Game Textues

with all the talk recently on this and other forums about copyrights, DMCA, fair use etc in regard to SL creation.

I saw for sale the texture rips from the game "stalker" and was wondering what peoples thoughts on things such as this are.

I have seen all over rips from other games, half life 2 been a prominent one, and while, for those games that release their texture packs, giving them away for a pittance a pack just to recoup upload costs is fine... personally, I have a bit more of an issue when it comes to actually selling them to make a profit, a couple of times I've been tempted to upload them myself and give them away as freebies... but.. that would just be vindictive .... grins

if they've been modded sufficiently (I'll admit this is totally based on ones own perspective) enough to make it their own work can understand them selling them

I am all for people making L$ from their own work, I do have issues persoanlly with them selling ripped textures.

I would add texture CD's in here, but with most of the permissions on the good ones, selling the textures themselves is against the creators TOS except as part of another creation

I agree.

Ripping textures from video games is absolutely a violation of copyright. Don't do it, and don't buy or otherwise accept textures from anyone who has. It's completely wrong, legally and morally. Respect the rights of the talented individuals who created and own those textures. Don't steal from them.

I've seen ripped textures in SL and elsewhere many times, and it makes me sick to my stomach every time. I've ended up in no small number of heated arguments with people who engage in such theft. Those people disgust me, and I don't mind saying so.

At the very least, steer clear of such things. Do not accept textures from those people, lest you become complicit in their crimes. Or if you're more conscientious, report the infringement to the rightful owner of the copyrighted material, so they can handle it as they see fit.



Usually when games release texture packs, they're intended for use in mods of the games themselves, not for any other purpose. Taking such textures and using them in SL or elsewhere would be a violation of copyright. Unless a particular pack comes with a license that expressly says you can use the textures for whatever you want (I've never seen one that has), you can't. Just about every one I've ever seen has made it very clear that they're for use with the level editors that come with the games, not for anything else.

The question of whether or not the textures are being sold for profit is highly secondary. Copyright is not about sales. It's about protecting intellectual property from unauthorized distribution of any kind. Whether stolen IP or gives it away for free, it's just as stolen, and the thief is is equally guilty of having distributed it illegally either way. If he/she has made money in the process, then he/she is likely in for harsher punishment if the matter were to go to court, but they copyright infringement itself is the same crime whether the thief made any money from it or not.



It wouldn't just be vindictive; it would be incredibly stupid. Basically you'd be playing "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em", as you would be becoming a copyright infringer yourself.

Think about who you'd really be harming were you to do that. The thief might lose some revenue, sure, but that's nothing compared to what you'd be costing the rightful owner of the textures. The owner and only the owner has the right to decide whether his/her textures should be given away for free, or sold, or not distributed at all. You don't get to have any say in it. If you do, you will have committed a crime.



There's no such thing as "modded sufficiently". If you take someone else's work, and modify it, you will have create a derivative work, not a new original work. Derivative works of copyrighted materials have the same protections as the originals they were sourced from. They cannot be distributed without the consent of the owner of the original copyright.



Again, I'll stress, whether they're selling them or giving them away free, it's equally wrong. I try to report it whenever I encounter it. I would encourage every other conscientious person to do the same.


As I mentioned a minute ago, that's usually how it is with game texture packs as well. If you use the textures as part of a sanctioned mod, you can distribute the mod. But you can't distribute the textures independently.

I once used ALOT of Half-Life 2 textures. Then one day, someone stole clothing that I had made, was reselling it and taking all the credit.

Another day, I went to Valve (creators of Half Life franchise) for game testing. I've got A LOT of respect for them, and I know if one of the guys I'd met had any idea, SL would be having some serious issues right now. I don't think they'd hesitate to go after LL for it.

It's completely wrong in the fact that they are being resold on prefabs and as textures by themselves. The SL residents using them 99% of the time give ABSOLUTELY NO CREDIT to the original creators at Valve, or whatever company the game may stem from. I no longer use them, and find my art skills greatly improving as well. I've got a ton of new techniques for creating rusty/grungy/urban textures.

Also, using textures from video games and reselling them is completely lazy. I've got a hard time looking at builds using Half-Life 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Max Payne textures ripped directly from the games. It's completely wrong, and especially lazy.

alot of the game makers do infact allow you to reproduce their work as "fan art" but totally not for resale

if you want to make a megaman shrine in SL, capcom will probally put you in their company news letter under the "gee whiz" section

the second you decide to provide it for compensation is where it becomes wrong and sickening, weather you decide to make a mario castle for money, or in trade for that uber pair of shoes, your benefiting from someone elses design and quite often work (really come on it takes like 5 seconds to rip a game image and stick it on a cube and call it a castle)

Capcom as mentioned does not really care as long as its in the area of fan art, and your not selling it

Microsoft on the other hand allows you to use their franchises (ie HALO), so you can make all the halo crap you want, but you cannot use ANY microsoft created material, so if your ripping skins your out of bounds, ... if your making Master Chief from scratch as a SL avatar, creating your own logos (no screenshots) ect AND your not selling it, your ok

All of valves textures and lots of other games come from " Marlin Studios " who have infact got a rep in secondlife. Who actually had lots of stolen content removed from big texture stores.

glad you mentioned the marlin ones, as those were kind the ones I was reffering to in the texture CD Bit, I actually own em and do use them in some of my builds,and have been quite pissy when friends have come up to me saying they spent 100l on just ONE of those textures.

in response to chosen, I agree totally, with the caveat that I honestly believe if approached properly, the companies that have released their texture packs, please not release themselves, not just some bugger ripping them.. grins... I honestly think other than selling the textures themselves, getting permission to use them inworld and on builds and such would probably be forthcoming. Without that permission though, no, I agree,shouldn't be using them at all, and personally I don't. Only use textures I've created myself, or ones I own the right to use in builds.