November 2020 First Saturday featured artist's ethics
panfolek
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Dear Niantic,
It was brought to my attention that November IngressFS featured artist that FevGames celebrated on their
site here:
and you used the person's graphics as this months in-scanner media actually hid the "images inside the lower "bits" of other images."
As a result this amiable, cross-faction graphics:
concealed the below image:
most likely by using the steganographic techniques of this site:
The graphics the person prepared and you unknowingly promoted became the vehicle for mockery towards the Resistance agents all over the world propagating hatred between factions.
Do you really want the cross faction relations to go down that road?
Sincerely
panfolek
14
Comments
Not cool
Hello,
I confirm it's steganography, and i found it funny
I found it on Friday night, it's related to SuperFrog which is an old game.
When I found it, I laughed a lot, it was sooo funny. I still remember when I started to decode something from BRNN and I got "smurfed" on my face. It was hilarious.
You can do that, be creative, if you find an intelligent way to do something like that, DO IT. I learned, we learned, and I've seen that person knows way better decoding than me. I'd never thought about it!
PS. This is a game (I've got the feeling that somebody will **** me by just stating that), relax and take it easy.
It took you all that long to find the hidden image?
Seriously though, for some of us, harmless pranks are a way of bonding. Some of my favorite Ingress memories involve me being pranked by my local Resistance agents. 💚💙
I find it funny as well. You how like NIA announce a live event, then cancel it almost as quickly.
About time someone trolled them back !
@panfolek - Pro tip: Why not pay it forward and pass on the fun? Many of us ENL folks would love to see a fun RES prank!
Quit whining & just one up them next time around. Humor is actually a good thing right about now. I find it funny.
Oh and I'm a Resistance agent.
So many other things to care about currently and you are worried about a hidden image in another image.
Is that really an issue currently?
Personally I'd rather have a client that doesn't frequently lock up when I'm micro fielding or recharging. I really wish I had more inventory space to better prepare for the upcoming double AP event.
I really wish I had a goal to work on during this bonus AP time, but apparently no one could figure out how to make drones into an event. I didn't realize that maybe making drones fly along links (like something else does in Ingress(sharts/shards)) would be so hard to figure out how to implement & push into a global event.
Eh, maybe they will figure it out by the next time we actually get an event since we are just the red headed stepchild compared to some other game that gets events about what? Weekly? So many lost opportunities for micro transactions for IP that they fully own.
/sigh
*sigh*... that's quite a pathetic thing to do..
Let's take a dive into the rules. First stop will be the "IFS Artwork Competition page on Fevgames detailing what the requirements (and rules) are regarding IFS artwork submissions. It is stated that:
Q: I’M IN! WHAT’S CONSIDERED VALID ARTWORK? A: Submissions shall be original digital artwork. This includes images of field art made by the agents as well as street art or pictures drawn by agents. All submissions must be original. No copyrighted work other than Ingress materials and the artist’s original creation will be considered for the competition. Also, your work must comply with the Niantic Player Guidelines (e.g. nothing racist/sexist/obscene).
To further add to this, the artwork has to be created fully by the submitter and can not include others artwork. Please also do not redraw or trace another agents image/artwork.
That's funny, no copyrighted material is allowed, only original artwork created by the artist. When I do an image search the hidden image has remarkable resemblance with an image hosted on this website. Adding a 'frog' doesn't make it very original, does it?
I wonder how much the hidden image celebrates the cross-faction community if the image is being used to **** Resistance agents..
Q: WHAT ARE THE EVALUATION CRITERIA? A: The best submissions have to be original pieces and will:
* have a strong aesthetic appeal
* celebrate the cross-faction community
* represent the desire to explore new places
* inspire agents to be physically active
* communicate a feeling of mystery, wonder, or surprise
* have a thematic association with the month or season
Let's dig a little deeper and open the Niantic Player Guidelines as the IFS Artwork Competition requires the artwork to be in line with that as well. We can read that:
In short, treat others as you would like to be treated. Remember that certain interactions that seem harmless or fun to you may be perceived differently by bystanders or other players.
and:
#1 - Treat others with respect
Unlike many other games, you may actually meet the people you play with in real life. It’s in everyone’s best interest to keep things courteous and fun for all. Respect other players and other people, both in the game and in the real world.
* Never defame, abuse, ****, harm, ****, or threaten another player.
To some this might be a harmless prank, to others fuel to increase harassments between factions and players. IFS Artworks should always bring factions together. This artwork doesn't. It's pathetic. Is this going to be the new standard? A battle between artists on which artist (and faction) can take a stab at the other?
Niantic created the oppurtunity for players to submit their artworks and become featured. It's sad that some are now taking advantage of the system to promote their own opinions and agendas. The first step has been taken, there's bound to be more to follow. What if the hidden images become worse (racism, hatred, politics, pr0n)? There's no way to be absolutely certain there's no hidden content. Does that mean the IFS Artwork Competition can continue, and if so, at what risk?
Please realize that this "prank" (or whatever it is) can and most likely will have a big impact. Looking from Niantics point of view and realistically speaking the only safe thing to do is to cancel the IFS Artwork Competition and not/never use player submitted images again. If so, thank you very much for destroying yet another initiative. I hope you are proud.
Oh, come on. As a blue player, well played. I otherwise could not care less.
Being salty about harmless creative shenanigans and playing the victim ruins everything for everyone.
Oh Boo ****ing **** !
Ingress is serious stuff...! What an absolute rubbish post.
Anyway... moving on from that drivel... I have a gripe with ingress... all this Toast is fulling up my inventory..
When am I going to be able to use it in the Kinetic capsule to create mince on toast?
the only safe thing to do is to cancel the IFS Artwork Competition and not/never use player submitted images again
That seems rather extreme. Yes, it is in Niantic's own interest to make sure this doesn't happen again, not because of trolling, but because of the possibility of exposing themselves to copyright lawsuits or worse. However, instead of burning down everything, it will be easy enough to sanitize user submitted artwork:
This is the result of just a few minutes of idle wondering, I'm sure there's more things that can be done.
I am sorry for the delayed response. The image has been altered on our fevgames site to remove the hidden image within it, due to violations of the contest. The artist has been informed of this and does have a right to choose for us to remove the entire interview if they would like. I am truly sorry to those this hurt at all or any one that was upset by this. We of course did not know there was a hidden image as we put our trust in the artists submitting pieces to the contest. While i am glad that others took this slip up well, i would like to solidify that we do not encourage or condone this sort of thing when it comes to this contest. I again am sorry this was not caught ahead of time, we will be working on this. Thank you to all of those that brought this to our attention.
Has the agent been reported?
😀😀
😱
Why is this pejorative if both smurf and frog are slangs created by the same faction?
https://youtu.be/NqlUZfOOS7E