Mod "Contract"

[Erenar]

Is there no way a binding contract can be made between nexus and the modders that allows for the fact that modders will get bored of the game and move on to the next thing. The contract would state that if they go inactive for a certain amount of time, their work can be picked up and continued by another modder. NVSE gets updated all the time and this breaks some mods.... those mods happen to be awesome and almost become gamebreaking losing them. IWS and the mod that affects enemy ai allowing them to go crazy healing etc (forget the name) are examples. These are both great pieces of work but have become broken and nobody can pick them up and carry on the good work.

 

Or is it allowed to pick up a mod and fix it?

 

Just my 2 cents worth... seems there are a lot of great mods that haven't been updated for almost a year and nothing has really replaced them.

[natranr]

People have talked about this, I think this is a good idea. most of the time, people make fixed and upload them as separate files and credit the original author.

[antonkr]

You can always state in your permissions "In case I am not active for more then [insert amount of time here], feel free to work on, redistribute, and do anything of your liking with the work, just as long you specify that I created the original." Edited September 27, 2011 by antonkr

[Skevitj]

As antonkr said, if a modder is happy with their work being continued by another party then they're likely to state it.

 

How would such a nexus agreement change that? Prevent any modder who refuses to agree to that release condition from using the site? That's pretty much the opposite of what the Nexus sites are focused on. If it's an opt-in scenario, how is it any different from a modder just adding a comment to a mod's release page indicating their preference.

 

Just because someone doesn't say you can't use their work it doesn't imply that you can. Some people might want their work to die when they stop working on it. It's not a situation where you can apply a single global rule and have everyone win.

 

 

If someone makes a legitimate attempt to contact the original author, and receives no response after a fair amount of time, I can't imagine it would be looked upon harshly if someone was to continue a mod. As long as there is no explicit comment on the original page preventing it, they explicitly state (providing proof if requested) that they attempted to contact the author, have failed and that they're happy to remove the mod should the original author request it. I'm certainly no moderator, so I can only guesstimate at their stance, but it's not as if they aren't approachable or unreasonable. If the author doesn't ask for it to be taken down, everyone wins. If they do, that clears up their view.

[Erenar]

In that case, as you make a fair point, maybe there should be a mechanism when uploading that pops up asking the uploader what terms are to be applied to the mod.

 

A) If inactive for x months, would you mind if another modder used/fixed this and credited you?

B) Is express permission required if A does not apply? (ie a form of open source/resource)

 

A templated paragraph could then be added to the mod description page so that it is clear.

 

I know most modders will put their terms up but not all do... and this causes confusion among the community. The bi-product of that is that great mods die and are never replaced. This is particularly true the longer a game has been released. Typically the first few months are when the greater number of mods are released/ported over and then they die when the modder moves on/has rl ties.

 

Just something to ponder.

[DrakeTheDragon]

As long as it's "opt-in" it'd be fine with me. But it's not like I'm going anywhere out of contact-range any time soon anyways. And if I do, be assured I will add specific instructions on what can be done with my mods and what can't to my descriptions here.

 

I can, however, see a greater benefit of a contract such as discussed here. Look at it from this side, once there is such a contract every mod "not" having this explicit permission given by the contract automatically goes as "don't touch me!". This will certainly reduce some confusion as everybody still touching it then would definitely know "why" they're screwed. :whistling:

Edited September 27, 2011 by DrakeTheDragon

[Pronam]

If people didn't choose to allow others to edit, that's unlikely ever to change unless they intend to do themselves. Renaming the permissions to contracts won't change a thing about that.

The upload screen/file management screen already shows quite prominently what you can do with permissions and what will happen if they choose not to. They choose to share it, so it's on their end to choose whether someone can edit it after or not...that's not up to the players.

[Erenar]

Kind of a backward moving mechanism.... progress is built on the work of those that came before, not rebuilding from the ground up.

 

All I wanted to bring forward is that if someone writes an awesome mod but then goes inactive, doesn't answer pms, and an inordinate length of time has passed, why not allow someone to pick up and update.

 

I'm not a modder btw :) But I just see comments on a few mods where people are complaining that they can't get hold of the original author and would love to update the good work that's put out there.

[Thandal]

One can pick-up and work on another's mod, 70 years after their death. :tongue:

 

Extract from Wikipedia article on US copyright duration:

Works created in or after 1978 are extended copyright protection for a term defined in 17 U.S.C. § 302. ... these works are granted copyright protection for a term ending 70 years after the death of the author. If the work was a work for hire (e.g., those created by a corporation) then copyright persists for 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shorter.

In real, practical terms, the author of a creative work retains whatever rights in the particular work they were entitled to upon its creation. And unless they specifically waive them no third-party (e.g. the Nexus, or another modder) can decide they no longer have those rights simply because they don't respond to attempts to contact them.

[Mashiki]

One can pick-up and work on another's mod, 70 years after their death. :tongue:

 

Extract from Wikipedia article on US copyright duration:

Works created in or after 1978 are extended copyright protection for a term defined in 17 U.S.C. § 302. ... these works are granted copyright protection for a term ending 70 years after the death of the author. If the work was a work for hire (e.g., those created by a corporation) then copyright persists for 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shorter.

In real, practical terms, the author of a creative work retains whatever rights in the particular work they were entitled to upon its creation. And unless they specifically waive them no third-party (e.g. the Nexus, or another modder) can decide they no longer have those rights simply because they don't respond to attempts to contact them.

Not quite. That would be based on whether or not the mod author has the right to the copyright in the first place. Because the EULA or ToS may forbid any copyrights at all, and may cover them under the lisence of the game itself, or the toolset, or both, or none, or steam. Or all three. Or none or all of it. It can also mean that there's a variety of laws that come into play because the files are served from a variety of different places across the US and UK. So that means that each state that they're served from, and EU law, and UK copyright laws too. Because the content of the material is held with the original creator of the material itself, not the person creating the mod based on their content.

 

It's not really quite so clear cut.