Recently it was pretty big news that Nintendo issued takedowns to Facepunch for Garry's Mod content, and now Garry Newman of Facepunch (developer of Garry's Mod and Rust) has written up a blog post with some comments on it.
A lot of people thought it wasn't a legitimate takedown from Nintendo, with rather a lot of post on Steam and social media debating if it was real or not as the requests for this (and other takedowns before elsewhere) have not technically been direct from Nintendo. The emails often come from "Aaron Peters" via "mm-nintendo.com" and so naturally, people speculated and came up with conspiracy theories about copyright trolls and fake DMCA notices.
But Newman previously posted on X to be clear that it had been verified it was from Nintendo. And now in a blog post Newman has explained a little more noting how they've been getting "a ton of dms, voicemails, emails and actual physical hand written letters about this" because fans won't let it go.
The MM in the domain mentioned above stands for Mark Monitor, a company that "Provides strategic domain management solutions that help protect the revenue and reputation of the world’s leading brands". Looking over them, they're a fancy business-focused domain registrar designed for bigger businesses. And that mm-nintendo domain is noted as having "Nintendo of America Inc." very clearly as the owner.
As for this Aaron Peters who is noted on a lot of takedown noticed? Newman thinks they don't even exist:
This guy doesn't exist. Well, he might, but I don't think he does.
If you look at the history of takedowns, you will notice they started as real Nintendo employees. Then they all switched to Aaron. I would guess that this is because the internet is full of crazies.
So it makes sense that you invent a name to be the target of that stuff. Let the internet shout at an empty chair.
Newman noted, again, they've had it confirmed it's a legitimate Nintendo takedown. The ending of the blog was also quite interesting copied below:
I don't really understand the anger people have shown about this stuff. It doesn't seem logical to me. Maybe I grew up in a different time where IP, trademarks and copyright laws were obvious no brainers.
Maybe because of streaming and Steam this generation grew up without real piracy. Maybe they don't understand all that because they can post music and videos in their memes on tiktok and no-one gets pissed.
The attitude shouldn't be anger and outrage that it is being stopped; it should be surprise and delight that you got away with it for so long.
Companies letting you use their IP like this isn't the default. When a company lets you get away with using their IP in UGC in another game they're a cool company. When they don't, they're a normal company.
Sums it up quite well really.
You would think we would have learned by now that you can't just take well-known characters, entire designs from companies, and not expect to get slapped by them at some point. All that effort would be better spent on something original.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I mean, more broadly I think our economy should be wildly different and treat creators, copyrights and so forth in wildly different ways. But at the moment, it isn't, and there's no reason to expect a company to let people get away with blatantly violating their copyright.
Quoting: Garry NewmanWhen a company lets you get away with using their IP in UGC in another game they're a cool company. When they don't, they're a normal company.
Wow, that means id Software (or rather, id Software before they were purchased by Bethesda) is a really cool company. Their games are, by far, some of the most heavily modded video games of all time, with incredibly vivid and diverse modding scenes, and each with an enormous collection of mods built up over 20+ years.
And this is by design: when John Carmack noticed people were making mods for Wolfenstein 3D, he liked what he saw, and he decided to be generous to the fans. He designed the Doom WAD file format to be easy to modify. He even released all the source code for Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, Quake 2, Quake 3, and Doom 3, expecting devout fans to do amazing things with them. And they did, but that's a story for another day.
I can't imagine what the Doom modding scene (or video game modding in general) would be like if id Software had acted like a "normal" company by shutting down modders at every opportunity. There is an enormous collection of mods and fan works for Doom and Quake, but many of these mods re-use most of the sprites, models, and textures from the original game, and/or include "new" assets derived from the originals by id Software, or taken from other games by other studios.
On the flip side, there's also plenty of other character models from other games and franchises on the Garry's Mod workshop as well. For example, you can easily find Hyperdimension Neptunia or Kancolle character models on the workshop for Garry's Mod and L4D2. I guess the IP rights owners behind those games and franchises are also "cool" with this, they haven't noticed fans doing these sorts of things yet, or maybe they've just decided hunting down fans for these sorts of things isn't worthwhile for various reasons.
Last edited by Talon1024 on 30 May 2024 at 6:25 pm UTC
Quoting: kerossinWell, I think why people get angry is because most mods aren't done for profit but out of love for the characters and stories, and just to have fun. Same for users of mods, they like the characters and want to have fun but then when Nintendo or whoever comes in and says "you'll enjoy Mario when I'll allow you to" it sounds like a big "F you" to the fans.Yeah I'd say this hits the nail on the head, whether a company is legally in the right is not what the people who complain care about, it is more-so ethically and the intent and time people spent on those addons, I guess people go to legal as you can't really argue about ethics as ethics are opinionated and you can't disprove/argue with an opinion (you can argue with one but it'd be pointless).
Last edited by JordanPlayz158 on 30 May 2024 at 6:42 pm UTC
Quoting: JordanPlayz158Quoting: kerossinWell, I think why people get angry is because most mods aren't done for profit but out of love for the characters and stories, and just to have fun. Same for users of mods, they like the characters and want to have fun but then when Nintendo or whoever comes in and says "you'll enjoy Mario when I'll allow you to" it sounds like a big "F you" to the fans.Yeah I'd say this hits the nail on the head, whether a company is legally in the right is not what the people who complain care about, it is more-so ethically and the intent and time people spent on those addons, I guess people go to legal as you can't really argue about ethics as ethics are opinionated and you can't disprove/argue with an opinion (you can argue with one but it'd be pointless).
I think Garry Newman was addressing that perspective specifically, honestly. Or rather, he's commenting on the different perspectives and that "back when" it was a different time and people wouldn't be upset (generally speaking, anyway) since they knew they were in a grey area to begin with.
Some companies are obviously cool with it, but that's the trick isn't it? It's their choice to be cool with it, it's also their choice not to be. Point being, it's their choice to make and that's fair.
Quoting: Talon1024He even released all the source code for Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, Quake 2, Quake 3, and Doom 3, expecting devout fans to do amazing things with them.And that reminds me, I need to grab the WADs and set up a proper source-port sometime and actually start playing with some mods. (I'm still playing through the Nerve Software Doom Classic Unity ports as they come, right now, having never played before. I'm about halfway through Doom II, then I'll get it done.
)Quoting: Talon1024There is an enormous collection of mods and fan works for Doom and Quake, but many of these mods re-use most of the sprites, models, and textures from the original game, and/or include "new" assets derived from the originals by id Software, or taken from other games by other studios.The things people do with it absolutely amaze me. I'm sure that you've seen "myhouse.wad" by now - the way that it works (part one, part two, part three ) is incredibly interesting!
Mountain Man May 30
Last edited by Mountain Man on 30 May 2024 at 11:31 pm UTC
Mountain Man May 30
Quoting: kerossinI don't know who Garry Newman is but he sounds like the typical sociopath executive - everything's a product, everyone's replaceable, it's just business, it's allowed by law therefore it's right. Just because a law allows something doesn't mean it's right, plus those kinds of people usually only use laws when it suits them.Actually, he's a small independent developer who is mostly known for his modification of the Source Engine known as Garry's Mod.
ElectricPrism May 31
QuoteThe attitude shouldn't be anger and outrage
Garry Newman, infamous for being easily butthurt, sure can dish out hard criticisms and judgements of other people for "wrong feelings" but when it's his turn he cries on Twitter that "Teh Loonix clan said mean things to muh". Hypocrite.
QuoteMaybe because [...] this generation [...] {posts IP+} memes on tiktok and no-one gets pissed.
`old_man_yelling_at_clouds.jpg`
This comes across as trying to reconcile being "out of touch" with the reality of people in the present by ragging on TikTok.
Dude is acting as a cynical pragmatist and just covering his own ass. Like duh, he's not going to take one for his fans, but does he really need to condescend to kiss the boots of Nintendo??? SMH.
Dude can't get his, or others foot out of his mouth. He has foot in mouth disease.
He should have just shut up about it and it would have blown over. I've never known anyone who steps in so much shit on the sidewalk from having such poor social judgement.
Garry Newman is the Neil Breen of Gaming.
Last edited by ElectricPrism on 31 May 2024 at 2:21 am UTC
Quoting: dibzit's their choice to make and that's fair.
Speaking of "fair" - what about the doctrine of fair use? I think a lot of non-commercial use should fall into that category.
Quoting: PenglingI'm sure that you've seen "myhouse.wad" by now
I had not - thanks for sharing! I wasn't expecting a whole lot going in, but that video surprised me.
That said, I can understand that he’s just trying to avoid legal problems. If Nintendo wants to truly take him down, they would and they’d put him back into poverty with almost
no way to recover. He’s financially protecting himself and whoever works for him. The real problem here is Nintendo. These mods have been around for around two decades and Nintendo ran out of fan games to worry about and are going after the little things. These mods are more than likely rips by teenagers or kids and are now going to be lost to Nintendo.
Now we will start to see more underground hosting and internal trading for mods in games.
Mean while, Wolfenstein ET has had Starwars mods since 2005 and Lucas nor Disney has cried about it.
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