Morals

Sure, the EULA of Blizzard says all maps are theirs, right?

Let's go through a quick lowdown of existing copyright laws.

-Copyright laws take effect the moment the existing publication is brought into existance. Ie. saving the map.

-EULA's cannot be bound to minors, as they are below the age of 18. They cannot go into contract.

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(assuming you are under 18)

You agree to the EULA, and make a reasonably popular map.

After a while, as with all maps, it's dying. Except, someone comes to you at the last moment and asks kindly if he can make a special version for his friends at InvisionFree.

You agree.

You then realize, since formatting your computer to CentOS 3.x linux, and then formatting back, for no real reason, that you no longer have an unprotected version. Once of your teammates does though. He's actually improved on it! /clap

You tell him to contact your teammate for the UP and he says ok, and the convo is over.


It is generally understood by both parties that proper credits should be given.
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At a later date, you realize you'd like to see some of the triggering changes he's made in the map and such, to approve it before release. He's shown quite a bit of improvement, and even mocked you in certain posts. While inappropriate, it's not enough to cause you to get very angry.

You casually post in his message board: "Hi. I was just thinking, I'd really like to see how the map is going before it is released. Can you send me an UP copy when you're done."

He immediately refuses and tells you to buzz off.
You go through hell and high water, 3 AIM convos, and are now sick of him. He blames his anger on the "past 2 weeks sucking."
This, and the lack of respect, has made you mad.

You're ready to try anything to get his hands off your map. You send a well-written letter to InvisionFree explaining the situation fully, and they remove the topics and anything related to the map you made.

He still, however, insists he should have the map and will continue development.



To make a long story short, it goes on.
Am I right in what I'm doing? I'm not trying to make a legal argument, just preserve what I believe is morally mine, and should remain that way.

Post to our AIM convos, he has revoked all credit to myself in his map, however, left my fellow team members on it.


To the few who have caught on and said "Wait a fucking minute, this isn't hypothetical, it's real.":

Yep, it's real all right, with the map series named "Curse of the Magi RP" or short "CotM." The actual perpetrator is Pheonix-IV.

I don't want to incite any flames, just opinions and thoughts on the matter.

Well if he is really improving the map you should only be happy. But abusing or mocking original creator... that guy must not be respecting himself.

Its me, i never mocked TBM. I only called him childish after he started whinging at me and insulting me.

I notice TBM that you also failed to include the events leading up to your removal from the credits.

I further notice that apparantly i told you to buzz off and that i refused to give you the map. Not true, i just refused to give you what i had created from scratch, and did, in fact, give you the raw JASS script in the end.

If your going to put this kind of thing to the test, please have the decency to put the entire story, not just the parts you like.

Also, i sincerely doubt that Blizzard, along with hundreds of other companies would have left a hole that big in their EULA.

I posted as much of the story as I could type. I viewed simple things as minor and did not include them, as if I did, this thread would be 1.98 MB large, like our long AIM convo, and nobody would read it.

Also, what good is JASS if it's
a) missing triggers (purposefully? I dont know)
b) missing all text actions
c) harder to read, and harder to send over
d) you could just give GUI...

Also, every EULA has that problem, it just can't be bound to a minor as minors cannot go into contract.

I don't see any reason to split the problem in two threads, Am I able to close?

Yeah, wipe out whichever one you feel appropriate and add the first post of the closed one to the opened thread. I didnt notice this one when i posted the other.