Lua Dev Discussion: proper asset ettiquette (copyright, coding, models, etc.)
5 replies, posted
I know this is "just gmod" but I'm wondering what some of the better etiquette choices are when making an addon or gamemode. What is classified as a distributed asset, technically?
For example I'm making a gamemode that relies on other's addons in order to "be cool" because I don't personally have the money to hire someone to make something like 3d assets for my gamemode but I also don't have the knowledge or time to do it myself; but at the same time I may want to code something that would mess with the original addon creator's addon, or maybe just fix an error or 3 in their addon that they didn't get to, think of, etc.
So this is a thread that is going into the ettiquette of asset creation for addons, gamemodes, etc.
The moral issue I'm having is that I like this particular addon's weapons and functionality but I want to add or adjust their code to fit my own needs mainly because... that's easier than learning how to 3d model and creating my own assets - I just want to code but I've also read through the copyright of workshop addons and it's unclear as to how far someone can take the freedom of copyright use.
Personal Use is generally for things that... well... are personal use but they rarely ever include the right to redistribute someone's IP.
Shared Use is for distributing whatever content is held within whatever copyrighted material someone else made but explicitly states that it's not for profit.
Commercial Use generally gives you full rights for personal use, shared use, and allows you to make profit from those materials.
So I'm having a hard time deciding if something I want to do is morally correct or not, as far as I can tell the copyright for the Steam workshop makes you acknowledge that Valve and other third parties may distribute and alter the material you put on the workshop with or without consent and claim the copyright to the altered versions of your asset unless otherwise stated.
Here's my own situation: I want to make a code that alters the original addon but it still uses the core base code and models, it's just slightly modified. I also want to include it within the gamemode I'm making when it gets released because I don't want people to have to download all of these assets separately but then I can't ethically call the gamemode my own because I didn't make all of the assets for it. So if I receive any profit in the form of donations for a gamemode I make (I don't think I'm going to sell scripts anytime soon) is that copyright infringement? Is everything I just said copyright infringement?
My gut says yes but because I haven't been doing this long I wanted to get a second, third, fourth and so on - opinion about how you as content creators rather you sell scripts or produce freebies for the workshop go about handeling situations like this?
I'm not talking about ripping someones models and code off, sticking it on scriptfodder/gmodstore and selling it as my own. In-fact I'm not even suggesting I want to sell what I make in any way but if I do end making profit from something I create, that is dependent on someone else's workshop addon's, via donation is it copyright infringement? And if so how do servers get away with selling things they didn't code on their servers?
How do you guys handle these questions and thoughts when working on something?
This is a multi-pronged issue, especially because you're really intersecting three things: copyright, derivative rights, and distribution rights. So, I'll try and break it down from the top. (I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. This is my perspective of the hypotheticals proposed.).
The highest authority for copyright related to Garry's Mod's assets is Valve, because they own the base content, and are the publisher of Garry's Mod. So, any pure game assets, such as the Heavy's ragdoll, HL2 props, etc are the intellectual property of Valve. However, Valve has essentially given a carte blanche for developers to use their assets, including the Source engine itself.
It gets messier when you break into content that is user-generated. You are right in that Valve owns a worldwide, non-exclusive right to do literally anything with what you publish on their systems. With the Workshop, according to their Subscriber Agreement, Valve has agreed to essentially not mutate anything you upload onto the workshop, notwithstanding the general provisions I described a sentence before.
So, Valve owns the distribution rights to anything uploaded on Workshop, in it's entirety, while it is uploaded on there. But what about derivative rights? Valve makes no claim for exclusive derivative works from anything hosted on the Workshop. So Valve is out of your hair on that one, however, this is where the original author's copyright comes into play.
Many addon authors will include a file simply named "copyright" or "copyright.md". Inside these files are where the author's copyright is described. This should be your basis for using their work in anything you plan on working on. There are a few basic copyright licenses that addon authors might use, including:
CC0 - A license that places the work into Public Domain. Essentially, there are no restrictions what-so-ever on the content. Read the text here.
CC BY - A license that is the base for the next two licenses. You are permitted to do as you please with the licensed content, provided you give fair attribution to the original creator, include a link to the original license, and note any changes made. Read the text here.
CC BY-NC - A license commonly used for authors that prefer their work be kept free of charge. You are prevented from using content licensed under this copyright commercially (monetary gain). Read the text here.
CC BY-SA - A license similar to CC BY-NC, however you are allowed to use the work for commercial profit, provided the work you publish is published with the same copyright license. Read the text here.
MIT License - An older license that is still common today, the MIT license is similar to CC BY, however it does not require you to attribute the original author - only publish your work with the same license. Read the text here.
There are additional licenses out there, like the GNU *GPL family of licenses, Apache license, and Mozilla license. I would highly recommend reading or researching the copyright license that is included with whatever work you are deriving from. However, do not assume since there is no copyright file with whatever you are deriving from, that it is public domain. The original author owns original copyright over the content from the moment of it's inception. While legal action might not be brought against you if you commercially use something that was found without a license, if the author tells you he would prefer his content not monetized it is considered very bad decorum to continue to monetize it, and you may be opening yourself up to litigation. Again, I am not a lawyer.
To answer a lot of your questions more directly (or i suppose, indirectly), your best choice of action is to just ask the mod author! Many times they'll be thrilled to have their content expanded upon, used, and added to. The original basis of Garry's Mod is creation! Locking content behind paywalls like Scriptfodder and such has been the worst thing that has ever happened to Garry's Mod. Now servers are catagorized and ranked based on how many Scriptfodder mods are added, not the original scripts and fun content.
For the final issue of monitization of your scripts, calling when people give you money in return for something "donations" is wrong, and borderline illegal (this gray area of the Garry's Mod community has irritated me since 2012). Someone is giving you money, usually in exchange for something on the server, be it money, a job, promotion, or even a discord badge. The second you give something in return for a "donation", it no longer becomes a donation. It's a financial transaction. Goods and services exchanged for money. Unless you are a 501(c)(3) registered charity, you can't call them donations. You're even liable for the taxes on any money you make.
If you want my personal opinion, I don't find any money made from hosting a gamemode you made with content from others "dirty money". I would definitely do your best at navigating the licenses of anything you use though.
I didn't expect such a thorough and informative answer on the subject with the first reply so I'd like to thank you for that. I understand the obligation and responsibility to advise me that this isn't legal advice, and I understand that it isn't although it was very thorough. Have you gotten into a lawsuit or something? Just curious as to how you have such a complex understanding of these copyrights. I'm a digital painter so I understand what it feels like to have my art stolen and am trying to not do that to anyone else.
Are you a content creator for GMod?
In any case it's good to get a solid answer right away and you're right I will probably just ask the content creator for their permission I don't find copyright files in most the addons I use.
If something is on the workshop you can always add it as a required dependency for you gamemode when you upload it so you don't have to actually include the assets in your gamemode. This can be annoying for users however, so you should always just ask the creator first.
Ex-Garry's Mod coder, 3,300+ hours, now I run a file hosting website, so I guess you could say I'm versed in a lot of things.
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