Deja vu? This week in the Forums we saw a user by the name of Vaxxix claim that a highly sought after Bootleggers picture maker, who we shan't name, was doing nothing more than a counterfeit job on previously created images by other artists and charging a premium price for them. Incidents of this nature are not unheard of however, as the more experienced Bootlegger may remember, there was the notorious case of the fraud artist LukkyB which was disputed for prolonged periods of time in the past, with the old The Deadly Alliance Boss eventually being found to of been charging extortionate prices for 'ripped' work. The post in question was as follows:
* This topic is locked!
mug has been stealing other peoples pics and including mine and selling them
expose this ripper
Vaxxix said
But despite the nature of the claims and the evidence as to them being true being provided by the original poster, opinion remained divided as to whether this was a truly worthy act in terms of warranting the attempted chaos that the original creator of the images attempted to ensue.
At this stage, we should point out that it could for all we know be the other way round, and the accused artist is having his own work ripped by the mysterious Vaxxix. No conclusive evidence was put forward other than some pictures which, when compared, do demonstrate recurring characteristics. However the more interesting point is the sides or angle which people took on the matter.
Some other well known artists of the round were involved in the topic, and cast the claims aside as rubbish instantly. Others said the accused was a fraud. While some encouraged Vaxxix, being in the environment which he is, a mafia game, to either go about killing the user he had an issue with or to indeed shut up!
We grabbed a quick word with YounV14 to see what he made of counterfeit artists who charge premium prices. He said, "I guess it's an easy way to make money as long there are people around who are dumb enough to pay those high prices for them." This being the case, it is difficult for a user to trace the source of an image they have purchased, particularly if the vendor id deemed reputable. What is your opinion though? Is this a crime? Does it really matter? Personally if an image I own looks nice and does not crop up on the same game other than the one I own, I couldn't care less. However I am sure others opinions on the matter may differ!
