Inkarnate, one of the most popular Dungeons and Dragons map-making tools, is facing controversy about its intentions to allow AI art tools to be used while making products for its third-party market. While Inkarnate itself will not be using generative AI, this decision, along with several other recent policy changes, has caused many Dungeons and Dragons fans to boycott the map program.
When looking to create custom maps for their Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, many gamers turn to Inkarnate, one of the most popular tools available on the market. The basic functions of the browser program are available for free for all users, with additional functions available at a cheap subscription fee, including access to custom assets, commercial licenses, and more.
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Players Threaten Boycott of Inkarnate Over AI Art Policies
Unfortunately, some recent policy decisions have landed Inkarnate in some hot water with fans. During a Q&A on one of the Champion-tier Early Access supporters channels of the Inkarnate Discord on September 24, CEO Ingmar confirmed intentions to allow artists to use generative AI to create assets on its third-party market. These products will allegedly be vetted to ensure quality and clearly labeled as using AI – and the company still has a zero-tolerance policy on genAI for assets provided by Inkarnate itself – but Ingmar believes consumers should be given the chance to “vote with their wallets,” rather than have the company ban the controversial tool outright. The conversation was collected and shared on the dndmaps Subreddit by MonstaMaps.
This Q&A was the culmination of several other controversies that had taken place a few days before. On September 19, Inkarnate more than doubled its subscription prices for new users overnight with little communication, though it honored existing members’ locked-in plans. By Monday, it rolled the price hike back in response to user backlash, only for Inkarnate to join the likes of Overwatch 2 by having an outsourced advertisement featuring AI art appear the day after, shared on the Inkarnate Reddit by GailenGigabyte.
Needless to say, fans were not happy about this series of events. Public outrage flooded the Reddit thread and other social media outlets with hundreds of comments from users and marketplace artists alike – and that is not even mentioning feedback from the Discord server. In response to this pushback, Inkarnate has stated that it is considering re-negotiating these terms, potentially resulting in a blanket ban of AI art in its marketplace. There have been no further developments at press time, so gamers will have to keep an eye out for further updates from Inkarnate to learn what move the troubled map-making tool will make next.
- Franchise
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Original Release Date
- 1974
- Publisher
- Wizards of the Coast
- Designer
- E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson
Created by Gary Gygax, Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop game in which players craft their own worlds and band together to take on adventures through mysterious realms outlined in companion materials. One of the best role-playing games ever made, it has been adapted into a variety of video games and other media.
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