126 replies to this topic

[DOUBLEBREWSKI]

Folks, Jaysus's concerns are quite legitimate. Bethesda's new EULA seems like a slap in the face to the Modding community at large;

". . . If You distribute or otherwise make available New Materials, You automatically grant to Bethesda Softworks the irrevocable, perpetual, royalty free, sublicensable right and license under all applicable copyrights and intellectual property rights laws to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, perform, display, distribute and otherwise exploit and/or dispose of the New Materials (or any part of the New Materials) in any way Bethesda Softworks, or its respective designee(s), sees fit."

When a modder publishes his work, or "New Materials (or any part of the New Materials) . . ." they are legally giving their mods to Bethesda free of charge. "Any part of the New Materials" meaning even meshes and textures, not just esp files.

Now, for some modders like Jaysus who have released high quality, 3d models of weapons from scratch, this would allow Bethesda to repackage his custom models and release them at a price (same price as Horse Armor!) to other PC users or even Xbox 360 and PS3 gamers without Jaysus ever receiving a dime for his hard work. The part of the EULA where they retain intellectual rights over your "New Materials" would even permit them to have the modder's own original version of the mod removed from the Nexus site, or wherever it may be hosted.

And as to whether or not Bethesda has ever used, adapted, reproduced, exploited, or modified modders' works into sequels or expansions packs for their games over the years, I cannot say for sure. . . But I highly doubt the ability to decapitate foes in Skyrim would ever have existed without the overwhelming success of the Deadly Reflex mod for Oblivion. And before anyone says, "Well, what about Fallout 3? It's another Bethesda game with decapitations. Maybe they just copied that!" remember that the old Fallout games had dismemberment, Morrowind didn't.

Edited by DOUBLEBREWSKI, 08 February 2012 - 04:30 AM.

[Azeraph]

So the battle begins!

Let loose the dogs of war

[ArchangelWulf]

ok now here is a catch 22 loop hole

if you were to create a modders resource under a completely different name not using ck at all

then create a mod giving credit to your other persona (as long as no one knows they both are you) then even if bethesda wanted to they couldnt make any clam on your meshes textures scripts and so on that you make

HAHA gotta love finding loop holes in the system lol

[DOUBLEBREWSKI]

To luxwing0go,

Well, it isn't so much that YOU can't sell your mod that's bothering people. It's the part where Bethesda is declaring that that they own your mod, and therefore if THEY wanted to sell it, THEY could!

If you look at some 3D model sites like Turbosquid dot com, you'll see that people charge a lot of money for most of the good quality 3D models. Modders for Bethesda games always make much cooler looking swords and armor, and they're always free!

[yhwhwarrior]

So basically Bethesda has gained thousands of developers they don't have to pay...ingenious.

[jonasl2004]

Well give Bethesda credit, they listen to modding community and they release good tool kits. Now there will be tons of really sweet stuff made up. I don't think this is the final TES game, so just like Oblivion took from modder ideas in Morrowind, and Skyrim took modder ideas from Oblivion, the next TES will probably take ideas from the modders of Skyrim. Like yhwhwarrior said "So basically Bethesda has gained thousands of developers they don't have to pay...ingenious." I say, yes it is. As long as they don't outright take a mod and just incorporate it into DLC or a demo CD or somethin. They SHOULD look at the modders ideas and see if those can be incorporated into their next game. With the HUGE success that Skyrim is, I really think we will get at least one more TES. If Skyrim would not have been a success or a hit, this would be then end of this franchise. So take heart! Communities like this and the passion of the modders and players here are going to help keep games like this alive. For a while longer anyways!

[Natterforme]

I dont think Bethesda( cant say anything about parent companies, they are loose cannons and do whatever they feel like doing) would start charging for your modded materials. If they did, they would immediately lose a huge fan base who would be openly against them because of this action. Bethesda knows that their games profit from allowing modding free of charge. They also know that they can use the most successful mods as base inspiration for improving their sequels. The last thing they would want to do is have some of their best sources of improving their titles become openly hostile to their endeavors. If they started charging for mods and CKs, then everyone would simply pirate, steal, and hack their games and take them by force. Long story short, Bethesda is thinking long term here. Keep the modders happy and give them what they want. Dont charge for what you know they would get for free if you tried. Doing so would give them nothing but really bad PR. Bethesda has learned that, by making the community happy, they will ultimately profit more, both monetarily, and in the eyes of gamers and critics alike.

-Natterforme

[grayewolf]

I'll probably do very little in the Steam Workshop. At least here the moderators keep an eye on comments on the mods. I have seen some very rude and hateful comments on the Workshop.

[tyrthyllanos]

The smart way to avoid Bethesda owning your models: release models as resource packs THAT YOU RETAIN THE RIGHTS TO. Let other modders put them into the game. Bethesda can't claim to own your models and textures because you let a third party use them. You could even release an ESP file under a different pseudonym and still claim legal ownership.

[edsteiner]

quote: I'll probably do very little in the Steam Workshop. At least here the moderators keep an eye on comments on the mods. I have seen some very rude and hateful comments on the Workshop. *unquote

Which leaves us the 64 million dollar question.

Where are the CK produced mods? I only see them in Steam but not here.