Bethesda to charge for small plugins for Oblivion

[BigTex]

ecause we are basing our work on someone's intellectual property (in EBs case, the RTW engine) and if we took money for our mods, we would in effect be taking paid for someone elses work.

I think thats a little debatable though, considering you did create this mod, and the person paying for the mod is just paying for the mod. Which is your work, i'd almost like to see a couple supreme court decisions specifically on the legalities of moding.

[Ambiorix]

If you try to debate it in court, you will lose.

[khelvan]

Quite simply, the company that created the game owns the right to distribute its code.

By definition, a modification is a change to the code of an existing product. Unless one has acquired the rights to sell that existing product, one cannot charge money for one's modification.

[Trithemius]

Quite simply, the company that created the game owns the right to distribute its code.

By definition, a modification is a change to the code of an existing product. Unless one has acquired the rights to sell that existing product, one cannot charge money for one's modification.

IP rights for games are very strange at times, however if they weren't protected then no company would invest in game-making at all.

So long as noone is skimming off the potential profit for the company, however, it seems like most are happy to let mods be made - as free promotion and to reduce their need to update content periodically.

Personally, I think the "business model" could probably stand some changes but its tricky to do it, and it sounds a bit weird, so selling it to investors would be a bit of a task.

Oh well, whatever the reasoning, EB can't/won't charge, so everyone just count yourself lucky and donate to maintain their site. :)

[khelvan]

Again, if a mod wanted to charge money for its work, it would only be able to do so with the express written consent of whatever company developed, and also no doubt the publisher of, the game, and probably including a substantial financial investment.

We are no more likely to see a mod challenge this in court than we are to see joe schmoe off the street take XP, modify it a little bit, and sell it as "Joe's OS." Or modify Word, and start selling it.

Joe would have his ass sued off the planet by Microsoft, just as any modder would for doing the same.

[Trithemius]

I was expanding on your point khelvan, not rebutting you. Sorry if that was unclear. :)

I've got a bit of an interest in intellectual property rights so I find it hard to avoid blithering about it.

[BigTex]

Its released today! And I'd be willing to wager there will be mods for it on Morrowind Summit today. Will be picking it up Friday, hopefully my computer can handle it.