Just wanted to warn mod authors...

[SlashmanSG]

A poster on GameFAQs who goes by the name of "createdforthis" among others, who was banned from the Nexus sites under the name tx3000, if anyone remembers him, posted this on their boards.

 

"I've finally arrived at a conclusion. No more talking time for action is now happening.

People want to say I don't know what I'm talking about and then throws a temper tantrum and reports me constantly to the moderators to get their way so I get screwed. All because I tell them how things really work and they don't like it. Well then lets see people deal with this.

People seem to think they own rights to mods or they own the mod and people cannot use them without permission and all that crap. And I've told people time and time again (and all anyone tries to say is I don't know what I'm talking about and all this other hosreSH***

So I'll tell you all what I am going to do and what's going to happen:

I'm just going to go through the Nexus and or the Steam workshop and I am going to take whatever mods I Please, and I'm going to sell them to people who have been asking me to sell them mods saying I made them and not give any credit to the original makers.

And all the people that argue with me about this who owns mods crap can come try and do something about it.

Think that disclosure on the Nexus you agree to that says no one can do anything with the mod you uploaded means anything or has any grounds to stand on when it comes to this...think again.

Try and take action against me and see how well that goes for you.

No more talking, people want to say that people own mods once they've been uploaded to the net and that people need permission to use it and or they need to give credit to the mod maker.. then back up what you say and come actually do something to me because I'm going to sell whatever mods I want and I will take credit for the mod.

I seriously want all the people who think they can do something about this to try and do something about it since they want to argue against me and think they are right.

If you own a mod as you say then you should have no problems being able to take action against me..But when you can't all of you can just shut up with your crap about how I'm wrong and I don't know what I'm talking about.

Oh yeah one more thing,

Don't bother posting a huge wall - O Text or nonsense replies trying link TOS and crap because that does nothing and I won't read it because it does nothing either do what you think can be done (Which you won't be able to do anything) or just shut up.

All anyone does on this forum is talk talk talk...bunch of trolls

Either put up or shut up."

 

 

I just want to warn some of the great authors out there that there is a possibility this man may be going around stealing mods to prove some sort of point, and you don't deserve that. If you care, he has a Youtube account under the name "MPC4Utube", and also "problemsolver88". I hope he's just ranting and nothing comes of it, but keep an eye out just in case.

Edited August 10, 2013 by SlashmanSG

[LargeStyle]

Thanks for the warning. This person sounds like a total a-hole.

 

Although I'm currently unaware of legal and copyrighting terms for Nexus, AFAIK when you upload a mod onto the Steam Workshop the mod becomes property of Steam / Valve - so this loser better have a good lawyer if he / she wants to (potentially) illegally sell property that doesn't belong to them.

 

Personally speaking, before I release any further mods I'm going to look into and undertake (if applicable and reasonable to do so) full legal copyrighting procedures to protect my work.

[pheo3309]

He, and he's a troll. I think he was banned off of Steam as well. I remember running into him a few times, he trolled the Nexus for a while and then was banned.

 

As far as copyright goes, I don't think there's a way to fully copyright mods for Skyrim because of the EULA stating that anything created by it is/can be property of Bethesda. So either way, if he sells it, he's screwed. He's selling assets that were pretty much created by the Kit, even if they're handmade textures, models, or animations. That's the way I understood the EULA at least.

 

But I'd say a good way to protect your work, especially if it's mesh or script work, is make your username embedded in it somewhere where it's not bothersome and it won't conflict with anything.

[Oubliette]

Well there are a few mods that don't use the Construction Set in any way iirc. Still copyright laws are pretty specific on the issues of intellectual property, check my sig for a quick and easy breakdown.

[lordmonkus]

Hopefully if this douchebag does what he's threatening to do Bethesda and or Valve goes after him with their money and lawyers because if they don't the sad truth of the matter he is probably correct in his assumption that nobody can do anything to stop him because I would hazard a guess and say that the vast majority of mod makers neither have the time and or money to fight this turd. Douches like this guy will simply drive away all the great mod makers out there and the players like us will be the ones to really suffer.

 

DAMNIT THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS :verymad:

Edited August 10, 2013 by lordmonkus

[ripple]

That's already happened. There are a lot of 'mod compilation' torrents floating around, except the thieves in those instances are not as dumb as this one. First, they don't widely advertise the fact that they are stealing mods. Second, they aren't charging money for their torrents. Why this idiot would think other people would buy mods from him when they can download it free either legitimately from the sites sanctioned by the modder (and receive user support from the modders) or using the free illegitimate torrents, is beyond me.

[LargeStyle]

I'm someday planning on making a soundtrack replacer for Skyrim - but there's no way in hell im going to all that work and leave myself open legally speaking. Thinking about it - if I make a soundtrack mod that is made in and setup to go straight into Skyrim then as I'll be using Bethesdas system I won't own the entire rights to the work - but if I release the music as a completely standalone package which can be converted to Skyrim format then I would own the entire rights to the work.

 

I really hope this isn't going to be "the way forward" because it ain't going forward at all.

[TheVampireDante]

He tries charging for anything and he'll get the attention he wants - from Bethesda's lawyers amongst other people...

[LadyMilla]

He, and he's a troll. I think he was banned off of Steam as well. I remember running into him a few times, he trolled the Nexus for a while and then was banned.

 

As far as copyright goes, I don't think there's a way to fully copyright mods for Skyrim because of the EULA stating that anything created by it is/can be property of Bethesda. So either way, if he sells it, he's screwed. He's selling assets that were pretty much created by the Kit, even if they're handmade textures, models, or animations. That's the way I understood the EULA at least.

 

But I'd say a good way to protect your work, especially if it's mesh or script work, is make your username embedded in it somewhere where it's not bothersome and it won't conflict with anything.

 

Correction: the EULA for the Creation Kit refers to 'New Materials'. Quote: ...any materials created using the Editor (the “New Materials”) '. Obviously, meshes, textures and any other content that were created using another editor do not qualify as 'New Materials' for the purpose of the EULA. Consider the legal implications if it was otherwise: for example, CD Projekt granted modders permission to use assets from The Witcher games for modding projects. If Bethesda could claim ownership of everything you create as part of a mod then, theoretically, they would be within their right to claim ownership of proprietary CD Projekt assets in this way.

[LargeStyle]

...so "created using the Editor", and applying using the editor can be legally recognised as 2 independent legalities? If so, good to know.