Are CC0 or "free for commercial use" images acceptable for mission art?

MorganzaMorganza ✭✭✭✭✭
edited October 2021 in General

Like a lot of mission art designers, I adapt my mission art in whole or in part from well-regarded and reputable public image archives such as pixabay.com or pexels.com. This has not been a problem in the past; thousands of missions have been approved using Pixabay art.

I created the "Spooky Sunday" art set for the October Second Sunday based on a background of https://pixabay.com/illustrations/jack-o-lanterns-pumpkins-halloween-5674148/ -- the license on that image says


===========================

Pixabay License

Free for commercial use

No attribution required

===========================


Now, this is a popular image, it's been downloaded over 14,000 times, it has an "Editor's Choice" award, and it's been picked up by dozens of Facebook pages, blogs, and other websites.

At least 20 missions have been approved with tile 4 of that set, which is zooming in on a single grinning jack o'lantern.

But.

At least three people have gotten mission 4 rejected:


Thanks for submitting S4/6 Spooky Sunday - Sunnyvale Heritage Park. Unfortunately, we were not able to accept your Mission. Your Mission may have one or more of the following issues:

  • Use of an image or text that isn't yours or that you don't have rights to use or that consists of a logo
  • Use of official Niantic logos or event names (NL1331, Mission Day, etc.)
  • Use of Image or Text that claims the Mission as "official", otherwise implies it has special designation, or is endorsed by Niantic (e.g., "The Official Ingress London Mission")

Now, 90% or more of the people who submitted missions with this tile had it approved (there are at least 21 live copies that I know of), which makes the handful of arbitrary rejections even more painful.

So, a simple question: are freely licensed images eligible to be used for mission art?

Comments

  • MorganzaMorganza ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2021

    The "Spookiest Sunday" mission set.



  • MorganzaMorganza ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2021


    The rejected tile

  • mortuusmortuus ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2021

    this image should be ok to use as those who submit missions earn no money on them so not sure why they reject them... they suspect its copyright when it isnt. the terms clearly say Free for commercial use.

  • MorganzaMorganza ✭✭✭✭✭

    Granting free permission to use an image for any purpose licenses the copyright, it doesn't negate it.

    As for commercial use, Niantic is a for-profit corporation and Ingress is a commercial game, that is the yardstick to use, not whether Niantic pays its content creators or crowdsources content.

  • HosetteHosette ✭✭✭✭✭

    FWIW, I've had one mission rejected where the photo had been placed in the public domain.

  • ZeroHecksGivenZeroHecksGiven ✭✭✭✭✭

    I was gonna say, I don’t think Niantic has any black and white rules regarding the images used. We’ve seen images created by agents get rejected for copyright issues. And it’s not like anyone here or with support is going to help you or accept any sort of license or agreement.

    I’d say try it again to see if it goes through and if not, maybe edit it a little to see if you can trick them 🤷🏼‍♂️

  • haripoharipo ✭✭✭

    I understand your concern. Secondary use of images in legal way like this should be accepted.

    I thought it’d be better if there is an area for explaining copyright or something of image when submitting missions, so I’ve made a suggestion on this forum lately.

    I’d be happy if you’d check it.

  • I've ran into the same issue numerous times and think it has more to do with the mind set of the individual reviewers than whether it is acceptable artwork. If the image pops up on an image search, I think some reviewers reject it without a second glance to determine whether the image is in the public domain or royalty-free. Goes along with my theory that it takes less keystrokes for a reviewer to reject missions than to approve. I submitted your Spooky Sunday mission on Saturday. Hopefully it will be reviewed by someone who will actually take the time to see it's an acceptable image.

  • ZeroHecksGivenZeroHecksGiven ✭✭✭✭✭

    When I reverse search the above image of the pumpkin, I get several matches right away, so I would assume that's part of the reason for the rejection.

  • My banner was fully approved including the jack-o-lantern.

  • ZeroHecksGivenZeroHecksGiven ✭✭✭✭✭

    Why disagree @haripo Do you think Niantic is rejecting these for some other reason? My guess is they do something close to what I did, grab the image, reverse search it and if they get any hits, they reject. I doubt they do any sort of research to see that the image has free use, etc.

    I 100% agree that they should be allowed and there should be a way to explain where your image came from.

  • haripoharipo ✭✭✭

    I think we’re on the same side.

    I wanted say that Niantic’s way of rejection is wrong by “disagree”ing.

  • The reviewer who rejected it could have been thinking it looks too much like the letter "O", so was following the rule against letters. We really don't know. But we do know that different reviewers see different things.

    But yes, I have gotten missions thru with free clip art. For example, one is at a historic mill that is now a park. I found a free picture of a solid grey sawblade. It looks cool!

Sign In or Register to comment.