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

[ckotchey]

Sorry, bad choice of words on my part (i.e. "ad-hoc") in trying to simply state that they are not part of the "base game" that everyone has. I do realize that a lot of effort is put into these mods, in both developing and balancing them.
I'm actually trying to imply the opposite - obviously the TDM mods of the MM-written AI's are praised by everyone. Since they're simply mods to the original races, it should be obvious to everyone that they are indeed better than the stock races, and therefore should be "adopted" once and for all by Malfador.
The question I'm posing, is that if the DID adopt them, would the modders be flattered by such a move, or upset that their work was being stolen (and thus, would such a possibility be what hinders such adoptions).

[DavidG]

If MM 'stole' their work I would think they would be upset. If on the other hand they asked the modder for permission to use their stuff and gave due credit I would think they would be flatterd. I would certainly be flattered if my modding program was included on an SE4 CD.

[dogscoff]

I would certainly be flattered if my modding program was included on an SE4 CD.

Of course, there won't *be* any more SE4 CDs - When Gold came out we were definitively told that there would be no subsequent platinum Version or anything else Version. Maybe when SEV comes out and SE4 goes budget...

However, a cool idea would be a mods & extras CD. Every 6 months or so, all the major mods, races, support programs, patches, weblinks, documents, fiction and choice shrapnel threads could be bundled up onto a CD and distributed to subscribing members of the community. No SEIV Version on the disc, just a load of "peripherals". It would save a lot of download time for those of us on dialup, and make life much easier when a re-install was necessary. (also, I wouldn't have to back all that stuff up all the time.)

Given that most or all of the content would be freeware, it would be a little odd for whoever to charge more than cost for it, but I suppose you could charge for the effort of compiling all that stuff in the first place. It sounds like a lot of work for little return though, so I doubt it would happen, but it's a nice idea=-)

[gregebowman]

I like that idea. I wouldn't mind paying a low fee for a disk full of extras like that. Maybe quarterly?