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Geek Culture / Mods of Previous Made Games

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Les Horribres
18
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Joined: 20th Nov 2005
Location: My Name is... Merry
Posted: 8th Oct 2006 08:19 Edited at: 8th Oct 2006 08:19
Quite simply, I have begun to notice that there are entire moding communities devoted to remaking old games and either selling those games or distributing them at no charge. Either way, why isn't this type of activity illegal, and if it is how do people get away with it?

To me it seems to be the same as distributing the game for free, which would be considered piracy. Copying a book is copyright infringement, even if you change the characters.

So I ask, is this illegal? And if not, why? It seems to teder on breaking several piracy and copyright laws.

Wisemen are hard to find, they are tarnished by sayings and quotes that are not of their true nature.
Dazzag
22
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Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Cyprus
Posted: 8th Oct 2006 13:01
A lot of people ask the writers if they can do a remake. Secondly a lot of this stuff never makes it out of alpha status. Plus a lot of the stuff is remakes of games that were made 20-30 years ago and no-one really gives a monkeys anymore. Especially if it wasn't a big licenced game (eg. Batman). Read the retro magazines. Most game writers are honoured that people are remaking their games 20 years later. Also it doesn't seem a very large percentage are charging for playing the remake. Add to that the idea that a lot of the remakes are in different countries, so is harder to use legal action, and a lot of the time the remakers are kids. What are they going to do, grab their pocket money and chewing gum?

As for books, look at the fan sites. There are *thousands* (H. Potter has hundreds of thousands of fan based stories on one site) of stories online made by fans using characters and stories from the original books, films, etc. You get the idea it's too big to be worth doing anything about. Esp. when it's all free.

This is the best site I know : http://www.remakes.org/

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
dark coder
22
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Joined: 6th Oct 2002
Location: Japan
Posted: 8th Oct 2006 13:12
Well you do realise, 99% of these mods are fan based mods right? I personally am in a stargate based mod which was for the bf1942 engine, though we are currently inbetween engines, and there are other mods like one based on c&c, even lego, it's not like we are trying to make a free version of any existing games, it's just we feel that the other games in the series don't offer enough, and with the creative minds of the dev team at work, you can make a really fun mod, and since its based around the popular game then you have alot of potential players, stargate/bsg is a good example though, since they both don't have any good games out yet, but mods can recreate maps from the show and it's really great imo, the mod quality doesn't have to be amazing or anything, just the feeling you get from pretending your in your favorite show is the fun part.

Hallowed are the ori.
jinzai
18
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Joined: 19th Aug 2006
Location: USA
Posted: 8th Oct 2006 13:44
Games that are modded have the source code in the public domain...the owners of the copyright have done this because it keeps the game alive with user based support. The legal issue does not exist because the owners of the copyright are the ones initiating the modding.

id has done this with their games...QuakeII was the first to be modded heavily. It puts the game code in the hands of a large programming community, which benefits all. You can download QuakeII and Quake III...full versions, as well as source code from id's website. They are powerful learning tools if you have the gumption to sort it all out.
Dazzag
22
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Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Cyprus
Posted: 8th Oct 2006 14:11
Quote: "QuakeII was the first to be modded heavily"
Doom was massively modded, but it wasn't as complex until Quake came along. The first Quake was also seriously modded. Remember AirQuake and the RallyQuake thingy?

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
jinzai
18
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Joined: 19th Aug 2006
Location: USA
Posted: 8th Oct 2006 15:49
Yes, I should've said...I did not pay much attention until QuakeII came along.

Teeter? No, in that case it would be stomping all over the law, you are very correct there.
Les Horribres
18
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Joined: 20th Nov 2005
Location: My Name is... Merry
Posted: 9th Oct 2006 00:59
Dazzag, I am not talking about truely retro games, but rather copying an entire games level design, weapon design, character entity design, remaking it and redistributing it. I have only come across a few but I am refering to remakes such as black mesa source.

Now this probally has valves support given that the person playing it has to buy the more expensive HL2, but I do recall reading of similiar remakes of PS2 games as a kind of 'port' to pc. Maybe this is better discribed as making a game clone, except it isn't mearly the idea and concepts that are stolen but the entire game it self.

I understand that truely 'retro' games have no market what so ever, but those are not the type I am refering to. There probally is more 'porting' activity then PC game remakes, but I think you understand what I am saying.

Wisemen are hard to find, they are tarnished by sayings and quotes that are not of their true nature.
dark coder
22
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Joined: 6th Oct 2002
Location: Japan
Posted: 9th Oct 2006 12:55
I don't see the problem, for instance one of my all time favorite games is Doom/2 and I've allways wanted to make a remake of it in dbp, including the same levels/enemys/weapons etc, that woulden't be about making a port of the game or cloning it, it would be out of appreciation of the game and trying to replicate the skills that were used to make it in the first place, people try and replicate other peoples artwork all the time, why should games be any different?.

Hallowed are the ori.

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