1
CoolSquid
Why is mod theft a problem?
The feeling of finding your work on those websites. Just the feeling of finding your mods on those websites is extremely discouraging for many people. Lets say that you wrote a book. The day after, you see the book in a shop, with a big "9books" logo on the front page. You haven't even been notified. How would you feel? You then read the books ToS, and see that "9books" is claiming to own your book! This is extremely discouraging.
Outdated versions. When users find a bug, they then go to the mod author to report it. The problem is, that the bug was fixed 2 months ago! This is very annoying for both the author and the user.
Possible malware. Mods from those sites are untrustable, and may contain malware.
Making money of other peoples work. Those sites are placing other peoples mods behind AdFly links, and other ads, and are directly earning money on other peoples work!
Stealing money. When many people download from those sites instead of the official sites, the author loses revenue. Modders don't earn much from their mods, but small amounts of money can be a big motivation.
Stealing downloads. Maybe one of the most encouraging things about making mods, is seeing your mods getting lots of downloads. When many users download from those sites instead of the official sites, the author loses many of downloads from his/her server. This is extremely discouraging for the modder.
List
The following is a list of known sites illegally distributing several mods. Remember that even if a site is not listed here, it may still contain stolen mods. The original list may be found here.
PSA: If you come across a site that you believe to be illegally re/distributing minecraft mods, you can PM me, and I'll check it out as soon as possible.
5 is bad
The feeling of finding your work on those websites. Just the feeling of finding your mods on those websites is extremely discouraging for many people. Lets say that you wrote a book. The day after, you see the book in a shop, with a big "9books" logo on the front page. You haven't even been notified. How would you feel? You then read the books ToS, and see that "9books" is claiming to own your book! This is extremely discouraging.
Outdated versions. When users find a bug, they then go to the mod author to report it. The problem is, that the bug was fixed 2 months ago! This is very annoying for both the author and the user.
Possible malware. Mods from those sites are untrustable, and may contain malware.
Making money of other peoples work. Those sites are placing other peoples mods behind AdFly links, and other ads, and are directly earning money on other peoples work!
Stealing money. When many people download from those sites instead of the official sites, the author loses revenue. Modders don't earn much from their mods, but small amounts of money can be a big motivation.
Stealing downloads. Maybe one of the most encouraging things about making mods, is seeing your mods getting lots of downloads. When many users download from those sites instead of the official sites, the author loses many of downloads from his/her server. This is extremely discouraging for the modder.
List
The following is a list of known sites illegally distributing several mods. Remember that even if a site is not listed here, it may still contain stolen mods. The original list may be found here.
PSA: If you come across a site that you believe to be illegally re/distributing minecraft mods, you can PM me, and I'll check it out as soon as possible.
5 is bad
Create an account or sign in to comment.
10
1
List updated.
1. You are wrong. For the first part, Minecraft mods today doesn't contain any original code, and is thereby not a deriative work. Normal copyright laws apply. Secondly, the Mojang EULA states in the part regarding mods that the modder has all rigths to his mod.
2. Most modders are using reliable hosts such as Curse. Secondly, users aren't reading random readmes. Why we don't want them downloaded from other people; Explained in the op.
3. MOD1 HAZ DRM!! BAD MODDER PLZ LEVE!!! That's what you get from protecting your copyright in mods.
FCCAGut12You don't actually "own" mods for Minecraft (this is a gray area in various ways). One thing we can say is that if you're using the GPL (and you should for Minecraft stuff) then everyone has a right to redistribute and/or modify your stuff. You can't really prevent this even if you tried so there's no sense in trying, the GPL just gives you the reality of it.
I've seen this happen to my bigger projects (although free). Even though they have direct links to my website and they don't update things and keep old pictures which reflect older features. I see that as a freedom of speech and it can get annoying and bothersome but you should focus on a fanbase. I think you should be happy as you get free advertisement on various websites. It's not about who posts it on their website it's about who's using it and that's all that should matter. Add a "readme" or something in a folder so they know who you are. And why would you not want them to be downloaded from somewhere else? This may end up being cheaper for you as you don't have to pay for high amount of bandwidth. I had to torrent some of my stuff as Dropbox kept giving me suspension notices.
In the case of malware (and you are extremely paranoid) you can use an MD5 and calculate the MD5 on your folder (you can store it in the readme and keep the original checksum on the website for all to see) and if it doesn't match that MD5 checksum it can be seen as modified (for better or for worse). But keep in mind these things happen and your main job is to ensure there's integrity and it can be attached to your brand, as it were.
1. You are wrong. For the first part, Minecraft mods today doesn't contain any original code, and is thereby not a deriative work. Normal copyright laws apply. Secondly, the Mojang EULA states in the part regarding mods that the modder has all rigths to his mod.
2. Most modders are using reliable hosts such as Curse. Secondly, users aren't reading random readmes. Why we don't want them downloaded from other people; Explained in the op.
3. MOD1 HAZ DRM!! BAD MODDER PLZ LEVE!!! That's what you get from protecting your copyright in mods.
1
You don't actually "own" mods for Minecraft (this is a gray area in various ways). One thing we can say is that if you're using the GPL (and you should for Minecraft stuff) then everyone has a right to redistribute and/or modify your stuff. You can't really prevent this even if you tried so there's no sense in trying, the GPL just gives you the reality of it.
I've seen this happen to my bigger projects (although free). Even though they have direct links to my website and they don't update things and keep old pictures which reflect older features. I see that as a freedom of speech and it can get annoying and bothersome but you should focus on a fanbase. I think you should be happy as you get free advertisement on various websites. It's not about who posts it on their website it's about who's using it and that's all that should matter. Add a "readme" or something in a folder so they know who you are. And why would you not want them to be downloaded from somewhere else? This may end up being cheaper for you as you don't have to pay for high amount of bandwidth. I had to torrent some of my stuff as Dropbox kept giving me suspension notices.
In the case of malware (and you are extremely paranoid) you can use an MD5 and calculate the MD5 on your folder (you can store it in the readme and keep the original checksum on the website for all to see) and if it doesn't match that MD5 checksum it can be seen as modified (for better or for worse). But keep in mind these things happen and your main job is to ensure there's integrity and it can be attached to your brand, as it were.
I've seen this happen to my bigger projects (although free). Even though they have direct links to my website and they don't update things and keep old pictures which reflect older features. I see that as a freedom of speech and it can get annoying and bothersome but you should focus on a fanbase. I think you should be happy as you get free advertisement on various websites. It's not about who posts it on their website it's about who's using it and that's all that should matter. Add a "readme" or something in a folder so they know who you are. And why would you not want them to be downloaded from somewhere else? This may end up being cheaper for you as you don't have to pay for high amount of bandwidth. I had to torrent some of my stuff as Dropbox kept giving me suspension notices.
In the case of malware (and you are extremely paranoid) you can use an MD5 and calculate the MD5 on your folder (you can store it in the readme and keep the original checksum on the website for all to see) and if it doesn't match that MD5 checksum it can be seen as modified (for better or for worse). But keep in mind these things happen and your main job is to ensure there's integrity and it can be attached to your brand, as it were.
1
what about a dmca takedown request for texures/mods/plugins
Should be worth a try
Should be worth a try
1
It really sucks so hard when russian websites steal mods/ resourcepacks and you can't to anything against this shit .
Furthermore you can't write them a email so they dont remove mods/ resourcepacks !
Is was our work !
Furthermore you can't write them a email so they dont remove mods/ resourcepacks !
Is was our work !
1
Mods are not the only things being stolen, resourcepacks, skins, maps and bukkit plugins as well.
Here are some more sites:
http:// minemodcraft ru/
http:// q-craft ru/
http:// planet-minecraft ru/
http:// mcraft-life ru/
http:// mojang-minecraft net/
http:// minecraftium ru/
http:// minecraft-mods ru/
I removed the dots so that they don't become links.
Here are some more sites:
http:// minemodcraft ru/
http:// q-craft ru/
http:// planet-minecraft ru/
http:// mcraft-life ru/
http:// mojang-minecraft net/
http:// minecraftium ru/
http:// minecraft-mods ru/
I removed the dots so that they don't become links.
1
If you claim ownership of one of my mods, expect a lawsuit.
People should copyright their mods as literary works(that is how you copyright code), also you can copyright the art YOU DIDN'T TAKE FROM OTHER PEOPLES MODS AND TEXTURE PACKS.
People should copyright their mods as literary works(that is how you copyright code), also you can copyright the art YOU DIDN'T TAKE FROM OTHER PEOPLES MODS AND TEXTURE PACKS.
1
Also skydaz isnt doing anything wrong, they arent illegaly claiming ownership they are just putting them in installers to make it easier for people.
1
Its not that hard to find out which are stealing mods... I mean seriously which sounds more legit:
Planetminecraft.com or minecraftmods18 net
Planetminecraft.com or minecraftmods18 net
1
I'm pretty sure blacklisting is prohibited on PMC. Also, most of theese sites distributes mods, they dont claim ownership over them
1
They are litteraly saying they own our mods!
