The Future... spin-off: modder licence categories

[Epistolary Richard]

I've got a question: what happens if somebody logs in without answering my question of permission? He doesn't tell me that he won't allow me to use his work, which I find normal but he doesn't tell me that I'm free to use his work either.

Unfortunately, you can't infer permission from silence. If someone hasn't said that other people can use his work, either in a readme or in a post or in a specific communication, then you can't assume that permission is granted just because he doesn't reply to your request. All you can do is send the request again or if he's part of a team then you can try contacting another member and seeing if they can help you get in contact.

PS: Will it be ok that in the future I make a statement of my policy on my forums, to avoid this kind of people at once? Is it generally ok ?

All forums operate under terms and conditions of use - if you control your own forums then you can vary those terms, either by rewriting your terms and conditions section or making an announcement that you're adding an addendum to them.

Any mod uploaded and posted, for example, we assume that the modder gives permission for private us (after all, if he didn't want other people to use it then why is he uploading and posting it?).

What you could say in addition, for example, is that if a modder uploaded his mod onto your site then he would be a) warranting that he was either the creator or authorised by the creator to do so, and b) automatically granting permission for others (or yourself or your team or whomever) to use that work in other public modifications (subject to the giving of credit or whatever or conditions).

The important thing to note is that you have to make everybody who might upload there aware of this term (i.e. members of your site) when it's first introduced and subsequently - so then they can make a fair choice.

It also doesn't apply retrospectively - so anything uploaded previously isn't covered - as when those modders uploaded their work they weren't aware of that term.

Also, modders should be made aware then that by joining the mod team the rights to any work they do for the mod will go to the team and not stay with the person - unless the team (or a responsible representative) explicitly agrees to make an exception.

Mod teams really should give some thought to this, so everyone is clear of the conditions when they join up - what I've heard of as a good compromise is that the individual modder retains the right to the work - but as part of the team they automatically grant the team the right to use the work in the mod and further adapt it as necessary. They also give the team the right to publish it first - once the mod's been released (and due credit has accrued to the team), then the individual modder can grant permissions to other people to use the work.

I also agree that it's a good idea to build in a 'living will' clause to a team agreement so if the modder isn't around any more a representative of the team can extend permissions to others outside the team to use it.

I'll also release the Chivalry readme as an example if you consider it as a good one (after I wrote it of course).

Yes, I think it would be good to have a look at a few readmes - as well as using them to determine a base we can use them to link to as examples.

I took the excuse of the release of a small mini-mod to write up a new readme of my own.

It's pretty much the same as the top forum thread I posted here.