Mods are actually... legal?

[CamDawg]

This came up in a discussion on being able to monetize NWNEE servers on the Beamdog forums, but apparently WotC has a fan content policy that's actually fairly liberal.

 

Essentially, as long as your content--and AFAICT this means mods--is

• free (though donations and ad revenue are allowed)
• marked as unofficial (they even have recommended language)
• legal otherwise (e.g. no copyrighted content from someone else)

it's good to go.

[Daxtreme]

The key word here is "free"

 

Expect hell when someone starts charging for their mod

[Ardanis]

free

Pass info to BWL please

Edited March 4, 2018 by Ardanis

[Mike1072]

I'm not sure this policy is actually intended to cover mods, so I'd still play it safe and perhaps avoid advertising your mods on the WotC Facebook page or whatever.

 

But it's a good indicator that charging for your stuff is definitely more likely to catch their attention in a bad way.

[Jarno Mikkola]

I'm not sure this policy is actually intended to cover mods,

Yeah, it's to cover all the homebrew things, which today covers mods too, as that's from where it actually came from. Anyone of you watched/listened to Critical Role, by the way ? Or any other twitch streams that people actually play D&D games at...

Now, of course the game mods and homebrew, are a bit different from a legal stand point of view, but it's all the same to most of the todays audience.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Jarno Mikkola

[Roxanne]

This came up in a discussion on being able to monetize NWNEE servers on the Beamdog forums, but apparently WotC has a fan content policy that's actually fairly liberal.

 

Essentially, as long as your content--and AFAICT this means mods--is

• free (though donations and ad revenue are allowed)
• marked as unofficial (they even have recommended language)
• legal otherwise (e.g. no copyrighted content from someone else)

it's good to go.

We are not disseminating modded games or altered software or anything the like with our mods. We share some files you can put into the /override folder of your legally installed games for your private use to have more fun (most of the time) with your game.. That's all. There is no lawman to care what i have in my BG2EE/override on my computer.

 

Just like I do not pay any royalties to copyright owners for singing along to their music on my radio if I feel happy.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Roxanne

[jastey]

They don't list "mods" explicitely in the definition of fan content, but for my (not trained by law school) understanding that comes quite close, yes. Cool!

[Avenger]

This came up in a discussion on being able to monetize NWNEE servers on the Beamdog forums, but apparently WotC has a fan content policy that's actually fairly liberal.

 

Essentially, as long as your content--and AFAICT this means mods--is

• free (though donations and ad revenue are allowed)
• marked as unofficial (they even have recommended language)
• legal otherwise (e.g. no copyrighted content from someone else)

it's good to go.

 

You had any doubts? Lol

[CamDawg]

I've never had any doubts that I could change my own game, no, but the distribution of those changes has always been the question. I've generally relied on the fact that the game makers either don't care or see mods as an asset extending the life of their products. That mods could be officially sanctioned never occurred.

[lynx]

Did anyone actually read the EULA?

[CoM_Solaufein]

Bioware never cared about us modding the BG games so long as we didn't charge. Even David Gaider used some of our old modding tools to make some of his unofficial mods.