So I'm kinda worried about plagiarism.

[ryskaru]

 

 

For the past months is has been an obsession of mine to race my way to the most authentic looking <insert my favourite fictional characters here> Skyrim presets I could do. 

Initially it was hard for me to publicize my work because I just wanted it to be by me and for me. 

Once I crossed that line of publishing, I knew I could not take em back. 

 

Funny thing is that I found earlier versions mirrored on a Japanese site and a re-upload on a Chinese website (yes they did credit me) with tenfold more downloads than on NexusMods. 

 

My main worry... is that if I ever do remove them from the interwebz, someone uploads and gets all the credit. 

I'm not searching for some solution necessarily but I would like to talk about it maybe hear some replies from mod authors who felt the same like me. 

 

 

[TheOrcInHeels]

You can always try to add a cryptographic signature to the mod. Something like:

1. You publish the message 'I am <the modder> and I published <the mod>.' in some reliable public site that shows the timestamp of the post.
2. You cryptographically sign the previous message and publish the signature besides the message.
3. You add the link to the site in the mod, i.e. in MCM.

Plagiarists can always edit the mod and remove the link, but you can always cryptographically probe it was you who wrote that in that site at that time.

 

Another idea, you can publish the (cryptographic) hashes of the zip files of the different versions so you can state that those are yours and others are not.

[gregathit]

1.  Nothing is ever removed from the internet.  If you upload it, count on it being around forever.  Thinking otherwise is just being stupid.  Google Paris Hilton if you need an example.

2.  Look at things with the glass half full approach, if folks are copying you, then you have created something worthwhile.  No one copies a turd.  I found a Russian website that had copied a mod that I made.  I posted in the thread that I was delighted it was translated into Russian.  The translator and I (as well as the site admin) then had a dialog about the mod and the work that he had to do to translate it and without me even asking for it, suddenly a link back to my mod appeared to credit me for my work.  Can't say this will always happen, but demanding they take your mod down or credit you works a lot less.  Especially to a Russian or Chinese website.  Sending them a take down demand letter is a waste of time.

3.  If you are modding to get likes and credit, then stop modding.  PERIOD.  Make stuff for yourself and that is it.  Modding for likes will end badly.  There is proof of this all over the place.

 

At the end of the day, you'll need to make up your own mind.

 

[27X]

3 hours ago, ryskaru said:

most authentic looking <insert my favourite fictional characters here>

is already plagiarism.

 

'when I do it, it's original content of masterstroke genius, when you do it, stop copies me grampaz gitarz'

 

The irony is physically palpable.

 

25 minutes ago, gregathit said:

3.  If you are modding to get likes and credit, then stop modding.  PERIOD.  Make stuff for yourself and that is it.  Modding for likes will end badly.  There is proof of this all over the place.

^²

This is the simple truth of it.

 

It's Skyrim, someone will steal your mod and charge for it, and people >here< will buy it and then make upvote whore picture galleries out of it and also get super mad when you call them on it.

[landess]

Imagine the poor soul whom created a one and a zero.....

[RomeoZero]

Internet itself is the Irony.

[ryskaru]

13 hours ago, 27X said:

is already plagiarism.

 

'when I do it, it's original content of masterstroke genius, when you do it, stop copies me grampaz gitarz'

 

The irony is physically palpable.

I disagree. Plagiarism is when someone takes credit for someone else's work.

 

Modeling a character takes a hell of a lot time and effort just as any other mod - and who created a mod of a character conceived by somebody else is not plagiarism, it's just their version of the character. 

 

In my case, Obviously I am not friggen Hideo Kojima or Yoji Shinkawa.

 

Even if I did the character to perfection, to the closest millimiter, I still replicated it myself. If you just copied and pasted the original content from another game then that is an ethical breach. 

 

Quote

^²

This is the simple truth of it.

 

It's Skyrim, someone will steal your mod and charge for it, and people >here< will buy it and then make upvote whore picture galleries out of it and also get super mad when you call them on it.

 

You sound kinda bitter, but okay. I'll still try to defend what is mine. 

[ryskaru]

14 hours ago, v48342 said:

You can always try to add a cryptographic signature to the mod. Something like:

1. You publish the message 'I am <the modder> and I published <the mod>.' in some reliable public site that shows the timestamp of the post.
2. You cryptographically sign the previous message and publish the signature besides the message.
3. You add the link to the site in the mod, i.e. in MCM.

Plagiarists can always edit the mod and remove the link, but you can always cryptographically probe it was you who wrote that in that site at that time.

 

Another idea, you can publish the (cryptographic) hashes of the zip files of the different versions so you can state that those are yours and others are not.

Mmm I don't know the technicality of your words but I already 'signed' by writing my NexusMods username on the description for example.

[ryskaru]

14 hours ago, gregathit said:

1.  Nothing is ever removed from the internet.  If you upload it, count on it being around forever.  Thinking otherwise is just being stupid.  Google Paris Hilton if you need an example.

2.  Look at things with the glass half full approach, if folks are copying you, then you have created something worthwhile.  No one copies a turd.  I found a Russian website that had copied a mod that I made.  I posted in the thread that I was delighted it was translated into Russian.  The translator and I (as well as the site admin) then had a dialog about the mod and the work that he had to do to translate it and without me even asking for it, suddenly a link back to my mod appeared to credit me for my work.  Can't say this will always happen, but demanding they take your mod down or credit you works a lot less.  Especially to a Russian or Chinese website.  Sending them a take down demand letter is a waste of time.

3.  If you are modding to get likes and credit, then stop modding.  PERIOD.  Make stuff for yourself and that is it.  Modding for likes will end badly.  There is proof of this all over the place.

 

At the end of the day, you'll need to make up your own mind.

 

I don't think people do mods without wanting a bit of appreciation and recognition for what they did, but I get what you mean and I agree. Not to invest oneself too much in anything and counts for most things in life. 

[ryskaru]

Anyway I really appreciate all of your replies, people. 

[TheOrcInHeels]

4 hours ago, ryskaru said:

Mmm I don't know the technicality of your words but I already 'signed' by writing my NexusMods username on the description for example.

I mean asymmetric cryptography. The signature is created with a private key that only you have, everyone can validate it with the public key, the fact that you can sign later anything with the same private key proves that you have that private key and then that you are the one who said 'I am <author> and made <mod>'. Once it has been proved that you wrote that before the plagiarist published it, people can conclude that your version is prior and that you are probably the original author.