[Question] Permission to make a pack out of your mods?

[Hisu]

It's mainly for Pouakai, sukritact and Moriboe, but there are a lot of people involved, so I want to know if approval is needed and, provided it's a yes, if I can have it.
What I want to make is a world wonders modpack that combines the following into one mod (94 wonders enumerated, so I've put them under spoiler):

Spoiler :

Abraj al-Bait Towers, Agra Fort, Ait Benhaddou, Amer Fort, Amphawa Floating Market, Apollo Program, Arecibo Observatory, Avenue Habib Bourguiba, Banaue Rice Terraces, Brooklyn Bridge, Buda Castle, Buddhas of Bamiyan, Cairo Citadel, Changdeokgung, Cheomseongdae, Chogha Zanbil, Churches of Lalibela, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Democracy Monument, Dome of the Rock, El Tajin, Empire State Building, Escadaria Selaron, Gate of the Sun, Göbekli Tepe, Grand Canal, Great Mosque of Aleppo, Gripsholm Castle, Gulou Drum Tower, Haji Ali Dargah, Harmandir Sahib, Hawa Mahal, Hollywood, Hōryū-ji, Itsukushima Shrine, Jiayuguan Fort, Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, Karnak, Khao San Road, Kronborg, La Maestranza, Lake Titicaca, London Eye, Madain Saleh, Malwiya Minaret, Martyr's Square, Matterhorn, Mesa Verde, Millau Viaduct, MLK Memorial, Mount Ruapehu, Mount Rushmore, Nan Madol, Nazca Lines, Palm Jumeirah, Panama Canal, Pantheon, Paro Taktsang, Pearl Monument, Pearl Tower, Pena National Palace, Petronas Towers, Puukohola Heiau, Rockefeller Center, Sagrada Familia, Santa Maria del Fiore, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Shanghai World Financial Center, Shwedagon Paya, Sky Tower, Smithsonian Institution, St. Mark's Basilica, St. Peter's Basilica, Stone Town, Tahrir Square, Taipei 101, Temple of Heaven, Templo Mayor, Teotihuacan, The Golden Pavilion, Three Gorges Dam, Todai Ji, Tokyo Sky Tree, Topkapi Palace, Torre Del Oro, Trafalgar Square, Wartburg, Wat Arun, Wat Pho, Wat Phra Kaew, Westminster Abbey, White Sands Missile Range, Xuankong Si, and Yellow Crane Tower.

 

[ls612]

Moderator Action: Moved to the main C&C subforum, the Modpacks forum is for projects with downloads ready.

 

[turingmachine]

It's mainly for Pouakai, sukritact and Moriboe, but there are a lot of people involved, so I want to know if approval is needed and, provided it's a yes, if I can have it.
What I want to make is a world wonders modpack that combines the following into one mod (94 wonders enumerated, so I've put them under spoiler):

Spoiler :

Abraj al-Bait Towers, Agra Fort, Ait Benhaddou, Amer Fort, Amphawa Floating Market, Apollo Program, Arecibo Observatory, Avenue Habib Bourguiba, Banaue Rice Terraces, Brooklyn Bridge, Buda Castle, Buddhas of Bamiyan, Cairo Citadel, Changdeokgung, Cheomseongdae, Chogha Zanbil, Churches of Lalibela, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Democracy Monument, Dome of the Rock, El Tajin, Empire State Building, Escadaria Selaron, Gate of the Sun, Göbekli Tepe, Grand Canal, Great Mosque of Aleppo, Gripsholm Castle, Gulou Drum Tower, Haji Ali Dargah, Harmandir Sahib, Hawa Mahal, Hollywood, Hōryū-ji, Itsukushima Shrine, Jiayuguan Fort, Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, Karnak, Khao San Road, Kronborg, La Maestranza, Lake Titicaca, London Eye, Madain Saleh, Malwiya Minaret, Martyr's Square, Matterhorn, Mesa Verde, Millau Viaduct, MLK Memorial, Mount Ruapehu, Mount Rushmore, Nan Madol, Nazca Lines, Palm Jumeirah, Panama Canal, Pantheon, Paro Taktsang, Pearl Monument, Pearl Tower, Pena National Palace, Petronas Towers, Puukohola Heiau, Rockefeller Center, Sagrada Familia, Santa Maria del Fiore, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Shanghai World Financial Center, Shwedagon Paya, Sky Tower, Smithsonian Institution, St. Mark's Basilica, St. Peter's Basilica, Stone Town, Tahrir Square, Taipei 101, Temple of Heaven, Templo Mayor, Teotihuacan, The Golden Pavilion, Three Gorges Dam, Todai Ji, Tokyo Sky Tree, Topkapi Palace, Torre Del Oro, Trafalgar Square, Wartburg, Wat Arun, Wat Pho, Wat Phra Kaew, Westminster Abbey, White Sands Missile Range, Xuankong Si, and Yellow Crane Tower.

In general, I'd say it's really poor form to release a mod that does nothing but pack existing mods by other authors. You're essentially doing no work to get all the credit (as since even if you cite the original authors, the person who submits it gets the primary author credit on steam).

I know a few authors who state that they don't like their mods just re-packaged and only really give permission if the mod in question significantly alters things. So, for example, Rob8xft's Anno Domini re-packages a lot of existing mods, but does so in a way that the final product is an original work that, most importantly, doesn't compete with the original mods.

I'd say if you're just packing them all together for personal use, feel free; but if you want to publicly post a mod that does nothing but collect existing mods unchanged, best not.

Of course, I can't speak for the original authors in this case, so they may have a different opinion.

 

[AW Arcaeca]

Standard mod-making forum procedures says yes. You don't need permission to do anything with someone else's work, since when you upload to the forum you automatically grant that right to others, but you should acknowledge whose content you used, and unless you put in a significant amount of work it's a bit too much work to just call your own.

For more detail, see the stickied thread titled "The Modiquette".

 

[bc1]

That is probably legally incorrect: Author's rights are protected by the Berne Convention, and a simple website statement would be likely not be enough to void those rights.

Cheers

 

[AW Arcaeca]

That is probably legally incorrect: Author's rights are protected by the Berne Convention, and a simple website statement would be likely not be enough to void those rights.

Cheers

Uh... well, first of all, I'm doubting Hisu is going to be making this modpack for monetary gain, so I don't think this whole "economic rights" thing applies. It would be illegal anyway to, since we signed away our right to make money off mods for Civ5 when we downloaded the SDK.

And second of all I'm not sure "moral rights" really applies either, since how would simply merging all the More Wonders civs into one pack be detrimental to Pouakai/sukritact/Moriboe's reputation?

And lastly... even if it is illegal, realistically, who here on the forum is going to press charges for such a minor act?


Y'know, it seems like we get into a lot of legal debates on these forums... why does law have to get so involved with simply making mods?

 

[Gilgamesch]

Instead of creating a thread, you should ask directly the creators of this mods.