Say NO to art theft!

Most people are aware that there have been thefts of other developer's meshes and textures. Unfortunately there are also unscrupulous people who steal from not just IMVU developers, but video game developers as well.

I beseech you, please do not support people who steal any kind of art and claim it as their own. The developers who create the graphics for video games work very hard and put in long hours for their creations. In most cases they are just employees, so regardless of how successful the game or the company that produces it, the actual developer usually doesn't get rich. And whether they did or not, it's STILL illegal and immoral to steal their meshes and textures and say that you made them and profit off of them.

While most such thieves don't become very successful, for over a year and a half, i2omance has been getting away with it.

Below you will find screenshots of some of his products in comparison with screenshots from the games that they were stolen from. Beneath each picture will be links to all pictures used. These particular products along with 500+ others have already been disabled in the IMVU catalog but many more remain and new ones are being submitted on a regular basis. Fortunately NCsoft and several other game producers who were notified do actually take an interest in protecting their developers' work and their copyrighted materials and are still filing DMCAs.

Note that the only differences that you will see is in rendering quality based on the graphics settings of the person who took the screenshot, and the fact that IMVU does not allow the use of bump mapping or special lighting effects, and they convert all textures to 256x512 which changes the quality of certain textures.

From Shaiya:

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/i2omance/majestic_pr.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff246/Senuma/Shaiya06.jpg

From Aion:

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/i2omance/?action=view¤t=lamia_pr.jpg
http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/996/996938/aion-tower-of-eternity-20090622061158901.jpg

From Aion:

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/i2omance/?action=view¤t=legend_dra_char.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/i2omance/legend_dragon_pr.jpg
http://www.aionfly.com/2009/07/asmodian-elyos-armor-sets-preview/
http://www.spooncraft.com/whatever/aion-so-you-want-to-see-what-the-armor-looks-like-part-2/

From Jade dynasty:

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/i2omance/legend_dk_pr.jpg
http://jd-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=211211&page=8

From Lineage II:

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/i2omance/?action=view¤t=satanic_beast_pr.jpg
http://image.lineage2.in.th/updateinfo/ch5/chap9_clip_image001.jpg
http://www.lineage2.com/community/spotlight_12.html

From Lineage II:

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/i2omance/?action=view¤t=lord_inferno_pr.jpg
http://lineage2.mondespersistants.com/images/images_art/1264.jpg
http://lineage2.mondespersistants.com/?article=437

From Atlantica Online:

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/i2omance/?action=view¤t=destroyer_ch.jpg
http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/i2omance/?action=view¤t=Destroyer_pr.jpg
http://photo.mmosite.com/content/2008-06-27/20080626231315915,2.shtml
http://my.mmosite.com/royallush/blog/item/532c405dbf95ce48c37ab9bad7894e94.html

From Shaiya:

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/i2omance/?action=view¤t=majestic_II_pr-2.jpg
http://www.timepers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/shaiya1.jpg
http://www.timepers.com/news/shaiya-character-guide/
http://www.aeriagames.com/forums/en/viewtopic.php?t=149411&start=20

Just an illustration for thought:

Playhound is believed to be another account that he made when some of his stolen products started to be disabled, but there may be others.

Most unfortunately IMVU rarely disables people's accounts even after multiple wrong doings unless the removed items are taken away from the buyers and the developer is unable to repay the refunds.