Some concerns about the community

[Arthmoor]

Perhaps, but legally speaking, Nexus could not default to putting peoples' work in the public domain. That's something only the author can do, and it's a pretty specific legal declaration that needs to be made before it would be considered valid.

 

Mator suggested it on Reddit and a lot of people think it would be a good idea: When publishing a mod, make the author select the permissions before being allowed to proceed. The "default" therefore would be "you must choose" and it would eliminate all doubt on any new mods uploaded because everyone would know those mods uploaded past that date had to go through the gateway. I suggested further expanding that to updates on existing mods, which would force more authors to choose something rather than leaving things as they are. The only things left at that point would be the old stuff that's either done and not being updated anymore, or abandoned works with no permissions specified that can't be assumed are free to use.

[sunshinenbrick]

There could be a time limit though, like with common private to public domain transfer. Maybe it needs to be catered to modding and the age of the industry, but it is something of a compromise and also means great works by those whom didn't know about such things (or before they were even in place) will not be forever locked away and pushed into pirate channels.

[Arthmoor]

There is a time limit. When the copyright expires. Granted, that's currently 95 years pas the death of the copyright holder, but I didn't write the law :P

[RGMage2]

95 years past the death of the copyright holder sounds very reasonable to me. I vote in favor of adopting this policy. :tongue:

[sunshinenbrick]

There is a time limit. When the copyright expires. Granted, that's currently 95 years pas the death of the copyright holder, but I didn't write the law :tongue:

 

Surely that does depends on country of origin (and/or distribution) though... especially now :laugh:

 

Also it does on what Bethesda decide to do and how they handle support for external assets i.e. you may have rights to the assets but be effectively unable to use them.

 

More specifically I imagine in the laws you refer to, that such copyrights are automatically applied to all works created in said origin. Would it be possible to circumvent this, as in make work immediately publicly available or within 30 years of death, for example?

[Perraine]

Agreed.

 

No-one has the right to arbitrarily alter the time limit on copyright, only the "law" can do that, and I believe Dark0ne is pretty adamant that he'd never alter the site rules himself to allow open use of "abandoned" mods.

 

If someone believes that a mod, even an "abandoned' one is so spectacularly good that it's a "need" then they'll just have to recreate it themselves.

[Arthmoor]

Surely that does depends on country of origin (and/or distribution) though... especially now :laugh:

Well, yes, but it's also a pretty standard time limit among Berne Convention signatories. Some amount of time beyond the author's death.

 

Also on what Bethesda decide to do and how they handle support for external assets i.e. you may have rights to the assets but be effectively unable to use them.

What?

 

More specifically I imagine in the laws you refer to, that such copyrights are automatically applied to all works created in said origin. Would it be possible to circumvent this, as in make work immediately publicly available or within 30 years of death, for example?

Yes. Copyright applies from the moment the work is first created. Which is again standardized across Berne Convention signatories.

 

Only the copyright holder can place their work into the public domain before the statutory time limit expires. So yes, the copyright holder can forfeit everything immediately, or specify that after X amount of time the work falls into the public domain, but no matter how they go about that it generally isn't going to be as simple as saying so on a mod's description page. It usually has to be backed up by some kind of legal filing people can easily refer to in court should the situation arise where someone is getting sued over it.

[Graybark]

Something to read:

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/why-authors-dont-need-copyright-protection-long-after-death/article25536317/

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=21037

Edited April 10, 2017 by ArtaiosGreybark

[JoyTrooper]

And again the question pops: "What happened to making mods for fun for the community?"

 

I can flip this question towards mod users just as easily: "What happened to just playing with mods for fun?"

 

Why can't users be content with getting content for free in their games? People who download mods with the soul intention to turn a profit out of monetized Youtube videos is a far cry from "just doing it for fun" and what little contribution a mod review does pale in comparison to the contribution from an actual mod (the very foundation of this community). Mods are supposed to be fun, they're meant for people to play and enjoy in their own private games. Mods are not meant for businesses (and yes, Youtube is a business) to use as content to shovel into their commercialized videos for profits. Using mods purely to make money is not "doing it for fun for the community", it's a business. If you can't see how this is an outrageous and unfair double standard then we got nothing to talk about and anyone who respects your opinion is just as self-absorbed as you are. People need to stop blaming mod authors and point the fingers at the actual people businesses who made modding about money, namely youtubers.

[Skagens]

I'm an "olde fart' so this may come as a surprise, but I was raised to "ask permission before taking anything", even if it was candy from a "free" jar on a shop counter. And I was also taught to say "Thank You" when given permission or say "okay" if denied it.

 

It's amazing how this entire situation could have been avoided in the past, currently and in the future, if people also behaved by those very simple standards.

This. All of this could have been avoided if MxR would've just showed some decency and respected the author's choice.

 

I do get where Nilanius is coming from though as I agree with a lot of what he says but not everything. Nevertheless, I can give an unbiased opinion and from what I've read, MxR has been an a**hole about this whole situation. Common decency and respect would've avoided this entire thing. Politeness seems rare these days. I'm going to keep my personal opinions about the author in question to myself since I feel like it will only cause more aggravation.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Skagens