Modding Ethics

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Its about time we had this out. IN PUBLIC... and start formulating the ground rules that prevent further serious problems from developing.

New modders shouldn't have to feel their way around in the dark as many of the reputable modders that contribute here have had to do in the past.

Originally Posted by Penelope_Grey

GWX uses several stand alone Mods as part of the overall package, with credit given...

Serious question: Did the GWX team go to each and every creator of the stand alone mods and ask for permission to use them in the GWX Supermod? Is it practical or even possible to do that?

EDIT: I am not trying to be funny and awkward, just I cannot see what the harm is in using what exists to make something else for people to enjoy? If credit is given and acknowledgement of origins where is the trouble? I genuinely don't understand how what is happening is so terrible.

It has always been the policy of the GW/GWX dev team to ask for permission for EACH mod made outside of the team to be included.

The vast majority of the core elements of GW/GWX were designed "in-house."

Where former (now inactive) SH3 modding members and permissions are concerned, emails and/or PM's were sent and several days allowed to pass... If no response was found, modlets were included and detailed credits documented in the GWX manual.

The only time this policy was consciously violated, I take direct blame for. Early on, prior to the release of GW version 1.0 well over a year ago... (our first release) We notified Der Teddy Barr that we were going to include the stand alone ship damage models he had released and properly credited them.

This caused a great deal of heartburn for DTB (naturally in retrospect I suppose) and resulted in a public apology posted in this forum by me... (now archived) I got flamed... and I suppose I deserved it, at the very least for a breach of ettiquett.

As a result, the entire ship damage model system was redesigned from scratch by vonHelsching, Ref, and AG124 over the course of several months.

Many of you have seen accusations made by Beery that we based our work on, or engulfed the "Real U-boat" mod. This is absolutely baseless and untrue. NOTHING modded directly by Berry was included. When confronted directly, Beery did not produce ONE detail... only accusations.

Indeed, and in no small way thanks to Pablo author and keeper of the GWX manual (referred to by us as "Das Buch" lol) I feel that currently, we have the best available documentation and crediting. It protects both GWX modders and external contributors to the GWX mod both past and present.

to be continued shortly...