Icons Rules - Preview

[Daelin]

NOTE TO ICON CREATORS:

The Hive Workshop staff can take no responsibility for the loss of your icons. If an icon is deleted due to rule breaking it is your duty to have a backup. When the following guidelines are met icons will generally be approved. If submitted icons violate the rules they may either stay "Non-Approved" or be moved to the "Ignored" category. Moderators may then request that icon authors make certain adjustments to their submissions.

1. General Guidelines

All general site rules apply. This includes prohibitions against any offensive or pornographic art.

2. Freehand Content

All icons must be at least 50% freehand created. Non-freehand techniques include mirroring, cloning (or brute cloning, as in clear copy-paste), recoloring, resizing, and rotating.

3. Icon Quality

Quality is really very important: making a scratch icon will not be enough if it is poorly done. Throwing in some filters will generally not produce an acceptable result. Make sure that the final icon is detailed (not blurry or badly resized) and looks good in the game. Icons lacking an active alpha channel will not be approved.

4. Recolored Icons

Recolored versions of (author created) icons are allowed as long as they are made for certain purposes- such as potions.

5. Original Work

Stealing shall be severely punished with -25 reputation/icon. Stealing up to 2 pieces of art will result in a temporary ban (1 week). If the stealing continues, any offender shall be permanently banned.

6. Copy and Paste

If you partially copy-paste parts of your icon, mention the source or else it might be considered stealing.

7. Model/Skin Icons (for a unit, doodad or building)

These icons are special: ONE screenshot icon is allowed by the author (compatibility object-icon). The resource model/skin must be uploaded on the site: a link is required otherwise the resource will not be considered valid. Example: If RDZ makes a gorgon unit model and uploads it to the site, he is allowed to upload in the icons section ONE icon obtained through a screenshot of the Gorgon, with the condition that the icon is decent (screenshot taken decently) and that a link to Gorgon model is included in the icon's description.

8. Public Domain Icons

In some extremely exceptional cases (when author cannot be contacted and someone else posts an icon for a resource which lacks one posted by the author), it may be accepted. DO NOT abuse this rule (especially if the author is actually active but not visiting the site daily). Inactivity period: 2 months.

9. Icon Borders

Icons must ALWAYS include both active (with Blizzard border!) and disabled version. Passive and Autocast borders are required only for abilities & spells. Methods of obtaining and properly producing icon borders include the following. Edit any standard Blizzard icon and maintain the border's integrity. Download and use one of the existing icon border templates. Icon_Borders.psd Icon Template Starter Disabled and other border types may be added using either W3IR or Icon Layer for Photoshop

10. Possible Exceptions

IF THE RESULT PROVES TO BE EXCEPTIONAL, THE ICON MAY BE APPROVED EVEN THOUGH IT DOES NOT RESPECT ALL THE RULES ABOVE (In order to promote not only good artistic icons, but also useful ones).

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Guidelines For Icon Resource Moderators

[highlight]No resource can be approved until it has been downloaded and tested.[/code] Every resource must be downloaded to make certain that it actually exists on the server. Icons must be tested to ensure that all required components are present and are not corrupt in any way! Minimal test: examine submitted icons with Warcraft III Viewer. Thorough test: import icons into a map and view them in the game itself. [highlight]Before any changes are made to a resource’s Approved/Non-Approved/Ignored status a comment must be provided for it.[/code] Comments create records of the date and state valid reasons for the resource's inclusion or dismissal. These comments provide valuable consumer feedback to the resource submitter.

[TD][/TD]

 

[Wolverabid]

Thanks for a preview of the proposed new icon rules.

These guidelines seem somewhat brief in comparison to the long established Icons Forum Posting and Submitting Rules. I strongly believe that document should simply be amended rather than creating another (and potentially conflicting) set of rules. For example the following seems not to be addressed:

• Icons only with disabled version are prohibited. Your icon must have the disabled version, but also either passive or active.

Most icon submitters are likely to adhere to the site's rules willingly, however, it its inevitable that some unscrupulous users are eventually going to try to circumvent them. The more detailed and clearly defined that such rules can be, the less "wiggle room" will be available for anyone attempting to sidestep them.

I do not think that that the proposed penalties for artwork theft are strict enough. At present, rowdy users can be banned merely for being abusive or spamming up the boards. Plagiarism or theft of someone's intellectual property should be punished as severely as possible: one warning only, the second offense resulting in a temporary suspension, the third in a permanent ban.

 

[Daelin]

Made an update with the significant rules from the old guidelines. Rest are either included in the "more general" rules above, or are very obvious.

~Daelin

 

[BlackDoom]

The latest update brought to the rules is more comprehensive thus better. The first preview was quite sketchy...

I agree to all of them and will bring up more things to discuss as I can find a reasonable form of making them public.

Other than that - sounds great!

 

[Wolverabid]

Comments Needed

These proposed icon rules are extremely important to our community.

Since 02-16-2007, 10:27 AM only two comments have been added.

[highlight]>======> COME ON PEOPLE: WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? <======<[/code]

 

[Fulla]

Sounds fine to me.

Im glad ure allowing ppl to upload other ppl's stuff for the community.

 

[Xarwin]

Good rules.

The Icons Rules are correct and ain't missing a single thing.
Everyone should read this, and follow it.

Altough, what is The Hive their opinion?
Come on members, give us a response!

 

[Wolverabid]

Icon Submission Rules

These rules are now official Hive Workshop policy: a copy of them has been included in our [self="http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/faq.php?faq=resources#faq_iconrules"]FAQ[/self] and in the [self="http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=335"]Icon Interface[/self] forum.

Amendments or revisions to these rules may continue to be discussed freely by the community in this thread.

On behalf of the entire site, I'd Like to thank Daelin for authoring this wise set of guidelines. Thanks, Kelani Mage!

I'd also like to thank all of the talented Warcraft III icon editors who have submitted (and in the future will continue to submit) their fine creations to our site. Thanks gang!