TheFan, a player from the City of Heroes Community, recently asked a good question in regards to original characters:
By creating my character in City of Heroes, I give NCSoft rights to use him as they see fit, and I am legally unable to challenge that in any way at any time in the future. However, this license is non-exclusive, meaning that I can still use my character as I see fit, provided I do not reference any of the game content.
The first part I'm cool with and seems pretty straightforward. The second part was a bit harder to decipher. I have no problem with NCSoft using any of my characters, and in fact would be honored. However, one of the characters I made I originally intended to publish in a webcomic or short story form (though, considering how lazy I am, my intentions are unlikely to become reality in the forseeable future).
Am I still legally allowed to use the same character, as long as I don't use it within the game setting or reference any game content?
CuppaJo, CoH Online Community Rep, responded:
Send your question to iprights@ncsoft.com and they will answer you.
I hope that helped some of you thinking about the comic book business.
On another note, got an idea for a comic book? Great story line? Tell us about it here.
