OK, as many of you know the MMD community is somewhat on a downward spiral, particularly the Hetalia portions of it as of late. i normally try to stay out of these nasty little wars but at this point i have not heard anyone state a point of view like mine and i think it's worth hearing.

People on both sides of the argument are doing things they shouldn't.

On one hand we have the "rebels" who frequently are of the opinion that the model makers are over-reacting to the whole situation and being ridiculous, also thinking the model makers really have no right to complain as the character they modeled isn't their own idea, and the common misconception that once something is put up on the internet the person who posted the data has given up all rights they had to it.

THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE.

On the other we have the "crusaders" or MMD "police" as they are more commonly known. They have the tendency to shun harass or even attempt to ban and condemn anyone who has  broken the rules in worst cases regardless of weather or not they knew it wasn't allowed or not.

THOSE WHO DO THIS ARE GOING WAY TOO FAR

One thing that causes these troubles between the English and Japanese communities is that the cultural difference is quite huge and the language barrier blocks a lot of communication. Many of us don't realize the cultural difference is even there or if we do we disregard it as if having a different background and being raised on a different set of values has no effect on how we view things in life.

What the "rebels" need to do is think, think about what really goes into making these models, it isn't something you can make in a day, or a week, or even a month, if we're talking full scale models, they take several months to compose from scratch and that's usually just composing the model in blender or metasequoia. Then you have to make the textures in gimp, or photoshop, or paint tool sai, depending on what you work best with. And good quality textures can take a very long time to get right, many outfits and skin textures have to be made to fit the model. I don't know how to do this and I haven't the faintest clue of what exactly goes into it. I can assume it's complex and difficult particularly to first-timers. Also with the exception of windows 100% models these models are made and given out freely because seeing people enjoy the work and be respectful of it is usually reward enough for the modelers. One thing many "rebels" don't seem to understand or blatantly ignore is that in Japanese culture respect is a very big deal. In Japan you respect your elders, your friends, and even your enemies to some extent. as an old Japanese saying says, "When you curse someone you dig two graves." In other words, when you make someone else fall, you yourself will fall. So when you whine and complain about the model maker's rules think about this, how much do you know about the programs they use? Could you rig a model in PMD editor complete with a full arsenal of expressions and nice well-behaved physics? If you can then think about if you could make a wonderful model with nice smooth faces, well-aligned vertices, and lovely perfectly fitting textures? Even if you don't agree with this the very least you could do is not post any severe rule breaking to the community. I'm sick of fights breaking out and people getting banned. Also try to show a bit of kindness and respect to the modelers, it will do nothing but get you and the rest of the community respect in return.

And finally to all the "MMD police" out there, before you report someone for violating the model maker's rules, do you comment or send a note asking if they even knew they broke a rule? There are people who are new to MMD believe it or not. It is actually somewhat shocking to me that not everyone turns tail the instant they see what their fellow community members do to each other. If you do check before you report then congrats to you, you're a lot nicer than some people I've seen who "shoot first" and ask questions later.

here is a good example
fav.me/d5636h6

Obviously q_ku has the right to be upset that people were using her models for a possible profit. Given it's true that almost nobody buys MMD prints here on deviant art but it's still using the models for commercial use, meaning to make a profit. I must admit that it's an easy mistake to make and a good example of why you should make sure someone knows that what they're doing is wrong before you punish them for it. many offenders of this particular instance are new to MMD and most likely deviant art as well. until this issue came up and upset q_ku i hadn't even thought of this and my few pics that I've uploaded here did have prints available for purchase. it never even occurred to me, as stupid as it is it was an honest mistake, the instant i heard of it i googled how to take the prints off and that was the end of that.

Another such issue is readmes, i will use myself as an example here, it used to be on my old computer the locale was set to Japanese so that non Unicode files would be readable and therefore translatable through google translate. i used to be able to translate them but since i moved to my new computer and didn't set my locale to Japanese, Japanese text that isn't Unicode meaning file names and sometimes even texture names as well as readmes get turned into something like this: âwâ^âèâAüEâëâhâjâA ver1.0

Nothing can translate that obviously, and when i transferred it all my readmes got turned into gibberish as well. I know for a fact I'm not the only one who had this problem and subsequently can not read the readmes. If this is why someone claims they had no way of knowing then they legitimately are not at fault. Nobody is when that's the case. Pf the person just didn't bother with the read me then they are at fault.

REGARDLESS OF THAT IT STILL IS NOT A LEGITIMATE EXCUSE TO PERSECUTE SOMEONE!
Long story short, "Check it before you wreck it."


Yu Higuchi the person who created MMD saw the drama this program caused and abandoned it because he was upset at what had happened as a consequence of making this program. He saw model makers and users alike turning against each-other. Given with mikumikumoving quickly catching up to MMD and hopefully surpassing it in the long run as a predecessor, is giving us another chance to make something of a small freeware program for aspiring animators and model makers alike.

Please people, whatever side you take, try to see it from the other side's point of view, this community is only doomed to fail if we let it.

In order for it to succeed we need to learn how to walk a mile in someone else's shoes.