05-25-2010, 08:41 PM
This thread has nothing specifically to do with Black Marsh but morcroft recently raised this issue and it interested me. I'm sure I learned something about this in the past but didn't really enquire in any depth.
As I understand it, mods are something known to students of media as 'free creativity' but the term is problematic when you consider what is free and how free it is. We're free to create mods (that's what construction sets are there for) but how much of our mods do we really own? Do we own the intellectual copyright over our ideas? Or are we simply an unpaid branch of Bethesda undertaking marginal work on the fringes of their original concept?
If we do create something very original, how much of that original design are we able to use and get paid for? As we develop our work under the Elder Scrolls label, is everything that we do consumed by Bethesda and the gaming industry?
As mentioned elsewhere, I dislike working under the jurisdiction of lore since it shackles real creativity and yet often it combines with the lore and helps to create something startlingly original. This is an example of synergy at work or, in biological terms, symbiosis. If I were to do this (create an original idea blended with ES lore) and take it elsewhere, would I be in line to be prosecuted by Bethesda? Or would it just be a case of removing the context that relates to their creation i.e. everything to do with Tamriel?
It's a case of 'intellectual copyright' but the very idea of intellectual copyright seems a slippery one to my mind. Any thoughts in relation to these ramblings are welcome....
As I understand it, mods are something known to students of media as 'free creativity' but the term is problematic when you consider what is free and how free it is. We're free to create mods (that's what construction sets are there for) but how much of our mods do we really own? Do we own the intellectual copyright over our ideas? Or are we simply an unpaid branch of Bethesda undertaking marginal work on the fringes of their original concept?
If we do create something very original, how much of that original design are we able to use and get paid for? As we develop our work under the Elder Scrolls label, is everything that we do consumed by Bethesda and the gaming industry?
As mentioned elsewhere, I dislike working under the jurisdiction of lore since it shackles real creativity and yet often it combines with the lore and helps to create something startlingly original. This is an example of synergy at work or, in biological terms, symbiosis. If I were to do this (create an original idea blended with ES lore) and take it elsewhere, would I be in line to be prosecuted by Bethesda? Or would it just be a case of removing the context that relates to their creation i.e. everything to do with Tamriel?
It's a case of 'intellectual copyright' but the very idea of intellectual copyright seems a slippery one to my mind. Any thoughts in relation to these ramblings are welcome....