Malfador Patches, Additions, and Player Mods

[ckotchey]

As I'm learning about this game, seeing new patches and additions come from Malfador, and seeing the many player mods/enhancements out there, I've been thinking....
It would be pretty easy for Malfador to absorb just about any suggestion, modification, improvement, etc., into future patches of of the game. While some might applaud such a thing - after all, it'd be nice for the game to be improved (especially from what I've seen in player AI modifications) - no matter how or who did the improving, but it could also become a sticky point, should the originator of the mod put up a big stink about Malfador stealing their work and thereby profiting from it.
The relationship between Malfador and their fans seems to be a good one, but that doesn't always ensure "safety" from such things occurring. I've heard in the past of companies making blanket statements like "anything you tell us become our property" or "please don't tell us anything, so we don't become 'poluted' by your ideas".
What I'm getting at here is to drum up a little debate on such issues - after all, if all these player mods out there really make the AI smarter and the game better, then I for one would like these improvements to become part of the base game, and not an ad-hoc mod. But if they are incorporated into the game, when does it become plagiarism and therefore possibly liable?

[Phoenix-D]

Modders that raise a stink don't have a leg to stand on, I think.

And most of the mods out there are *far* from "ad-hoc".

Phoenix-D

[geoschmo]

Seeing as the mod is useless without the game anyway I don't see how anyone could complain.

[disabled]

It all depends if credit is given or not.

For example, the SE4 Gold CD contains many mods made by fans - but credit is given in the manual and in the game.

If MM didn't give credit, I would be furious - as a modder myself.

[Ed Kolis]

Since almost all modders are working "pro bono" (i.e. they are freely distributing their mods and are not charging money for them - Hadrian, aren't you working on a mod that you're going to sell? Or did that project fall through?), I doubt that they would complain if MM "borrowed" their ideas - after all it would just be extra distribution, which would certainly make ME happy, don't know about the rest of you modders

[oleg]

Actually, I think MM is in fact too shy about incorporating fan's mods. For example, I do not see the reason why TDM AI is not part of "official" SEIV