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I agree AcidBurn. But by the time these guys are done picking me apart, we won't even be allowed to have a theme thread... lol (I'm serious - what's up with all the negetive attitudes?) Hell, why don't we just declare any background containing a trademarked image (mario, sonic...) illegal, have the mods shut down my theme & bootsound threads, and everybody will be happy...wow
like i said before that was not my intention
Its true if thats the case all you mentioned is then has to go as well. Funny how the people that creticise the most are probably the firsts in line to download.
I'll give you 24 hours to provide proof that it is legal to "backup" your sony UMD and then I'm going to issue you a warning.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Shizzy
We know where to turn when the sony lawyers come knocking on the door :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Acidburn05
what? I think this whole thing has gotten a little out of hand. All I ever did was try to contribute the best I could. And I've always been a fan of yours MikeDX. Why am I a "bad guy" all of the sudden?
EDIT: Where am I gonna find proof that it is legal to backup a game? I didn't even want to discuss that on DCemu. Thyat would only promote piracy !!!
STOP!!!
please !!!
lol
im just trying to make a point that either copyrighted material is illegal, or it isnt. i'm not trying to single out anybody.
i just think its ridiculous that some things are allowed to be copied whilst others arent...
Well, I feel like I'm being picked on here. And quite frankley my feelings are very hurt...I've contacted Wraggster to try to clear all this up...
Hey mike thats a little bold statement for a coder who makes games. here are some of the us rules for corporate and private use the first one is corporate and they are reall laws because mi wife is an atourney and the second is manufactures laws see the loop holds in bouth of them its a no win no win situation.
Private
The idea for a game is not protected by copyright. The same is true of the name or title given to the game and of the method or methods for playing it.
Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in the development, merchandising, or playing of a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles.
Some material prepared in connection with a game may be subject to copyright if it contains a sufficient amount of literary or pictorial expression. For example, the text matter describing the rules of the game, or the pictorial matter appearing on the gameboard or container, may be registrable.
To register the copyrightable portions of a game, you must send the Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20559-6000, the following elements in the same envelope or package:
A completed application form. If your game includes any written element, such as instructions or directions, we recommend using Form TX, which can be used to register all copyrightable parts of the game, including any pictorial elements. When the copyrightable elements of the game consist predominantly of pictorial matter, Form VA should be used.
A nonrefundable filing fee (Current Fees)
A deposit of the material to be registered. The deposit requirements will vary depending on whether the work has been published at the time of registration.
If the game is published, the proper deposit is one complete copy of the work. If, however, the game is published in a box larger than 12 x 24 x 6 inches (or a total of 1,728 cubic inches) then identifying material must be submitted in lieu of the entire game. (See “identifying material” below). If the game is published and contains fewer than three 3-dimensional elements, then identifying material for those parts must be submitted in lieu of those parts.
If the game is unpublished, either one copy of the game or identifying material should be deposited.
Identifying material deposited to represent the game or its 3-dimensional parts shall usually consist of photographs, photostats, slides, drawings, or other 2-dimensional representations of the work. The identifying material shall include as many pieces as necessary to show the entire copyrightable content of the work, including the copyright notice if it appears on the work. All pieces of identifying material other than transparencies must be no less than 3 x 3 inches in size, and not more than 9 x 12 inches, but preferably 8 x 10 inches. At least one piece of identifying material must, on its front, back, or mount, indicate the title of the work and an exact measurement of one or more dimensions of the work.
Corporate
A design in the very early stages (e.g., "I want to make a game about taxi cabs in New York City") is not actually that valuable. It's very easy to come up with an idea for a game, and many designers have several such new ideas every day. Much more valuable is a game that has gone through most of the steps in the design process, including heavy playtesting.
Games are expensive to produce and yield very little profit. The majority of self-published games are produced in a print run of a few thousand copies or less, and if they manage to make a profit, it is often minimal. Thus, there is little incentive for a fellow designer to steal your game and try to publish it. There's even less incentive for a publisher to steal your game; the potential of a lawsuit that cuts into their margins is unattractive, and most are swamped with submissions. They will pay for an idea that they want badly enough.
Secrecy will kill your project. To make your game as good as it can be, you are going to need help from others at some point. At a minimum, you'll need folks to playtest your game, but many of us have found that discussing details of our games openly here at BGDF has resulted in very useful feedback. Asking your friends to sign a Non-Disclosure? Agreement before testing your game could make them feel you don't trust them, and publishers will not want the hassle of your project if you demand they sign an NDA before evaluating your submission.
Parallel development is common. Even if you successfully keep anyone from every hearing about your game, it's still quite possible that you'll see similar concepts emerge in a published game at some point. It's very common for two designers to be working on similar ideas without either of them knowing it. Tom Jolly wrote an article on this subject, and gives some examples. Several of us here can attest to having come up with mechanics we thought were very original, only to see the same mechanics used in published games.
Borrowing in game design
So, does the above analysis mean that you should just speak freely about your game? Well, yes and no. You should only talk publically about your game if you feel comfortable doing so. It is very common for fellow designers to appropriate aspects of your ideas that they believe will be useful in their projects. For example, starting a thread saying "I'm going to make a game about being a lifeguard at the beach" could certainly inspire others to make a game about a similar subject, and such occurences are very common at BGDF.
This borrowing and give-and-take of design concepts is a healthy part of the design process, and in general, the game design community accepts it and even thrives on it. Games like Citadels and Puerto Rico have borrowed very liberally and openly from other pre-existing games, and the games are considered to be the better for it. The key distinction is roughly that borrowing a mechanic (eg, using a trading mechanic like that in Settlers of Catan) and using it in a different way in your game is permissable, but borrowing entire collections of mechanics (e.g., using the die-rolling for resource production, trading, and conversion of resources to buildings) could cross the line into plagiarism. The gaming community generally knows the market very well, and will quickly identify a game that has "stolen" from an existing game. This too can help protect your ideas, provided your games see publication.
Of course, if you have aspects of your projects that you'd prefer to keep close to the chest, of course you should be selective about how much you disclose and to whom.
Copyrights
Copyrights grant the holder the exclusive right to copy, distribute, perform, or profit from an artistic work. It protects the particular expression of an idea, but not the idea itself. With respect to game design, this covers little more than the game's rulebook and the visual appearance of its components. Copyrighting your game will not protect you from any aspect of the actual game design from being borrowed or stolen.
Any work that has been "fixed" (e.g., the rulebook for your game) is automatically copyrighted under U.S. law, but there may still be benefit in officially registering your rules for copyright. To do so, you pay $45 to the U.S. Copyright Office.
My two sents is people dont realise that you have to pay a patent fee in this great world for everything made no matter what it is. If you want to profit from it you have to pay the patent. Now heres the trick with all pattents they are not permanent the longest pattent you can get is a ten year. After that you have to enter legal fees and battles to try to keep your product strictly yours. Normally never happens. So even though it is still the ownership of that specific person they dont take legal matters after such patent expires. There for thats the reason a lot of gaming companys dont do anything about there roms and such. Oh and im not making this up just get a law book if you dont believe me.