Cry me a river, if you mod you should expect other people to use your work.  The point is to create an awesome mod for people to enjoy.  Modding communities are there to make the average player's experience better, not to feed the ego's of some overly sensitive individuals. The point is, don't be an idiot and let others acquire your modding files before you release your mod.  That means no early posting because you blow your load early and get too excited.

Anyways, i'm paraphrasing the reasoning behind the laws as they stand, don't shoot the messenger.  I for one don't think they need to be changed, because if they do the laws will be changed to get rid of modding alltogether.

The idiots who introduced SOPA will get smarter and find ways to push their agenda forward without the glare of public scrutiny.  Beware who's viewpoint you support if you are against SOPA, our politicians aren't capable of making reasonable legislation when it comes to the internet.

I see the word "Beta" right there, and that was the only statement I had a problem with, dude....

Right...but people taking assets from a game you made and getting them for free wouldn't?  Anyway, you chose to get pissy about people modding the beta all on your own right, nobody provoked you man...and just so you know where I stand on the issue...

RANGE LOCKED IN

To be clear, the main problem we have with people modding in betas is just that it diverts the focus from what we're trying to get tested, and may cause issues to arise that don't under stock configurations (which also boils down to diverting focus from things that impact the stock product). If you just tinker around and keep it to yourself until we request modding feedback or the game goes final (so as to not distract from the beta's focuses), and weren't planning on participating in the beta otherwise, there's not really much harm done there.

As to redistribution of assets, I'll make myself clearer. Pulling assets from a new product and backporting them for others to use for free in an earlier one is a very clear cut case of copyright infringement, and that's not acceptable under any circumstance. Access to said assets is part of the selling point of the newer product.

Adding cut beta assets back into the final game (beta Kol, etc) is a different matter and is bit of a gray area. But generally so long as they're only being released for the same or later version as they were intended for, we probably won't mind that.

Modding is no less subject to copyright than any other creative work (excepting extreme EULAs). Ripping off other people's efforts is a detriment to the community; it causes fights and discourages the people actually creating new content from modding further. And it makes you look like a petty jerk.

This statement might make sense if i've actually ever ripped off anything from a modder(which I haven't).  So save your missapropriated comments for someone actually doing something wrong.  Also an emotional response isn't conducive to having a rational conversation. 

As for being "petty" and a "jerk", i just smile at these.   You have a lack of proper proportion and don't seem to understand that EVERYONE is petty at times, that EVERYONE can is a jerk at times.  What you fail to understand is WHY i chose to be a jerk at this point in time to sinperium.

Stealing other people's mod work is a totally bitch move, i agree here.  I wouldn't do it.  Your assumption that I would says a lot about who you are, as during the conversation this was never discussed.  Just because someone takes up a position and defends it doesn't mean that you can assume they are the extreme of that position themselves.  Therefore your perception of them can be applied as an assumption.  When you assume you make an ASS out of U and ME.

Your position still doesn't negate the fact that EULA's are largely untested in court and therefore a "toilet paper defense".

And no, modding isn't the same as dealing with copyrighted/trademarked/etc. material, because even though you "feel" that your work is your own, its IP that you have developed and therefore you will have to fork over the cash to really defend it. 

A wealthy modder is not one you want to steal work from, but a poor modder really doesn't have the resources because they have the means to defend themselves.  I bet most of your modders aren't wealthy and couldn't afford legal representation, which is why it comes down to forum spats with moderators hurrying to calm things down so the entire community doesn't get destroyed.

Modding is a legal gray area that I would prefer to continue to exist.  All of these pro SOPA types will effectively kill free development and free business if they attempt to limit 3rd party free development.  I find it funny that the entertainment industry wants tougher controls on IP so they can increase revenue(via preventing revenue lost), yet at the same time they will alienate a much larger portion of their consumer base because the ability to participate and revel in their creations would be so limited.  So in effect, Kill the extremely profitable word of mouth advertising to achieve a short term temporary increase in sales.  Everyone knows (or should know) how expensive advertising is these days...  

Game companies that support SOPA in particular aren't really aware about how much free feedback really helps them stay on target so they actually do have a revenue stream in the first place.  Perhaps our society should become fully mercenary and gamers will start heavily charging companies for beta testing.  You could kiss your profit margin goodbye.

Does stardock support the ideas behind SOPA, kryo?

BTW...modding isn't a grey area.  It's an area many game companies allow but which the law completely empowers them to prevent if they so choose.

Most game companies--especially strategy games and the like--encourage modding.  On the other hand, start a WoW mod with exported models from the game and see how long it is before Blizzard contacts you.

Companies ask for bills like SOPA when they feel they are unable to prevent the theft of their online property and will lose control of their business models and plans (and some are just plain greedy too) and when they feel they have no control over detrimental actions by their user bases.

When you say, "modding is a grey area" what really gets said is, "I'm not convinced they have the right to control the content they produce if I want it."

For the 'tards!

If you post it, they will come.