User:Tetris L/Mail to ANet

Everybody be informed that I intend to send an eMail to community@arena.net regarding the use of official images, with the following content.

Normally I wouldn't feel entitled to talk to ANet on behalf of GuildWiki, but the recent incidents of official images being deleted as a violation of our Image use policy while numerous other websites (including official fansites and even elite fansites) use them freely really hit me as absurd.

Please review the mail and discuss. I'll change anything that's being agreed upon.

Letter (draft)
Hi ArenaNet!

(I assume it'll be Gaile Gray reading and hopefully answering this, so: Hi Gaile!)

This is, online better known as "Tetris L", a longtime regular contributor of GuildWiki.

On behalf of GuildWiki I'd like to ask you for a general clarification regarding the use of images from official websites.

So far we STRICTLY obey to the following rule stated in the Fansite FAQ :


 * "Can I use the art from your official site on my fansite? - We have a Fansite Kit for your use, but the use of anything outside of items offered in the kit requires approval by ArenaNet. For instance, our navigation bar, borders, customized game images, or section headings are intended for use exclusively on the official Guild Wars site. If you have questions, please contact us."

The GuildWiki admins watch over this closely, delete any inappropriate images and remove them from the respective articles. See GuildWiki's Image Use Policy Image_use_policy. We do not apply "fair use" policy to images from the official websites.

The result is that often images that have been posted on any of the official websites (including the Asian/European official websites or websites of NCsoft) but NOT in the fansite kit are used by other websites all over the web (including official fansites and even elite fansites), but GuildWiki, the single biggest GuildWars resource on the web, refrains. For example, our article about Guild Wars Nightfall Nightfall is still without the official logo, despite the logo being published in high resolution via the Korean official website.

The Terms of Use of the official websites are not 100% clear about the matter either. For example the Terms of Use of www.guildwars.com state:


 * "Can I put ArenaNet or Guild Wars downloads on my web site? - Yes, you may. We allow the non-commercial mirroring of our downloadable Content, such as images, videos, demos, etc., as long as the content is not altered in any way."

According to this term mirroring images should be okay. But the same Terms of Use also state:


 * "[...]May I use ArenaNet and/or Guild Wars content, i.e., images, text, animations or sound files, on my web page?
 * Yes, you may use our content — that is images, text, and video or audio files — within the following parameters:
 * - The content must be used in a noncommercial context for private, personal use only [...]"

While GuildWiki is noncommercial, it is clearly not personal use.

As an official fansite we'd like to follow the guidelines in the Community Fansite Program that state:


 * "An Official Guild Wars Fansite agrees to: [...] Present materials in an attractive and professional manner"

For me, "attractive manner" includes images. It is the nature of a wiki that it is heavy on the text information side, but at least some images as eye teasers would be nice. After all, we're on ArenaNet's side, and want to help you to promote the game. It's all free advertising, you know. ;-)

Anyway ... if you could give us a bit more of a general guideline for the future and clarify the disaccord among the official policies listed above, that'd be very helpful for us. We don't want to bother you with an eMail each and every time we have a case of doubt. (Unless you tell us to do so, of course. ;-))

Last but not least I want to assure you again that GuildWiki strives hard to meet the Fansite Expectations. Trust that we watch closely that our editorial content is free of "leaked" information or rumors and that copyrights are respected.

Thanks in advance for a clarification!

Cheers,