Kyron Saif
Member
Claiming an SRB2 mod (or even a DOOM mod by proxy, considering what SRB2 is based off/a fork of) as your own is unfortunately a real thing people do, despite virtually every mod lacking a real world license and a copyright (Show me legal proof that I can’t modify someone else's mod when they don’t specify “Open Assets”, or better yet, tell me why your mod would be legally immune to interference from SEGA (or other legal entities that would fall under that criteria)).
Do not use the excuse that "Oh, SEGA doesn't care", not only is there plenty of other properties besides that of SEGA's (including Nintendo) used frequently in this community, the reason SEGA "doesn't care" is because their reputation relies on it to a degree (among other reasons, none of which legally favor you or benefit you in anyway that matters enough for SEGA to take action).)). People make mods that are almost always derivatives of SEGA’s work, and contrasting them to Nintendo doesn't matter. For example, Nintendo has not legally pursued Toby Fox for using the EarthBound soundfont (among others). Why? Nintendo sampled many western works that they most definitely did not have permission to sample when creating EarthBound. If Nintendo were to legally attack Toby Fox, they would most likely be sued by the actual rightsholders (which would be ironic.))
Technically, the GPL 2.0 (SRB2’s License) does allow “this is my mod go awae scammur”, as generally speaking, the mod is not inherently part of the program, however… the GPL doesn’t give you legal right to use copyrighted/trademarked properties you do not own or do not have permission to use (no software license does), especially with regard to preventing others from using it. A valid example of this would be the Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Sonic Adventure 2 modding communities. They modify games that are closed source, but people reuse assets all the time (some people deem it as "stealing" when that is unsubstantiated). It doesn’t matter what the game’s license is in this regard. If I wanted to do something like… completely change Jana's Ultra Instinct Action to something else entirely (In fact, I'm specifically going to out of my way to do this, but not post it on any SRB2 boards of any kind). I could do that with obvious backlash, however I still have the freedom to modify a mod that’s either for an open source (FOSS) or closed source game. Telling us “Waaah, don’t edit my mod ;-;”, holds absolutely no weight in an actual court of law, and is unsubstantiated and possibly illegal (unless the work was entirely original, and does not rely on any assets used without permission, AKA Intellectual Property (which, in of itself is a minority among SRB2 mods, and even video game mods in general)).
Also, for the record, my associates and I are well aware that in various parts of the world, "copyright" can literally be claimed without interacting with a government authority or requiring some kind of payment (assuming you're tasteless enough to really bother doing so with something like that), but, oftentimes, such claiming offers no form of actual legal protection, and if anything is less safe from a large predatory legal entity with much darker ideals who is actually stealing from you (and all of us, really) simply by nabbing it from you, where such faked "protection" is ironically pointless in comparison to something like the GPL or even full on Public Domain (as strange as that sounds).
So in short, the most people can do is yell at me and maybe "discipline" me with some form of moderation specific to the SRB2 Message Board and basically nothing else, and that’s it. No other forms of consequences outside of that legally stop me, or even really exist at all.
In conclusion:
SRB2 Community: "Original the Assets, do not steal."
Me: "NO!"
The “Open Assets” and “Closed Assets” concept doesn’t work, and falls apart (unless you legally own the mod, in which case, show me your USPTO copyright papers that you should have, amigo.) You won’t ever see me specifying Open or Closed assets for my mods (wherever I decide to host them), because the answer is obvious.
You can do whatever the heck you want with them. Time to ditch SRB2 MasterBoard.
God bless.
Do not use the excuse that "Oh, SEGA doesn't care", not only is there plenty of other properties besides that of SEGA's (including Nintendo) used frequently in this community, the reason SEGA "doesn't care" is because their reputation relies on it to a degree (among other reasons, none of which legally favor you or benefit you in anyway that matters enough for SEGA to take action).)). People make mods that are almost always derivatives of SEGA’s work, and contrasting them to Nintendo doesn't matter. For example, Nintendo has not legally pursued Toby Fox for using the EarthBound soundfont (among others). Why? Nintendo sampled many western works that they most definitely did not have permission to sample when creating EarthBound. If Nintendo were to legally attack Toby Fox, they would most likely be sued by the actual rightsholders (which would be ironic.))
Technically, the GPL 2.0 (SRB2’s License) does allow “this is my mod go awae scammur”, as generally speaking, the mod is not inherently part of the program, however… the GPL doesn’t give you legal right to use copyrighted/trademarked properties you do not own or do not have permission to use (no software license does), especially with regard to preventing others from using it. A valid example of this would be the Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Sonic Adventure 2 modding communities. They modify games that are closed source, but people reuse assets all the time (some people deem it as "stealing" when that is unsubstantiated). It doesn’t matter what the game’s license is in this regard. If I wanted to do something like… completely change Jana's Ultra Instinct Action to something else entirely (In fact, I'm specifically going to out of my way to do this, but not post it on any SRB2 boards of any kind). I could do that with obvious backlash, however I still have the freedom to modify a mod that’s either for an open source (FOSS) or closed source game. Telling us “Waaah, don’t edit my mod ;-;”, holds absolutely no weight in an actual court of law, and is unsubstantiated and possibly illegal (unless the work was entirely original, and does not rely on any assets used without permission, AKA Intellectual Property (which, in of itself is a minority among SRB2 mods, and even video game mods in general)).
Also, for the record, my associates and I are well aware that in various parts of the world, "copyright" can literally be claimed without interacting with a government authority or requiring some kind of payment (assuming you're tasteless enough to really bother doing so with something like that), but, oftentimes, such claiming offers no form of actual legal protection, and if anything is less safe from a large predatory legal entity with much darker ideals who is actually stealing from you (and all of us, really) simply by nabbing it from you, where such faked "protection" is ironically pointless in comparison to something like the GPL or even full on Public Domain (as strange as that sounds).
So in short, the most people can do is yell at me and maybe "discipline" me with some form of moderation specific to the SRB2 Message Board and basically nothing else, and that’s it. No other forms of consequences outside of that legally stop me, or even really exist at all.
In conclusion:
SRB2 Community: "Original the Assets, do not steal."
Me: "NO!"
The “Open Assets” and “Closed Assets” concept doesn’t work, and falls apart (unless you legally own the mod, in which case, show me your USPTO copyright papers that you should have, amigo.) You won’t ever see me specifying Open or Closed assets for my mods (wherever I decide to host them), because the answer is obvious.
You can do whatever the heck you want with them. Time to ditch SRB2 MasterBoard.
God bless.
