It Was A Good Run, Everybody: An Open Letter to MTG Cardsmith

TommiaTommia
in Custom Card Discussion
It's been years since MTG Cardsmith has received any significant front-of-house updates. When Grant left, he left a legacy that may not have been perfect, but the Forums crafted a tight-knit community that I eventually grew to call friends. This wonderful community has helped me through my hardest times, and despite several hiatuses brought on by personal struggles and writer's bloc, I still tried to hold this site close. Even after I stopped using the tools on the main site, I still ran Sagas and engaged regularly on the Forums. Unfortunately, it didn't last forever, and soon, things went silent, eventually leading to a monetization of the site, a change of ownership, and radio silence.

A few years pass. Many of us had moved on; we still kept in touch, but it was nothing most of us couldn't do offsite. It seemed like the main site was as good as dead; we still used the Forums, but we cared about MTGCS less and less, mainly using it to get more attention for our cards. Sagas steadily died, community projects were abandoned, and a lot of us branched out. In my case, I started a Discord server for my sets, starting using mtg.design (then MSE) for card design, and joined multiple other communities outside the site. I even began to contemplate making my own card game as the excitement towards MTGCS (and as a result, MTG itself) began to die, replaced by a feeling like no one was listening. And then, it happened. Suddenly, the site went down for maintenance. Despite nearly derailing the most successful Saga on the forums, the site was back, and changes were being made... but whoever's in charge now isn't here for the community. Despite engaging with them, that engagement has been... less than ideal, to say the least, with a major community member getting scapegoated by them to argue in favor of AI stealing from human artists. To add, my very first attempt to bring this to light resulted in my voice being silenced.



What did I do? I posted this message on the main site, a message from the official Discord mod, as well as a link to more context. Quite frankly, this wasn't even one of the more damning things said, and more just the specific instance where the member in question, Ranshi, was used as an example.



So, it's with a heavy heart that I do something I should have done a while ago. I don't have to be on this site to be with the community and express my creativity, and quite frankly as an artist, my talent doesn't belong on a platform where its community will be mistreated and suppressed. It does not belong on a site led by someone that believes reposting art for personal, nonprofit use only and crediting artists is comparable to stealing from thousands to train an AI, profiting off of it, and providing no compensation to the artists. That being said though, I'm not here to talk about if AI belongs in society, as that debate has not true answer; the facts stand, and that's as follows:

If you would like to spread this message in case it's deleted, I'm sharing everything (that I can legally share) about this situation on my Tumblr.

Unless the site lead releases a formal apology about this incident, makes amends to those impacted, and ceases the operation of AI on the site permanently, I am leaving the site. If I am removed or do leave, I would like all of my cards, images, and discussions from both of my accounts (Tommia and AddGG) on both the main site and Forums to be permanently deleted from both the site itself and any local storage related to it. This especially includes anything of mine relating to Artful August or Stitia.

Now, given the nature of this situation, I know people certain people are going to try and pull a "gotcha" on me, to trying and find some fallacy to get me on instead of admitting that facts are facts and having a mature discussion about this. I also know the possibility of that discussion not being an option and this being instantly deleted is also an option. So, in addition, here's some added context.
  • AI actually isn't the main reason I'm leaving. However, the extreme stance taken on it and the use being for profit is certainly a factor.
  • Yes, I have used AI before. However, I changed my standing on it after factual evidence proved artists were being stolen from. I have deleted all local AI art on my system, scrubbed the AI art off any cards I've made locally, and avoid using AI when possible, even cancelling my plans to start using Photoshop.
  • There is a DMCA form on the site for any artist to fill out and have their art stripped from the site. With AI, this process is far harder; if someone discovers their art was used by it without their permission, it can't be dealt with so easily because the art is baked into the AI's training.

Comments

  • RanshiRanshi
    Hello, I would like to add a few things. 

    First off, thank you @Tommia for coming to my defense and trying to spread the word of what has transpired, even though it had gotten one of your accounts banned. I’d like to add that the mod in question not only behaved as detailed above, but when continuing to berate me in private, implied that your account was an alt of mine, and that by me upvoting your post, I was breaching terms of service. 
    He used the excuse though, officially, that it was to be deleted because it was not a magic card, yet other uses of the site for non-magic cards have not been deleted. In fact, one such card, a Cards Against Humanity card designed by @jpastor was featured on the front page.
    Secondly, I’d like to make it known that I too am leaving the site. I have already begun to document and scrub the site of all my contribution. 
    I don’t have much in life, but I have my convictions. I have the desire to do what is right and to protect those who are being impacted by wrongs. The site runner did not consult with any of his mods or admins in the appropriate channels of the server. The preview that resulted in this controversy was the first I had heard of any of this, even though I had full administrative permissions. 
    Cardsmith has not been the best custom card community because of its maker. Long have we made due with out of date models and a site left to rot. What made us special and something worth fighting for is our community. I grew up along side some of you, helped guide others, and may continue to guide more still. I value this community and will not be leaving that behind. You are all family to me, but the current administration of the site does not care about us. He has made this plain to see, and one day he will understand that what he has done is wrong. 

    Thank you, and goodnight, Cardsmiths. May we meet again on the other side.
  • LvBLvB
    A.I. images are a complicated subject because there are no rules yet about whats ok and what not. In my oppinion something like the "fair use" for music/videos would be best.
    Considering the training of an AI, thats exactly the same what humans do too. We look at an image, see whats in there, what its made of, and then we can create another image that uses parts of the original image but is not just a copy of the first image. We see a picture of a forest, we can create a tree. Or a group of trees or another forest that looks different.
    The Question ist: Should AI owners have to pay for their AI looking at pictures that can be found in the internet by using google or something similar? But thats something politics has to decide. So until politics does that, we are in the greyish-zone here.
  • CorwinnnCorwinnn
    Best of luck to anyone who is leaving or who has ever left (not that you'll see this!). It's been an adventure with you all and I, for one, have enjoyed having you all come by and letting us be a part of your lives.

    Take care!

  • TheKeefManTheKeefMan
    AI images are determent to artists of every kind. I proudly stand as a pro-artist. But of luck of to you, and to others. These times are complicated, and we're divided more than ever.
  • jpastorjpastor
    edited August 2
    🤧
  • LHunterLHunter
    Please don’t jump me, but I used a lot of ai art on many, many of my cards. Ever since seeing this movement, I have switched to actual art by humans, although it can be maddening. I agree that the forums are now quiet, and I really love the forums, some people on here, I consider friends. I’m gonna continue my little joke about being stranded on a desert planet and say I really enjoy the human contact. (It might be because I have no friends.) i completely support human artists, although most of my cards are ai art. Thank you, friends, and you have my best wishes.
  • StuffnSuchStuffnSuch
    Despite being someone that fully believes AI to be ethical and that it will do far more good for the art community than harm, I still can't stomach the way in which someone expressing their heartfelt opinion was treated.  It makes no sense to treat a member of our community that way.  I'm equally baffled by the decision to integrate AI into the system.  I really like the convenience of it, personally, but, I am more than enough in touch with the community to recognize that even if I am interested in it, WE are not.  Where this is already a struggling site that's not as capable or well maintained or widely recognized as other great custom card sites, and where the community it the biggest draw for most users that are here consistently, it seems pretty stupid, just from a business sense, to not consider how we feel about AI before dumping it on here.  This was a poor decision, which led to a poor reception to the poor decision, which led to a poor handling of the poor reception to the poor decision.  Good grief.

    To those that are leaving, farewell.  I haven't been around much lately, either, so I can't say I'll miss you, but I do wish you the best of luck and hope to run into you again wherever your card making journey takes you.
  • TommiaTommia
    The clock is ticking...
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