[Creation Space] Black Pearl Clarification

There have been people who were flagged for AI because their creations were so great and detailed. But I've also read that they were able to proof that they had drawn it on their own (with a video for example).
I guess most artists are aware that they should keep some video or layered file to be able to proof it's their drawing. Mistakes have been made, like one person had to proof twice, because some admin overlooked it but when they reported it in the discord channel an admin answered they'd take care of this as soon as possible and they're sorry for the mistake. So, from what I've seen I'd say they take it very seriously and listen to you, if you have some evidence that you didn't use AI. This makes me feel better when I actually report some creations.
Sometimes I use the note field to write something like "please have a further look into this, I'm not actually sure about it" and I hope they do. I was more worried about reporting actual drawings by accident in the beginning. But in the past few months they have become that ... impudent? ... someone actually submitted a graphic from howrse itself, just with another color. Yes, it's no example for AI but ... this and very obvious AI art (or very suspicious maybe) made me feel like I *have* to report them. I prefer to have them (owlient) have a closer look at them over saying "aah, maybe it's just me thinking this. This might be a great artist.". Because if it is a great artist, I'm pretty sure, they'll find some way to proof they are. But I don't want to let someone pass who is submitting any AI creation.

So, to any artist out there: please keep some proof that you are the person who created your submission!
It doesn't have to be a video (I hope) - some apps create them automatically, mine doesn't. Just keep the file; I hope the different layers will help already.

That makes sense, but I still sometimes worry. I once got a panic attack just THINKING that someone might think my work was made by AI even though no one actually mentioned anything like that to me. (Funnily enough, this happened in 2023, when it was already released, lol.) I'm also pretty sure my style isn't anywhere close to AI for people to suspect, lol. AI's already been out for 2.5 years now, and I doubt I would feel like that now since I've already worked through those feelings, so I'm sure most artists wouldn't worry about their work being suspected as AI so much, but you never know! So I would hope no other artist's self-esteem is affected by this.

I DO REALLY wish AI didn't become so popular, especially when I started getting serious with creative work (since I still have studies to do), but sigh, it is what it is. So I decided to avoid AI entirely since it hardly helped with my creative work unlike other people apparently claimed it did. Whenever I tried, it gave me something that was totally against what I wanted and served as nothing but a distraction from my work. As someone who probably has hyperphantasia (a condition where you have ultra-realistic imagination), I generate more ideas than I could ever VIRTUALLY, much less practically, ever make real, so I don't need something like AI to help me with that anyway. (I don't even use reference pictures! ) On that note, I don't really know what kinds of visual art AI really makes, since I've only really seen a few. I don't want to see anyway.

There are quite some blatant rule-breaking art in the voting process which steal precious voting slots of REAL art (I don't know how the algorithm works other than grouping creations of the same type and species and not showing creators their own creations since I got a few creations that looked similar to each other, but it seems to mostly be random). Did that person think Howrse's art was public domain? I think recolors are fine if they got permission from the original artist (in this case Howrse) or if it was public domain, otherwise they shouldn't be allowed (same with line art). A lot of AI was trained on copyrighted work, too, so that would make ANYTHING generated with it a copyright strike in itself...

I also do creative writing and dabble in music and video editing, and I don't know how you would show proof for those. Videos would be impossible since these usually take several months to several YEARS to finish. I guess maybe showing earlier versions or supplements of the work, though I don't know how well that would go down. (Writers, in particular, are VERY touchy about their first drafts. ) Showing proof for visual art is easier, though, since it IS visual, including physical art, but in any general creative field, being suspected to have used AI is a sore thought for me.

Going back to visual art, though (sorry for ranting, lol, it wasn't directed towards you at all, but towards people who think AI's better than actual creative people for some reason. I just thought it might be relevant to the discussion to mention ), I think it should be required to upload proof that you have created a work, so we can discourage people cheating art (this will also combat plagiarism which was already there WAY before AI). This doesn't just apply to Howrse, though, but anywhere you can be rewarded/paid for your art. Basically on the Black Pearl page, there could be another place where you upload your proof. (Hopefully on a different stage from where you upload your creation, since artists might accidentally upload it into the wrong area otherwise, especially if they're frustrated with Howrse not accepting their creation for a million unknown reasons. ) Since most artists already make proof whenever they draw, this probably wouldn't affect them too much, and this would also make newer artists aware that they should do it, too. Idk how this would work relating to server bandwidth and all, though (especially with videos), but maybe a project/vector file would be fine for digital work, at least. I don't think AI's gotten to the point where they can create art stroke-by-stroke yet, only pixel-by-pixel.

Same. (not exactly 2023 with released creations, but the rest of this ^^ )


Recently, I've been through all the creations 2 days earlier, so I've reached the maximum of votes anyway. (so it's not actually "stealing slots" in my opinion ^^ )
I can see my own submissions.
I've seen that coat too, I don't know what that person was thinking.

I didn't think about other types of art. My video and earlier version suggestions were just about howrse so far. ^^


I don't think players should have to check all of this though. Maybe we should go back to the admin (?) team checking the submissions before the voting phase. If we were to upload proof (which file type though? just any .* ? they need to be able to open it), they could have access to it.

Hello everyone,

The main topic has been updated, and the topic rules have also been clarified. Please ensure that you read them to avoid going off-topic.


Before posting
On this topic you can:

➞ Learn more about the Black Pearl rules.
➞ Ask for help if you have difficulties to submit your creation.
➞ Post your work in progress and ask for artistic feedback.
➞ Post your creation and ask if it complies with the rules.


On this topic you CAN'T:

➞ Mock, ridicule, or accuse creations and creators.
➞ Ask for votes.
➞ Send suggestions or feedback. Those should be sent directly to Customer Support.
➞ Post excessive steps regarding your work to avoid flooding the topic.
➞ Report creations. For creations in the voting stage, use the Report feature. For creations in the game, please reach out to Customer Support.


Thank you and have fun playing Howrse!