How to solve mod thefts?

[krinord]

So, instead of jumping on the bandwagon of hating consoles plebs and or Bethesda for the mod thefts I'd much rather be interested in seeing a solution to this problem.

 

Like how can this be fixed?

Changes to the Bethesda website?

Changes to this website?

Or should we just continue to play the blame game?

 

If there are solutions can we make Bethesda aware of them and try to push them to implement them?

Personally I think some sort of 'community self policing' is the most realistic solution where users has the option to report a mod as stolen and post proof of theft (link to original creators upload site).

 

[DoctorKaizeld]

 

Like how can this be fixed?

get Bethesda to fix their site and get some moderators up in there who remove stolen content as it gets reported.

 

 

Changes to the Bethesda website?

yes, same as above.

 

 

Changes to this website?

no the Nexus is fine in this respect and does not currently need to change. stolen content is often found fast almost always same day if not within minutes of upload. i have reported my fair share of stolen mods.

 

 

Or should we just continue to play the blame game?

the blame game is fun but no, we already know that Bethesda is contributing to the issue by not doing anything about stolen content. Console gamers may be heathens to the PC Master race but they are for the most part not guilty of anything but playing games and their heretical machines. (note, jokes are made in jest at my brothers expense due to him being a heretical Console Gamer :D)

 

 

If there are solutions can we make Bethesda aware of them and try to push them to implement them?

tell them to crack down hard on mod theft, seriously mod theft is just as bad as game piracy and they should know that and should have had something in place to counter it.

 

 

Personally I think some sort of 'community self policing' is the most realistic solution where users has the option to report a mod as stolen and post proof of theft (link to original creators upload site).

if they had a report function like the one the Nexus has and a staff of admins and moderators to police it the issue would quickly resolve itself.

[HeyYou]

Beth IS aware of the problem, and they are also aware of the outrage expressed by the community at their lack of preparedness, and seeming lack of action for stolen content. So, according to theory, they ARE trying to do something..... It just ain't happenin' fast.....

[JaYmZeE311074]

Padlock & Chains?

 

DRM?

 

No more mods?

 

Explosive device contained within mod?

 

Extermination of all who steal mods - we could call the enforcers, "THE MOD SQUAD!"

[RattleAndGrind]

There are several threads running about 'xxx' stole my mod. And quite a number have absolutely nothing to do with Bethesda. One is about a French company or group which basically downloaded NEXUS and is re-hosting the mods as their work.

 

So if you all could get past Bethesda for just a moment, this is a MUCH larger problem. Mods are being stolen from here all the time. Some are being uploaded to pay/download sites. Some are being re-hosted and passed of as someone else's work.

 

So get your heads right and start talking about mod theft in terms that address the real issues and not just whining about Bethesda we might just get some ideas that can help solve the problems.

Edited July 12, 2016 by RattleAndGrind

[DoctorKaizeld]

Yes this has been an issue before *cough*loverslad*coughcough* and will continue but the real issue is Bethesda should have known about it and never should have allowed it to occur. This is their game and they were irresponsible about it. That is why people are mad. These were people that should have been better then that who acted like they cared before.

 

Mod theft will always occur but the people who own the game and allowed modding are held higher up and should work to prevent it on their own website.

[DrakeTheDragon]

For years and years past it has always been Bethesda who need to be brought in for those thieving illegal hosting sites we reported to them to be brought down. For times as far as I can recall back the only thing ever that was truly needed when a mod of your's was stolen/pirated in the past was a simple message to Matt GrandStaff (GStaff), the former community manager and representative over on the official BethSoft forums, and you could sit back and watch the thieves and their sites disappear within the course of only days usually.

 

Nowadays though, with Bethesda/Zenimax trying their own thing in regards to mod hosting on their own site, or what they dare calling as much, and of course going about it their same old and omni-present half-hearted, half-a**ed way without putting much thought or effort into it, things suddenly have changed... and to the worst.

 

GStaff may still be their CM, at least by label, and he's just like all those years before still the one last line of defense you are to contact, if you truly want to get anything done about it, but if you message him now, the most you'll get to read back will be "I know, and it's a shame, but I'm not in the position to do anything about it anymore, sorry", and the website continues letting rule violations, and even crimes, slip to an aggravating high level. They are not enforcing their own rules, or sticking to them themselves even, but at the same time still request, no, demand as much from us.

 

They've deliberately and knowingly decided to become part of the problem, after years and years where they've been the only solution. That's why people are pi**ed with them, and rightfully so.

[DoctorKaizeld]

There goes Drake sayin things better then i could ever put it. Dang good job sir.

[TheMastersSon]

I might be posting this to the wrong site and group of people, but I'll state my opinion anyway. IMO it's beyond ridiculous for Bethesda to ship their own CS with their games, allow the world to develop a huge (in fact infinite) and free modding community, and only THEN pull the reigns in on their assets. Assuming that's what happened, we've been gone for a while and don't know the details about it. This may be within their rights legally but practically it's absurd to expect it has any chance of being respected. Modders are not going to simply walk away from months and in many cases many years of work, simply because a company's legal department has had a change of priority.

 

And none of this was a problem until the idea of paid mods came along. Which imo is also a really stupid idea. Write your own games and sell them, not mods for somebody else's games imo.

 

Again no offense meant to anyone and we're shooting 95% blind on Bethesda's motivation.

Edited July 13, 2016 by TheMastersSon

[RGMage2]

Well, it just so happens that mod authors now have the ability to totally lockdown their mods. I'm not a console user/owner so I'm just going by what I've been told. As I understand it, please correct me if I have this wrong, a mod downloaded to a console can never be accessed in the game editor or re-uploaded, all you can do with it is use it in your game. If this is true then you can totally protect your content from thieves or unauthorized redistribution by making it on your PC but only releasing it for console. Of course we know where this will lead - end of PC mod user community and end of Nexus.

 

Full disclosure here: I am a bit of a conspiracy theory junky.

 

After the paid modding fiasco when we were all offering our opinions about where we thought things would go, I recall writing something along the lines of "looking at this (paid modding) from Bethesda's point of view they will likely see their biggest problem as being the modding community not being within their control, and one of their priorities will be to take back the modding community."

 

Well guess what, that is exactly what they appear to be doing. Every mod that gets ripped off from Nexus and reposted at Bethesda.net only re-enforces the idea that in order to protect your rights as a mod author you need to post your mod yourself at Bethesda.net; posting your mod anywhere else will leave you vulnerable.

 

It's all about paid mods for consoles, that's what it has always been about. Having their own site will allow them to pay a higher percentage (50% ?) to the authors, which answers one of the grievances we had about paid modding. Modders who were serious about paid modding releasing only for console would eliminate pirating of paid mods. Having more authors releasing (even for PC) only on Bethesda's site would bring the community effectively under Bethesda's tutelage allowing them to shape the future of the modding community.

 

Just as Iraq was all about the oil, Bethesda.net is all about paid modding.

Edited July 13, 2016 by RGMage2