Freelancer Sirius mod removal

They stole the actual models or they made models that looked like the concepts on Infinity?

I don't know how they got the models... Infinity isn't released is it? If it was models made by the Freelancer Sirius team which emulated concepts.... I dont know how that's enforceable.

At anyrate, where does this put people who use imports from mainstream shows? What about people who take content from published games like SpaceForce or people who use music scores from other games?

I see tons of mods (not just FL mods) which have content from various other places. I'd think there would be a lot of mods that would be deleted on moddb.

very likely - unless they have the permission of the developer (where I am glad to have good relations to those)

Infinity actually was already playable years ago as combat prototype
however i think you would get more problems with modders and small companies than with the big fishes if you use their stuff because the big ones already made their money

its funny how things happen... yesterday i stumbled over that mod when i was looking for a few pics

It sorta befuddles me. You're allowed to take concepts and models from mainstream "big fish" and your moddb site is ontouched, but if you have models which look like concepts from a small indie game and use them in your "free for distribution... profit-less" mod, then you get your mod removed from modDB.

Looks like they're establishing a precident by this. I thought modDB was for mods one and all. Now I don't condone blatant ripping of others works, heck, I've had my own ripped off before but what can you do? It's not like they're making money off of it. All I can do is be pissy about it. Having said that, I've taken stuff from mainstream games such as music and icons (I think thats it)... and have no qualms about it.

I dunno, its a real grey area. And it sorta hits close to home since it is a fellow FL mod.

P.S. I think the day Inifinity gets released (with all of its features) will be the day my wife lets me get a girl-friend on the side. It looks great, but after crawling over the forums, I can see how the carebears and fanboys are already trying to twist it... such a shame.

copyrights, theft, fanart/fanwork, mods
thats a dangerous and confusing mix

while big companies allow modding, even support it this has mainly something to do with their own benefit. Modded games are played longer than non-modded ones and so more money get earned. Furthermore it requires to buy the original game... so there is absolutly no disadvantage to those companies.
Every mod actually breaks the eula... but those developers dont care. Often it is even permitted and supported on the developers site. More often its just the "as long we dont say otherwise you can do it".

Digital Anvil was aware of the mods since the first of them appeared while the developers were still working on the 1.1 patch and hosted the DA server. During that time I got the chance to ask them if modding is ok... and got the reply that it is ok if there is no commercial intention behind it.
Digital Anvil is gone... Microsoft is left. MS is aware of the modding scene and did support it for years. From that side we dont need to expect any problems at all.

But every modder should be careful what he does with his mod and from where he takes the sources. There are 3rd party rights which shouldnt get violated.
In case of FL Sirius they can be glad if its just about the removal of the moddb site. Consequences could be even harder.

Everybody out there could get a moddeling tool and create an X-wing. That is fanart.
If someone takes that X-wing and starts to create Star Wars Episode VII it is a copyright violation because it aims for making profit. Lucas Arts allows tenthousands of fan projects but Lucas Arts gives out only a handful of official licences. Actually a pretty thin line to cross but an obvious one.

There are many FL mods which lately dont only contain fanart but stuff that seriously violate copyrights. But thats actually not my business. Doing another copyright discussion where half of the modders dont understand it and the other half does not even care is just a waste of time.

Its also a matter of Intellectual Property versus Design & Copyrights. Small companies or individuals are concerned with Intellectual Property since this is their possible gateway to success, whereas larger corporations have designers where intellectual property does not apply....only copyrights.

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If someone takes that X-wing and starts to create Star Wars Episode VII it is a copyright violation because it aims for making profit

That is what I was getting at. Mods are purely non profit. I just don't see how modDB can pick and choose who it will and won't host. I'd say a large percentage of mods FL and non FL have something in their mod that is from a different source. Afterall, if mods had the resources to generate all content in-house, they might as well pick up a few programmers and be an indie game company. Afterall, getting a hold and learning one of the prepackaged game engines is quite easy (such as the Torque engine).

I have icons from a different game but they're meant as a tribute to those games, I have music scores from other games too. Other mods have content based off of and/or from other games too (not talking about just FL mods)... but I was under the impression, since everything is purely non-profit, and for a players recreational use only... it is good to go. Apparently I am mistaken and with FL Sirius' removal, there is bound to be someone else who comes under the microscope too.

This whole situation really stinks... it hits close to home because it is a fellow FL mod.

i seriously doubt that it was the moddb staff which made the decision
its more likely that the original developers forced this decision (i would do the same if somebody would take my work without asking.... no actually i did the same when ppl took my work already)