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LGJ: Morrowind Mod Mayhem
Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq ("LGJ"), a column on legal issues as they relate to video games: There's been quite the uproar over the past few weeks over Morrowind 2011, the now defunct project which collected and harmonized some 4GB of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind mods to make the game "appealing" to a current audience. To some this sounded like a way to pass the time until Skyrim released, to others this was "illegal." Let's see if we can piece together some of the story here to explore just where the rights of modders lay, both with respect to the original developer and with respect to one another. The most complete account I've been able to find is here, which boils down to the person who compiled and released Morrowind 2011 didn't have permission from any of the people who created the original mods in the package. I suggest everyone read both the article and the comments, as they summarize most of the points made by both sides of this debate. He did go to great lengths to put the package together and, more importantly, all of the documentation on how to make the mods work together, as apparently Morrowind mods can be a bit unruly. When credits were added to the package, the mod makers were still unhappy, and many words like "illegal" were thrown out on the table. The mod pack has been pulled, but there's been quite a bit of legal analysis thrown out by both the Morrowind 2011 side and the mod makers side. Since mod rights can be a complex issue, this seemed like a good time to discuss the mod issue.
Morrowind 2011 mod pack pulled after modders raise concerns
Just a few short days after its public release, Tyler Smith's Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind graphical update, the "Morrowind 2011" mod, is under attack, its torrent link blocked after Smith received threats of legal action from modders whose work was appropriated for the pack. Though Smith admits there were issues with how content was credited in the initial release, he insists the credits were being updated. Modders claimed on the Bethesda forums (in a thread that has since been removed) that their work was being used illegally and without their permission. "The real problem here, however, was that when the package came out, a few modders (myself included) contacted the compiler and simply asked for [him] to a) ask permission to use the mods and b) remove ones that he couldn't get permission for," one modder, who preferred not to be named, told Joystiq. "Just a bit of respect for the modders who put their time and effort in, and most of us would've given permission if asked." Smith, who has chronicled the ordeal on his blog, seemed to have little hope that a resolution between he and the miffed modders would be reached. Though he has blocked the original torrent link, he admits it's possible that Morrowind 2011 could be redistributed by others. "In the end I'm just very disappointed that I wasn't given a chance to correct the issues with the package, as I knew there were issues that were [in the process of being] fixed/updated," Smith told us. "But the file is out on the internet, and it will be very hard for anyone to remove it from all the sites."
'Morrowind 2011' mod done, gorgeous, now available [update]
It's funny, no matter how hard you try, there always seems to be a "new year" adjustment period. Just today, we were buying groceries and we put "The Year Before The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Came Out" as the date! Can you imagine? The clerk looked at us like we were crazy, and who can blame her? Though it is, in fact, the year that Skyrim is set to arrive, we've still got a touch over 10 months of waiting ahead of us. In the interim, we're going to be biding our time with modder Warwon's "Morrowind 2011" mod compendium (which you can see in action just after the break). That is, we would be, if Warwon weren't still in the process of looking for a host for the 4GB pack, which overhauls the environments in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with beautifully modern graphics. Great, so now we're waiting for both of them. Double waiting. Could The Year that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Comes Out Barring Any Delays possibly be off to a worse start? Update: You can follow along with the project at the official site here. And it's live there right now!
