Duh
Duke
The following is up for discussion and may be amended depending on the feedback we receive. It is not yet implemented and especially the matter of monetization is not addressed. We do touch upon what you allow others to do with your creations - but even if you give them full permissions, this may not mean that they can use them commercially on this forum. Taleworlds will clarify that matter at another point.
But let's have a look at what we have:
Modding
If you are considering to join our modding community or are already a part of it, you should take note of the following: This community strives to be a good environment for both open and closed source projects. For this reason, we generally encourage the sharing of assets but also protect the rights of creators that seek to build a unique product by making their content exclusive. We believe that this approach is the most conducive to modding and feel validated by the great open and closed source mod projects on the forum as well as the library of open source assets in the Forge.
Consequently, you may only use assets (f.e. in a server) or offer a download for them (as a full mod or asset pack) if you have the creator's permission to do so. You may gain this permission directly from him/her or by fulfilling the conditions laid out in the original post of an [OSP] or [LSP] topic. It is also necessary to credit the creator(s) in question - either in the original post of your topic or in a dedicated sticky on your childboard (unless they specifically request anonymity). If an asset was crafted by several creators and they share the rights, you need their collective permission. If you seek to use a derivative work, you may need to gain permission from both the creator of the original content as well as the creator of the derivative - depending on their agreement.
Should you fail to adhere to these rules (on this forum or other platforms), your use of such assets will be considered theft and, ultimately, result in your permanent ban on the forum. Server owners and hosts may also be subject to further action such as a master server blacklist - after they have been contacted and failed to resolve the situation. We consider it your responsibility to ensure that you have permissions and provide proper credits for the resources that you use. Once you have permission, it cannot be redacted on a whim unless otherwise specified in the terms of use. However, even if a creator has not included a "right to revoke" in the agreement with you, he may request the removal of his content from your work if you exhibit behavior that could significantly damage his reputation by affiliation. Only the moderation can grant such a request and it should not be made trivially.
In case of a conflict we expect you to follow the procedure below:
1. Attempt to resolve the situation with the offending party.
2. If that proves impossible, you may contact the moderation and should provide us with all the necessary information. (Description of the Problem, Description of the Attempt to Resolve, Proof of Offense, Proof of Rights to Assets, Proof of Agreements/Permissions, Other Information you deem necessary/helpful)
3. If we consider an action in conflict with our rules, we will ask the offender (modder, server owner and/or host) to rectify the situation. You should avoid unnecessarily escalating the conflict at this point.
4. If she/he fails to do so and we deem the offense significant enough, we will remove the offending content and potentially him/her from the forum. We may also request further action from TaleWorlds.
To facilitate the above process, we ask all service/product providers that use this forum to provide a direct line of communication (either allowing users to contact them on the forum, via a form on an external website or via a dedicated email). No requirements should be put in place that may hinder this process - such as forms that ask for personal details of users.
As a means to streamline cooperation we will also provide some guidelines for permissions. For instance, the following is true for future [OSP] resources:
- You may use these assets for non-commercial and commercial ventures (Careful - See Monetization details below).
- You may use these assets in open and closed source projects.
- You have the rights to create, use and share or restrict the use of derivative works but need to provide credit to the original creator.
- Permission may not be redacted.
(While the above may be akin to creative commons licenses such as this, we do not make any claims on the legal applicability of our guidelines.)
This is in line with the original conception of the open source project
If you wish to share resources with the community, you may thus simply put an [OSP] tag on them and reference the above guidelines. Alternatively, you can add a [LSP] tag and specify your own conditions. These should define whether others can use, adapt and/or share your work as part of a mod or resource package and whether or not they may restrict the use of their derivatives. You should also define whether they may use it in a closed source project and whether or not commercial purposes are permitted. (This includes the collection of donations for a project using the [LSP] in question.) Lastly, you should define your "right to revoke". Should you fail to define any one of these points, we wil assume that the [OSP] guidelines apply for that particular aspect.
If you directly make an arrangement with another user, you should also define the above points as we will consider permissions tolerantly:
The above would be interpreted as having the same conditions as an [OSP] - just limited to whoever was granted the permission.
It is, in turn, imperative to properly document your agreements. Should you be unable to provide a proof of permission, we will either assume that there was no such agreement or give the creator the benefit of doubt if he has described permissions that differ from your claims. For this reason, we recommend that you do not use steam or other chat programs to enter into an arrangement. You should finalize your deals in an environment that automatically archives them - like posts or private messages on the forum, external emails, etc. We may also look into ways of archiving this in a dedicated fashion on the forum.
We also recommend that creators archive a proof of creation for their works. The easiest way to establish this is a download with a time stamp or, alternatively, screenshots and discussions of an asset on the forum. If you do not have any proof of ownership, we may not be able to protect your assets from abuse.
Monetization
[TO BE DETERMINED]
Conduct
We also expect all service and product providers (whether they are commercial or not) to behave with decency. The harassment/spamming of a competitor's topics, any PR "campaigns" aimed at hurting another's product or service as well as threats or extortion are not permitted. You may provide constructive criticism, if that includes a complete solution to the problem you are highlighting (full instructions/fixed code/fixed asset). People with financial interests will naturally be under more scrutiny than those without them.
Do note that - as with all other rules - the behavior of another does not excuse your own. If someone is trolling/flaming or otherwise harassing you, do not escalate the conflict by engaging in the same conduct. Report the offender.
Featured Mod
The featured mod is determined by the following topic - https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,346796.0.html
We usually try to give any mod that updates here at least 1 week in the spotlight. Should the volume of updates make that impossible, we will pick and choose. Do not spam small updates or hot fixes. This is meant to draw attention to significant changes in content.
Offering Downloads
We ask that all future downloads (Mods, OSPs, LSPs) offered on the forum use reliable hosts to avoid abuse and issues with dead links. You may use Nexus, Moddb, mbrepository, GoogleDrive and Dropbox. SteamWorkshop may also be used for full Mods. This list may be expended based on community feedback.
Discord
We are setting up a modding discord that will likely replace the external IRC link in the Forge. You can find it here
While we are happy to discuss matters of policy with you directly on the discord, you will have to make a proper post here if it is meant to be considered by all relevant parties.
But let's have a look at what we have:
Modding
If you are considering to join our modding community or are already a part of it, you should take note of the following: This community strives to be a good environment for both open and closed source projects. For this reason, we generally encourage the sharing of assets but also protect the rights of creators that seek to build a unique product by making their content exclusive. We believe that this approach is the most conducive to modding and feel validated by the great open and closed source mod projects on the forum as well as the library of open source assets in the Forge.
Consequently, you may only use assets (f.e. in a server) or offer a download for them (as a full mod or asset pack) if you have the creator's permission to do so. You may gain this permission directly from him/her or by fulfilling the conditions laid out in the original post of an [OSP] or [LSP] topic. It is also necessary to credit the creator(s) in question - either in the original post of your topic or in a dedicated sticky on your childboard (unless they specifically request anonymity). If an asset was crafted by several creators and they share the rights, you need their collective permission. If you seek to use a derivative work, you may need to gain permission from both the creator of the original content as well as the creator of the derivative - depending on their agreement.
Should you fail to adhere to these rules (on this forum or other platforms), your use of such assets will be considered theft and, ultimately, result in your permanent ban on the forum. Server owners and hosts may also be subject to further action such as a master server blacklist - after they have been contacted and failed to resolve the situation. We consider it your responsibility to ensure that you have permissions and provide proper credits for the resources that you use. Once you have permission, it cannot be redacted on a whim unless otherwise specified in the terms of use. However, even if a creator has not included a "right to revoke" in the agreement with you, he may request the removal of his content from your work if you exhibit behavior that could significantly damage his reputation by affiliation. Only the moderation can grant such a request and it should not be made trivially.
In case of a conflict we expect you to follow the procedure below:
1. Attempt to resolve the situation with the offending party.
2. If that proves impossible, you may contact the moderation and should provide us with all the necessary information. (Description of the Problem, Description of the Attempt to Resolve, Proof of Offense, Proof of Rights to Assets, Proof of Agreements/Permissions, Other Information you deem necessary/helpful)
3. If we consider an action in conflict with our rules, we will ask the offender (modder, server owner and/or host) to rectify the situation. You should avoid unnecessarily escalating the conflict at this point.
4. If she/he fails to do so and we deem the offense significant enough, we will remove the offending content and potentially him/her from the forum. We may also request further action from TaleWorlds.
To facilitate the above process, we ask all service/product providers that use this forum to provide a direct line of communication (either allowing users to contact them on the forum, via a form on an external website or via a dedicated email). No requirements should be put in place that may hinder this process - such as forms that ask for personal details of users.
As a means to streamline cooperation we will also provide some guidelines for permissions. For instance, the following is true for future [OSP] resources:
- You may use these assets for non-commercial and commercial ventures (Careful - See Monetization details below).
- You may use these assets in open and closed source projects.
- You have the rights to create, use and share or restrict the use of derivative works but need to provide credit to the original creator.
- Permission may not be redacted.
(While the above may be akin to creative commons licenses such as this, we do not make any claims on the legal applicability of our guidelines.)
This is in line with the original conception of the open source project
Nonetheless, not all topics marked [OSP] are necessarily labelled correctly. You should therefore always check the original post of such a topic for any additional requirements that the author may have laid out. Going forward, the tags of "OSPs" will be changed to [LSP], which stands for Limited Source Project, if they do not fully embrace the above permissions. Their creators may loosen the permissions to regain the [OSP] tag.Llew said:
If you wish to share resources with the community, you may thus simply put an [OSP] tag on them and reference the above guidelines. Alternatively, you can add a [LSP] tag and specify your own conditions. These should define whether others can use, adapt and/or share your work as part of a mod or resource package and whether or not they may restrict the use of their derivatives. You should also define whether they may use it in a closed source project and whether or not commercial purposes are permitted. (This includes the collection of donations for a project using the [LSP] in question.) Lastly, you should define your "right to revoke". Should you fail to define any one of these points, we wil assume that the [OSP] guidelines apply for that particular aspect.
If you directly make an arrangement with another user, you should also define the above points as we will consider permissions tolerantly:
Code:
User: Hey, can I use your script in my mod?
Creator: Yes. Just give me credit.It is, in turn, imperative to properly document your agreements. Should you be unable to provide a proof of permission, we will either assume that there was no such agreement or give the creator the benefit of doubt if he has described permissions that differ from your claims. For this reason, we recommend that you do not use steam or other chat programs to enter into an arrangement. You should finalize your deals in an environment that automatically archives them - like posts or private messages on the forum, external emails, etc. We may also look into ways of archiving this in a dedicated fashion on the forum.
Code:
Date of Agreement:
Name/Pseudonym of Creator(s):
Forum Profile(s):
Name/Pseudonym of Asset User:
Forum Profile:
List of Assets in Question: (If too long - Summarize f.e. with "All assets contributed to/part of Project/Package X")
For the above Assets the following is true:
They may be used non-commercially/commercially. (Specify if necessary - Only Donations, f.e.)
They may be used in an open/closed source project.
They may only be used in Project X/they may be used in all projects that meet other requirements.
They may be used/used and adapted/used, adapted and redistributed (as a derivative OSP, redistribution as part of a mod download is implied in use).
The User may/may not restrict the use of derivatives.
The creator may always revoke these rights/may revoke the rights under X conditions.
If the User fails to adhere to any one of the above conditions, the entire agreement becomes null and void.We also recommend that creators archive a proof of creation for their works. The easiest way to establish this is a download with a time stamp or, alternatively, screenshots and discussions of an asset on the forum. If you do not have any proof of ownership, we may not be able to protect your assets from abuse.
Monetization
[TO BE DETERMINED]
Conduct
We also expect all service and product providers (whether they are commercial or not) to behave with decency. The harassment/spamming of a competitor's topics, any PR "campaigns" aimed at hurting another's product or service as well as threats or extortion are not permitted. You may provide constructive criticism, if that includes a complete solution to the problem you are highlighting (full instructions/fixed code/fixed asset). People with financial interests will naturally be under more scrutiny than those without them.
Do note that - as with all other rules - the behavior of another does not excuse your own. If someone is trolling/flaming or otherwise harassing you, do not escalate the conflict by engaging in the same conduct. Report the offender.
Featured Mod
The featured mod is determined by the following topic - https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,346796.0.html
We usually try to give any mod that updates here at least 1 week in the spotlight. Should the volume of updates make that impossible, we will pick and choose. Do not spam small updates or hot fixes. This is meant to draw attention to significant changes in content.
Offering Downloads
We ask that all future downloads (Mods, OSPs, LSPs) offered on the forum use reliable hosts to avoid abuse and issues with dead links. You may use Nexus, Moddb, mbrepository, GoogleDrive and Dropbox. SteamWorkshop may also be used for full Mods. This list may be expended based on community feedback.
Discord
We are setting up a modding discord that will likely replace the external IRC link in the Forge. You can find it here
In the case you describe a custom solution under the guidance of moderation may be best (depending on who is in/active from the OSP team). If permissions cannot be figured out and the contended assets are non-essential, we would probably ask folks to remove them. If they are essential parts (this is our judgement) and the OSP has been around for years without any complaints, we would probably give existing projects the benefit of doubt. I cannot give any guarantees here, though.
