Hello everyone,

I read through every text I can find for this place but I cannot find anywhere explaining the policy for copyrights.

My question is...
can I copy the works of the creators and use them in other avenues?

I presume I can copy and...
I will need to attach the creators name to their work
I do not need their permission
I would not be allowed to make a profit

Can anybody answer my question and confirm or deny my presumptions?

My understanding is that the author of any created work - which would includes games on the web site - automatically owns the copyright, and you would therefore have to ask permission of the respective author, unless there is a notice in the blurb or game saying otherwise.

I understand. Why is there no expression of such things on the entire http://textadventures.co.uk/ site? Many types of sites that cater to freely give to the public and usually all that is asked for is the recognition of the property but cryptically, here, they say nothing, nothing at all. No information in the help section, nothing on the home page, nothing. No one ever questioned?

Hello.

Are you just talking about the Quest software?

Or are you talking about copying the text from someone's game and using that in your own game?

At first I thought you were talking about copying text from someone else's game, but now I think maybe you're talking about Quest's code?

Why is there no expression of such things on the entire http://textadventures.co.uk site?

Because it's not a site policy.

The site just distributes games which are created by its users. It is up to each user to decide on the terms for any particular game.

Unless the author of any given game specifies a copyright license (in the description orbin the game itself), the site owners shouldn't speculate on what the license might be; in some jurisdictions it's illegal to give legal advice unless you're a lawyer.

So your best option is probably to contact the author of the specific content you want to copy.

K.V.
I am talking about the text from someone's game and using that in my own game. I would use it in a mod for a game.

mrangel
Interesting, you say that in some jurisdictions it's illegal to give legal advice unless you're a layer. That means they cannot even publicly state that they don't want their text part of the game distributed without being a lawyer themselves or then would need to have a licensed lawyer to word it for them? That sounds crazy! So in that circumstance, the owner of the text cannot state somewhere to not use their work without first needing to oblige to those conditions mentioned above? This kinda blows my mind. Yeah, I guess if such things can be this way and this site which is http://textadventures.co.uk/ says nothing about not using authors text, because this site only distributes text games as you say with no responsibility to explain what kind of legal expectations I should expect, really they say nothing there is nothing to explain what they expect from you, then I guess I should make sure and ask the author. What a weird open ended situation. All these texts of literature on http://textadventures.co.uk/ and nothing to tell you about what you can do with them. There are plenty of repository sites, like open source software sites, that are distributors and says that the website is made for open source distribution clearly telling you what kind of distributor it is, for example https://archive.org/ and so on and so on. Most of these text authors have put nothing in writing about what they expect from you when people like me play their games. Someone less scrupulous than I, would just see a free opportunity and grab it for their own use and leave it for the courts to decide. This would not be the way I would do things, I would protect myself with wording from the gecko as a deterrent, even if it is just the first layer of protection. Most of these authors say nothing.

The owner of the text can say whatever they want; they're allowing you to view their intellectual property, and they're allowed to put conditions on that. In the absence of an explicit declaration by the creator, the rules about what you can do are determined by a pretty complex body of law and legal precedent; and providing specific guidance about what the law means is generally taken to be legal advice.

A lot of sites do have their own licenses. They might say that all games on the site are public domain; or creative commons; or need attribution. When they do that, they're making it a condition of uploading stuff. A creator has to agree to that in order to upload a game to one of those sites. The upside of that is that it's easier to find out what rights you have. The downside is that it puts off creators, because they might not like the set of terms you've chosen.

Law is weird; especially copyright law. The path of least resistance is to say that it's between the creator and the user to agree what kind of usage is okay. There are some situations in which the law might give you extra rights (like parody as fair use), but you shouldn't rely on that unless you're sure.

In most cases, the best advice is to ask the creator.

This is the only place I can find anything:

https://textadventures.co.uk/submit/submitfile

mrangel
your last reply helped me to further expand my understanding. It helped, thank you.

K.V.
Thank you very much for your latest reply. Pasting the expectations from this site https://textadventures.co.uk/ for me to see, clearly answers my question. As I have not submitted any text works of my own, I can see how I could have missed it. From the link that you provided, the information seems to be within the submit section.

I can see how I could have missed it. From the link that you provided, the information seems to be within the submit section.

Yeah. . .

I was thinking the same thing.

Just curious, Odo,

I don’t really
Know what this means:

“ I would use it in a mod for a game.”

Forgive my ignorance.

XanMag
I would take the authors text adventure and implement it in a mod. a mod is short for modification, where you plug the mod in a game. So for instance, I presume we all heard of Minecraft, which is a game. People then would create mods for that game (usually they are free and are made by fans for fans). The developers of Minecraft can, for example and if they so choose, make Minecraft mod friendly which means they intentionally coded a mod friendly method within Minecraft for people to easily be able to modify how the game functions. These mods add or change the behavior of things within Minecraft. A person can create a mod, plug it in Minecraft and that mod would add, let us say, a sword that can be found or crafted but was never originally in the game to begin with.

My plan is to create a mod, not for Minecraft that is, for another game. This mod will add text adventures. It will be in the form of books and these books can be found in the game. I expect no compensation and am not seeking it. I am just a fan trying to make a mod for fans for free and to heighten the enjoyment of the game.

Okay. Thanks for the explanation. As an author I would appreciate a shout out either in the credits, game description page, or, at the least, an “I’m going to use your game. Is that cool?” I’d actually like people to use or reference my games more often. It’s a little disheartening to spend months, or years, on a game and it disappears into the abyss. So, my opinion, ask and use!

I would be tremendously pissed off if someone took months of my work and uploaded it as part of another game, and would seek every avenue possible to get that taken down.

If you want to create a mod for a game that works as a text adventure, then create it yourself - don't just take someone else's work and insert it into another game. It's not only immoral, it's also theft and possible copyright infringement (whether you intend to profit from it or not is irrelevant).

In short - no, don't do it.

There doesn't need to be an explicit rule for this site, it's simple common sense - no, you can't steal someone else's work without seeking their permission first or (where applicable) buying a license to use it.