Fire Emblem - Reckoning

[Loki Laufeyson]

My point is that I think people are overreacting. The OP clearly made an attempt to credit the artmakers and wanted to share what they messed around with in Nightmare. OP probably doesn't understand that writing credits isn't enough.

The point is, thats full custom work that a team of people created. They have every right to be pissed off. Theyve been working on this project for years. Years. How would you feel if you were a part of that team? Im not even a part of that team and my jimmies got rustled cuz i recognized those sprites. Come on.

[SirNicee]

I would like to state my opinion on the matter, but I'm scared of the potential consequences of said opinion.

[CT075]

why even say anything then

[Marisa the Crimson Flash]

Well, I already have them, and it's not illegal. So calm down, I'm not getting rid of them, I literally uploaded it for fun. I didn't say I made them, I said it HAS custom stuff, not custom stuff I made. And how would I know who all's things I used, I got something from like 20 hacks, various things downloaded from the internet and other stuff. It was just for fun. I WASN'T stealing your shit and taking credit for it, I could care less for "credit" and "fire emblem fame" it's a fucking gameboy advance game. I understand you all worked hard, I very much enjoyed playing them all, you're all very talented, and to whoever said "a mashup of bad hacks" you suck, cuz they were all the best hacks out there currently, so... yeah. Nice job insulting like 15 people. But yeah, I wasn't trying to make anyone mad, you're also supposed to use the save that comes with it and play as eliwood (kelik) on hard mode. but yeah, I don't think this topic is going to be closed lol or it would have been already, I haven't ACTUALLY done anything wrong, you can't stop people from using your shit, you don't own the company or the rights to the game or anything in it, it is all based off of fire emblem, so technically you're all "stealing" shit, so just drop it, it's a funny not serious hack, play it, ignore, hate it, love it, Idc, it was fun to make and I'm happy with it. So have fun bickering I guess, I mean that is was internet people do right?

Btw, I never saw any copyright or trademark shit, better get on that lol

Edited November 18, 2014 by Marisa the Crimson Flash

[Klokinator]

Animations are worse, a 60 frame animation takes me 2 weeks to sprite

Actually, that's much faster than it usually takes. Yeti mentioned a month for his best animations, easily.

Well, I already have them, and it's not illegal. So calm down, I'm not getting rid of them, I literally uploaded it for fun. I didn't say I made them, I said it HAS custom stuff, not custom stuff I made. And how would I know who all's things I used, I got something from like 20 hacks, various things downloaded from the internet and other stuff. It was just for fun. I WASN'T stealing your shit and taking credit for it, I could care less for "credit" and "fire emblem fame" it's a fucking gameboy advance game. I understand you all worked hard, I very much enjoyed playing them all, you're all very talented, and to whoever said "a mashup of bad hacks" you suck, cuz they were all the best hacks out there currently, so... yeah. Nice job insulting like 15 people. But yeah, I wasn't trying to make anyone mad, you're also supposed to use the save that comes with it and play as eliwood (kelik) on hard mode. but yeah, I don't think this topic is going to be closed lol or it would have been already, I haven't ACTUALLY done anything wrong, you can't stop people from using your shit, you don't own the company or the rights to the game or anything in it, it is all based off of fire emblem, so technically you're all "stealing" shit, so just drop it, it's a funny not serious hack, play it, ignore, hate it, love it, Idc, it was fun to make and I'm happy with it. So have fun bickering I guess, I mean that is was internet people do right?

Btw, I never saw any copyright or trademark shit, better get on that lol

Congratulations. You're literally never going to ever have any projects taken seriously after this, ever again, on any forums involving fire emblem, period.

[Topaz Light]

But you did do something wrong.

Using "you can't stop people from using your shit" as a defense is like saying "you can't stop someone from running over you in their car when you're on foot".
Just because the victim can't physically force the perpetrator not to do the bad thing doesn't make the bad thing any less bad.

Copyright/trademark or no, it's not acceptable to just use someone else's work without so much as a "how do you do". People poured their time, energy and passion into making those sprites, and besides, artists are already treated poorly enough by a good chunk of potential employers. They certainly don't need more people like you making things worse.

Edited November 18, 2014 by Starlight36

[Klokinator]

I was actually gonna just post a trolly comment and leave but then I realized how many flaws there were to poke holes in.

Well, I already have them, and it's not illegal.

Yep, stealing intellectual property or using it without permission is illegal. Blazer got sued for what happened during the FEUniverse hack fiasco, you can be sued too.

So calm down, I'm not getting rid of them, I literally uploaded it for fun.

Ah, so now that people have called you out you're not even going to have the decency to save face and get rid of them. You literally want a shitstorm.

And how would I know who all's things I used, I got something from like 20 hacks, various things downloaded from the internet and other stuff.

You don't recall which hacks you downloaded, patched onto roms, ripped the contents from, and then added into your frankenstein? Man, and here I thought my memory failure for the animations in FE7CM were pretty bad.

I WASN'T stealing your shit and taking credit for it, I could care less for "credit" and "fire emblem fame" it's a fucking gameboy advance game. I understand you all worked hard, I very much enjoyed playing them all, you're all very talented, and to whoever said "a mashup of bad hacks" you suck, cuz they were all the best hacks out there currently, so... yeah. Nice job insulting like 15 people.

I-is that a reverse kiss-ass boomerang?

But yeah, I wasn't trying to make anyone mad

Well, people are mad now, and you're intentionally making them madder by deliberately not removing the copied content. I hate to use the term stolen since nobody actually lost anything, but it can also be called stolen or pirated.

but yeah, I don't think this topic is going to be closed lol or it would have been already, I haven't ACTUALLY done anything wrong

"The mods haven't locked the topic in the 20 minutes it took for the shitstorm to erupt! I'm in the clear!"

you can't stop people from using your shit

Well I'm bigger and stronger than you. You can't stop me from punching you to death. See how that argument fails?

you don't own the company or the rights to the game or anything in it

No, but they own the right to the sprites they created. Derk.

so technically you're all "stealing" shit, so just drop it, it's a funny not serious hack, play it, ignore, hate it, love it, Idc, it was fun to make and I'm happy with it. So have fun bickering I guess, I mean that is was internet people do right?

This is so stupid I can't

Btw, I never saw any copyright or trademark shit, better get on that lol

This just in, everyone needs to include a copyright notice with the posting of every single sprite! No seriously spriters, foo on you for forgetting such an essential thing! If Yeti can remember it for the animations included in the FEXP release, why can't you?!

[Balcerzak]

Locking for the moment while I look into things. We'll see what ends up happening.

[Balcerzak]

Our stance on art theft, among other similar abuses of copyright, is laid out in Code of Conduct Section 5. Prohibited Content, under Heading 5) "Absolutely no plagiarism allowed. Don't screw around with this, you will be banned for it."

The Creative Section of the boards has a sticky which further expounds on this with:

"Regarding Plagiarism: Plagiarism, the act of stealing, copying or failing to credit another artist's work, is strictly prohibited, whether the entire image or parts of it were used without permission. Please make sure to give credit where credit is due. Report plagiarism to me or another staff member, preferably with information regarding the stolen image such as a link to the original or a way for us to contact the artist."

While this paragraph is geared toward the specific circumstances of what would usually be encountered in that section, the ideas translate entirely to works posted in the ROM Hacking sections, as they're all by nature creative endeavors themselves (including the various bits and pieces composing them).

Your hack, in both the readme and in the topic proper, was misleading about the origin and responsibility of the various creative works within, as can be seen in ambiguous phrases like: "I added quite a few custom classes, changed many names and classes and portraits." "Lot's of custom things, battle animations, portraits, classes, and OMG READ THE READ ME PLEASE" The default interpretation is that the author was responsible for the creation of the custom work, which is clearly not the case in this instance. Furthermore, your attempts to credit are so completely inadequate as to be nonexistant: "CREDIT: Blazer, Arch, Nintenlord, Celice, and anyone else I used the animations or portraits from." Consider the consequences of writing an academic paper composed of text lifted wholesale from various sources in which the totality of your citations and references consists of a one sentence bibliography stating: "I relied on Nietzsche, Sartre, Kierkegaard, and a few others to put this together." You would be failed so fast your head would spin. An example of a more proper citation would be, I used the X sprite from Y artist in their work Z, repeated for each sprite, class, animation, etc. that you did not produce yourself. So you failed completely as far as giving credit is concerned, rendering this hack a work of plagiarism. That being the case, I don't have to even go into addressing the issue of acquiring permission for use, and whether it is a courtesy or a mandate.

Beyond the basic violations you have remained belligerent and unrepentant as seen in:

"Well, I already have them, and it's not illegal. So calm down, I'm not getting rid of them, I literally uploaded it for fun." Newsflash, but yes, this actually is illegal, as copyright protections exist. The enforceability of those protections by a legal body are questionable in this case, but as the forum and the community we can, will, and do enforce those protections ourselves.

"I didn't say I made them, I said it HAS custom stuff, not custom stuff I made." Deliberately misleading statements like this constitute false advertising, and in the real world are smarmy at best and illegal at worst.

"And how would I know who all's things I used, I got something from like 20 hacks, various things downloaded from the internet and other stuff." It's called "due diligence", and should be a basic skill. You're going to need to know this in your academic career for sure, and almost certainly in many situations throughout the rest of your life. My advice is to get a handle on it as soon as possible.

"Btw, I never saw any copyright or trademark shit, better get on that lol" For all memberstates of the Berne Convention, copyright is acquired upon the fixation of a creative work in material form. Copyright notices are not a requirement for a work to actually qualify for the rights and protections of provided under the law. Neither is copyright registration, actually, however having legally registered a copyright makes enforcement of the protections much easier. Legal recourse is not being sought, in this case, rather (and quite appropriately in my opinion) community censure, which can be more than effective enough in its own right.

You are being disciplined for your breaches of the code of conduct. Whether your ban will be permanent is still a matter for discussion among the moderating team.