Etiquette Question Concerning Maps
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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?
TripleA Developer with a Passion for AI: https://forums.triplea-game.org/topic/105/ai-development-discussion-and-feedback
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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.
Map maker of: Star Wars: Galactic War + Star Wars: Tatooine War + Caribbean Trade War + Dragon War + Age of Tribes + Star Trek: Dilithium War + Iron War + Iron War: Europe + Warcraft: War Heroes
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@frostion I argee 100%. This isn't necessarily a question of whether or not someone can design a MOD out of an existing project... but rather at what point it would be deemed acceptable.
The issue isn't necessarily the legality of an infringement... but rather the respect for someones else's work.
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@frostion said in Etiquette Question Concerning Maps:
@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.
I don't see any problems about this (if not required by the law), as long as full credit is given and there is no confusion about what is the original.
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Personally I think hijacking an active project without permission is deplorable (whether credit is given or not, although not giving any credit would be even worse) . It is the kind of behavior that can make a map maker not want to be part of this community.
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