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Giovanna_del_Arco's picture

Witness' armor/robe/dress designs for the Dark and Light Elves mod are really far more eye-catching than standard DS1/LoA attire for females, and (in reply to Ghastley's pondering about how much Witness' work impacted DS2) the "Tribal Armor" in DS2 (and the variations thereon in DS2/BW) are rather obviously based on her work, and that style (miniskirt and crop top) is my favorite style of all female torso attire in DS2/BW. That one, as I said, is rather obvious, at least to me, but I'm sure there are other things that are less obvious; I haven't yet attempted to look at any of the programming in DS2/BW (so I suspect that any mods for DS2/BW by me won't be hitting the download section any time soon, and I still have a lot of ideas for DS1/LoA mods that I need to get back to working on --- I finally made a map for DS1, but it's a very preliminary thing, and probably won't ever be published, at least in its present form).

I don't remember seeing Witness/Lisa being credited, however, which I think was bad form. We all know (or at least I hope we do) that "derivative" works such as "fan fiction" and the like (which would include computer game modifications) are, technically, the property of the creator of the original, but there are any number of franchises which have not only allowed the creators of derivative works to profit, but also have allowed such creators to claim original work, regardless of its derivative nature (note, for example, the large number of novels based on one or another of the "Star Trek" television series and movies, each duly credited to its author). At the very least, a nod in her direction would have been the right thing to do. I could be wrong; maybe I just overlooked her name in the credits, but I've looked more than once, and I have long wondered if that might have contributed to her decision to "move on." I know it would have at least annoyed me, had I done what she did, then had my work (ahem) borrowed, and not even gotten an honorable mention somewhere. Well, I might be completely off base here, because I don't know for certain that my view of the situation is correct, and have never communicated with Witness about it, but I do know that, if I were her, I would not have been too happy. On top of all that, a case could be made that her work is in fact not derivative at all, that she contributed new material for use with DS1/LoA. There was certainly nothing like it in DS1/LoA before she did the work, and that work could, with the necessary programming language changes and adjustments for the content, have been added to almost any game of the sort; it is almost a stand-alone work.

(Edited to add: The fact that something is legally allowed does not mean that it is ethical -- or even profitable --- so although copyright law may allow the creator of an original work to lay claim to all "derivative" works, it may not always be a good idea, for several reasons. But like I said above, I'm just commenting on how it appeared to me, and I could be completely wrong in my perceptions of the matter.)