Authenticity standards in artwork/faking history

[SupraKarma]

If you or I were to release a set of inauthentic artwork, it would only be a matter of time before said artwork appears in someone's google search when they're looking for a game. They will then associate the fake/inauthentic art that you or I have created with the actual art.

In 2017, there are still plenty of us around that still own collections, and have actual boxes and jewel cases. But as more time passes, this becomes more of a problem. To put things in perspective: I've actually seen fake artwork as the cover photo for someone's ebay listing, because they didn't have the actual box/jewel case.

This is how easy it actually is to fake history. History is written not just by the winners. Not just the 'people who care.' History is also written by the ignorant, and the apathetic. One hundred years from now when we're all gone, what will be the legacy of our gaming culture that we all hold dear? A bunch of fake art, that people think is the real thing, because nobody from our generation had standards?

What truly blows my mind, as I go through some of these art sets, is that sometimes only minor details will be faked. Sometimes the wrong publisher logo will be used on an SNES box. So anyone looking at that will believe the game was published by a different company.

In 100 years, nobody truly has any authority on 'truth' or 'history' - all anyone has to go on is *what we leave behind.* The purpose of this thread is not to make anybody 'feel bad' if they made some inauthentic art (I've done it myself). It is simply to make people aware of an ethical responsibility to not misrepresent the truth.

I fully expect some of the work that is/has been done here to be around in a hundred years in one way, shape or form.

[KlopjerO]

I Understand what you're saying.
So what do you suppose we should do about this ? I mean there are companies that make money by making custom retro video game boxes. deviant art is FULL of fan made boxes.

So basically as with al archive work, check your sources.

 

[SupraKarma]

I have to admit I've taken a shortcut or two in the past.

But moving forward, I intend to verify everything I do with an actual photo of a box or jewel case on ebay. I imagine there will come a time when even that isn't a reliable way to do things.

But my point here is, I don't want to be responsible for misrepresenting something that I love. The little details really do matter. I also think that if an artist does take creative liberties, that a 'readmet.txt' should be included with every download explaining clearly what was fabricated.

I can't tell anyone what they can and can't do. But my personal opinion is that we are the custodians of our own culture, and we have a responsibility. Inauthentic art in general should be frowned upon.

I've made fake prototype boxes before, but in retrospect, I think it's better to have nothing at all - or at the very least a generic 'prototype' box that is clearly meant to be fake - than something that is not historically accurate.

[Metalzoic]

Personally I'm not a purist. I'd rather have something good, than something authentic. I don't care what the original art was beyond trivia, but it looking good and fitting is important to me.

For example the cab art I came up with represents 110 games/game-series and one of the rules for hunting down all that art was that it needed to be the best, coolest or most interesting art to represent each game. So it ended up with very few of them having official game art. 

[Vaughan]

I honestly don't understand the issue here.  The OP is talking about something we have no control over.  Many of the bezels that have been made are for games that never had one in the first place.  Besides, it's not the 80's any more. 

 

Those creating custom bezels don't have anything to worry about regarding the future.  The original artwork is the original artwork.  If someone thinks custom artwork is the original, I'm sure someone will correct them.  No-one has control over what Google does.

[SupraKarma]

I'm not talking about bezels.

As an example, I'm talking about making a box/jewel case set, taking the cover of the Super Famicom version of a game, and putting it on a PC Engine CD game (that has totally different art), and altering it in such a way that it looks authentic.

Who will correct them exactly? Enough time passes, and nobody will know anymore. Even sites like thecoverproject.net doesn't have any real standards. I've found boxes with wrong publisher logos. If you make a box that 'looks good,' they'll put it on their site. Who knows what the actual history was, when those presenting themselves as an authority don't even have it right?

Putting out accurate art is a way to present our history and our culture as it actually was.

Edit: Even sites like Sega Retro - someone doctored up the PS version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, and put a Dreamcast logo on it, and presented it as 'the Dreamcast Disc.' It had been like that for at least 3 years before I pointed it out.



 

[Vaughan]

Again, I'm not understanding the problem.  Putting aside artwork, people tell lies or give false information on the Internet all the time.  Are you trying to police them too?  It's simply part of life.  I find it's best to try and change the things you have control over, and find ways around those things you can't.  You cannot hope to control artwork people put out there.

As an example, when I was doing Bezels, I got a PM from someone essentially saying "You artwork is fake, I have the original machine, and it doesn't have a bezel!"  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  Essentially I ONLY created artwork for games that, at the time, had no artwork.  So it was funny to have this pointed out to me.

I've found that those creating content are very open about things they've made - that is, they're open that it's not original artwork.  Once someone else gets hold of it who knows what happens - but you cannot control such things on the Internet.

[Styphelus]

Sometimes the same game will be published in a different country by a different publisher and have different artwork. This was especially true in the 80s and 90s before the internet and today's global economy. Sometimes the game will be re-issued for a 2nd or 3rd time  in the same country and again have minor differences on the cover depending on the edition. Just because you have 1 cover, how do you know all other cover versions of the same game are wrong? We don't all live in the USA. Super Metroid has 2 slightly different covers in the USA alone and DK Country has a slightly different cover in some pasts of Europe.

Same if true with movies. If you look at some international dvd case covers vs USA dvd covers you will notice that a lot of times they will be different.