Custom printing is killing this site.

[Ohsay]

Albeit a good idea, I've seen no one taking the time to sit down and create a facecplate themselves, rather they just take a few minutes upload a photo fiddle about with it and wait for it to be delviered.

Now don't get me wrong if there is an absurdly crazy design you want and getting it printed was the only way to do so, then cool.

I think the end product is cold, If i was buying a faceplate from someone, id happily pay money for it as long as they had made it it gives it some depth and personality.

I like every gears of war handpainted faceplate more than I would of an image printed onto a faceplate in the best detail.

Its also not really "custom" as it can be easily replicated where as a real custom faceplate, handpainted no matter how many people copy it they will never get two the same.

In my eyes its a dying art, and I die a little everytime I see a new "custom printed plate" in the database.

I understand that people with little art skill can go on and get a plate that they want look exactly how they want it etc and not be charged alot of money for it.
But yeh.
[/RANT]

[Ricepuppet]

Getting every word you said.

I make them really, really custom, and people think they've got something special when they got an ordered one, which is just a Google'd picture.

But if they're happy with that .. as long as they think it's 'custom', heh.

[wicked_d365]

I totally agree with you. If anyone can put any image on a plate in mass quantity, it's not rare, not valuable. Yes, it is cool to that person and maybe others, I feel that it is totally against what this place is about.

Sure, you want to appeal to the masses and let them have their own special collection. The fact that if I see a pic of someone else's plate and want the same one, I can place an order and BAM, there it is a few days later makes it wrong.It's nice to be able to make your own "custom" plate, and I use that term loosely because custom to me means you, or someone put actual time and labor into a plate to make it their own. Not some machine that mass produces these things all day. Also, the satisfaction of completing the project, or getting the hard to find/custom plate in the mail. I remember that feeling everytime I got one in the mail I had custom made by someone, or one I spent time on eBay searching for and watching for days. With this it kinda kills the whole fun of it all.

[SpaceGhost2K]

The thing is, you guys have no idea how many people I had to turn away because they wanted more detail than I was able to offer, or they didn't want to pay the price it would require to paint a custom with their design. The number of people able and willing to spend $50 on a plate that I spent eight hours making is getting smaller and smaller. Imagine "real" artists like Artist Pavel who ask $200 for their services (and worth every penny).

The hopes with printed plates is that they would be simple enough, and inexpensive enough, that the masses would jump on it. The hard part right now seems to be getting the message that the service exists, OUT to the masses where they can embrace it.

Do I advertise on Xbox LIVE?
Official Xbox Magazine?
Pay for banners on major sites like IGN and Gamespot?
Pay for banners on smaller, community sites?
Pay to put an insert inside of a game case?

All of it costs money, and you know what they say - it takes money to make money.

[Air Effex]

I agree, while it does help filter out complex designs it's kind of a **** block for selling airbrushed ones haha

[wicked_d365]

Now that I actually think about it, is this even legal? I mean you are reproducing copyrighted images/logos for money/profit, and not paying royalties. I say this because you just updated the gallery with pics of some of the custom print plates, and most have copyrighted logos.
I know this is a law because I tried to make a custom Rockets hat one time, and the vendors wouldn't do it because it was a copyrighted logo and they did not have permission to reproduce it. I had a sticker guy, but wouldn't do copyrighted logos either.
Not trying to start something, just trying to save you guys some troubles later down the road. I know you guys don't have legal fee money to burn.

[SpaceGhost2K]

Now that I actually think about it, is this even legal? I mean you are reproducing copyrighted images/logos for money/profit, and not paying royalties. I say this because you just updated the gallery with pics of some of the custom print plates, and most have copyrighted logos.
I know this is a law because I tried to make a custom Rockets hat one time, and the vendors wouldn't do it because it was a copyrighted logo and they did not have permission to reproduce it. I had a sticker guy, but wouldn't do copyrighted logos either.
Not trying to start something, just trying to save you guys some troubles later down the road. I know you guys don't have legal fee money to burn.

The rules on the site say that you either have to own the image or have permission to use the image. By proceeding past that point, if you are using images that you DON'T have the rights to use, the burden is on you should an issue arise.

The Patterson guy who drew Calvin and Hobbes had to live with all of these cars showing a vinyl Calvin sticker peeing on any number of things. Had you cut that image out and stuck it on your car, I don't think it would have been an issue. The issue was that people were making and selling the stickers to others. As it was, he spent years trying to get it stopped because he never licensed ANYTHING except actual printed art (his comics).

If I own World of Warcraft, I really don't. I merely licensed it. If I create a character, I didn't create a character that I own. Blizzard still owns the software that made it, and all of the elements that combined make up your character: appearence, stats, behaviour, etc. Still, if you wanted to print out your character and use it as your desktop wallpaper, or put it on a shirt or a faceplate, they wouldn't care. However, if you ran off a dozen shirts and sold them, Blizzard would object.

Here is the part that concerns me. There was an NCAA Football 10 faceplate listed on eBay. This one looked similar in style to the Madden and NCAA plates of the past three years. There was no plate like this in 2006 for Madden, so hellonearth159 made one, for his personal collection, that was done in the same style. There was also no plate made in this style for NCAA Football 10. They did a Mascot plate and a Helmet plate. When I saw the NCAA Football 10 plate on eBay, I emailed someone from EA about it. He said they did not make a plate in that style this year.

That means someone else did. They made the plate, listed it, it appeared to everyone that it was the first, and it sold for pretty good money. There's never been another one. The problem is that they did not mention anywhere in the auction that it was a custom printed plate. They made every intention to pass it off as a real thing, or wrote the auction so that people would assume it to be real. THAT is where there is going to be a problem with this.

[hellonearth159]

BTW...I fell prey to this scam. I bought the NCAA 10 plate thinking it was official. What I got was a very poorly made photo copy of the box art.
I've also seen a Halo ODST plate that doesn't look legit but doesn't claim to be a custom plate either. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280385904957
The moral of this story is that you have to be careful of what you buy and ask questions.

[SuperMonkeyHero]

I sent a message through ebay to the guy selling the ODST faceplate asking if it's 100% official or custom made by him. Will update when/if I get a response.

Here's the reply I received from the guy selling the ODST Faceplates on ebay:

"Hi Super Monkey Hero,
These are custom made Xbox 360 faceplates (not microsoft).
I did not make them personally. They are professionally printed.
They have also had great feedback.
Thank you,
AustralianGameSeller"

Not sure why he doesn't say in the auction that they aren't official and are custom but now we know.

[D.Frivy]

Thats a great and simple idea for a custom, very nice job. More droids for the Jawas are always welcome in my collection. I think Ill try doing one myself.

[SpaceGhost2K]

Thats a great and simple idea for a custom, very nice job. More droids for the Jawas are always welcome in my collection. I think Ill try doing one myself.


Huh??