No, it isn’t. Some poor journalism half a decade ago based on bad translations and hearsay led to some bad articles. You added the felony bit, tho so the story unravels more.
the kotaku article is the badly translated one yes, japan has copyright advisories saying tampering with game consoles and game console save files is against japanese copyright laws and bad translations sought that out to be about modding games, it’s not
game modification is a felony crime in japan and sk
One big problem is that almost everything can be called a mod. Modification and distribution of modified copyrighted content, if not permitted, can be a copyright violation, unless jurisdictions have some sort of Fair Use system (small tangent: with all the shit DMCA brought, Fair Use is actually awesome).
That said, embracing most kinds of mods should be in the self-interest of game publishers. They are basically free labor, be it by fixing bugs the publisher should fix (see Starfield) or just by extending the life span of a game in general and thereby increasing lifetime sales.
Modification and distribution of modified copyrighted content, if not permitted, can be a copyright violation
Generally you are not distributing any content from the game. Most mods to games are using API calls to a mod loader to change the game for the user on runtime. These distributed mods generally have no copyright content in them.
Most mods to games are using API calls to a mod loader to change the game for the user on runtime.
As I’ve literally written in my first sentence: “almost everything can be called a mod.”
There are many types of mods, not just using API calls to make the game behave differently. AI upscaled texture packs are derived from the originals, for example. Extracting assets from one game and putting them into another is also not uncommon. I don’t know which methods most mods use. I’m not aware of a quotable statistic.
game modification is a felony crime in japan and sk (i dont know the specifics too well, but i believe they are fairly vague laws too)
No, it isn’t. Some poor journalism half a decade ago based on bad translations and hearsay led to some bad articles. You added the felony bit, tho so the story unravels more.
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/01/game-modding-illegal-in-japan-punishable-by-prison-and-fines/
okay the sk one is now a spam website so i got game journoed by some guy. for reference this is whats supposed to be the source for sk claim http://web.archive.org/web/20161204074124/https://imgur.com/a/JzqQM both underline jail time. is this wrong? if you could share some more definite sources id be thankful.
the kotaku article is the badly translated one yes, japan has copyright advisories saying tampering with game consoles and game console save files is against japanese copyright laws and bad translations sought that out to be about modding games, it’s not
makes sense! thank you for correcting me. i only remember the headlines so perhaps i shouldnt have been as confident about the matter
Why am I not surprised?
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“Felony” isn’t really a thing in many places outside the USA anymore, and I’m not aware of it ever being a thing in Japan
is it never used to distinguish crimes punishable by significant prison time outside the us?
According to Wikipedia, only in Cameroon and Germany
I didn’t know James Cameroon family was named after a country
One big problem is that almost everything can be called a mod. Modification and distribution of modified copyrighted content, if not permitted, can be a copyright violation, unless jurisdictions have some sort of Fair Use system (small tangent: with all the shit DMCA brought, Fair Use is actually awesome).
That said, embracing most kinds of mods should be in the self-interest of game publishers. They are basically free labor, be it by fixing bugs the publisher should fix (see Starfield) or just by extending the life span of a game in general and thereby increasing lifetime sales.
Generally you are not distributing any content from the game. Most mods to games are using API calls to a mod loader to change the game for the user on runtime. These distributed mods generally have no copyright content in them.
As I’ve literally written in my first sentence: “almost everything can be called a mod.”
There are many types of mods, not just using API calls to make the game behave differently. AI upscaled texture packs are derived from the originals, for example. Extracting assets from one game and putting them into another is also not uncommon. I don’t know which methods most mods use. I’m not aware of a quotable statistic.