Wayward Society Wiki Media Licensing

This guide was originally written by Uncle NicoliniUncle Nicolini, who has kindly given us permission to modify his guide to image use practices for our own site. Simply put, a license is a contract in which an artist releases the usage rights to their media. I'm sure you've seen articles cite where their media came from in their author posts. But why do they do that?

The answer is simple.

We don't want the wiki to get into legal trouble or get sued. That would be a very bad thing. It is for this reason that we follow the guidelines of CC-BY-SA 4.0


"Okay, so what licenses are good?"

I'm glad you asked! Here are the licenses compatible with the Wiki?

YES!

  • CC-BY-SA 4.0, the native site license, is always valid.
  • CC-BY-SA 3.0
  • Previous versions of CC-BY-SA (2.0, 2.5)
  • Any version of CC-BY
  • Public domain and CC0

YES, BUT…

  • "Fair Use"- Some uses are (marginally) acceptable, most are not. We suggest being as cautious as possible. Message a staff member if you have doubts.

NO!

  • All Rights Reserved, copyrighted etc.
  • Editorial Use Only
  • GNU GPL
  • Any CC versions that include NC (non-commercial) or ND (no derivatives)
  • CC 1.0
  • Anything you can't find a license for.


F.A.Q.

"What about media I make?"

Let's say I take a picture. I can use it in a Wayward article without issue because I own it. But if someone, let's say Creak Cronk CrunkCreak Cronk Crunk, uses the image I took without asking permission or me publishing it under CC-BY-SA 4.0, I can ask the site to have it taken down because it is my image and I did not grant him permission.

Now let's pretend I took an image and posted it to a website like CCSearch under the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license. Creak Cronk CrunkCreak Cronk Crunk can use the image at his leisure, even if I don't like what he did with it because it is under an appropriate license and no rules are being broken.

"What if I take a picture of a movie or record it and/or it's audio?"

Then you are recording something that is very likely under the 'All Rights Reserved' License. A few films, shorts, books, and other 'new' media have fallen into Public Domain as of recently, including some popular Warner Brothers cartoons such as this one! This means that you can use screenshots, sounds, or pretty much anything you want from it in a Wayward article without a problem.

But if you tried using something from, let's say the newest Marvel movie, you would be infringing on copyright law.

"What about stock media/clipart?"

Some are usable and under Public Domain. I would suggest erring on the side of caution when it comes to stock media because a lot of them require the purchase of a license to use them.

"Where can I find media I can use for my Wayward articles?"

Here are a few excellent resources I personally use to find inspiration. Keep in mind that not everything on these websites is compliant with our license, so make sure you check what license it's under before downloading.

"How do I cite the source for my files?"

Put this or something similar in your author post in the discussion tab.

> **Source:**
> **License:**

"Can I edit a copyright-compliant file I want to use?"

Absolutely! Make sure you cite your sources even if you edited an image.

"The file I want to use is not covered by any license, but I have permission from the creator to use it. Is that okay?"

As long as you can provide evidence that the creator has given you permission to use their original content and they agree to release it under CC-BY-SA 3.0, you should be good to go. Spoken permission won't do for something major, so screencaps are necessary here.

"But I really like this image I found and I can't source it!"

Doesn't matter, you can't use it. Sorry, but that's just how it is.

If you have any questions about licensing or whether or not you can use a certain file, feel free to pop into our Discord to talk about it or message a staff member through Wikidot.

Unless stated otherwise Content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License 2024