some questions about legal rights

(carnage) #1

can someone tell me what the exact rights are on the distribution of maps/mods and getting paid for them

i understand it would be ilegal to create a new game/TC and sell it, so i asume it is the same for a map. but could you be paid to make a person/clan a map if they requested it, as you wouldnt be charging for the comunitiy to use your map but you would actualy be getting paid to create the map

also i belive someone found a loophole when distributing maps that he could charge for the CD/dpwnload time rather than the maps themsleves

can someone please help me as i would like to no the exacts rights of this

(Ifurita) #2

Well, the way I read it, is that you are not allowed to profit from work done using the tools or assets from the game, which would include mapping tools, textures, models, etc.

  1. Realistically, if you came into an agreement to get paid $x for a map, would anyone ever find out — probably not.

  2. Realistically, is anyone ever going to pay you a fair amount (even at minimum wages) for the time it takes to actually make a map — probably not

  3. If it’s a clan who wants a “branded map” of their own, will they really ever pay you anything more than a pittance — probably not

  4. Given the realities of #3, is it worth the pittance to be now working for someone who may feel they can dictate every little facet of your map since they are paying you? — probably not

(EB) #3

just interesting to read other opinions on it >> The Future of Mod Making:

I do not know how trustworthy this article is, but it is interesting to read nonetheless. There are several pages of comments that follow that link.

If I find anything on this, I will tell you Carnage.

(Matt-J) #4

was this thread worth reading — probably not :smiley:

(carnage) #5

thankx EB

i see ur point Ifurita its unlikely but not imposible

(SCDS_reyalP) #6

Note, if you really want to know, take your EULAs to your lawyer. While even that isn’t a certain answer, it is much more likely to be right than more-or-less informed speculation on a message board. If the amount of money isn’t enough to justify consulting a lawyer, its hard to imagine getting in too much trouble for it, but that is just speculation on my part.

To make things even more confusing, the radiant EULA hasn’t been updated since quake3 was the only supported game :moo:

(eq-Shrike) #7

We pay you back with love and playing your maps though lick - The NW server loves Iffies maps and so do I

Keep up the good work fella …

(blushing_bride) #8

Just do it for free and enjoy the creative process.

(Sauron|EFG) #9

I think Rummie got paid by YPG for the Valley of Kings map… :slight_smile:

(OT: Does anyone know what happened to YPG?)

Their web page does say that it’s only “free for non commercial use”.

(DG) #10

SD got paid by Gamesdomain (then owned by BT) for making the RTCW map Marketgarden, IIRC.

They should have a fair idea about this sort of thing, but on the other hand are liable to be reluctant to comment since It’d be a thing for the ‘legal’ people at Activision, and the law of unintended consequences has a habit of applying for this sort of thing.

(carnage) #11

yes but we no SP have the rights to the software to make sutch things we poorer few who use free software dont have the privilage

if someone would hurry up and make a game engine just for the modding comunity all our probs would be solved, moding teams could then turn to making there owne free games instead of being stuck with a game source

i belive there has been an engine writen there is a post in this forum asking for mappers to work for the game but i haev heard nothing about them realesing the engine source, whitch is a shame cos it would realy be great for the modding and gameing comunity

it may not even be bad for comercial gameing companies as it could increase the popularity of the PC as a gaming console and people would look for people like SD for the best titles while the comunity kept things coming out to keep interest. may also push gameing companies to produce higher quality games to compeate with free games

does anyone know if this engine has been realese to the public?

(Ifurita) #12

yes but we no SP have the rights to the software to make sutch things we poorer few who use free software dont have the privilage

This make absolutely no sense at all

if someone would hurry up and make a game engine just for the modding comunity all our probs would be solved, moding teams could then turn to making there owne free games instead of being stuck with a game source

You realize this is a for-profit industry right? That it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop a new game engine and that commercial licenses sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, right?

does anyone know if this engine has been realese to the public?

Not yet. John Carmack has discussed released the Q3 engine, but has not done so yet.

(carnage) #13

u read me wrong Ifurita

the first quote did make no sence at all, i was trying to say that if a comercial company was paid to make a level they would obviously have all the paperwork in order to do sutch a thing

and yes it take a lot of money to develop a new engine, but the poeple who make it are human and so are the people working for the moding comunity, and although u seem to think i was talking about q3 engine i want. someone has writen there own engine just about on par graphics wise with q3. ill try find a link then edit this post

(Ifurita) #14

ah, got it. Sorry if I misunderstood

http://www.map-center.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=6213

That’s a discussion about FGA:

Free Game Arts promotes the use and development of free and ‘open source’ game resources, including 3D models, sound effects, textures, entire games, game development tools and game platforms

(carnage) #15

found that custome engine

http://www.splashdamage.com/index.php?name=pnPHPbb2&file=viewtopic&t=10912&highlight=

its called disusion or something like that, but since that post i have herd nothing of the game or the engine