For about a year, CCP had put a hold on alliance logo submissions as they have been in a certain legal limbo. Namely that as player creations used by alliances in their own sites, merchandise, and more, were considered by most to be their alliance’s property, while CCP considered it a requirement that any assets included in the game’s files were CCP’s intellectual property. It was needed for players to be able to own their own logos, but also for CCP to own the logos that appear in game. CCP has now completed renovating this process, as well as implementing new requirements, and has now reopened alliance logo submissions.
T
he way this will work is that CCP will, going forward, add both a texture filter and a CONCORD watermark to each alliance logo that is submitted. The CCP-modified version will be owned by CCP, while the original remains owned by it’s creator.
The most controversial change, however, is the more stringent requirements for alliance logos from an art direction sense. CCP has stated that alliance logos must fit the futuristic and dark environment of EVE Online. This includes requirements that logos do not use bright colors, script fonts, or anything based in the real world which would not be fitting for the EVE universe. Of course, anything that is copyrighted or trademarked also cannot be used in an alliance logo, as well as any political or religious symbols including national emblems, or anything related to drugs or illegal activity.
Furthermore, all existing alliance logos will be removed on June 2nd, and alliances will need to re-submit their logos. An alliance well known in DUST 514, General Tso’s Alliance, has already had their takeout-container inspired logo rejected. Famous logos from EVE history including Goonswarm Federation, Test Alliance Please Ignore, and more are likely to fail the same requirements. How players react to these new limitations on expression in the New Eden universe is yet to be seen.
