mikejkelley

mikejkelley joined Sep 11, 2004

I'm mikejkelley, currently living in Asia.

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Blog RSS Feed Report abuse Latest Blog: An open letter to the moddb.com staff

0 comments by mikejkelley on Mar 8th, 2008 digg this super bookmark

I've recently researched and written an article regarding copyright infringement as it applies to modding (and, briefly, the legal repercussions of hosting copyright-infringing materials). I completed it with the input of several lawyers and a professional game designer.

I realize that the "soapbox" feature's establishment is probably not coincidental with the "IP in mods" debate and that the article may seem a good candidate for inclusion in the "soapbox" feature. However, as the article contains a much higher ratio of legal citation than opinion (it contains a singular conclusion that is the reflection of a multitude of statutes and legal precedents), putting it in an oped feature would tend to undermine the amount of research and professional input it includes. As a result I would only be willing to let it run as a feature.

I'm sure the staff and users of moddb.com are just as concerned as I am about the survivability of modding. Hopefully, understanding the legal repercussions of making and distributing copyright infringing materials will result in change for the better and help to ensure the survivability of modding for years to come.

Mikejkelley.com

Thanks for your time and consideration and I hope to see the article featured soon.

Sincerely,

Michael Kelley

Groups

3D Artists Group

Established Nov 21, 2007 With 123 members, must apply to join arts & literature group

Are you a 3D artist, are you looking for some talent or just want to collaborate or know who your fellow ModDB artists are. Doesn't matter what application...

Anime Fans of modDB

Established Nov 12, 2007 With 71 members, open to all members arts & literature group

This group has been formed to gather the people who enjoy Japanese anime and all of its facets, to salute the people from the land of the Rising Sun.

Lone Modders

Established Nov 22, 2007 With 7 members, must apply to join development & publishing group

A group for anti-social compulsive types. Lone Modders do it alone!

Musicians at ModDB

Established Nov 21, 2007 With 54 members, open to all members arts & literature group

This group is for all the musicians at ModDB. I place to show off their work and to discuss music. You could also ask for help for a song or give suggestions...

Old Timers

Established Nov 09, 2007 With 59 members, must apply to join official group

For all the old skool modders that have stuck by Mod DB from v1 to v4. A lot has changed as over the years as the site moved from a dark v1 to a bright...

Original Game Creators

Established Nov 19, 2007 With 8 members, must apply to join development & publishing group

Truly dedicated to the "make something different" ethos of modding, members of the Original Game Creators refuse to use other people's intellectual property...

Undertone: Music and Sound Team

Established Nov 10, 2007 With 59 members, must apply to join arts & literature group

Undertone is a music and sound based team. A "guild" of musicians in the mod scene. If your mod is in need of sound engineers or composers to create full...

Zero SFX

Established Jan 05, 2008 With 25 members, open to all members arts & literature company

Zero SFX is an Audio Production Company based in Seattle/Marysville WA. If you are looking for Audio Production for Games or film look no further. Feel...

Comments (40 - 50 of 107)

Aeneas2020 Dec 25 2007, 9:17am says:

thanks mate, well you can just buy it via steam and dload it...well i used fraps but there is a program (and i believe a command line) in the unreal 2.0 engine that allows you to capture about 30 screenshots per second and string them together for a film. thats much better quality. I'll look into it though.

+1 vote reply to comment

Aeneas2020 Dec 24 2007, 9:42pm says:

Check out the New DH trailer on our mod profile and Merry Xmas once again buddy

+1 vote reply to comment

Aeneas2020 Dec 24 2007, 10:31am says:

and Merry Christmas to you

+1 vote reply to comment

Halloween4 Dec 24 2007, 9:58am says:

It's O.K mate iNtence sorted it out for me....Cheers anyway.

+1 vote reply to comment

Halloween4 Dec 24 2007, 9:50am says:

Could you just make sure that you have given me full access, as a group leader, as I still can't access my mod profile, & without this I won't be able to remove my mod from all the other members profiles.....cheers

+1 vote reply to comment

Halloween4 Dec 24 2007, 9:27am says:

A very strange thing seems to be happening mate, I don't know if it's a bug or what, but I can't seem to remove my mod from the groups mod listings as I seem to not have permission, even when I was a group leader ( did you give me fall access then ), as when I opened up my mod to the group I lost the right to edit my mods profile.

& if I leave the group, & re_join it dosen't seem to work either as my mod still comes up as a lone modders project, & on leaving the group I loose my mod from my mod listing completely.

So can you make me a group leader again but this time make sure that I have full rights just so I can sort this problem out...Thanks

+1 vote reply to comment

mikejkelley Dec 24 2007, 9:46am replied:

Keep in mind it says you have to log out and in for the changes (permission settings) to take effect. I made sure to give you rwr permissions re: mods.

I have my suspicions though that it may be one of those features (like comments) that you can't edit or delete yet... I don't seem to be able to either.

+2 votes reply to comment

Halloween4 Dec 24 2007, 9:12am says:

Sorry i'm having problems with gaining full access to my mod again & removing it for the group, could you please re_enlist me to the group once again mate, as I'm trying to sort things out & had to cancell my membership again in the process of doing so.....SORRY

+1 vote reply to comment

Halloween4 Dec 24 2007, 8:54am says:

That was quick, cheers mate & i'll raise a glass to you for Christmas dude...;)

All the best.

+1 vote reply to comment

Halloween4 Dec 24 2007, 8:47am says:

Also, Maddieman has only listed his mod with all of the groups members so that I could get access to it, so I could upload something for him on Christmas eve ( i.e his Chrismas mod ), which he is unable to do for himself as he has gone to stay with his folks for the holidays.

But he has imformed me that he will be removing it again once this is done as he dosn't want to keep the mod open to the whole group to be able to edit. So don't forget to re_enlist me with the LM group so that I can do this favor for Maddieman, & so that he can then remove his mod from other members listings.

+1 vote reply to comment