Was asked the question in the thread title via PM and figure that the reply should be read and discussed by all.
IMO, since you can extract any database mod to get the source, any database-only mod is not worth trying to “protect”. But if you make art, animations, models and/or maps for a mod, the assets do not necessarily automatically get dumped into the public domain. They are “protect”-able…but how?
That’s an interesting question.
I guess they are protected in the same way a GOG release (ie without copy protection) or Open Source code (e.g. GPL) is. By the license that comes with it.
There is a difference between Open Source / GPL / Creative Commons / … and Public Domain. Choose whichever license suits your needs best.
Now whether that is enforceable (probably) and whether you are even aware of misuse (unlikely) is another matter…
A separate question also is if it is worth protecting. I can see you not wanting someone to include your work in a mod that he then sells, but if other modders aggregate bigger mods (as only one can be active at a time) and release that for free, I do not really see much point in not allowing sharing.
You name here one of the main problems, If someone only copy paste your mod and combine it with another mod and upload it. That’s a huge punch in the face for any modder, especially when you worked a few hundred hours on your mod.I don’t think its okay.
That’s why common courtesy on these matters dictates you ask permission to do so and also give credit where credit is due. Otherwise, follow the general modding and Internet guidelines/etiquette and I see no problem.
From my observations most modders are cool with such things as long as you ask and credit.
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If he pretends that it is his work, I agree. If he gives credit I see no problem at all. The ability to share, incorporate and improve on each others work to me makes for a better community.
In either case, the license clarifies all of this. There probably will still be some which ignore it (assuming anything can freely be shared and not bothering to check more often than malicous) in any case however.
Very interesting question and something I hadn’t really thought about.
I fancy myself as a bit of an artist and I’m planning to create some 3D content for Grim Dawn.
Anything I make will be freely available for everyone, but only for Grim Dawn.
I’d be royally cheesed off if somebody stole my models and used them in another game or sold them for profit.
Permission is the key here, if somebody PMed me and asked for permission to use my models in a different game, then I’d probably be fine with it, so long as I was given credit.
It’s going to be a very hard thing to police though. I’ve heard stories of artist’s releasing content for free, only to see it turn up for sale in the ‘Unity Asset Store’.
The only thing I can suggest is to keep all of your concept sketches and old versions of your work to prove that it actually belongs to you.
Other than that, I don’t know what else we can do.
While I see your point, we’re having enough issues getting our models into GD, and so far I don’t think anyone has gotten them out of GD yet. (And I don’t think TQ either)
So… I think they are fairly safe so far…unless you include the source files.
Don’t get me wrong, I totally think there should be some kind of protection for those who want it. I can definitely see why you would want to protect your custom assets.
Without the creation of DLLs for use with the game, all mods are “extractable source” which is different from “open source.” “Open” has a few connotations including the right AND ability to modify it. Java and .Net are “extractable” source languages, and to a lesser extent so is Python. Interpreted languages can be uninterpreted through extraction (byte code disassembly). Compiled languages can be reverse engineered through machine code disassembly. There is no truly protected language or executables to my knowledge (certainly none for phone or x86 platforms). There was an attempt to make protected executables for PS3 and XBox One, but the technique used involved a cryptographic signature packed with the executable. GeoHot reversed the PS3 by reading the signature off the chips.
One of my programming jobs was to write artificial intelligence routines to perform automated foreign exchange trading. Even if we never released the software, people would clone the trades between managed accounts and their real bank balances.
Fundamentally people need to be more honest. When they aren’t, sometimes I use my other skills.
I guess you could always copyright yer shit like this guy
And of course keep account of any art you do. If someone rips yer stuff for profit and you find out then yer ass is covered and somebody will be owing you.
I guess there is also Crates stance on mod rights that would play a factor in such things too.
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You’re talking about your baking skills aren’t you. Entice them to be honest with a doughnut 
Y.yes… exactly. Yup. Baking skills.