Etiquette Question Concerning Maps
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I am attempting to create a game, but due to technical limitations and a complete lack of experience, I'm having to rely at least initially on some borrowed parts. My question here mainly concerns the map I desire to use (Atari), as I plan to modify the game play to at minimum a noticeable extent.
What is the proper etiquette when copying a map for use in a new game or mod?P.S. If I ought to have placed this in a different section of the forum, please inform me so I don't repeat my mistake.
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@strider Generally, its best to try to contact the original creator of the map if you plan to re-use it for a new game/mod. If you make best effort to do so and don't get a response after while then you can assume the map is abandoned and you can go ahead and re-use it.
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Thank you. I will attempt to do so.
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@redrum What do you mean? That if he says no, then you cannot? Isn't this against GitHub rules about (freely) cloning repositories, as well as generally against how TripleA always worked before the move to GitHub? Or do you mean that he can freely clone whatever, but, then, the repository admins will refuse to add the map to download list if not following this procedure (so, basically, he would need to do that only in the moment he wants it added to download list)? Especially for mods and other variants, that are quite a lot, I cannot recall any such practice of asking permission.
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Well, I believe that there is a difference between what is considered propper etiquette / decent respectful behaviour and what is formalised rules / what one can get away with.
I read @Strider s inquiry as "what should I do" and not "what can I do".
BTW: Good luck with your modmaking
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@Cernel In general everything has copyright to if unless explicitly stated otherwise, the same applies for maps and the engine code.
GitHub is a platform for open source code, and therefore most of the projects on the platform use open source licenses.
TripleA for instance is licensed under GPLv3 or later, which means that anyone can use the code as long as they license their modifications under the GPL as well.
There are other licenses like MIT which basically allow everyone to do everything with the code.
Anything without an explicit license is protected by copyright.
Because the maps don't really use an official licence they should really be treated as protected by copyright, so at least asking is really a thing one should do in this case.
Are you going to get sued for copying the map? Probably not, but when the original creater really wants to make use of their rights they could and asking is always a nice proof that you respect other people's rights.
(Disclaimer, not a lawyer, my statements are based on experience and are not necessarily legally binding) -
@roiex said in Etiquette Question Concerning Maps:
Because the maps don't really use an official licence they should really be treated as protected by copyright, so at least asking is really a thing one should do in this case.
Are you going to get sued for copying the map? Probably not, but when the original creater really wants to make use of their rights they could and asking is always a nice proof that you respect other people's rights.
(Disclaimer, not a lawyer, my statements are based on experience and are not necessarily legally binding)https://help.github.com/articles/github-terms-of-service/
By setting your repositories to be viewed publicly, you agree to allow others to view and "fork" your repositories (this means that others may make their own copies of Content from your repositories in repositories they control).
If you set your pages and repositories to be viewed publicly, you grant each User of GitHub a nonexclusive, worldwide license to use, display, and perform Your Content through the GitHub Service and to reproduce Your Content solely on GitHub as permitted through GitHub's functionality (for example, through forking).Also, how about those maps that, at any point in the past, were part of the TripleA package (Big World, New World Order, etc.)?
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@Cernel I don't know, and I never claimed to do so.
The article also states, that permission is only granted for use on github, not any other platform so that's the restriction there. -
@roiex said in Etiquette Question Concerning Maps:
@Cernel I don't know, and I never claimed to do so.
The article also states, that permission is only granted for use on github, not any other platform so that's the restriction there.Well, I believe here we were talking only about that (or at least I was). But, actually, in case of Atari, as well as over 90% of the maps, I assume we should also refer to whatever license they were subjected to when hosted on sourceforge.
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@Cernel True, but that was before my time here at TripleA, so I don't have much to say about it
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@frostion
You have understood the intent of my question correctly.
Thank you for your good wishes. -
As a follow up to the main question, which you have so graciously answered:
How do I contact the creator/ owner of a map in order to ask for their permission when all i have is a name which is presumably the creator's username? -
@strider Here it is the would be owner:
http://tripleadev.1671093.n2.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=user_nodes&user=59638
(you can send him a mail if you are logged on http://tripleadev.1671093.n2.nabble.com/)
(assuming he is not here in this forum too, which I don't think he is, and there is a way to verify his credentials, which I don't think there is)Here it is the map thread:
http://tripleadev.1671093.n2.nabble.com/ATARI-td2187868.html -
@cernel thank you
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@redrum I suggest the council make a quasi official rule of thumb at minimum and post it somewhere.
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@general_zod Probably a good idea since we end up talking about this like once a month. Are you volunteering to write something up?
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@redrum Ok, I will bring it up at our weekly council meeting.
But yeah I can have them vote on something.
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I don't understand why anyone would want to limit mapmaking by inibiting intra platform performing skin or xml content in any ways after release (that currently means uploading to a public GitHub repository), beside what dictated by the law.
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@Cernel Well, personally I would define it as bad judgment to grab a work-in-progress map from Github, that is still in active development, and make a new map/mod out of it, before the original is even done. I would see this as a kind of hijacking, no matter if the copy map is of higher or lower quality.
Edit: Ofcours if it is an abandoned project, I would only encourage other people to make something useful out of the map.
But that is just an opinion, and I don't expect rules to be based on this opinion, actually I expect this behaviour to be permitted.
