marcmorr6

"Subject to Your ownership of the original of Your Game Mods, ZeniMax will be the sole owner of the modifications and derivative works created by ZeniMax of Your Game Mods. For clarity, You agree that You are not entitled to any rights or compensation in connection with the rights granted to ZeniMax in this Agreement, including without limitation the use of Your Game Mods by others." Let me break this down for you... You own your mod, but only in a very limited fashion... and your mod does nothing without the original content.... Your actual, real world legal protections would be nil. The person as recognized by any court who could claim for legal protections would be Zenimax / Bethesda. The reason this boilerplate is written this way is not to protect mod creators but to protect the parent company from the creations of mod creators. I challenge you to take this EULA to any real world IP attorney and get them to tell you anything differently from what I am saying. Again, let me state that I am not pro-thief here. I am pointing out that trying for a real world legal solution will not happen and that we need to get creative to protect your mods in an engaging way for the end user.

I love everything about your post.

Pretty much my thoughts on the matter, we're bound to come across some issues at first... that said, the blatant abuse of modder's IP is becoming a bit much, beths admin needs to pull their finger out. ... when you create mods for an existing game any IP right remains with the game creator as it is thier assets you are modding. Bethesda is being more fair than most corperations would be in their attempt... as failing as it has been...to protect the mod content creators. Why do I always see this wrong representation of the laws in place crop up again and again? How many people are there who don't know their basic laws at all? By laws and regulations the copyright for any mod is with the author from the very moment it's created. Bethesda knows this. "They" aren't fighting it. As of right now they even included a reinforcement of this regulation inside their very own EULA, mostly for legality reasons of course. The author is the owner of their creation. They might not be allowed to sell it, as the copyright holder of the asset it's a "derivative work" of demands as much, which is their right just as it is the author's towards others, but apart from that it is their work to do with as they please, or to tell others what not to do, and their's alone. "Only" the thieves, and their supporters, and well, maybe also a few clueless again and again, do not understand that, or they do but do not care. This is not between the authors and Bethesda, this is between the thieves and both. You aren't fighting the authors alone when you deny the laws, you are fighting the company as well, and in your actions are putting them at risk of legal reprimands especially, which is the exact reason for why they say what they say in their terms. Stop twisting their words and the laws. It does not make your statements in any way right. Having dealt with this in real world courts personally... you are wrong. Bethesda ultimately owns anything you create with their tools which is why the can put limitations on what you can and can't do with them.

Hi everyone, I have been reading a lot of threads, written by aggrieved parties who are upset that their "IP" is being stolen and reposted. I am going to make myself very unpopular by trying to educate you on the realities of being a creator who bases their work on someone else's platform. I have personal, real life, business experience in dealing with this type of issue so I will tell you a bit about me first. My name is Marcus Morris. I am autistic. I created a method of using MMO's (Second Life) to teach real world social and vocational skills. I did this because I was tired of seeing so many people who needed help, only receiving help if they could pay for it or had really good insurance. You can look up my real world experience by googling Marcus Morris Autism Billings. I tried to put a link to the newspaper stories but links don't work for me here for some reason. I created a real world nonprofit to use my work to help people. There was an attempt by my board of directors to push me out and keep my work for themselves in the name of the company I created. I had to hire lawyers in order to protect myself and soon came to the realization that there was NO protecting yourself if you play by the existing rules of business and legal precedent. What you can actually protect: 1. I could protect any files and papers that I had personally typed or written that were not using any code or writing that belonged to any other party. 2. I could protect any artwork that I had personally created using no other pre existing works. What you can not protect: 1. Concept's are not viable for protection. Idea's are not protected. 2. I could not protect the name of my work, as I had not set up copy write before the troubles started. 3. I received an internal memo from a friend who remained on the board after I was pushed out that stated " Look, let's just use his work anyway and by the time we launch it will be too late for him to say anything" I know a lot of mod creators are from many different countries with many different laws when it comes to IP rights, Copy writes, Artist protections (Lets face it, you are all artists whether you claim to be or not.) For the purpose of this issue, that doesn't matter. Ultimately Bethesda owns the code that you are modding with their permission. That means that any legal protections that exist are solely in favor of Bethesda. The exception to this would be any coding and artwork that you create from scratch and add into the mod... that part you could possibly have copy write protections on. Second Life handles IP a little differently than any other MMO that I am familiar with. They built their business model by charging for virtual land that you build on... the creators of new world items, scripts, etc are then protected because the world code itself is set up in such a way that Linden Labs owns the tools that you use but you retain ownership of the creations you build with those tools. I hope this helps all of you understand where you actually stand when it comes to IP ownership and copy write protections. Realize that what Bethesda has been doing to protect original content and original creators while seeming only a half effort is actually far more effort than legally required of them. They are spending real world man hours to do what they are already doing to protect your work from scavvers (fallout humor) and they are making NO money from this process. That means that every single man hour used to protect work that you create... that generates no revenue for them is a LOSS in their profit and losses statement. Like any artist you want to protect yourself and your creations. Like any artist, sadly the legal world doesn't do as much as it should to protect you. You have a choice to make, 1. Abandon doing something that you love because the world isn't fair and you can't abide the disrespect you are receiving online. 2. Find creative ways to keep doing what you love and protect yourself at the same time by making sure credit is given where it is due a. Custom loading screens with every mod you create that thanks the user, directs them to your nexus or personal website, directs them to your personal social media site. b. Use the same technique that the "Eyebot" mod does that adds a one time screen on login that gives information about the mod, the creator, etc c. Use existing code to make your mod incompatible with xbox or ps4.

Real world laws remain in effect even in cyber communities. If you want better cyber protection laws, write your congressman.

Pretty much my thoughts on the matter, we're bound to come across some issues at first... that said, the blatant abuse of modder's IP is becoming a bit much, beths admin needs to pull their finger out. ... when you create mods for an existing game any IP right remains with the game creator as it is thier assets you are modding. Bethesda is being more fair than most corperations would be in their attempt... as failing as it has been...to protect the mod content creators.

The legal reality is that ideas cant be copywrite protected. Concepts can be stolen so long as the actual specific work is not. This is something I have real world experiance with.

... I dont really understand the harm being caused by re-uploading mods. There is no money involved, except in the case of people trying to get donations for the upload. Maybe just have a pop up window like the eyebot mod does that tells people who created the mod, where you can donate to the original creator and links to the original creators social media account. I am going out on a limb thinking that the "thieves" lack the skill to actually edit the files or they would create thier own mods. The theft is going to keep happening , just like the annoyances in any online game. Blizzard cant kill off gold spammers after how many years? Knowing you cant stop them from being annoying parasites, why not use them like they are using you..the mod creator... let them repost your work but with that added loading screen showing where credit and donations should really be going. If done correctly you could really get a lot of free marketing, unintentional as it may be!

By lore, I meant in respect to the reason your addition to fallout 4 exists... as opposed to just dropping an item in world with no explanation as to why its there or how it got there.

The wintermute mod actually accomplishes stage 3 by itself...it just has no lead up.

Sorry, im still learning to use the forum. :) my reposts are more cleaned up.

Always glad to help.

I had considered that for the final institute bit. /spoiler/ If you side with institute against Dima there is a new NPC there.../endspoiler/ ...maybe that NOC could send you a holotapr with the final quest to make your synth gen 3? You would only need automatron to upgrade from settler bot to follower bot.

I have an idea that is a bit more than my current skill set can manage... could you all offer some ideas on the best way to impliment my idea Basic idea: 3 stage companion Stage 1. Broken gen 1 synth can be repaired at weapons bench. A. You will need a bundle of synth parts, dropped by every synth...plus basic crafting materials. B. Initially the synth will only perform basic settlers roles. Stage 2: Becoming an actual follower - Upgrade to Gen 2 must have automatron expansion, must complete Ada starting quest, Must have robot workshop blueprint. Quest started by REPAIRED SYNTH: retrieve 4 holotaoe software patches stolen by a rogue institute scientist (Virgil) Once all 4 are obtained, synth added to robot workbench and becomes automatron type follower similar to "Wintermute" but still in gen 1 or gen 2 form, limited weapons and armor If you side with the institute: Quest to upgrade your synth to gen 3 will be given in the robotics puddle room... As an immersion and survival bonus... Gen 1 and gen 2 synth settlers can be dispatched to wasteland to forage raw materials if you side with institute... A. Synth settler dispatched B. Synth leaves game world for 3 days in game time C Synth respawns with a realistic amount of random raw materials and deposits them in a special container before going back to settler duties.

I have an idea that is a bit more than my current skill set can manage... could you all offer some ideas on the best way to impliment my idea or if its even possible as i have outlined it? I tend to think better writing my ideas on paper so i took a pic of the rough idea. Basic idea: 3 stage companion Stage 1. Broken gen 1 synth can be repaired at weapons bench. A. You will need a bundle of synth parts, dropped by every synth...plus basic crafting materials. B. Initially the synth will only perform basic settlers roles. Stage 2: Becoming an actual follower - Upgrade to Gen 2 must have automatron expansion, must complete Ada starting quest, Must have robot workshop blueprint. Quest started by REPAIRED SYNTH: retrieve 4 holotaoe software patches stolen by a rogue institute scientist (Virgil) Once all 4 are obtained, synth added to robot workbench and becomes automatron type follower similar to "Wintermute" but still in gen 1 or gen 2 form, limited weapons and armor If you side with the institute: Quest to upgrade your synth to gen 3 will be given in the robotics puddle room... As an immersion and survival bonus... Gen 1 and gen 2 synth settlers can be dispatched to wasteland to forage raw materials if you side with institute... A. Synth settler dispatched B. Synth leaves game world for 3 days in game time C Synth respawns with a realistic amount of random raw materials and deposits them in a special container before going back to settler duties. Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

As an immersion and survival bonus... Gen 1 and gen 2 synth settlers can be dispatched to wasteland to forage raw materials if you side with institute... A. Synth settler dispatched B. Synth leaves game world for 3 days in game time C Synth respawns with a realistic amount of random raw matwrials and deposits them in a special container before going back to settler duties.

If you side with the institute: Quest to upgrade your synth to gen 3 will be given in the robotics puddle room...

Stage 2: Becoming an actual follower - Upgrade to Gen 2 must have automatron expansion, must complete Ada starting quest, Must have robot workshop blueprint. Quest started by REPAIRED SYNTH: retrieve 4 holotaoe software patches stolen by a rogue institute scientist (Virgil) Once all 4 are obtained, synth added to robot workbench and becomes automatron type follower similar to "Wintermute" but still in gen 1 or gen 2 form, limited weapons and armor

Ok i cant upload the image... Basic idea: 3 stage companion Stage 1. Broken gen 1 synth can be repaired at weapons bench. A. You will need a bundle of synth parts, dropped by every synth...plus basic crafting materials. B. Initially the synth will only perform basic settlers roles.

I have an idea that is a bit more than my current skill set can manage... could you all offer some ideas on the best way to impliment my idea or if its even possible as i have outlined it? I tend to think better writing my ideas on paper so i took a pic of the rough idea. Thank you for your time+

I am an high functioning, autistic, stay at home dad and I have a decent amount of free time. I would love to help anyone who wants assistance writing backstory and lore to add with their mods. I am not much of a coder or modder but writing is something I excel at. I will never ask to be credited on your work or expect any kind of reward for offering my services. This is the best way I could think of to help support all of your hard work. Marcus