IMPORTANT: The Creative Board and Creative Genius

Bridger_EU · 11-06-2006 11:29 AM

Hello and welcome to the Creative board. This section of the official message boards is intended to celebrate and encourage the creativity of the City of Heroes and Villains community, and provide an outlet where creative works inspired by the games can be shared with your fellow players.

In addition, there is a monthly Creative Genius competition, which awards the poster of the best creative submission with a special board title and a 60 day Game Time Card for their account.

As such, there are a few special rules and guidelines that apply to this board, in addition to the standard Message Board Rules and Guidelines. Please read the following information carefully before using the Creative board.

Using the Creative Board
As already mentioned, this board is intended to be used as a place for players of City of Heroes to share creations inspired by the game. This can be anything from fiction to mouse cursors, from movies to desktop wallpapers - if it's been inspired by City of Heroes, you can post it here.

There are, however, a few things to bear in mind when using this board:
<ul type="square">[*]Feel free to post fictional work directly to this board. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer hosting for other types of files, so you will need to find your own hosting for any other work and post a link to it.[*]Only original work can be considered for the Creative Genius award. As such, any work that is not wholly original should have this clearly indicated when posted. For further discussion of this point, please see the Original Work section below.[*]Please limit new threads to posts containing new creative work, or relevant requests (discussions of how to create movie files, requests for hosting solutions and so on). All other threads will be removed.[*]Please keep all feedback positive and/or constructive. Consider how you would feel if someone attacked something you have worked hard to create, and respect the effort that others have made.[*]Please do not post links to any work that other board users may find offensive, or that otherwise violates the usual Message Board Rules And Guidelines. Adult material should be clearly identified as such, and adult fiction should be hosted elsewhere and a link (with appropriate warnings regarding the content) posted.[*]NCsoft is not responsible for the content of any work or links, or for any technical problems that may arise from the use of any material linked to on this board.[/list]The Creative Genius Award
The Creative Genius award is a monthly prize intended to celebrate the creativity of the European City of Heroes and City of Villains community and recognise the outstanding work of our creative players.

In the first week of each month, a nominations thread will be posted to this board, in which you can nominate one creative submission from the previous month for the Creative Genius award. These nominations threads will be open for one week, after which the nominated submission we judge to be the best will win a unique board title of their choice and 60 days of game time.

There are a few ground rules for the nominations threads:
<ul type="square">[*]You may only nominate one submission from the previous month. If you nominate more than one submission, only the first one will count.[*]You may not nominate your own submissions.[*]Nominated submissions must have been posted to this board during the appropriate month - for example, to qualify for the nominations thread for June (which will be posted in the first week of July), a submission must have been posted to this board for the first time during the month of June.[*]All original submissions first posted to these boards in the appropriate month are eligible for nomination, regardless of what form they take. [*]Submissions must be the original work of the poster to be considered for the Creative Genius award.[*]Only nominated submissions will be considered for the Creative Genius award.[*]If no nominations are received for a given month, there will be no Creative Genius award that month.[*]Some standard terms and conditions apply to this competition. They are listed below, in the Terms and Conditions section.[/list]Original Work
For legal reasons, only creative submissions that are the original work of the poster may be considered for the Creative Genius award.

As such, any submission posted to this board that is not wholly original should clearly indicate this, and such works cannot be nominated for the Creative Genius award. A simple 'Based on an original work by <artist>' is generally all that is required.

For the purposes of this board, an 'original' work is defined as something that you created yourself 'from scratch' or using nothing other than materials from the games and official websites.

Examples of the kind of things that don't qualify are re-touching or modifying artwork created by someone else, or recording a version of a popular song with modified lyrics. In addition, movies using music to which the creator does not have the rights are also included. (If you wish your movies to qualify for the Creative Genius award, the best idea is to use in-game music. You can find several examples from CoH and CoV at ftp://ftp.coh.com/music/ - feel free to use these tracks in your movies.)

If you are ever in any doubt as to whether a specific work will qualify for the Creative Genius competition or not, please feel free to ask here or email ghostraptor@ncsoft.com for a decision.

Please note that we do not wish to discourage the posting of such works, nor do we intend to imply any form of value judgement. Many of our personal favourite submissions to the Creative board have been things that could not qualify for the Creative Genius competition. It's a legal restriction which we must abide by, nothing more.

Terms and Conditions
The following standard Terms and Conditions apply to the Creative Genius award competition:

If you are less than 18 years old you must read these terms and conditions with an adult.
These competitions are open to all European residents, aged 12 years and over, except for employees NCsoft or their immediate families or any companies or agencies directly connected with the creation and administration of these competitions.
NCsoft reserves the right to verify the eligibility of applicants and check their identity.
No payment is necessary to enter these promotions.
Multiple entries are allowed - you may post as many creative submissions to the Creative board in a month as you like.
NCsoft's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Prizes are non-transferable, non-negotiable and no cash alternatives will be offered.
NCsoft reserves the right to substitute a prize for another prize of equal value.
NCsoft will not accept responsibility for loss through technical fault, incomplete, illegible or other damaged entries. Proof of entry is not automatically proof of receipt.
By participating, each applicant agrees to abide by and be bound by these terms and conditions without alteration.
NCsoft reserves the right to cancel or amend these terms and conditions without notice or compensation.

So get those creative juices flowing and show us just how skilled, talented and innovative you can be. Fame, fortune and the admiration of your fellow heroes and villains await!