VGBoxArt
| File:VGBoxartLogo.png | |
| File:VGBA.png Screenshot of VGBoxart's homepage | |
Type of site | Artist community |
|---|---|
| Owner | Jeremiah Freyholtz |
| Created by | Jeremiah Freyholtz |
| URL | www.vgboxart.com |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Free |
VGBoxArt (commonly abbreviated VGBA) is an online community for video game hobbyists to showcase and discuss their mock-up boxarts, which are organized by the respective gaming console including Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, among others. As of 2008, is has been extended to accustom artwork of other nature such as Posters, Album covers and DVD covers. As of March 2009, the website has over 15,000 members, with 17,000 boxart submissions and 200,000 comments being made.[1]
Features
Boxart Submissions
Boxarts are normally submitted as high resolution images, sometimes reaching up to 300dpi. Once submitted, they are added to the internal website database and will receive a dedicated page for users to view, favorite or comment. A newly submitted boxart will be stay on the front page, until other submissions are posted and eventually, the original boxart will disappear from the front page.[2] Boxarts can still be accessible from the site's database and internal archives, alongside the respective Author's portfolio.
Author Pages
Each user who registers will receive a portfolio page, which exhibits the user's boxart submissions in chronological order, as well as the author's fans, favorite authors, and favorite boxart submissions. Each user also has the choice to add a personalized banner at the top of their page.
Favorites
If a user favors another author's boxart submission, they are able to add this box to their Favorites. This places the boxart in the user's "Favorites" section of their Author Portfolio. Once a boxart receives enough favorites, it will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. A favorite is considered as a symbol of admiration and liking of a boxart.
Users also have the ability to favorite authors, who are shown in the user's portfolio, under the favorite author section. The home page of VGBoxArt also has an automatically updating “Latest Additions from Favorite Authors” section, which lists the last four submissions from their favorite authors.
Hall of Fame
Having a boxart placed in the Hall of Fame is one of the highest honors a user can receive from their work. Once a boxart earns enough favorites, it is added to the Hall of Fame. Requirements for a box to get into the Hall of Fame has varied ever since the initial creation of the system. Originally, thirteen favorites were necessary for a boxart to reach the Hall of Fame. It was later increased to twenty. The Hall of Fame system now requires a combination of the number of favorites, and the rank of each user who submitted a favorite for the boxart in hand.
"Humor" Hall of Fame
Once called the "Satire Hall of Fame", the Humor Hall of Fame is for boxes with a satirical, funny or humorous theme. Usually consisting of puns, jokes, inside jokes, or plays on titles (e.g. Hola 3, Pokémon: Oh Snap! and Call of Beauty 3). This feature was added in June 2007 as the Satire Hall of Fame, but during 2008 it was changed to the Humour Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame Revamp
At around late April 2009, the whole system was revamped following suggestions from members. The Hall of Fame system is organized in a manner, in which a box will first pass the Hall of Fame stage, earning a respective Hall of Fame medal for the member in which submitted the box. If the same boxart is still in-turn popular and receiving various more favorites, it'll reach the "MasterWorks" stage which is the highest accolade you can currently achieve. You will receive a MasterWorks medal for passing that stage.
Forums
The VGBoxArt forums is an online forum, similar to that provided by other websites. The forum is based on vBulletin technology. Members can share boxart ideas, or their boxarts for critique, before initial submission to the main site. Members can also host or take part in various unofficial competitions, or ask questions. Members can also chat about things unrelated to boxarts, prominently gaming topics.
Users have forum profiles in which they can post artwork of their work in progress boxarts, and discuss things via the comments feature, an add-on available from vBulletin technology. A user is also entitled to their own Control Panel. This Panel allows them to change they publicly viewed personal information, password, avatar, signature and many other options.
Reception
Many mockup boxarts posted on the site have been regarded as equal to or better than their official counterparts. Several outside websites and retailers, including toy store giant Toys Я Us[3], have used fan-made boxart from VGBoxArt to promote a game (it is unknown whether these were unintentional or not).
Mock boxarts have also been featured in many online video gaming articles such as Joystiq[4], GamerBlips, Blogged and many others.
Bingegamer.com reported that Capcom stole elements from member DeathSpawn11's Resident Evil 5 boxart. It is still unsure whether this was intentional or not.[5].
Legal Issues and Copyright Infringement
Jeremiah Freyholtz, or commonly known as "Reed" (who is the administrator of VGBoxArt), was forced by LEGO to remove any LEGO related mock up box arts from the site, and if he failed to do so, he would be reached with a legal lawsuit. It is still unknown why LEGO ordered Freyholtz to remove all LEGO related boxarts, but all boxarts were respectively removed. A rule has since been implied which prohibits the upload of any LEGO related boxarts, or they will face an instant deletion.[6]
References
- ^ "VGBA's Stats". Retrieved 2009-02-04.
- ^ "VGBA's Homepage". Retrieved 2009-02-05.
- ^ "GoNintendo - "Toys R' Us using fan-made Mario Kart Wii boxart to promote game"". Retrieved 2009-02-05.
- ^ "joystiq - "Nintendo secures a dozen Pokémon trademarks"". Retrieved 2009-02-06.
- ^ "bingegamer - "Resident Evil 5 Box Art Looks Damn Familiar"". Retrieved 2009-02-06.
- ^ "LEGO demands that all LEGO boxarts be deleted". Retrieved 2009-03-23.