Fan Art in Our Game Community: How We Credit Artists

Fan art is the best part of my job. Every morning there's something new in our forum's fan art section: character sketches, comics about bugs from the last patch, one very detailed drawing of our in-game cat wearing a crown. It's also where I've made some of my most embarrassing mistakes as a community manager.

Last spring we shared a player's drawing on the studio's social accounts without asking first. We credited them and we meant well, and it still felt awful when they messaged to say they'd have liked to be asked. They were gracious about it. We changed our process the same afternoon.

Our rules now

• Ask before sharing anywhere else. Posting in our forum is not permission to appear in a trailer, patch notes or a social post.
• Credit the way the artist wants. Some people want their handle, some want their real name, some want nothing at all. We ask.
• No edits. We don't crop out signatures or put our logo on top.
• Celebrate, don't judge. Moderators remove mean comments about skill level fast. A first-ever drawing gets the same welcome as a polished piece.

The monthly showcase

Once a month our live stream opens with five minutes of fan art. Artists who agree get a shout-out and a small badge on their forum profile. It costs us almost nothing, and activity in the fan art section roughly doubled in the weeks after we started.

If you run a creative community, I'd love to hear how you handle credit and permissions, especially the awkward cases like art that's clearly traced. We still haven't figured that one out.