I’m really glad you asked this! REAL STORY incoming!
I had a business partner reach out to SEMC, but we never got a response.
Which was a bummer, because in the beginning I had planned to work with them to bring icons like the weapon axe, the crystal power icon, the carry/jungler/captain icons, and all of the ping icons to an on-demand printer.
I wanted the community to be able to build their own shirt designs by using in-game icons. I figured it would be good for guilds and teams without sponsors especially. I also wanted to give SEMC an alternative revenue stream vs RNG revenue. And I really really wanted our community to have physical gear to wear around IRL, and thus help promote the game… in an organic way.
In the time I was waiting to hear back from them, I just started to make graphic designs based on words and the lore and not the icons themselves. As it turned out (surprisingly to me lol), I could do this sort of design work all day! I LOVE making these! I have hundreds of ideas, and just need time to do them all.
Also in the meantime, I consulted some friends I used to work with at a fashion company, and some intellectual property lawyers I know around the country.
Interestingly, they all said that the designs I’m making are far from infringement. It’s referential, but not duplicative. They’re actually pretty generic. They also in no way infringe upon existing IP declarations, because I don’t use the likeness of any hero or character in the game nor any trademarked game logos or marks. I just use words/lore, and then design around those constraints.
And yes sure I made my own rendition of SAWs mask and a Ringo and Gwen icon. But those are just meh versus the more graphic stuff.
Otherwise, many of the words in the game interestingly can’t be claimed by SEMC. For example “Ringo” is also the name of a film… and “Blackclaw” is a common and existing phrase. “Krul” is a common family name. StormGuard is an actual copyrighted industrial product itself lol. And so on.
In the end, we will have to see what they do. If they want me to stop, I will totally comply. I’m just trying to help the game and the community overall with whatever skills I have. Keep in mind that this swag doesn’t make much money. Hundreds/thousands would have to sell for me to ever pay my rent from this.
All of that said though, I really hope it’s ok by them.
But really, I hope they take the time to see how much of an opportunity what I’m trying to do really is… because fans get endless options for swag, community artists like me can create endless design flavors, AND SEMC could even make revenue from any of their icons/art, too. Plus the clothing itself, becomes a walking advertisement. The community has been BEGGING for better advertisement for years.
So I did my best to both design and deliver a win win solution.
Many thanks and sorry for the WOT.
it’s super fun to think about all the stuff our heroes need… like when not putting in work!
