99% of the people playing horse sim games ruin it for the other 1%, who actually do ask permission to use images. Statistics show that for every hundred or so posts on sim game web sites, permission and credit is given for images once. The remaining, overwhelming, 99% of horse sim game players sneak, steal, hot-link to images, feign ignorance, and are the first to defend their actions for doing so.

And here's the classic response; "We only do it because..."

Because why? Because they can't read? Because they don't care? Because - just maybe - they feel entitled to do so? Because they admire the horse's image so (and maybe don't own their own horse) they feel it should be theirs to take and do with as they want?

Are we, who are being stolen from, our copy rights violated, and having our bandwidth leeched daily, supposed to believe that the same people who can create a hyperlink, right-click and "save as", and make their own web pages don't have the skills to read something as simple as a copyright notice? Or, that these same people cannot read text directly underneath an image that says the image is not to be used, especially for sim games?

Surely these "kids" read their web host provider's Terms Of Service when they signed up for the web space they are broadcasting the "stolen" image(s) from, didn't they? Did their parents?

But, somehow, none of this seems to matter, and players of horse sim games typically take without permission, despite copyright notices, and hundreds and hundreds of equine images are being displayed, most of them hot-linked to other people's servers, leeching bandwidth 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In essence, the people who foot the bill for these "harmless" sim games are the horse owners, the webmasters, the host providers, and the photographers - who never granted any kind of permission for the images to be used in the first place. When given a choice, the copy right holders said "No".

Horse sim game players choose to ignore such things. At least, 99% percent of them do.

So, for the gracious and polite 1% of the players who do ask permission (and thank you for your thoughtful emails - each of you), who respect "NO" as an answer, who do not hot-link to images, who are considerate of other people's bandwidth, and do give credit to such mundane things as owners and photographers - you need look no further than your own community of sim game players if you wonder, "Who ruined this for us?"

It wasn't you.

It wasn't us.

It was them. They've ruined it for everyone, including you.

Just to clarify:

All images are protected by copyright. They are not to be used for sim games, altered, reproduced, hosted on another server, or used in any other manner other than display on the web site that holds the actual copy rights to the image. Period.

 

Does this image look familiar? This is what happens when horse sim gamers who take images without permission are reported to their web host provider. Their site is shut off. All their pages, all their work is...gone. They may even be sued.

Using images without permission violates the same Terms Of Service people agree to before using the services of any reputable web hosting provider (including Angelfire, Boards2Go, Geocities, Tripod, Netscape, and many others.)

We do not hesitate to report anyone using images or content without permission and we will request that the offender's site is shut down for terms of service violations. The image you see was taken from a site shut down for just that reason.

It happens. All the time. Don't let it happen to you.

Due to the ongoing abuse by those who play or host horse sim games that take images from client sites without permission, and/or directly hot-link to image files, the following fees are assessed for any unauthorized use whatsoever as confirmed in access log files or files posted online without written authorization - including image hosting galleries: $100 per image view $65 an hour office fee to prepare an invoice documenting same Because images are copied or directly linked without any prior authorization,  Equine Web Design and Equine Web Design clients will use log files to establish unauthorized use. It is YOUR responsibility to refrain from using or linking directly to images without permission. This does not preclude the copy rights, and remedies under copyright protection, of those (clients) who are having their images used without permission or prior knowledge.