that was an example no it does not change anything, someone still owns the copyright. and yes it is, if someone else made it and you're taking it without permission that is stealing. because Steam is terrible at removing stuff like this. the only way they'll even look at it generally requires the owner of said assets to order them to remove it. considering the fact that Blizzard doesnt look very far from their games all that often im not surprised they havent noticed it. yes, but you have to remember that this will leave you on the fence. if the owners of the game that those assets resemble decide to say no, it will be removed. they're your assets so you're not stealing anymore. oh by the way it's also illegal to mod console games do to the terms of use you agree to when you buy the game and the system... so that's another aspect to be wary of. I wasn't modding the GC game, just ripping models and textures from it. Would anything I'd do with the models be considered legal? Like if I used them as reference to make my own models to replace them with? I'd figure that using them to make a mod would fall under derivative works if I own both games legally and cite my sources. And while I wouldn't consider it stealing, as when you steal something, you take it and it isn't there anymore, whereas with this, I'm making a copy of it and using the copy. So it's more like piracy than stealing. And no, I don't consider piracy stealing either, unless you take the original and do not make a copy, like if you steal a copy of Windows 7 from a store and start making ISOs out of it, that would be stealing because you took the original copy of the OS, instead of copying it and taking that instead. If anything, it's a law that not many cops or so on would enforce, because it's something that a lot of people do. Sprite comics, half og the Garry's Mod content on the Steam workshop, certain papercraft, and plenty of other things would be illegal in that case. I think that as long as you don't charge money for it and don't claim ownership of it, then it should be fine, but then again, I'm not a lawyer, so I very well am probably wrong. Wait a second, though-- if taking assets from a copyrighted game is illegal, then shouldn't it also be illegal to use a VCR to record TV? Which is what most people used blank VHS tapes for? And fanart should also be illegal, going by that same logic. If this is true, and all of these things are against the law, then why is it that nobody gets arrested for them? Is it because they are petty things that the law enforcement doesn't care about? I'm very interested in how all of this stuff could be illegal. Is there any legal documentation you can point me to? Also, if my mod is illegal because it uses materials from a copyrighted game, shouldn't ALL mods be illegal because they use material from the game they are designed for?