So what is with people stealing avatars

[Rooster]

I took the time to learn unity and blender. Now every world i go to someone steals my avatar...like really? What is going on and should i even bother logging in? The knuckles meme was fine but this is annoying. Its more than just the copying thing...people mess with the lighting so you cant see anything, ex. I appreciate trolling but this is such a low-level garbage that offers no humor. Are the devs going to do something about this or is this just going to be one of those ignored problems that affects the game negatively?

[Prox in Crisis]

I do avatars for free but anyway if you encounter the hacker copied your avatar either (depending you actually have the avatar in unity) to re-upload it via delete in show build content then re-upload the avatar would have the avatar broken (disappear and you will be all good)

[FuzzyNarwhal]

Don't delete and reupload the avatar straight away. Instead what you do is import a cube into Unity with a texture saying 'I stole this avatar' written across it and assign it your avatars blueprint ID. Upload this cube, which is an avatar update because of the ID, and make sure the VRChat camera still has the original avatar in its view. When they select your avatar from the game menu they'll now appear as the cube.

[Sokonomi]

At the risk of offending someone; I'm having a bit of a moral struggle about this, because I am completely smitten with the public avatars made by Filn, but this person doesn't offer unity models, and I yearn to custom fit it a little for myself; recoloring some bits, adding some hand held gimmicks and gestures. I'm not looking to sell or have my name on it or anything, I just want to add a bit of personal flavor, no ill intent. Would 3D modeling artists be upset about people 'stealing' an avatar to do that?

[Prox in Crisis]

There's nothing artistic about using someone's own work, you gotta get their permission if you want to do that sort of stuff, anyway it compromises how your create your own work, as you'll eventually get the habit of relying on others rather than creating your own work

[CasualtyListed]

Buyers Perspective:
If I buy something and don't want it released to the general public, something that is entirely mine. Something that I purchased with my money, for me to enjoy and entertain myself and possibly others with. No, I don't want someone else to be able to take that enjoyment and exclusivity away from me. I contracted someone to make that piece, not only is it a disrespect to my ownership, but to the artist(s) who produced it for me. I may or may not have the time, patience, desire, the effort for that matter to make something myself or in a style I wanted to have such an item in. If I can only do stick figures, yet I want something done by say BluntKatana than I'm very much so willing to inquire his services. I'd rather have someone who can get the job done in a reasonable time and get the product I want than to spend potentially hundreds of hours figuring something out that I have no clue of where to even begin. So seeing someone take effort put in to get the money, and even more over the effort it took to produce it and tarnish it by simply stealing it is an insult.

Creator Perspective:
It's my art. My rules with what gets to happen to it, unless I sell the design to someone else with full rites to it. No one has the right to take that from me outright. I may even be using a piece I made entirely as a showcase or entry to my own portfolio for my services. Having someone abuse that is outright distasteful and harmful to me. They may use that piece in ways I had no intention of doing, or worse use it as a means to claim it's there's and try to boost themselves or further worse scam my would-be customers. That's not okay!

Troll Perspective:
You bought something? lol... RIP! Mine now loser shouldn't have gone to public world with your sh*t lmao! Can't learn how to be an artist!? TROLOLOL HERE'S YOUR LOGS NOOB! Gtfo and stfu boomer.

How I see it..

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

Skills are important, but I think the sinew of war here is assets collections.... it can get pretty difficult and pricey to get all the assets you need to make an avatar, not to mention issues with models authors.

But now if you buy an avatar to somebody else, you never know if he will ever decid to screw you up and update it as a stupid cube, or simply delete it... of course he cant do that if you get your "delivery" trough a unity package prefab...

[Legoman99573]

I have my stuff reverse engineered all the time. At this point, i just stopped caring as if you get rid of 1,, not like ill see 50 more doing the same exact thing i reported the 1st guy for and with recent, i dont care as i hardly get on anymore.

[Raging Panda]

I don't understand the issue with other people copying your avi. Yeah, you worked hard on it, but why ♥♥♥♥♥ because someone else has it? Take it as a compliment. Personally, I think you should upload your hard made avis with the understanding that someone will probably take it. Not really good at unity or anything like that, but I used to make flash avi for whirled back in the day, and people stole it. Didn't bother me, and even working hard on a unity one, if I did, I don't have an issue. Just sounds like a bunch of people who take this ♥♥♥♥ too seriously IMO.

[Raging Panda]

Baseik님이 먼저 게시:

Buyers Perspective:
If I buy something and don't want it released to the general public, something that is entirely mine. Something that I purchased with my money, for me to enjoy and entertain myself and possibly others with. No, I don't want someone else to be able to take that enjoyment and exclusivity away from me. I contracted someone to make that piece, not only is it a disrespect to my ownership, but to the artist(s) who produced it for me. I may or may not have the time, patience, desire, the effort for that matter to make something myself or in a style I wanted to have such an item in. If I can only do stick figures, yet I want something done by say BluntKatana than I'm very much so willing to inquire his services. I'd rather have someone who can get the job done in a reasonable time and get the product I want than to spend potentially hundreds of hours figuring something out that I have no clue of where to even begin. So seeing someone take effort put in to get the money, and even more over the effort it took to produce it and tarnish it by simply stealing it is an insult.

Creator Perspective:
It's my art. My rules with what gets to happen to it, unless I sell the design to someone else with full rites to it. No one has the right to take that from me outright. I may even be using a piece I made entirely as a showcase or entry to my own portfolio for my services. Having someone abuse that is outright distasteful and harmful to me. They may use that piece in ways I had no intention of doing, or worse use it as a means to claim it's there's and try to boost themselves or further worse scam my would-be customers. That's not okay!

Troll Perspective:
You bought something? lol... RIP! Mine now loser shouldn't have gone to public world with your sh*t lmao! Can't learn how to be an artist!? TROLOLOL HERE'S YOUR LOGS NOOB! Gtfo and stfu boomer.

How I see it..

I get this, but then again, and I'm not those "all info/♥♥♥♥ should be free" kind of people, but I think it's a too serious perspective on it. even if they claim it as theres, so what? That's just how it goes. As for money... people buy these?

[babbty]

y cant others use ur avatar?

[Raging Panda]

Tekken Critics(youtube)님이 먼저 게시:

y cant others use ur avatar?

The way I understand it, people are butthurt because it's their art and not anyone else's. I think, even with the attempts of safe guards, upload your avi knowing that it is possible someone might take it.

[SiEgE]

Simpletun님이 먼저 게시:

I took the time to learn unity and blender. Now every world i go to someone steals my avatar...like really? What is going on and should i even bother logging in? The knuckles meme was fine but this is annoying. Its more than just the copying thing...people mess with the lighting so you cant see anything, ex. I appreciate trolling but this is such a low-level garbage that offers no humor. Are the devs going to do something about this or is this just going to be one of those ignored problems that affects the game negatively?

I don't think you understand what internet is, my friend. Once it on the internet - it is no longer in your direct possession, even if you do any of those strange attempts to "protect" it.
Your avatars are literally being placed into everyone's PCs, so no matter if you find a way to prevent loading it off the official server, there would always be someone who will just "unpack" your avatar at his PC, and reupload it as their own.

If you're so bothered with avatar copying, I suggest you to work out a thick skin for that kind of stuff, because it won't stop, anyway.

[Raging Panda]

SiEgE님이 먼저 게시:

Simpletun님이 먼저 게시:

I took the time to learn unity and blender. Now every world i go to someone steals my avatar...like really? What is going on and should i even bother logging in? The knuckles meme was fine but this is annoying. Its more than just the copying thing...people mess with the lighting so you cant see anything, ex. I appreciate trolling but this is such a low-level garbage that offers no humor. Are the devs going to do something about this or is this just going to be one of those ignored problems that affects the game negatively?

I don't think you understand what internet is, my friend. Once it on the internet - it is no longer in your direct possession, even if you do any of those strange attempts to "protect" it.
Your avatars are literally being placed into everyone's PCs, so no matter if you find a way to prevent loading it off the official server, there would always be someone who will just "unpack" your avatar at his PC, and reupload it as their own.

If you're so bothered with avatar copying, I suggest you to work out a thick skin for that kind of stuff, because it won't stop, anyway.

See this is the mindset I have. Perhaps they don't teach this in school anymore? But it's commonly known that you don't post ANYTHING you don't want to put out there. yeah, there's something to be said for intellectual property I suppose, but, in the end, there's ways around copyright. Piracy will always be a thing, and you should be aware of this reality. It's the same thing with game devs. May seem off topic, but I think it's applicable here as well. As SiEgE says, grow thick skin or just don't upload it. People will always find a way to rip things they want for free. Don't make it right, but you need to accept things that won't change.
He mentions it being left on people's PCs. It's apart of game design in general. Usually they are in the cache files, under appdata. Ultimately, the encryption (if any) is worked through and, while tough, those with enough time on their hands will be able to get around it.