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Scholar
Original Poster
#1 Old 11th Aug 2014 at 2:21 PM
Why do people don't like modifications to their work?
Ok first of all a quick notice to the admins of the site: The message I got in the new thread page is a little outdated, it says "The Sims 3 has only been out a little while" You could just wait for TS4 to come out and change the number xD

Now that that's being said I wanted to ask that question to most creators since some time. Personally, when I create something I even encourage people to improve it if they can or use it to start something else. The way I see it, I can end up with a better version of something I made which for me is good, or someone may have an easier way to create something I may like which again is good. And if someone goes and makes something awful/disgusting I just have to not download it.
I can understand not allowing modifications if you have a paid site since there's money involved, and I won't discuss that part cause this thread may get chaotic really fast since the debate that goes around in that area. But if what you're making is for free, cause you just felt like sharing it then what's wrong with someone making some changes?

PS: While I believe all content should be editable, I also believe that people should always give credit and provide links to the original creator or the content itself.

So what do you people think? Why don't you like the idea of others modifying your work?
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Theorist
#2 Old 11th Aug 2014 at 8:19 PM
I've heard people say that downloading a world and modifying it (ie changing some wallpapers or something) is disrespectful lol.
If it's say, modifying a gameplay hack for personal use then there's no case to answer. But if you're uploading that modded mod without permission then no, that's not on.

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Ms. Byte (Deceased)
#3 Old 11th Aug 2014 at 9:26 PM
This probably should be in the communities forums instead of Modding Discussion, but anyway...

My own feeling is that if someone makes a useful change to one of my mods and gives me credit for the original, that's fine. Making that change and uploading the whole thing as their own is rude at best. (And taking my stuff and selling it as their own creation - as has happened - is just stealing.)

Some people get very possessive about their work and are offended if anyone so much as uses the same idea, to the point of pulling their stuff from the Internet if they think people are using it against their wishes. That's certainly their right, although I think it's so impossible to enforce a policy like that that it becomes an exercise in frustration.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
Scholar
Original Poster
#4 Old 11th Aug 2014 at 11:24 PM
Making some small changes to any kind of content and re-uploading as your own sounds very rude. But what about re-uploading as: "OriginalCreator's OriginalTitle modified" and reference to the original would always be nice.

Now charging for something that you made from someone else's work is indeed rude.
However in the case of mods, and I'm talking in the ones that are pure code.... Well... A lot of software companies take some free software (free as in GNU) and improve it, add some stuff or just take some code and add it to their own, then they sell it to you, so that part is a bit more common =/
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
#5 Old 12th Aug 2014 at 12:42 PM
Agreed that for-profit companies take ideas from each other and from free software all the time. However, they cannot legally take actual code from another company or from GNU GPL-licensed free products, modify it, and sell the result. The GNU GPL has been enforced in court cases when a company or organization used licensed code and released or sold it without sticking to the GPL terms.

What I was referring to is someone who took many mods created by me and several other creators, put them in one bundle without any other changes, and sold it. Like I said, stealing, both from us and from the buyer who could have gotten the same stuff for free.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
Inventor
#6 Old 12th Aug 2014 at 6:44 PM
I think it depends on how much time it takes to create something. If you created something in only a few minutes or if it's not very well made you may won't mind others to improve your work (with credit given for the original work, of course), however, if it took you weeks, months or years (e.g. for creating a large world) to finish your creation, I doubt that you'd be happy to see it re-uploaded by others with only minor changes.

Stealing stuff, like CmarNYC mentioned, is indeed rude. Modifying other peoples stuff and re-uploading it without asking the original creator for permission is rude, too. Especially if there were only minor changes done. It doesn't hurt to ask the original creator for permission, does it? Maybe the original creator is already working on the update or would like to update the file himself - you'll never know without asking first. I wish people had more respect for other peoples hard work. I'm not able to create any game mods and I'm terrible at object creation. I'm glad that other very talented people share their work with us, I'd never even think about stealing anyones work.

I'd hate to see my houses re-uploaded anywhere else. It always takes me an awful long time to finish them. My fault... I'm so slow.
Scholar
Original Poster
#7 Old 14th Aug 2014 at 9:34 AM
I've never spent more than a week making something for a game, but I can tell you I spent more than a year working practically solo on a we application that currently has more than two years since release and suddenly someone started adding code to it, and made some changes I hadn't thought of and it felt great. Some of the changes even made my life easier, so I was more like omg thanks! And I wasn't doing it as a job or getting any money or anything, just voluntary stuff that you do because you want to.
The way I see it, it's not modifying and re-uploading, it's more like adding to it, like making a fork. I really don't understand why that would piss you off. In that line of thought, EA/Maxis should be against people making custom content based on their meshes and textures and we would have to do everything from scratch and we would all be fff..messed up.

Oh and by the way I have a lot of respect for some work that I've slightly modified (fixed if you ask me) in ways that other people would benefit from, but no one will cause the original author doesn't allow it in his/her policies but hasn't been online to read a PM in years, so no one will enjoy that... Leaves me with the question, how many stuff is out there that I would like to have with a minor change that I can't make and someone else already made but can't share it?

And yeah I think we all agree that stealing stuff is just plain wrong.
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
#8 Old 14th Aug 2014 at 12:36 PM
Taking your own case - what if you'd just spent a month working on improvements to your application and suddenly someone else releases their version with the same improvements? Wouldn't you feel like they should have told you they were working on it? Otherwise, personally I agree with you, but not everyone feels the same way because people are all different and unique. (I do also agree that it's very frustrating when the creator has a policy against changes but has abandoned the modding world and can't be found. That starts to seem like it's just selfishness although they've probably just forgotten about the whole thing. Or died.)

The question of EA allowing (or not) use of their meshes and so on is entirely different. Their policy of free use is based on whether or not they think it's good or bad for sales. If the modding community were to come up with our own competing game based on EA's work the reaction would be very different.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
One horse disagreer of the Apocalypse
#9 Old 14th Aug 2014 at 12:39 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CmarNYC
Wouldn't you feel like they should have told you they were working on it? .


This! Nothing I hate more than to find out I wasted hours of my time. I have so many things waiting for me to do and so little time to do them. But some people like to work secretly in case someone else uses their idea and gets their version published first, so I can see it both ways.

"You can do refraction by raymarching through the depth buffer" (c. Reddeyfish 2017)
Scholar
Original Poster
#10 Old 19th Aug 2014 at 5:30 AM
I agree totally that two people working on exactly the same is a waste of oxygen and precious time. It happened to me when I was starting as a dev and it really sucks.
However, if someone with a "notify me first" policy retires it would be safe to asume that they won't mind you making modifications and many mods and hacks would still be alive.
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