fear of own mental well being after pressing comment.. I really didn't want to comment on this here.. but ehhh.. I'm vocal about pretty much everything else so why not? (it's no secret I'm opinionated. i think that is even my forums title thingy.if so, really, how could i not use? lol)

Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 2:39am

You can basically boil down the rules with silver pets to this:

If a pet in any form exists on the site as a custom (sketch, lines, etc, breedable or unbreedable) you cannot directly charge usd for it.

If a pet does not exist on the site in any form as a custom (sketch, lines, etc, breedable or unbreedable) you can charge direct usd for it if you are following any other rules that exist for the sale.

Sketch babies exist on the site in a form (sketch) so they cannot be charged direct usd to finish. It isn't a breeding predict, you aren't uploading it like you would a pbc baby predict. You are finishing something that was already started by the site and then submitting it with a regular custom maker as an overlay.

I'm not wanting to get involved in any of the actual debate on the general stuff, but I thought this might help clear things up a small amount.

Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 3:00am

So if sbc sketch babies have to go through the panel before anyone can have a based version of the pet,would it still be against the rules if someone allowed the person who's second parent was in their breeding to do it for them then give them gp and unlimited psd uses for the newly based psd of the spieces instead of usd(gp and unlimited uses for the user who's based the pet using the sketch that's came from the pet) ? Like a shared spieces In a way.


I'm pretty sure there's some users who aren't allowed to spend real money on pets or most things onsite and instead find it easier to use items/pets/gp/bp to pay with instead and some people are unable to use photoshop/aren't good at it (are there any mini iPad apps thatre free that allow psd files and like photoshop but an iPad version of it? iPads say psd files can't be downloaded and I'm usually never near a computer ._.)






Or would this all still be against user/pet rules?

Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 3:04am

So if sbc sketch babies have to go through the panel before anyone can have a based version of the pet,would it still be against the rules if someone allowed the person who's second parent was in their breeding to do it for them then give them gp and unlimited psd uses for the newly based psd of the spieces instead of usd(gp and unlimited uses for the user who's based the pet using the sketch that's came from the pet) ? Like a shared spieces In a way.


I'm pretty sure there's some users who aren't allowed to spend real money on pets or most things onsite and instead find it easier to use items/pets/gp/bp to pay with instead and some people are unable to use photoshop/aren't good at it (are there any mini iPad apps thatre free that allow psd files and like photoshop but an iPad version of it? iPads say psd files can't be downloaded and I'm usually never near a computer ._.)






Or would this all still be against user/pet rules?

Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 3:12am

TheLittleBlackCat (#72439)

oh, it isn't against the rules to pay GP/site items and stuff to get someone to base the pet (though it it kinda hard to find a baser who isn't only doing it for USD), you just can't take USD for basing a pet without going through the commissions site. this is rule for the basers not a person looking ot get their pet based, though it seems people looking ot get their pet based perhaps did not know of the rule or it were confused (or didn't care? but I doubt this) about the usd rule when asking people to base for them on the sly. (as in from paypal to paypal and not the site I guess?)

Does that make sense? You can also base your own pets if you are capable of doing so. that is what I am doing with my sketch pets (as I'm to cheap to shell out 30 bucks lmao).

Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 3:43am

Tequila Mockingbird (#64472) (I don't think I know how to link people yet.. Sorry, or not properly anywhat)

I'm not too great at photoshop >~< like, I like drawing, but I'm better at traditional art or little drawings n sketches I do on sketchbook pro/mobile but they don't allow psd formats (I don't really think it has a format at all, not on phones anywhat) and I can barely work anything in photoshop. Like, I can colour if the lines, the base and the shading's already there but I can't do line edits or draw my own lines on photoshop >~< (if there's any apps that allow psd files on iphones (iPhone 3 to be specific) or iPads, could I know?)

And because of anything that's been going on, aren't people just going to be staying away from commissioning for now?

Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 4:22am

I think things in the commission panel should be more specific so that players know what needs to go through the panel and what doesn't. However, I understand it simply as "If it comes from the site, use the panel".However, this doesn't scare me from using the USD features.

Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 5:20am

I think what we need to remember is that staff are users too, they play the site as well. While I'm shocked and a little sad to see these users banned, I trust in the staff team that they're doing their job.

Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 6:48am

I've been a member for a while, albeit not a particularly active one, and I have read through all of the comments here as well as the original news post. It should be stated that I do not interact with anyone on this website (either online or in real life) and am not, and have never been, a member of Aywas staff in any capacity.

Fair warning, this is likely to be a wall of text, and will likely not be liked by many who are debating the topics covered within this comments section and news post.

First, I think it should be stated that the ToS are there to secure the rights of the business; they are the disclaimer that allows the business to operate and claim rights against their clients, regardless of whether the client has read the ToS or not.

Legally, unawareness or ignorance is not accepted as a valid excuse unless the terms set out by the ToS are determined to be unclear by an unbiased third party - which, unless the ToS are unclear enough that anyone who looked at it can question the way it is worded, would discount both the userbase and the staff from determining whether the terms are unclear enough to be used as an excuse.

The Terms of Service link can be found at the bottom of every page, and there is a separate Terms of Service forum located in the Knowledge Base. Provided that the information contained within both of these areas does not conflict, they are valid Terms of Service agreements and uphold the rights of the business as written within the Terms of Service.

By having the ToS available anywhere on site (with a link placed at the bottom of every page) the site and staff are legally covering what is required of them, with regards to the Terms of Service governing what is allowed on site and what is required in order to use the site.

The Terms of Service can be quoted as stating:

"If you are accessing this site you are bound to comply with these Terms of Service. You are responsible for making sure you follow all of these conditions. In failing to do so, you risk ban or permanent banning of your IP from this site. You are responsible for following the local laws of your state. The purpose of these Terms is our responsibility to you, the user, to make you aware of the laws applicable to accessing this site. You are required to have read and understood these Terms, failure to comply with them will prohibit you from using or accessing Aywas.com. If you disagree or do not understand these terms, do not access the Aywas.com website." -Taken from the ToS page located via the link at the bottom of every page.

This means that, as unfair as it seems, by requiring us to agree to the ToS and stating that we are required both to comply with them and to have "read and understood" them, the business has the legal right to carry out whatever punishments they see fit for users who do not operate within the ToS regardless of the reason why they did not comply, regardless of how the userbase feels about the morality of the staff actions.

Unfortunately, and I mean this with no disrespect, users who are not fluent in the official site language (in this case English) are at risk of making mistakes due to not understanding the ToS fully.

Whilst the staff should take reasonable care to provide all information in a way that is easy to understand, it is also the responsibility of the user to make sure they clearly understand the information given to them.

Users who are unsure about anything should contact staff through the official means.

English-speaking users who play on pet sites in other languages would and should be held to the same requirements, and would face the same consequences.

The staff would have the right to argue that they had taken as much care as was reasonably possible to make the ToS as clear as they can, unless provided with a number of requests from users who feel that it is not explained clearly enough.

A suggestion for the future may be to create a subforum in the 'Help' area which allows users to put forward 'petitions' for anything they feel is not worded clearly enough; this would allow other users to provide not only a signature of agreement but also suggestions on what would be a better way to word the information, or what is missing and should be included.

These topics however should not be debated in the comments section, as staff are unlikely to implement them if they are.

As for staff, however, perhaps a general topic in the ToS Knowledge Base area should be created with explains any and all jargon - a glossary, of sorts, which will help remove any confusion over things like what exactly is classed as art deriving from Aywas.

Staff should also make it a priority to answer questions submitted via official means (the Help section, Pms or emails) within a reasonable time frame; it is understandable that it may take time due to RL commitments, and that is fine, but these kinds of official queries should be made a priority.

Perhaps a schedule or system should be implemented where all queries are answered within a certain time frame, and this information should be included both in the ToS and the Help section, so that users may have an idea of when to expect their replies.

However the userbase does also need to accept that the time taken is the time taken, and any punishments resulting from acting on what they asked about before it was answered are within the rights of the site and staff (regardless of whether it can be considered 'fair').

____________________________________________________________________

Tl:dr

Staff is covered legally by what they have made available for any actions they may deem necessary, however unfair we see it.

A 'petition' section would help with getting things changed the way the userbase wants them to be.

Reading the full ToS is our responsibility; any confusion should be reported to staff via official means.

Staff should answer queries sent via these official means promptly and within a reasonable time period; it is unreasonable to expect a response within 24 hours and unreasonable to not receive a response within 2 weeks (pms and emails) or 4 weeks (Help topic).

Users who are not fluent in English will and should be held responsible for their actions, and should seek help via the official means for anything they are unsure of. English-speaking users on sites in other languages would and should be held responsible for their actions on those sites in the same way.

Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 6:53am

Toxxynne (#27033) Browsewrap vs clickwrap