Golden Tarot

retrokat

Hi Allibee,

Welcome to Aeclectic. I'm also a bit of a newbie here, but it's just fab :)

I've been working with computer graphics for a *long* time and certainly I've looked at all ways possible to try to stop piracy.

There are pretty simple ways around any graphics protection system (including Digimarking), so they're pretty much a waste of my nonexistent resources. I've never met a graphic I couldn't grab within a few seconds. Still, the same is true of scanning from a magazine, or taping off the radio, so it's kind of inevitable. *shrug*

I only EVER put my images up at screen-appropriate size/res, so any print-based pirated version is going to look completely cruddy anyway. This won't stop people stealing your stuff, but hopefully it will mean that it can't be at sufficient quality for it to be commercially viable.

I wish I could afford to rely on the law, as legal protection of copyright is really the only way to prevent piracy altogether.

Aside from economic & legal barriers, hopefully karma will help out too. I figure these people will probably get what's coming to them in some way or another!
 

allibee

retrokat said:
I figure these people will probably get what's coming to them in some way or another!


Yes, like the legal department at USGS, hehehe
 

darwinia

Re: Good news!

retrokat said:

On the not-so-good news side, there was another (rather lame) attempt at pirating the deck recently. Sadly, by someone who'd been in contact with me to ask when it would be coming out & to tell me how she couldn't wait (errr... so she didn't!). Luckily my vigilant supporters let me know immediately and in droves when it appeared for sale on the web, so USGS got to know about it and take action.

I don't understand this sort of thing. The deck, when published, will be in a much higher resolution with ALL the cards and a proper book with all these fantastic art references. Why don't people just wait and buy it when ready from the proper source?

The one good thing about having US Games behind you Kat is that they are a professional publishing firm with years of experience fighting plagiarism and copyright infringement.

Hey, guess what? I recently told someone I had 13 decks, and when I thought about I only have 12, but I've already slotted The Golden Tarot in my mind as my thirteenth deck even though I have to wait 10 months to buy it. The waiting is a pleasure!

Judy
 

Trogon

freesiaskye said:
I don't understand this sort of thing. The deck, when published, will be in a much higher resolution with ALL the cards and a proper book with all these fantastic art references. Why don't people just wait and buy it when ready from the proper source?

I would say this sort of thing is usually the result of one of two things. Either a misguided attempt to, in some way, "honor" the publisher... in other words the plagiarist thinks "oooohhh... I love this deck so much I want to get it printed and share it with others." Or (the more likely in my opinion) it was simple greed... someone trying to cash in on a beautiful Tarot deck created by someone else before it is actually published.

In the mean time... I am also anxiously awaiting publication of this deck!
 

Osher

Hey, I loved the deck, I thought it was great! Now another card to add to my wishlist....

Would I sound like a Philistine if I said that quite often prefered the earlier versions, as opposed to newer, more RW style cards?

BTW, I would prefer an over-size card for myself, but I know many people prefer smaller cards due to hand size.
 

retrokat

Rider Waite influence on GT2

Aside from making them much easier to read, the reason the new cards are so much more detailed is for copyright purposes. The originals contained far fewer "elements" per card, whereas the new ones contain, on average, around 20 layers.

Each new card is so heavily collaged that it would impossible for anyone to say that they are not new & unique artworks in their own right.

If you like the older version better then in one way you're in luck, since it's still available for download for personal use at a reasonable size from my site - for free :D

Having seen them both in print, though, I don't feel that I've done the wrong thing with the direction I took with the new deck. I think the new one looks a hundred times better 'in the flesh'.

But then, unlike an awful lot of people here, I love the Rider Waite deck, both for it's significance in the development in modern Tarot and because it's so easy to read with. As I've personally been using RW to read for 20 years (despite owning around 25 decks) - then in designing to actually READ with, it HAD to be a RW style deck to be true to my own sense of what Tarot is.

I'm the first to admit that GT was always intended to be a cross between Rider Waite and Visconti Sforza. Hopefully, with the readability from the former and the artistic sense of the latter.

I knew I'd get some people off side by following the RW compositions & symbolism so much in GT2, especially experienced readers. Since I have no commercial sensibility whatsoever, though, I knew I could only make the deck based on what I wanted for myself - if I tried to guess the market wanted, I'd be wrong for sure. And yep, what I wanted was a deck that felt immediately familiar....

So, sorry to those of you who aren't RW fans! I guess the moral of the story is you can't please all of the people all of the time :p
 

Osher

As regards RW or not, well, it wouldn't stop me buying the deck. The artwork is stunning, and being RW does at least make it immediately accessable to everyone, with no need to bone up first. So, yes, definately one for me.

Could you explain a little about layers and elements though? This seems quite a facsinating subject.
 

Osher

Cool, thanks for that.
 

retrokat

October release? and the second piracy

I've just heard from USGS that release is now scheduled for October 2003. Sorry it's a month later than I said previously...

Also, they didn't manage to physically get hold of the recent pirated Golden Tarot decks being sold on eBay as "My Grandma's Tarot" by one Gina Rowlands ("luar") but it appears she's come to her senses and stopped trying to flog them. At least, all the original sites fans told me about where she had them for sale have been taken down. Of course I kept offline copies of the pages as evidence, but without an actual deck it would be a bit difficult to prosecute her.

She was actually a fan who had emailed me about the deck in May last year, saying she couldn't wait for it to be released. So it appears she decided NOT to wait - she downloaded it from my site and made copies for sale! Then lied to people who asked her about the source, saying she got it on a CD in Europe - when in fact I still have the email she sent me last year.

I feel all the more infringed that it was done in full knowledge of who I am and what I've already gone through. At least the first piracy in Germany was done by strangers. *sigh*

Ah well, I believe in karma, so I hope that pirates get what they deserve.