Morrowind 2011 Mod Collection Pulled After Complaints

camazotz

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Jul 23, 2009
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This does seem silly....if the mods are freely available, can't (so far as I can tell) by copyrighted or owned in any proper manner, seeing as how they exist as addenda to an engine wholly owned by Bethesda, and are primarily designed to facilitate the enjoyment and longevity of a game for its fans, then it seems damaging. But that said, its still disrespectful of the guy not to secure all permissions first.

Either way, I didn't download it before it was removed, and have now once again deleted Morrowind from my Steam downloads, as the game looks like ass on moldy toast, and honestly I don't have time to spend days doing footwork in the mod community to make it look less tarnished. Back to Oblivion...
 

The3rdEye

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Mar 19, 2009
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I sympathize with the modders:

I'm going to collect a bunch of good things that other people made
I'm then going to redistribute those good things
Being a person who's not beyond the obvious, I'm going to ask the people who made those good things if I can redistribute them

The mods weren't his work, so this entire mess could have been avoided if he had actually told the mod authors what he was doing.

Furthermore, mods aren't "free". It takes time to make them, time that could otherwise be spent doing well, anything else. They're not being compensated monetarily for their work, but one would hope people would at least have the decency to allow them to choose how their work is distributed (or at the very least inform them that they intend to redistribute it on a large scale).
 

Aedrial

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Jun 24, 2009
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I think it's more the fact that he broke one of the modding communities 'rules'. From what I've seen you don't ever use their work without their permission. Legally he'll probably get done for something to do with IP's.
 

Bonecrusher

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Neverhoodian said:
I've seen this kind of prima donna bitching before by various modding communities, and it's always stupid in my opinion. If they had a problem with not getting credit for their work, they could have contacted Smith and asked to be included in the credits. To shut it down completely reeks of selfish egotism. Besides, mod authors don't even use their real names most of the time, just their online pseudonyms.

Now I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but the whole "violating copyright laws in about a dozen countries" claim reeks of bullcrap. Nobody was making any money off of this.

In short, the modders need to drop the drama queen routine and work something out.
I agree with Neverhoodian.
This is really absurd.
If my mod was in this compilation, I would be happy to be helpful for the gamers.
But they choose to sue the compilation.
They are not even purchased items, they are just free mods.

Some of the mods conflict with each other and create many problems in the game.
So, it is really hard for a gamer to collect all the good mods and adjust them. If he did a easy-to-install package, this is a profit for Morrowind users ^^

sketchesofpayne said:
What would they sue him for? All the money he DIDN'T make from freely distributing free software? He's not depriving them of any 'sales'. There's nothing financial at issue here. It's weird to call his actions "illegal" since people make mod compilations all the time. I think they just got butt-hurt about the perceived publicity he was getting.
agree

Besides, who the hell still plays Morrowind? (Goes back to playing Fallout New Vegas.)
disagree
 

Jabberwock xeno

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On one, hand, he should have asked first...

On the other, I'd be pretty damn proud if I could say that my mod was part of something this awesome.
 

yundex

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psrdirector said:
Maze1125 said:
Catalyst6 said:
Popido said:
What. The. Fuck?

What the hell happened here? Was someone making money from this?
That's what I was thinking as I read this. Aren't mods, y'know, free? It's not like the guy was saying that he did all the work *personally*.
Being free doesn't give anyone right to rip it off.
For example, I might give away free postcards of my paintings at my art gallery. As a method for attracting guests to come see my paintings in full. That doesn't give anyone the right to produce enlarged version of those cards and display them on the street, even if they give me credit.
and yet when people use sane arguments like you did agaisnt piracy they get shot down with well it didnt hurt anyone. :D lets see the pro piracy peoples opinion on this, probly screw the modders they evil anyways.

Personally if the modders dont want their stuff in the compilations, dont put it in.
My pro piracy argument is basically: it's free and i'm not taking credit for another persons work. Than again, my spiritual path lead me far from what is considered the norm here, so what another person claims I do or do not have a right to do means nothing to me. I decide whatever I have a right to do, and accept the consequences.

Basically, yeah screw em, lol.
 

Jennacide

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Did he not have the foresight to say "Hey, maybe this is gonna piss mod authors off? Why don't I NOT package them together and just post links to each piece needed and how to work it." If he couldn't produce a link to an item that was used, it's more than likely because the mod author removed it from the web for thier own reasons.
 

Freyar

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May 9, 2008
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Is it piracy when the legal rights for control over the content don't exist?
 

Eclectic Dreck

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I think it interesting that it was asserted he had breached international law when, at worst, he simply violated goodwill agreements among hobbyists.
 

Ericb

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The3rdEye said:
Furthermore, mods aren't "free". It takes time to make them, time that could otherwise be spent doing well, anything else.
In this context, free is precisely what these mods are. Free of charge all the way.

The amount of work put in their creation does not change the range of economical values available for the end product.

The definition of Free Software [http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html] by Richard Stallman might be a worthwhile addition to the topic if it hasn't being cited yet.

TheMaddestHatter said:
Maze1125 said:
No it doesn't. Fair use is just that fair use. It's taking a character of someone else, or one image. It is not copying their entire work, or their entire gallery.

I cannot take an entire short story someone wrote and stick it in a free book of short stories without their permission. I can take passages or examples or characters from that story provided I'm not trying to make a profit.

Taking a small part is fair use, copying the entirety is not.
And what is unfair about this use, exactly? Is it the full-accreditation, the free publicity, or the appreciation of their work? We seem to have different definitions of "fair".
Wikipedia said:
"Fair use, a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work, is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders."
Do modders hold any copyright [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright] claims whatsoever over their work?

Eclectic Dreck said:
I think it interesting that it was asserted he had breached international law when, at worst, he simply violated goodwill agreements among hobbyists.
That's what I'm thinking too.

I only hope that people (or one person at least) comes out of this mess with a better understanding of copyright/copyleft concepts.
 

Jymm

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Sep 18, 2010
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There is another compilation in the works and it's being done over at the forums at Bethsoft. The makers have asked the modders for their permission to use their mods and better still their input on the project itself.

It's called "Morrowind Overhaul-Sound and Graphics" and it might be even more user friendly than "Morrowind -2011"

http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1156204-wipz-morrowind-overhaul-sounds-graphics/

But I'm still going to download "Morrowind -2011" because I remember the ***** of a time I had trying to get all the mods to work together when I last played the game. But when "M.O.-S&G" is finished I'll give that a try too.


edited to add...

PS- I wonder how much this project (that was in the works) had to do with the response by some of the modders?
 

BoogieManFL

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Apr 14, 2008
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What a bunch of little pansies. They should be happy to be a part of something so good for the game and it's fans.
 

Scars Unseen

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May 7, 2009
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BoogieManFL said:
What a bunch of little pansies. They should be happy to be a part of something so good for the game and it's fans.
What a bunch of ungrateful pissants. They should be happy these modders made something so good for the game and its fans.