Morrowind 2011 Mod Collection Pulled After Complaints

[Eclectic Dreck]

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.

True, there's not much point in debating if the mods are "free" since all copyrights are held by Bethesda, so anything that's not covered in their EULA/copyright agreements is pretty much fair game.

Still though, I can't help but draw comparison between this and the original crapstorm that surrounded Ebaums World and their initial procurement of content. This may not be as severe a case, but my earlier statement regarding "It should have been common sense to ask first" still stands, regardless of whether the software is free or not.

The problem with Ebaum's world was not simply that he was using content but that he was using content and gave no credit to the original authors. He was, essentially, stealing credit for their work.

This is what I don't understand about this debate. Yes, courtesy demands that he ask permission before assembling a compilation but the only thing of even theoretical worth at risk here was credit for the work which was given.

You can wrinkle your nose at the faux pas of failing to ask permission but anything beyond that is a severe overreaction.

 

[yundex]

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. 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.

your basic argument is screw the video game industry they can burn, also welcome to reported ville population you.

Its people like this why I consider all gamers the largest group of anti video game advocates out there.

I don't know what downloading a free mod pack has to do with the gaming industry burning. Thanks for the report, I guess.

downloading mod packs isnt piracy

Game industry burning, anti video game advocates...I don't know what this has to do with the mods. You do realize I was talking about the mods in my posts? The "my pro piracy" opening was a jab at your last bit, not downloading games. (my real one would be quite long though)

 

[Magicman10893]

So, because some douchebags got together to yell at some douchebag over the internet about said douchebag using their mods that they made *free* over the internet and bundling them together in an easy to use package that he isn't making money from and gave credit where credit is due is the reason I'll have to sit here for hours finding a shit load of different mods that will mostly likely clash with one another and cause no end of frustration because I am as mod literate as the offspring of three generations of cousin fucking is regularly literate?

In other words, a collection of "Greatest Hits" mods that have been released for free is being... released for free with a list of credits to show who did the real work? Why is that offensive and illegal again? It's not like the modders are getting paid for the mods and it's not like this guy is getting paid for packaging them together, or did I miss something? I really don't know what they are getting worked up about, most mods I see for any game often include in the description either, "Don't repost this mod on a pay site," or, "Make sure to give credit to me if you repost this on any other site."

 

[kypsilon]

This wouldn't be a problem if Bethesda wasn't so damned concerned about making their newer games less fun than the ones before it.

 

[Nocturnus]

It is not copyright infringement, as the modders do not own any copyright or patent on the modifications that they made. There is no legal action that can be taken place as, once again, there is no copyright to this material. The patent still is owned by Bethesda. This only changes if someone goes in and completely and totally redoes the entirety of the game from start to finish. New Code. No traces of the original framework left behind. No modder ever does that. This is why it's called -a mod-.

Threatening legal action is asinine. There is no court that would take this case up for longer than five minutes. It all falls down to whether or whether not he acted according to social standards and social norms, which are not enforced in this sense legally. So long as credit is given where credit is due, this screams like a bunch of butt-hurt individuals who have too much pride when it comes to work like this.

I would hope for permission asked as well if I was a modder. It takes a basement dwelling lunatic to believe that they legally own what they built with either an outside tool to modify an existing game structure (which doesn't belong to them), or the construction set.

This mod should have been allowed to go live, and he should have been allowed to fix things as they came up. Instead, people act childish.

Good for you. You not only got one mod taken down, you had the integrity of your own work shot to hell by acting like a bunch of five year old kids.

*Grumbles*

 

[Optimystic]

Oh noes, free publicity! Kill it with fire!

I don't get what the authors big deal was. Were the mods unfinished? I guarantee that 90% of people who wanted the compilation didn't care if the mods included were version 1.01a or 1.01b or whatever; they just wanted a Morrowind that didn't look like decade-old ass.

EDIT: And why IP ban him from the forums? Are they determined not to let anyone talk this out?

 

[Canid117]

words

You realize they own nothing? They're taking another companies work and changing it. Threatening legal action over something they don't even own. Hence why you can't charge money.

It's a creative work, thus covered under copy-right. Besides, the legal ramifications aren't and shouldn't be the issue here - more that you're promoting the use of others work without their permission.

Wrong buddy. Creative works are not automatically protected under copy right. All creative works belong to the public domain by default unless they are copyrighted. It is possible that these mods may have fallen under the original games copy right but that is owned by Bethesda which is not one of the offended parties. Unless the modders who are angry contact Bethesda and somehow get them on their side I do not see any legal legs for them to stand on. From my impression he never claimed he made it, he always made it clear that it was a compilation and he gave credits. Yes he should have asked for permission but those who feel they have been wronged should not be threatening DMCA. It would be nice if they could come to a compromise but sadly it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

 

[Baneat]

Wow little bitches. You release mods so people can enjoy them, craving appraisal is just sad. Yes, sad. It shouldn't be your end goal, and an excellent compilation of tools has suffered for it.

 

[D_987]

Wrong buddy.

Actually I think you'll find you're wrong on this front. There're more than enough posts explaining why on this thread for me to bother to explain...again...

See post 390 for example.

 

[mechanixis]

Oh good, you got it taken down. Someone almost played all those mods you designed! That would have been terrible?

Seriously, what is the point here? He wasn't making money, the modders aren't making money, and he was completely interested in giving credit where it was due. Threats of legal action are empty because there's no money changing hands in any part of this dispute.

 

[Arctodus_Simus]

*Weeps for what might have been*

And thus Morrowind 2011 because the most reproduced Morrowind mod ever, spread around by countless 3rd parties who were all quoted as saying "seriously, fuck those guys."

I can only hope, and see if I can find it.

:'(

 

[Jymm]

Tyler Smith(aka Warwon at You-tube) the master compiler of Morrowind-2011 is still active. His new home is http://morrowind2011.ultimaaiera.com/ which has been mentioned before. At Ultimaaiera you can find his work in progress of a newer better Morrowind - 2011. As to the original file I found mine by googling for it's torrent. After you get the file tho, you'll still need the install guide which can be found at Smith's new site.

 

[LastDarkness]

I love these little quandries. No one is the right here and both parties have full justification. Defend or deny it all you want the fact remains that the players and people who would apprciete the mod and experince Morrowind anew are screwed.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Well I can understand if he didn't ask permission but even then it is a bit much to not just let him change it. He did according to article or atleast how I read it he would of accredit the mod creators. Also everything was made for free no money was being made from it so it isn't really that bad not like pirating a game.

 

[loremazd]

So you think it's perfectly fine to completley disregard the efforts of modders?

They're essentially releasing something they have no rights to do so. The onus is on Bethesda to regulate mods and the community as they see fit. So really in the end, that's the opinion that matters.

He didn't... he gave them credit...Just as they did for Bethesda. They can't enforce how their work is used seeing as they don't own any rights to it.

Bethesda can. And they did. Really should be the end of it, IMO.

Well first off, I doubt bethesda as a company ever got involved in this. Far more likely that popular forum modders reported this guy, and the forum mods like those guys.

 

[Canid117]

Wrong buddy.

Actually I think you'll find you're wrong on this front. There're more than enough posts explaining why on this thread for me to bother to explain...again...

See post 390 for example.

The works of these modders is still in the public domain as the creators did not copy right the work. They cant copy right the work because it would conflict with the copyrights already owned by Bethesda. The modders do not have legal authority to sue.

 

[D_987]

The works of these modders is still in the public domain as the creators did not copy right the work. They cant copy right the work because it would conflict with the copyrights already owned by Bethesda. The modders do not have legal authority to sue.

There're a hell of a lot of files in that package that aren't owned by Bethesda, see pretty much every new texture implemented into the game that would have been created by external programs and thus fall outside Bethesda's copyright. That shouldn't be the argument here - the modders are technically able to sue. This argument should be about if they should've threatened such actions.

 

[Canid117]

The works of these modders is still in the public domain as the creators did not copy right the work. They cant copy right the work because it would conflict with the copyrights already owned by Bethesda. The modders do not have legal authority to sue.

There're a hell of a lot of files in that package that aren't owned by Bethesda, see pretty much every new texture implemented into the game that would have been created by external programs and thus fall outside Bethesda's copyright. That shouldn't be the argument here - the modders are technically able to sue. This argument should be about if they should've threatened such actions.

None of those files are copyrighted by the modders so they cant sue. Should they sue? I would have tried to compromise which I said in my first post. You would still be able to read it if you hadn't cut it off in your quote.

 

[D_987]

None of those files are copyrighted by the modders so they cant sue.

Ok, I'm going to ignore this post because it's inaccurate and was even explained in a post I directed you to earlier. If you wish to continue to sprout ignorance go ahead, I'd just rather you didn't repeat the same, inaccurate, point over and over as though I hadn't already responded to it three times...

Should they sue? I would have tried to compromise which I said in my first post. You would still be able to read it if you hadn't cut it off in your quote.

I wasn't asking for your opinion on the matter, merely stating that the argument should involve this and not the point you keep attempting to raise.

 

[Canid117]

Should they sue? I would have tried to compromise which I said in my first post. You would still be able to read it if you hadn't cut it off in your quote.

I wasn't asking for your opinion on the matter, merely stating that the argument should involve this and not the point you keep attempting to raise.

You mean the point that you brought up?