Bethesda.net Boycott

[Loveblanket]

It has been spilled that Bethesda are releasing a remastered edition of Skyrim, and possibly Fallout 3 for only the XBone and PS4 with mod support from Bethesda.net, to be announced Sunday at their E3 event. Obviously as mods are being stolen left and right from Nexus already, this will just open the floodgates even more. Where it is really going to hurt is when a mod author is no longer active and can't even defend the theft of their mod as many will have to deal with. People are taking credit for work that isn't theirs and stealing mods now when the Fallout 4 community is still active and can defend itself. Bethesda has done nothing to address this issue, but pay lip service to reporting issues. As of right now there are stolen mods up on Bethesda.net. This puts this community at risk and I call for all modders to boycott Bethesda.net and to report any mods that may end up on Bethesda.net without the knowledge of modders that have since moved on and may not be aware their work has been stolen. Whatever can be done should be done if that means just being vigilant for theft to making all future mods dependent on things like Script Extender, or requiring ini file changes to work. Also, I would ask mod authors that have uploaded their mods to Bethesda.net to take them down in protest. No matter where you came down on the paid mods issue with Bethesda, when the community got together and spoke, they listened and acted. If we don't speak up now, Bethesda will put modding at risk on all platforms and wreck a community that arguably is as responsible for their success as they are while standing by and allowing the hard work of modders to be stolen and claimed by liars and thieves. Their shiny new "mods on console" initiative is going to have to take notice if there are no mods to download. Cheers everyone.

[mlee3141]

Well said. Preventative measures already taken.

[TripleSixes]

It has been spilled that Bethesda are releasing a remastered edition of Skyrim, and possibly Fallout 3 for only the XBone and PS4 with mod support from Bethesda.net, to be announced Sunday at their E3 event. Obviously as mods are being stolen left and right from Nexus already, this will just open the floodgates even more. Where it is really going to hurt is when a mod author is no longer active and can't even defend the theft of their mod as many will have to deal with. People are taking credit for work that isn't theirs and stealing mods now when the Fallout 4 community is still active and can defend itself. Bethesda has done nothing to address this issue, but pay lip service to reporting issues. As of right now there are stolen mods up on Bethesda.net. This puts this community at risk and I call for all modders to boycott Bethesda.net and to report any mods that may end up on Bethesda.net without the knowledge of modders that have since moved on and may not be aware their work has been stolen. Whatever can be done should be done if that means just being vigilant for theft to making all future mods dependent on things like Script Extender, or requiring ini file changes to work. Also, I would ask mod authors that have uploaded their mods to Bethesda.net to take them down in protest. No matter where you came down on the paid mods issue with Bethesda, when the community got together and spoke, they listened and acted. If we don't speak up now, Bethesda will put modding at risk on all platforms and wreck a community that arguably is as responsible for their success as they are while standing by and allowing the hard work of modders to be stolen and claimed by liars and thieves. Their shiny new "mods on console" initiative is going to have to take notice if there are no mods to download. Cheers everyone.

I agree, I hate how some people think this is the PC gamers getting bent out of shape because we have to share mods with console players, that is far from the truth.

 

Well said. Preventative measures already taken.

How have you taken preventative measures?

Edited June 7, 2016 by TripleSixes

[marcmorr6]

... 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!

[iXenite]

 

How have you taken preventative measures?

 

 

Last I checked, mlee3141 hid their mods on the Nexus. It is also my understanding they had planned to do this anyway in protest to Mod Picker, so it wasn't really a surprise to me.

 

... 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!

 

I don't really agree with this statement. It sounds really close to justifying, or at least, accepting that you're mods will be stolen and you should be okay with it. I will acknowledge that piracy of any kind cannot go away completely, but I do believe that it is worth fighting against it.

 

Hiding your files is probably not the best solution though. I have already stated what I think the best solution is in the other thread about this.

[Vagrant0]

As far as Fallout 4 mods go, Bethesda claims ownership of any .esp and .bsa data as part of using their (tools) file formats. This includes anything done to scripts, using their forms as a model. On the practical side of things, this means that the only thing an author retains is whatever textures or models they have made from scratch. If it uses anything which was not entirely made by the author (no altered basegame meshes or textures), Bethesda can claim usage rights on it. Furthermore, using their construction set signifies an agreement that they can use your assets anyway. Legally, they can pretty much do whatever they want. Naturally, anything uploaded to their site also gives them permission to use all files however they wish.

 

If this bothers you, you're honestly best off just applying your talents to one of the hundreds of other modable games out there these days who don't have such complete and draconian policies. They decided to play this game and burn whatever bridges to mod makers in an attempt to bolster their bottom line. The modding scene for FO4 won't die, someone else will always pop up to fill the place you left behind. Instead what happens is that another game starts to gain more of a following, and in most cases this leads towards better tools and techniques for that game. If you don't like what a company is doing, stop supporting them.

 

For everyone else, I wouldn't be overly concerned about what mods make it to console. The internal memory limitations pretty much remove the chances that any sizable mods will even work. Doubly so once a script extender starts being used. The vetting process for mods for use on console will also probably exclude a large number of mods just because of the nature and quality of the content presented. Meaning that the majority of mods they are likely to host will be smaller files, simple content like weapons or clothing, Anything beyond that, they will likely contact individual authors for permission or to produce a version that will work for console (similar to the debacle of paid skyrim mods on Steam).

 

Really though, what matters is how well YOU support your own content. If you go out of your way to make it difficult to use your mod, chances are that either nobody will want to use it, or someone will just make a work-around and re-upload it somewhere else. But if you do well in documenting, offering assistance to others using your mod, and update it when reasonable, people will be more likely to seek out the original sources. This doesn't mean your mod still won't appear in some sort of mod-pack (since a collection of mods packaged together is convenient for people new to using mods) or that another site won't try to mirror it, but that people who acquire the mod from those sources will be more likely to look at the original source. Having a splash screen, unique readme files, mod description strings, or similar to point them to the original source definitely helps. Working with other authors on collaborative projects also helps (since these are usually more sizable, and being in a singular large file makes them generally easier to add to a load list).

[Arthmoor]

Vagrant0, I would hope you guys on the moderation team would know better than to repeat the same claims that have been debunked for years:

 

 

 

2. GAME MODS; OWNERSHIP AND LICENSE TO ZENIMAX

A. Ownership. As between You and ZeniMax, You are the owner of Your Game Mods and all intellectual property rights therein, subject to the licenses You grant to ZeniMax in this Agreement.

That's from the current Fallout 4 CK EULA. Pretty much a concrete declaration that YOU own your mods, not them. All they do is sublicense that work if they so choose, which they to date have never actually done. They use mods as an idea farm, not as a labor source for the actual implementations.

[Kingcipher1]

I'm a console player, and just wanted to stop by to say a few lines, I first want to say thank you to all the mod authors who have taken time out of their busy schedules to take their own mods from sites like nexus and navigate the headache to post them here, much less move them to consoles, I'd also like to apologizes for the all the "plz put this on xbone" comments and spam, I've done it a few times, mods are a new world to us, you could say we're over eager, I'd like to also apologize that it seems this over eagerness and impatience along with some people who lack a moral compass has resulted in mods being stolen, and unfortunately some of the eagerness and impatience has made some of the other console players so desperate that they don't care if the mod is stolen or not, they just want the content, on the other side we as console gamers unfortunately have yet to meet and chat with many of the authors and don't recognize if a mod is stolen.I know we have been demanding and impatient more often then not since the mods dropped for xbox a week ago. I just want you guys to know that a lot of us are just as passionate about fallout as you are and hope we can find common ground so we're not doing the bitter back and forth.

Thank you for you time and all sharing your amazing creations

[Vagrant0]

Vagrant0, I would hope you guys on the moderation team would know better than to repeat the same claims that have been debunked for years:

 

 

 

2. GAME MODS; OWNERSHIP AND LICENSE TO ZENIMAX

 

A. Ownership. As between You and ZeniMax, You are the owner of Your Game Mods and all intellectual property rights therein, subject to the licenses You grant to ZeniMax in this Agreement.

That's from the current Fallout 4 CK EULA. Pretty much a concrete declaration that YOU own your mods, not them. All they do is sublicense that work if they so choose, which they to date have never actually done. They use mods as an idea farm, not as a labor source for the actual implementations.

It is still the matter of their sub-license that grants them the rights to re-distribute content under an assumed permission by means of you using their software.

 

Really though, personally, I'm just getting tired of people getting upset over this matter every time the question of usage rights to content pops up. Either you accept the EULA and everything that goes with it, or you find another game to play and mod. Bethesda sees profitability in the ideas of paid mods and mods being available on console, which only makes sense given how modding has been so central to their games. Getting upset, making demands, ect just makes them take a step back and progress their plans more slowly, one inch at a time. It isn't until they start losing community and customers that they might take notice and stop taking mod authors for granted.

 

It also doesn't do anything about content which was taken from one site and uploaded elsewhere. For that you have to make a claim on their web service about the unauthorized upload, and then wait for a response. For this part, Bethesda has really dropped the ball and learned nothing from the Steam fiasco. They didn't make much effort towards vetting content to make sure it was from the original author before getting it added to their service.

[DonkeyChainsaw]

Heh... All these posts really do make me giggle. Protest as much as you want, people, you ain't gonna stop people from doing what they're doing.

 

Just saying.