Help Needed: Unfair Warnings for Realistic Textures - Risk of Unjust Ban?

[Tonkatron8]

Hello Epic Games Community and Team,

I’m reaching out to seek clarification and express my concerns regarding the use of realistic textures in my project. Recently, while working on my map, which I have not attempted to publish yet, I received an unexpected warning. This warning was related to a realistic texture I used, which, to my understanding, does not contain any inappropriate content such as genitalia or obscenities. The warning cited the guideline “1.13 ‘Keep It Authentic,’” which confused me since the texture in question does not seem to violate this rule.

Seeking clarity, I reached out to support but was unable to get a definitive answer on whether this texture actually breaches the content policy. A day later, I’ve received another warning, this time hinting at “1.15 Align with Fortnite’s Game Rating,” escalating my concerns about potential termination of my monetization and publishing rights for repeated violations. Despite the lack of clear guidance, I’ve now removed the texture from my project to avoid further issues.

As a dedicated developer who has invested hundreds of hours into my project, I find this situation particularly disheartening. Epic Games’ vision of inviting developers to create games within a Metaverse using Verse and UEFN emphasizes creativity and innovation. It is, therefore, perplexing and frustrating to face such warnings for using a realistic texture that I believe does not contravene the stated guidelines.

I would like to understand:

1. Are realistic textures not allowed under the current content policies, specifically under the “1.13 ‘Keep It Authentic’” and “1.15 Align with Fortnite’s Game Rating” guidelines?
2. Why was I not provided with a clear response regarding the acceptability of the texture in question?
3. Can the “strikes” or warnings against my account be reviewed and possibly revoked, considering the initial content moderation warning seems to have been a misunderstanding?

I am concerned about the possibility of facing a ban and feel it is crucial for the policies to be communicated clearly to enable developers like myself to work without fear of unjustified penalties. I hope to receive some guidance and reassurance from the community and the Epic Games team.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Best regards
StankfaceGames

[Astrotronic]

Hi Tonkatron, Welcome to the Forums.

If you describe or post the texture in question, we’d be able to speculate as to what may have triggered these warnings.

[Tonkatron8]

It was the Texture of a Mixamo Character called Remy.

I don’t know If I’m allowed to link it here. But you can find it If you paste “Mixamo Remy Texture” into google → Images → Third picture.

It’s a texture of skin but without genetalia or even the groin area.

Do you by chance know how the strike system works? (or if there is such a thing)

At what point do I need to worry for my Account if I received warnings in the editor for a texture I uploaded to my unpublished project that I thought was Ok but later removed? I spend an insane amount of time every day on my games and therefore want to follow the rules as best as possible.

And the creativity epicgames supports with UEFN and the Creator Fund is outstanding.

Would be a shame to ever get banned.

Thanks for the Insights.
Best Regards

[Astrotronic]

Thanks for the context.

The only thing I could think of is some sort of AI moderation system detecting it because it looked like a person. (Rule 1.2 “Do not include videos or photographs of people”) Another aspect could be licensing / attribution of the texture. (But I’d hope that either of those would have been specifically mentioned by content moderation team)

I don’t know about any strike/ban system, I’ve heard of Islands getting locked after multiple content review failures in a row.

So, I wouldn’t worry about your account. There just might be some kinks in the system/pipeline right now.

[PMo75 (Pramit)]

I received a similar moderation flag for an unpublished sandbox island. I removed the assets and checked back in to URC. I’m still getting the flag.

Are there instructions on how to remedy the flag?