I just have to say something about the whole modders causing problems over "profit". There are so many mod managers like this one that get cut off because the mods they allow you to install are "copyrighted" and the developer of the mod manager didn't get "permission" to distribute it. I find it so pathetic that modders in this community are so focused on making money off their mods that they have complete disregard for the actual users. MODDING IS NOT FOR PROFIT!!! Minecraft is the only game I know of where the people in the modding community focus more on making money than making mods. This really infuriates me. The purpose of modding is to improve a game you like, and share that improvement with others. Do Deus Ex modders, or Diablo modders, or Sims modders go the lengths the people here go to in order to get money? No! I haven't seen a single modder of any other game try and shut down a website or kill another mod in order to keep up their profits. You people are so damn selfish, you've lost focus on what your original intention was. To make Minecraft better. Pricks..
If you don't believe that the modding community here is f'ed up, take a look at this: The MMM, a great utility for installing mods, which had so much potential, and made installing mods a breeze, was killed off and locked down. Why? Because the person who made it "violated copyright" by allowing users to install a certain mod on it without paying the mod creator. What right does the creator have to shut down something just because it allows users a more convenient access to his mod? And another example: there was one mod I wanted, which changed some world generation, but it was shut down and its creator banned from the forum, because another modder said it was a copy of his work. What right does HE have to say another person cannot make something similar to his? And the catch: the mod that was banned was better than the original. (Don't ask me for names because I can't remember them)
And one last thing: This isn't violating any rules or breaking any laws. Say whatever you want about me and my ideas, but nobody has the right to change or remove this, or punish me. I'm not "violating" anybody's "copyright" or "infringing" on their "property". Copyright as it is believed to be according to American law is a lie, its a tool to allow one person to profit at the cost of everyone around him. I am shocked that the developers of Minecraft are using this system, instead of the European system, which is actually sane and proper. And that infection is spreading to the modders. I am very saddened I wasted my money on something that is all about making money, instead of spending my money on another indie game with a proper vision. And I am definitely not going to donate anything to these modders who think they are entitled to a profit.
You people need to change your focus. Remember what happens when greed overshadows talent. It all comes crashing down on top of you. Watch your step, you selfish b**tards, for you're walking on the edge, And it is a very long fall to the bottom.
Agreed. AdFly is pushing it too, I don't think any of these people have a licence deal worked out with Mojang.
Mojang should be getting a percentage of that revenue for their hard work.
(or are they hardly working?! muwahahaaaa)
Also . Code from two different modders for something similar will be nearly identical . There aren't many options in the syntax .
Even some of the art could be similar. Ores for example. Most just take a .png from coal ,iron and such and modify a few colors.
I'm not suggesting that modders don't deserve recognition for their hard work. Some of them are amazing coders FAR better than me. Keep up the good work .
Why is it such a problem? If someone put's a lot of effort in to making a nice mod to enhance the player's gameplay, then why not help them earn a small profit for what they had done for you. It's really not that bad to wait 5 seconds for the download.
When a modder release's there mod and sometimes add two links that is one for Adfly and the other is a direct link, I click the AdFly one because I appreciate their hard work.
But if someone were to just copy a block file and change the code up a bit then modify the texture up just a bit, I would not support them by clicking AdFly link, nor would I download the mod at all.
Why is it such a problem? If someone put's a lot of effort in to making a nice mod to enhance the player's gameplay, then why not help them earn a small profit for what they had done for you. It's really not that bad to wait 5 seconds for the download.
When a modder release's there mod and sometimes add two links that is one for Adfly and the other is a direct link, I click the AdFly one because I appreciate their hard work.
But if someone were to just copy a block file and change the code up a bit then modify the texture up just a bit, I would not support them by clicking AdFly link, nor would I download the mod at all.
As long as Mojang gets a portion of the profits , there isn't a problem.
I think.. Overall Notch doesn't mind..
He once said "I want people to modify Minecraft". Modify. So By Modding the game, that's kept tons and tons of people on minecraft. Normal Vanilla minecraft gets old.. Therefore mods make Minecraft fun again.
I think in some weird way, It's like a circle.. People mod the game, More people buy the game..
Anyways, It'd be kind of hard for Notch to take most profit from adf.ly users.
He would probably have to contact adf.ly for this..
I don't know.. I'm kind of rambling..
It's late at night..
I'll probably edit this post in the morning.. Just to take the dumb out of it. :tongue.gif:
I know the time and effort that goes into modding. I've been doing my own mods here and there.
That doesn't mean I have anything worth releasing as of yet.
When the game is released anyone who wants to mod will need to sign up for free for the modding kit.
You can't make money from anything though unless you have a license deal.
I always hit the Adfly link for downloads if there is an option between it and a direct link. I don't mind the 5 second wait at all or that someone will get a few cents. I agree to see an ad so AdFly pays up. That is a donation of my time. What I think is slightly shady though are the ones that only have a Adfly link . That removes my choice to see the ad or not . That is forced revenue. Again , I don't really care and watch the ad anyways. But its still using someone else's product for unlicensed profit. That the money doesn't come from me , doesn't matter.
Quoting from the copyright agreement EVERYONE who has Minecraft agrees to when they purchase the game, located here. "Plugins for the game also belong to you and you can do whatever you want with them, including selling them for money." Though Mojang reserves the right to say what does and doesn't qualify as a plugin, a dictionary definition of "plugin" is "An accessory software or hardware package that is used in conjunction with an existing application or device to extend its capabilities or provide additional functions." That definition sounds like its referring to mods.
Thus, Mojang says that not only do we have permissions to create mods, we have permission to do whatever we want, "including selling them for money". I hate to say it, but Notch and Mojang disagree with you.
Now, how much a mod is worth is up to the modder, it is, after all, their creation. Something simple (or seemingly), may have taken hundreds of hours of coding, and we'd have no way of knowing.
I have no problem donating 5 seconds of my time to provide a couple bucks to a worthy modder, and I would hope that, if my mod is worth it, others will feel the same when it is released.
Quoting from the copyright agreement EVERYONE who has Minecraft agrees to when they purchase the game, located here. "Plugins for the game also belong to you and you can do whatever you want with them, including selling them for money." Though Mojang reserves the right to say what does and doesn't qualify as a plugin, a dictionary definition of "plugin" is "An accessory software or hardware package that is used in conjunction with an existing application or device to extend its capabilities or provide additional functions." That definition sounds like its referring to mods.
Thus, Mojang says that not only do we have permissions to create mods, we have permission to do whatever we want, "including selling them for money". I hate to say it, but Notch and Mojang disagree with you.
Now, how much a mod is worth is up to the modder, it is, after all, their creation. Something simple (or seemingly), may have taken hundreds of hours of coding, and we'd have no way of knowing.
I have no problem donating 5 seconds of my time to provide a couple bucks to a worthy modder, and I would hope that, if my mod is worth it, others will feel the same when it is released.
Quote from Game Development Engine License »
By using the Application, You may create certain content such as levels, objects, characters, communications, in-game locations, etc. (“User Content”). Any such User Content created by You is part of the Application/Game and is created by normal use of the Application/Game. User Content that You cause to be communicated to the Application, Game, System etc. may not (i) violate any statute, rule, regulation or law; (ii) infringe or violate the intellectual property, proprietary, privacy or publicity rights of any third party; (iii) be defamatory, indecent, obscene, child pornographic or harmful to minors; or (iv) contain any viruses, Trojan horses, disabling code, worms, time bombs, "clear GIFs," cancelbots or other computer programming or routines that are intended to, or which in fact, damage, detrimentally interfere with, monitor, intercept or expropriate any data, information, packets or personal information. Mojang may take any action it deems appropriate regarding any User Content, if Mojang believes, in its sole discretion, that such User Content violates this Agreement or may expose Mojang, its licensors and/or its suppliers to liability, damage Mojang's relationship with any of its suppliers, licensors, ISPs or other users of the game(s), harm anyone or harm Mojang’s reputation or goodwill.
You hereby irrevocably and without additional consideration beyond the rights granted to you herein, assign to Mojang AB any and all right, title and interest you have, including copyrights, in or to any and all intellectual property and other rights, in and to all or any part of your User Content, in any game, medium now known or hereafter developed. The entire User Content is regarded as collective work and Mojang AB owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such Content, as well as in the User Content. To the extent that any such rights are not assignable, you hereby grant Mojang AB an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, assignable, royalty-free license, fully sublicensable through multiple tiers, to exercise all intellectual property and other rights, in and to all or any part of such User Content, in any medium now known or hereafter developed. Without limiting its rights in any way, Mojang shall have the right to exploit, commercialize, display and publish any User Content without notice or any compensation to you whatsoever.
EDIT: This is a different document, so "herein" doesn't include the sentence you quoted.
Let me clarify one point: I have no objection to Ad.fly. That doesn't bother me at all (If my original post made it seem so, then it was misunderstood). The adfly issue is only an annoyance, but at least its not something like Rapidshare where you sit there for 5 minutes waiting, and only have a 1 minute window before you have to restart the process. And one more thing about adfly: I prefer direct linking because it makes it easier for me to finish the downloading process. I use Mediafire, so I know my way around it and have no objection to it, but its just an extra inconvenience, nothing more.
About the work they go through: I work in Computer Security, trust me, I know the effort they go through to make these. I'm not saying they shouldn't get something out of it, just don't force it. You want a donation? Fine, if I think your work deserves a couple bucks, I'll donate, but don't try and force people to donate by using tactics such as "If you don't donate, I won't maintain the mod" or "Donate to me if you want me to answer your questions" which I have seen people do. Here and elsewhere. That is completely inappropriate.
As for those of you saying I don't know copyright, I have read the entire legislation on Copyright here in the United States, and parts of the legislation in the EU (Since I live in USA, I didn't read much into the EU law, just the most important parts). The legislation here in the US is flawed and has so many gaps and unclarified statements, you can twist it any way you want it in order to give you complete total control of anything. This is my problem with the copyright of mods, and the idea of "Intellectual Property". It does not exist. Having IP is like owning an idea; like putting a copyright on democracy or communism and saying if anyone else gets that idea, they can be sued and go to jail. That is what IP is, and even though my training in Comp. Sec. stresses enforcing IP legislation, I ignore it. If a client tries to get me involved in an IP case, I transfer the case to another investigator. (Yes, that is possible. I'm a freelancer.) I do not enforce IP or copyright, I do not investigate IP theft, and until the laws are changed and fixed, I will continue to do so.
And don't call me ignorant. I am young, yes, but I have had enough experience in the tech world and on the streets to fill at least two biographies. I have seen things, done things, and learned things most people didn't even know possible. I spent 3 years studying US copyright legislation (not university study, personal study) and another 3 years debating it. And I speak with that experience. And don't insult me either. There is no need to use that language. And if you must, at least come up with something more creative than "**** off you bitchy ****." That sounds like what my ex girlfriend said to me when I broke up with her (psycho). Please, PLEASE, use an insult that will make me read it over twice then enjoy having been called that.
Finally, to Temerer. I am a pirate. I am not ashamed of it. And let me make a case for pirating: When you see something you want, but don't have the money for it, or don't know if its worth that price, will you buy it anyway? What if its not good, what if its not what you expected? You can't go get your money back. You might be able to sell it at a lower price, or for store credit, but you lose that money. Now what if you could try it for free, and then decide if its worth it? That is pirating. And if you like it, you buy it. Just like if you like a mod, you donate to the modder. Also, many times, pirating is the only way to get to use it how you want. (This next part is a story that may be tl;dr, so feel free to skim over it) Take the Grand Theft Auto IV game. I pirated it and bought a copy, and this was my experience: With pirating, I wait a week, install it, crack it, then play it. No problems, it played fine, and it only caused an issue once in awhile, but that was my computer more than the game. So I said, "I like this, let me go buy it:" and went to Gamestop and spent $50 on it. I uninstalled my pirated copy, cleaned the registry, and double checked to make sure everything was erased. Once that was done, I installed the legitimate version. The installation took two hours longer (not kidding, I watched the clock while I waited) than the pirated one, and then it installed the Rockstar Social Club, which I did not ask for, and did not want, because I didn't want to play it online. I didn't have a choice, I either installed RSC or didn't play the game. That install was relatively quick. Now, let's finally play the game! NOT! It had to update RSC.. Twice. And that took an hour and a half, taking up my bandwidth, so I couldn't surf the web while I waited. Done? Good, now let me play... Or not. Update the game! Another hour and a half (this time I could surf the web), then I could finally play... After I registered for RSC, and had to verify my account, and verify my purchase. And that took more time. So I finally got to play, got through the first ten minutes fine, but then the game crashed. Memory overflow. Why did the legit version overflow ten minutes or so into the game? Because it was trying to do something with Windows Live while I was playing, and I only have a 1GB RAM. Got back in the game, after restarting RSC and logging in (which took a few minutes), but when I loaded the game up the second time, I had a texture issue. As in, the textures were gone. I could not find out why. Turns out, the game crashing corrupted the texture data file somehow. Now what? After all that, I returned the game, used the store credit to buy something else, then reinstalled my pirated copy. And the pirated copy still worked fine!
Pirating is the new way of marketing and is a sensible way for the consumer to make good decisions about how he spends his money. If you are opposed to pirating, then you are opposed to innovation and the new way of business. As for how that relates to Minecraft, well, I pirated Minecraft too, and liked it so much I spread the word. After three months, I bought it, and I had two family members, and three friends who bought it. Now if I hadn't pirated it, then none of those people would have even known about it, much less bought it. And that is $120 for Mojang right there. Not much, not even a noticeable dent, but still. My pirating the game was worth over $100 in profit to its creator. Innovation at its finest.
IF THE ABOVE WAS TL;DR:
In closing; what I have said and what I mean is this: Copyright is broken. Intellectual Property does not exist. Pirating is innovative. And it is time to change the way we do things. To the modders in this community: asking for donations is fine. Adfly is not a problem to me. But forcing people to donate by refusing to maintain your mod or help others is wrong, and so is giving them no choice but to spend money (adfly is not counted here; the people don't spend money on that). Stop trying to make a profit from your mods. Modding is not about profit, it is about innovation and improvement. That is where you people are misguided. I have always told people that to do something with the intent of gaining fame and money, is setting yourself up to fail. To do something to innovate, to make greater, to improve; that is not only preparing to succeed, but it is a success in itself. I am a realist, I know what human nature is and what to expect from people. But I know from experience and research that overcoming this primal nature is possible. It just takes a little effort. Those who show no effort, are nothing more than dogs who need to be put down. (That includes trolls, and people who make an argument with no basis or solution.)
So I just finished reading this huge wall of text, and have to say that I agree with most of what you said. The only problem I have is the "Stop trying to make a profit from your mods. Modding is not about profit, it is about innovation and improvement" part.
Being that I make mods, and have poured a few hundred hours into them (hell, more than that...), I think that I am qualified to say 'Making mods for fun is fine. Making mods for profit is also fine.' If a person takes time out of their real life to make a mod, it is their right to charge for it.
It is sort of like fixing motors. You have a broken lawn mower, you bring it to the shop, the shop owner twists a screw and now it is fixed. Should the mechanic charge you for it? You didn't twist the screw (make the mod), so it would be fair if he charges for it. However the mechanic can also say 'oh, it is fine, no need to pay me' (offer a direct download).
My statement in a nutshell: If you didn't put the hours into making the mod, don't complain about how the mod is brought to the public.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Link Removed Tutorials and Mods and Things and Stuff - blog.yofreke.com
I'll have to agree with everything but the language in this post (you were kind of harsh..)...
I've put hundreds of hours into modding Minecraft.
I've added skills the the game (mining increases your mining level, which lets you mine faster and mine more types of blocks, etc.), plenty of new weapons (namely variants, like a fire-sword, or a lightning arrow that has a 10% chance of striking what it hit with lightning... etc...), I've added general cheats (my brother hates dying.. He also likes shotguns and explosions, so his bow and arrow shoots 20 arrows that each explode into something twice the size of TNT....), and I've done much, much more. (I haven't posted anything yet because nothing is 100% complete, and after each minecraft update I need to work on compatibility.)
I would never dream of charging anyone for my mods. Why? Because I really enjoy programming (I've been doing it since I was 8, and I've been doing it for companies, free of charge, for several years.), and I really enjoy messing around with mods. I make them for me, and if other people might like them, I'll give them away. They shouldn't have to pay for my fun. Making a full scale game and charging for it is fine, its business. Making a mod for a game and charging for it is a little absurd, its fun and programming practice.
That being said, do I have trouble with people using Adf.ly? No. That isn't directly charging anyone, its a 5 second add, that would be even worse on MegaUpload and other popular file sharing websites. (Atleast its not a survey website, I hate those.) You aren't really charging anyone anything, and you're hardly making a profit.
Demanding someone be banned because a mod they made is similar to yours? What? There is something called inspiration. If someone wants to make something like you did, you should be happy, because you inspired them. You shouldn't get them banned because they made code that happened to be identical to yours... in a game that isn't even made by them...
(Reminds me of when Microsoft was sued because someone claimed they invented the code for the type of server they used in several LIVE games... You can copyright ideas now? Who knew?)
/Rant
Sorry about the wall of text. I'm knew here and just wanted to express my opinion.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I couldn't think of a good signature, and I found this on my hard drive, so...
I use things like adcraft.co because it gives me a few bucks, you know, nothing much, it's always nice seeing as no one loses anything but 5 seconds.
If you can't wait through 5 seconds, you're the laziest ****ing thing on the planet.
And also, people CAN charge you for it. Even if it does make them a money grabbing dickbag.
Have you even read Mojang's copyright?
Any tools you write for the game from scratch belongs to you. You're free to do whatever you want with screenshots and videos of the game, but don't just rip art resources and pass them around, that's no fun. Plugins for the game also belong to you and you can do whatever you want with them, including selling them for money. We reserve the final say regarding what constitutes a tool/plugin and what doesn't.
Right there in bold text states they CAN charge you.
OP you simply fail to understand why most modders object to having their works distributed without their consent. For the majority of us it is not a matter of greed. Maybe you would understand if you had created anything worthwhile on these forums.
OP you simply fail to understand why most modders object to having their works distributed without their consent. For the majority of us it is not a matter of greed. Maybe you would understand if you had created anything worthwhile on these forums.
This!
The op assumes that its all about profit when in fact the main reason is control. Do you have any idea how hard it is to support something that is being downloaded from 20 different places in 20 different ways then installed by 20 different programs?
The OP has gone off on a random tangent about modders forcing people to donate and I have never seen that happen and if it does just don't donate the mod will go out of use and someone else will fill the gap.
If you don't believe that the modding community here is f'ed up, take a look at this: The MMM, a great utility for installing mods, which had so much potential, and made installing mods a breeze, was killed off and locked down. Why? Because the person who made it "violated copyright" by allowing users to install a certain mod on it without paying the mod creator. What right does the creator have to shut down something just because it allows users a more convenient access to his mod? And another example: there was one mod I wanted, which changed some world generation, but it was shut down and its creator banned from the forum, because another modder said it was a copy of his work. What right does HE have to say another person cannot make something similar to his? And the catch: the mod that was banned was better than the original. (Don't ask me for names because I can't remember them)
And one last thing: This isn't violating any rules or breaking any laws. Say whatever you want about me and my ideas, but nobody has the right to change or remove this, or punish me. I'm not "violating" anybody's "copyright" or "infringing" on their "property". Copyright as it is believed to be according to American law is a lie, its a tool to allow one person to profit at the cost of everyone around him. I am shocked that the developers of Minecraft are using this system, instead of the European system, which is actually sane and proper. And that infection is spreading to the modders. I am very saddened I wasted my money on something that is all about making money, instead of spending my money on another indie game with a proper vision. And I am definitely not going to donate anything to these modders who think they are entitled to a profit.
You people need to change your focus. Remember what happens when greed overshadows talent. It all comes crashing down on top of you. Watch your step, you selfish b**tards, for you're walking on the edge, And it is a very long fall to the bottom.
Mojang should be getting a percentage of that revenue for their hard work.
(or are they hardly working?! muwahahaaaa)
Also . Code from two different modders for something similar will be nearly identical . There aren't many options in the syntax .
Even some of the art could be similar. Ores for example. Most just take a .png from coal ,iron and such and modify a few colors.
I'm not suggesting that modders don't deserve recognition for their hard work. Some of them are amazing coders FAR better than me. Keep up the good work .
When a modder release's there mod and sometimes add two links that is one for Adfly and the other is a direct link, I click the AdFly one because I appreciate their hard work.
But if someone were to just copy a block file and change the code up a bit then modify the texture up just a bit, I would not support them by clicking AdFly link, nor would I download the mod at all.
As long as Mojang gets a portion of the profits , there isn't a problem.
He once said "I want people to modify Minecraft". Modify. So By Modding the game, that's kept tons and tons of people on minecraft. Normal Vanilla minecraft gets old.. Therefore mods make Minecraft fun again.
I think in some weird way, It's like a circle.. People mod the game, More people buy the game..
Anyways, It'd be kind of hard for Notch to take most profit from adf.ly users.
He would probably have to contact adf.ly for this..
I don't know.. I'm kind of rambling..
It's late at night..
I'll probably edit this post in the morning.. Just to take the dumb out of it. :tongue.gif:
That doesn't mean I have anything worth releasing as of yet.
When the game is released anyone who wants to mod will need to sign up for free for the modding kit.
You can't make money from anything though unless you have a license deal.
I always hit the Adfly link for downloads if there is an option between it and a direct link. I don't mind the 5 second wait at all or that someone will get a few cents. I agree to see an ad so AdFly pays up. That is a donation of my time. What I think is slightly shady though are the ones that only have a Adfly link . That removes my choice to see the ad or not . That is forced revenue. Again , I don't really care and watch the ad anyways. But its still using someone else's product for unlicensed profit. That the money doesn't come from me , doesn't matter.
Thus, Mojang says that not only do we have permissions to create mods, we have permission to do whatever we want, "including selling them for money". I hate to say it, but Notch and Mojang disagree with you.
Now, how much a mod is worth is up to the modder, it is, after all, their creation. Something simple (or seemingly), may have taken hundreds of hours of coding, and we'd have no way of knowing.
I have no problem donating 5 seconds of my time to provide a couple bucks to a worthy modder, and I would hope that, if my mod is worth it, others will feel the same when it is released.
EDIT: This is a different document, so "herein" doesn't include the sentence you quoted.
About the work they go through: I work in Computer Security, trust me, I know the effort they go through to make these. I'm not saying they shouldn't get something out of it, just don't force it. You want a donation? Fine, if I think your work deserves a couple bucks, I'll donate, but don't try and force people to donate by using tactics such as "If you don't donate, I won't maintain the mod" or "Donate to me if you want me to answer your questions" which I have seen people do. Here and elsewhere. That is completely inappropriate.
As for those of you saying I don't know copyright, I have read the entire legislation on Copyright here in the United States, and parts of the legislation in the EU (Since I live in USA, I didn't read much into the EU law, just the most important parts). The legislation here in the US is flawed and has so many gaps and unclarified statements, you can twist it any way you want it in order to give you complete total control of anything. This is my problem with the copyright of mods, and the idea of "Intellectual Property". It does not exist. Having IP is like owning an idea; like putting a copyright on democracy or communism and saying if anyone else gets that idea, they can be sued and go to jail. That is what IP is, and even though my training in Comp. Sec. stresses enforcing IP legislation, I ignore it. If a client tries to get me involved in an IP case, I transfer the case to another investigator. (Yes, that is possible. I'm a freelancer.) I do not enforce IP or copyright, I do not investigate IP theft, and until the laws are changed and fixed, I will continue to do so.
And don't call me ignorant. I am young, yes, but I have had enough experience in the tech world and on the streets to fill at least two biographies. I have seen things, done things, and learned things most people didn't even know possible. I spent 3 years studying US copyright legislation (not university study, personal study) and another 3 years debating it. And I speak with that experience. And don't insult me either. There is no need to use that language. And if you must, at least come up with something more creative than "**** off you bitchy ****." That sounds like what my ex girlfriend said to me when I broke up with her (psycho). Please, PLEASE, use an insult that will make me read it over twice then enjoy having been called that.
Finally, to Temerer. I am a pirate. I am not ashamed of it. And let me make a case for pirating: When you see something you want, but don't have the money for it, or don't know if its worth that price, will you buy it anyway? What if its not good, what if its not what you expected? You can't go get your money back. You might be able to sell it at a lower price, or for store credit, but you lose that money. Now what if you could try it for free, and then decide if its worth it? That is pirating. And if you like it, you buy it. Just like if you like a mod, you donate to the modder. Also, many times, pirating is the only way to get to use it how you want. (This next part is a story that may be tl;dr, so feel free to skim over it) Take the Grand Theft Auto IV game. I pirated it and bought a copy, and this was my experience: With pirating, I wait a week, install it, crack it, then play it. No problems, it played fine, and it only caused an issue once in awhile, but that was my computer more than the game. So I said, "I like this, let me go buy it:" and went to Gamestop and spent $50 on it. I uninstalled my pirated copy, cleaned the registry, and double checked to make sure everything was erased. Once that was done, I installed the legitimate version. The installation took two hours longer (not kidding, I watched the clock while I waited) than the pirated one, and then it installed the Rockstar Social Club, which I did not ask for, and did not want, because I didn't want to play it online. I didn't have a choice, I either installed RSC or didn't play the game. That install was relatively quick. Now, let's finally play the game! NOT! It had to update RSC.. Twice. And that took an hour and a half, taking up my bandwidth, so I couldn't surf the web while I waited. Done? Good, now let me play... Or not. Update the game! Another hour and a half (this time I could surf the web), then I could finally play... After I registered for RSC, and had to verify my account, and verify my purchase. And that took more time. So I finally got to play, got through the first ten minutes fine, but then the game crashed. Memory overflow. Why did the legit version overflow ten minutes or so into the game? Because it was trying to do something with Windows Live while I was playing, and I only have a 1GB RAM. Got back in the game, after restarting RSC and logging in (which took a few minutes), but when I loaded the game up the second time, I had a texture issue. As in, the textures were gone. I could not find out why. Turns out, the game crashing corrupted the texture data file somehow. Now what? After all that, I returned the game, used the store credit to buy something else, then reinstalled my pirated copy. And the pirated copy still worked fine!
Pirating is the new way of marketing and is a sensible way for the consumer to make good decisions about how he spends his money. If you are opposed to pirating, then you are opposed to innovation and the new way of business. As for how that relates to Minecraft, well, I pirated Minecraft too, and liked it so much I spread the word. After three months, I bought it, and I had two family members, and three friends who bought it. Now if I hadn't pirated it, then none of those people would have even known about it, much less bought it. And that is $120 for Mojang right there. Not much, not even a noticeable dent, but still. My pirating the game was worth over $100 in profit to its creator. Innovation at its finest.
IF THE ABOVE WAS TL;DR:
In closing; what I have said and what I mean is this: Copyright is broken. Intellectual Property does not exist. Pirating is innovative. And it is time to change the way we do things. To the modders in this community: asking for donations is fine. Adfly is not a problem to me. But forcing people to donate by refusing to maintain your mod or help others is wrong, and so is giving them no choice but to spend money (adfly is not counted here; the people don't spend money on that). Stop trying to make a profit from your mods. Modding is not about profit, it is about innovation and improvement. That is where you people are misguided. I have always told people that to do something with the intent of gaining fame and money, is setting yourself up to fail. To do something to innovate, to make greater, to improve; that is not only preparing to succeed, but it is a success in itself. I am a realist, I know what human nature is and what to expect from people. But I know from experience and research that overcoming this primal nature is possible. It just takes a little effort. Those who show no effort, are nothing more than dogs who need to be put down. (That includes trolls, and people who make an argument with no basis or solution.)
~~Turmoil
Life. Love. Honor. This is my creed.
Being that I make mods, and have poured a few hundred hours into them (hell, more than that...), I think that I am qualified to say 'Making mods for fun is fine. Making mods for profit is also fine.' If a person takes time out of their real life to make a mod, it is their right to charge for it.
It is sort of like fixing motors. You have a broken lawn mower, you bring it to the shop, the shop owner twists a screw and now it is fixed. Should the mechanic charge you for it? You didn't twist the screw (make the mod), so it would be fair if he charges for it. However the mechanic can also say 'oh, it is fine, no need to pay me' (offer a direct download).
My statement in a nutshell: If you didn't put the hours into making the mod, don't complain about how the mod is brought to the public.
Tutorials and Mods and Things and Stuff - blog.yofreke.com
I've put hundreds of hours into modding Minecraft.
I've added skills the the game (mining increases your mining level, which lets you mine faster and mine more types of blocks, etc.), plenty of new weapons (namely variants, like a fire-sword, or a lightning arrow that has a 10% chance of striking what it hit with lightning... etc...), I've added general cheats (my brother hates dying.. He also likes shotguns and explosions, so his bow and arrow shoots 20 arrows that each explode into something twice the size of TNT....), and I've done much, much more. (I haven't posted anything yet because nothing is 100% complete, and after each minecraft update I need to work on compatibility.)
I would never dream of charging anyone for my mods. Why? Because I really enjoy programming (I've been doing it since I was 8, and I've been doing it for companies, free of charge, for several years.), and I really enjoy messing around with mods. I make them for me, and if other people might like them, I'll give them away. They shouldn't have to pay for my fun. Making a full scale game and charging for it is fine, its business. Making a mod for a game and charging for it is a little absurd, its fun and programming practice.
That being said, do I have trouble with people using Adf.ly? No. That isn't directly charging anyone, its a 5 second add, that would be even worse on MegaUpload and other popular file sharing websites. (Atleast its not a survey website, I hate those.) You aren't really charging anyone anything, and you're hardly making a profit.
Demanding someone be banned because a mod they made is similar to yours? What? There is something called inspiration. If someone wants to make something like you did, you should be happy, because you inspired them. You shouldn't get them banned because they made code that happened to be identical to yours... in a game that isn't even made by them...
(Reminds me of when Microsoft was sued because someone claimed they invented the code for the type of server they used in several LIVE games... You can copyright ideas now? Who knew?)
/Rant
Sorry about the wall of text. I'm knew here and just wanted to express my opinion.
I couldn't think of a good signature, and I found this on my hard drive, so...
If you can't wait through 5 seconds, you're the laziest ****ing thing on the planet.
And also, people CAN charge you for it. Even if it does make them a money grabbing dickbag.
Have you even read Mojang's copyright?
Right there in bold text states they CAN charge you.
I know, it really sucks ass, but what can you do?
This!
The op assumes that its all about profit when in fact the main reason is control. Do you have any idea how hard it is to support something that is being downloaded from 20 different places in 20 different ways then installed by 20 different programs?
The OP has gone off on a random tangent about modders forcing people to donate and I have never seen that happen and if it does just don't donate the mod will go out of use and someone else will fill the gap.