There are a lot of sites out there that have "stock" in their name or will claim that they are a stock site. HOWEVER... In the majority of cases this is FALSE and the images on these sites may have been taken without permission of the artist. Or they might really be stock but the site requires you to pay for the image in some way. Here at WP members should not have to be paying real money for an image in their avatar... A prime example of this would be shutter-stock. They both require payment for use of their services as well as have images that may have been put there without the original artists permission... making it a prime example of what I was explaining above.

Pay to use stock is allowed to be used, but we may ask for proof of purchase.

AI Art

We support artists and the hard work they put into perfecting their craft. We do not allow AI Art on our site. Not for sale, and not for personal use.

Crediting Images

Alright... So I think this is one of the bits that seems to confuse people the most. How to properly credit an image. I will do my absolute best to describe this in a way people will be able to follow. I apologize if it gets confusing though.

But now that we have our stock images, we have checked and double checked that they are actually stock, and you have had the chance to play around with a couple of editing sites... it's time for one of the most crucial steps. The crediting. First thing is first. Return to the site where you got your original image, whether it is deviantart or elsewhere. Depending where the image is from crediting it may be a little different...

Deviant Art (DA)

If you are taking image(s) off of DA to use (and you have already checked and double checked permissions) then you need to make sure that you are crediting the specific account you took the image(s) from. Just crediting DeviantArt or DA is not specific enough.

DA is a large site. We (the mods) need to be able to track down exactly where you are taking the images from so that we may check the credits and permissions ourselves. Now you don't have to type out the full link to the exact image... Those can get long and unsightly to show in the credits.

Just the account name is usually good and we can generally track it down from there.

Lets say you are using an image from HotNStock. For your credits you would want to put: HotNStock @ DA or HotNStock.DA, either way is acceptable. If multiple images are used, all taken from different sources, you want to make sure you are crediting all of the images. Make sure to double check your spelling!!! Even a small typo will direct us to the wrong DA account and when we are unable to find the image used on it... the avatar will end up getting taken down.

Other Sources

When using an image from a source other than DA generally all that is needed would be a site address. However if it is a site similar to DA with user accounts, you will want to make sure to specify the specific account on that site. For sites other than DA make sure you are giving us the full site name. We may not recognize abbreviations for specific sites.

Please Remember: Mention and talk of other games are not allowed!

This includes in your avatar. So crediting an account on another game will not be allowed. Likewise, unless it is a Go Go Gatsby game created by our own eve, the images there would not be allowed for use anyway. If you ever have any sort of doubt about how to credit something from another site... please bring it to a mod, we are more than happy to assist you and it is better to ask first rather than take a wild guess at crediting and getting it wrong thus forcing us to remove the avatar.

WolfPlay

Though WP images are easily recognized here, the rules still require that you credit the game for images used from it. The backgrounds already have a copyright on them so as long as it remains visible you would be fine to leave it at that. If you use a wolf cut out, be sure to add a copyright somewhere.

Yourself

If you made your avatar, either drew it or took a photo of something yourself, then the only person you need to credit is yourself. To do that you would put either your pack name or your pack number. Pack numbers are generally preferred as they are easier to check. Members can change their pack names, but pack numbers will always stay the same.

Make sure the images are 100% your own... Mods will still be checking them before approval and if your image is found to have originated elsewhere or is displayed somewhere else, then this can be seen as art theft and there will be consequences.

If you took the photo yourself... a mod may ask about it so be prepared to provide some sort of proof that it is your own. Another instance where you would want to credit yourself is if you are making a photo manipulation. After you have properly credited the images used you will also want to credit yourself for making it.

Credits In Bio

If you do not wish to obscure your image with credits, it is okay to put your image credits in your pack bio. However you need to make sure you KEEP them there. If they are removed at any time, it could be removed later. You also want to make sure they are displayed CLEARLY at the top or the bottom and not hidden somewhere in the middle of the presentation. If we can't easily find the credits we may assume they aren't there and again... that's cause for removal of your image.

Credits in Notes

Same as crediting in your Pack Bio. Place it somewhere visible. And make sure your notes are visible, because oftentimes... they aren't. And the image will be removed.

Crediting Wyndbain Wolf Makers or DollDivine Makers

So since there have been a lot of these popping up around the game and there seems to be a lot of confusion on how they should be properly credited... I thought I would give it it's own little section here.

Now the majority of these images popping up are getting credited to DollDivine where they found the game. This is incorrect crediting! DollDivine did not make the game, they are simply hosting it.

Credits should be made to the games creator which is Wyndbain @ DA. Yes they have a copyright on the image there... however that is not always enough. With re-sizing that copyright often becomes illegible or sometimes people will crop it out or cover it up thinking the DollDivine credits will be enough. It's not. Credit for these types of avatars belongs fully to Wyndbain and again... the credits must be properly displayed.