LC: We actually hope that the only letters we get are offers for freelance work from publishers, but if we were to receive [cease and deist letters,] we would take it on a case by case basis. If Konami knocked on the door and said they don't want and Metal Gear fan art, since they are publishing their own Metal Gear Solid comic, we would oblige, since they are being specific and polite about it. But it would take a real assault from the major publishers, Nintendo, Capcom, Sega and others, to really shut us down, but that would be the best advertising of all: "Industry rallies to shut down fan art site!"
[We] can't imagine anyone coming after, for example, Adventure, which could even be in the public domain by now ... I can't imagine anyone getting really upset about it. It's just a drawing, and it's not like we are making money off it. [We] can't imagine that we are any kind of competition.
TE: Tell us about the publishing of the Lifemeter mini-comic.
LC: We wanted something that people could hold in their hand. As great as the internet is, sometimes you want something you can touch and hold and look at in front of you.
We debated about [charging for it,] ... [and] whether or not we [wanted] to make any sort of profit. For the most part, the comics are self made, photocopied and stapled ourselves. We're not sure the money we may have made on the minis has even covered the cost of site maintenance. If we make a little money back, it kind of balances out; if we lose money, we can't do [Lifemeter] at all.
TE: Where do you see Lifemeter in five years?
LC: Still existing [laughter]! The most realistic goal would be a collection of work, an actual book for sale that's approved by the copyright owners. Also, in a less tangible way, we would like to see people involved with Lifemeter get hired by [gaming companies] to do a story for them. A lot of these games have backgrounds that don't really get played out, and there might be room for people to flesh the games out, so [we'd] like to see Lifemeter helping artists that way.
[We] hope we are helping to raise the consciousness of people about the connection between art and videogames. The idea of videogames as art is still relatively new, but there is still a lot more that can be done for the medium so it doesn't bastardize itself by appealing to the lowest common denominator. Gaming culture is worth celebrating.
Seth Robison has been working in and around the videogame industry for over a decade. He is currently the head writer on gamertransit.com and the videogame columnist for comics101.com. Contact Seth at seth410@gamertransit.com.
