run off to GMK to beg for your copyrighted images to be printed/subbed onto caps and buy them by the shipping container. Guess what, that image/icon/logo belongs to somebody too
Could you be more specific here? What do you mean? I've never heard of GMK printing anything it doesn't have rights to? thanks.
I'm NOT picking on Ivan, this isn't about him, his were just the most convenient examples.
(Sorry Ivan!)
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=50935.0http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=58198.0The first one was run through GMK. The second, I don't know if Ivan ever stated who did the dye sub on those. It may not have been GMK, and I don't mean to imply that it was, but my point still stands: Geekhackers line up in droves for novelty keys with copyrighted images.
Nothing against GMK or any other shop, here. I'm only pointing out the hypocrisy and reinforcing the idea that market forces take over when demand is high.
And as someone else already mentioned, IMSTO might be a better example.
Some of you could use a lesson in economics. When you force exclusivity on a product you create an abundance of demand. When the demand reaches a threshold, knockoffs will inevitably appear to satisfy it. This is not to say I support knockoffs. But if you want your clacks/brobots/gasmasks/whatever to remain limited and "special", then you should prepare for there to be knockoffs. Because people want to buy them and somebody, somewhere is going to seize that opportunity. Welcome to Economics 101.
I can't say just how many times I hear this, and how many times I have to reply with 'I am one ****ing person, I make as many as I can possibly make in the time I have'. There's no 'exclusivity' or 'purposefully limiting production'. Cop-out excuses like this are the norm lately. It doesn't give anyone license to make fakes just because the original creator can't produce them on a large scale.
Dude, no offense. Don't mistake my intention. I understand that you produce what you're able to and I don't fault you for that. But surely you must realize how that creates exclusivity in your product, don't you? And while you clearly don't like it, some here enjoy the rarity and the minigame behind acquiring your caps. Have you seen what they sell for second-hand? I mean, come on...
This is a small community, and I cater to that. I am not catering to mass produced parts. Nor do I have the ability or desire to do so.
Again, NOT asking you to do more. It's not necessary for you to change a single thing. That is light years from my point.
Your argument is that we should be OK with it, and move on.
Yes and no. I think you're intelligent enough to understand how the world works. I think you have every right to defend your product and your IP -- and should. I also know that you're not going to win every single battle. I also think you should be confident enough in your work that the quality of an authentic Bro Cap will stand up against all imitators, and that in the absence of Bro Cap availability, understand that some will turn to knockoffs to get what they want.
If it directly affected you, I guarantee you wouldn't have the same attitude. So you can sit comfortable from your uninvolved bystanders position and spit out opinions on the matter, but until you actually experience on the level of affecting you in a personal way, you really have no opinion.
I don't make key caps, so I can't speak to that specifically, but I have had my worked "ripped off" at times and while it doesn't feel great, if it didn't directly impact my ability to make a living (and in no such case did it), then I just shrugged it off and considered it a lesson learned. I've done graphic design work for communities and charity and even organized a few group buys, all of it pro bono "hobby"-type stuff, so I'm no stranger to people "liberally re-using" my work (and doing it poorly).
Sorry for the wall of text.
