NEW UPDATE TO THE FNC CONTENT GUIDELINES!
On January 28th, 2022, Epic released an update to the Fortnite Creative Content Guidelines. The new update came to us as soft as a whisper and if you missed it, don't worry, so did I. LOL I did not notice it was posted until the end of, what was almost, my day.
Reading over the guidelines it was hard to determine what was updated. And if you haven't read them before, then all of it may seem new to you. Now I will not be able to go over every clause and detail in this article, but I will be able to cover a few things that you should take notice of. And I would like to say before I start, and this is just my opinion- I could be worng, but some of the updates seems to be pointing towards the launch of Creative 2.0. By that I mean, the emphasis on branding and marketing requirements, proper ways to work with others while building and the use of Epic games and Fortnite IP.
Thats right! Some interesting changes have been made!
Let's start with
"3.1 USE OF EPIC GAMES AND FORTNITE IP"
There is a clause that states:
" 3.1.4. When promoting your experience, the assets you use to represent your experience must look and feel like Fortnite, and follow our Fortnite Creative Branding Guidelines: they must not mislead players as to the sort of experience they will receive. You may not incorporate photographs or other similar real-world imagery. "
This part emphasis that when promoting your creative experiences you CAN NOT use of photographs or similar real world imagery. That may include photos of dogs, cats, meme's, celebrities, real life constructions, etc. Unfortunately, we have seen a lot of this in Discovery. But with this new update, perhaps we will be seeing less going forward.
Let's move to this :
2 WORKING WITH OTHERS
" 2.1 If you engage another Builder to help you build your experience, or similarly, if you agree to help another Builder create their experience, it is an agreement between you and that party. Epic Games is in no way a party to your agreement and is not responsible for it in any way. "
This is implying that if you were to engage with other builders to create an island or work on your own island, then the agreement is between you and the person you chose to collaborate with. Epic assumes no responsibility and will not be responsible for any repercussions you may experience in any way.
This means that you must be careful with whom you decide to collaborate with. If you are not sure about how to schedule a safe collaboration, you might want to consider joining a creative team. Creative teams, usually, work in controlled environments. This means that you have a better chance of working with creators, like you, who will be respectful of your work.
Lastly,
3.2 MARKETING ACTIVITIES
"Any promotion of your experience, both within and outside of Fortnite, must comply with both the rules below and the Fortnite Creative Branding Guidelines. "
This means that no matter where your promote your creative content, whether it be you are a Creative Team or you create alone, all content you promote must comply with the rules listed and the Fortnite Branding Guidelines. Here are a few important clauses that stuck out that I would like to share:
" 3.2.1. All marketing content you use to promote your experience, regardless of channel or format, must comply with these rules. Epic reserves the right to prohibit any given marketing activity that it feels violates these rules.
3.2.2. You must not run advertisements on television or digital ad networks to promote your experience, without express and prior consent from Epic Games.
3.2.3. You may promote your experience digitally via advertisements and assets on your own websites, social channels or platforms, as well as with text-based search ads, such as Google Search.
3.2.4. If you engage and pay influencers to promote your experience, you must follow all applicable laws such as the FTC Endorsement Guidelines, so that your influencer’s connection to your experience is clearly and conspicuously disclosed."
So this sections is especially important, because here Epic is stating that your use of their content for advertising and marketing purposes must be used and promoted in a specific way in order to remain compliant. To a lot of smaller creators, this section may not ring bells at the moment, however it is good to know these details when beginning to expand your creative career. Also pay attention to the Branding Guidelines. There Epic lists proper examples on how to use their logos in content you create plus provide a valuable resource of skins that are ok to use.
In conclusion
All these things are extremely important when promoting and using Epic Games Content and I hope that you were able to learn something about the guidelines you did not already know. I would say to bookmark these links and keep them around to come back to every few months to ensure your are staying compliant! If you have any questions, contact Epic Games support.
As always,
Happy Creating!