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

[Epistolary Richard]

Spun-off from this thread:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=63126

One of the most agreed upon ideas coming out of that thread was the community would benefit if modders could specify the manner in which they would allow their downloadable work to be used - and the modders themselves would benefit from being made aware of the various options available.

greater guidance for modders as to the different licences that can be offered when a creation is made available for download, with boilerplate paragraphs that they can pick'n'mix as they wish to express their intentions properly at the start - perhaps with an easy symbol or colour guide which links into a fuller text.

As pointed out, some modders created their projects a while ago and have since moved onto to other things from RTW. This is frustrating because contacting these members is exceptionally difficult, if not impossible, unless they return to the community and give their explicit permission for their work to be used in other projects.

We need to have a better way of expressing how we want modders work used, and whether they would be willing for it to be used after they retire.

IP is a sensitive subject, and should remain flexible. The creator has the right to decide what the community can do with their efforts...it is only fair! In return, the author MUST make it clear what they consider to be fair use of their hard work. God forbid it ever happen...but nothing kills community spirit faster than somebody stealing another modders work, spending 5 minutes messing with the paintwork, and then calling it their own.

As a result - I have spun off this thread in order to focus more specifically on the mechanism by which this can be accomplished and the sort of categories that should be included.

One of my priorities would be to make this as easy to use and intuitive for modders to use as possible, while still giving the detail that some modders like to get into. And at the same time not overburdening a mod release post with legal boilerplate.

What I would suggest, therefore is a variety of 'off-the-peg' categories that can be mixed and matched so modders could them use as short hand if they so chose which would link through to pre-established definitions designed to cover most usual situations.

With an additional of a small graphical icon perhaps, at a glance other modders could tell how the creator wished their work to be used. But there would still be the detail linked through should any contentious cases emerege.

These would by no means be compulsory, modders if they so wished would be completely free to write their own licence. They'd only be there to save time and keep modders modding.

Some of ideas for categories would be:

Personal use only - the item could only be used private and not incorporated in any other public mod without the permission of the creator

Permission to incorporate - the item could be incorporated unchanged into a public mod (this might be appropriate for skins or models for example)

Permission to update to a new version - should a subsequent version of the game be released then the item could have such adjustments made it to make compatible with the new version

Permission to use freely - allowing others to alter and incorporate the work in other public mods as they wished.

All categories would require the crediting of the original creator.

Certain types of mods may need other categories:

Permission to adapt for intended use - the item could be adapted to be incorporated within a public mod (for example, a map mod will normally require changes to the descr_strat file to allow for new units and character names, so to allow what changes need to be made in order to use the item as intended).

Or for example a Total Conversion mod
Permission to make sub-mods - allowing others to use the item for a public mod freely, but with the requirement that the sub-mod would need the original mod to function (in much the same way as any mod needs RTW to function).


Ideas for other categories or refinements to these ones?

Also, any ideas for how best to display them? Small graphical icons? Colour-coding?