Art Theft!

[Psycho14]

OK, this might be my first message, and i'm sorry if it turns out to be something i misunderstood, but

YOUR UNIT ARTS WERE STOLEN

http://www.tribad.net/index.php

ermm ya, the site is in romanian, but i'm 90% sure you can talk to them in english. if you really need help, i might give you the help needed for translations. but just look at that new browser-based game's photo! i recognized the Spearman, Archer and Swordsman immediately, and i was like "OMFG Those guys from Wesnoth wouldn't have EVER done that to some cheap, stupid romanians!!! Go go tell them!"

that's the reason i signed up... i felt like i REALLY needed to tell you guys what i just saw! i'm sorry for the site being in another language... hope you can do something to demolish them for copying art from you! (also, again, i'm deeply sorry if i'm wrong...)

i'll try and find spare time to help you guys (if i can with anything)!

the reason why i did this is simple: i <3 Wesnoth XD it's awesome

[Blarumyrran]

Apparently the world needs even more travian clones that badly >_>

[MDG]

Welcome to the forums.

Battle for Wesnoth is a FLOSS project released under the GPL licence. They are perfectly entitled to re-use the art, and anything else, as long as they don't change the licence and don't claim credit for other people's work.

Therefore, careful with the accusations...

Nevertheless, can't see any licence at all on their front page...

[Psycho14]

i searched quite a lot (on every main page, and on forum) some references/credits/whatever

i didn't find anything =/

i'm just accusing them of using your art (i mean, i've never seen them anywhere else before) without telling the people who created them

at least, isn't that called Theft? 'ts just that i couldn't find a better word... believe me, i even asked people for a better word for this kind of situation, other than theft and piracy, which was a bit exagerated in my opinion...

[MDG]

It happened before with PhantasyRPG. There's a few other games that have re-used the art in particular. Have a look through the games development section for some of them.

I don't think the BfW project team have a problem with content being re-used elsewhere as long as the legalities are adhered to (preferably with full credit and a link back to the BfW site). That's the nature of FLOSS/GPL.

This could probably be moved to the games development section of the forum since, I think that's a better place for it. It's up to the moderators though.

p.s. Is the game any good?

EDIT:
p.p.s. Ivanovic is usually happy to have new translators join the team and if you are skilled in art, music, or code, assistance in those areas is always welcome.

[Psycho14]

ya, i forgot to mention the part "i'm pretty sure you guys would give them the art, but without references..."
well... should i go tell them to put the common link + references (can't find a better word, again, sry) to Wesnoth? if yes, i'll do it, np
P.S.

p.s. Is the game any good?

do you think i'm going to even TRY it? it's (i believe) one of its first weeks, and it has like 260 members only (or so)
i got better things to do than "Tribad" also

EDIT nah... no idea how to program things, paint (lol MAKE ART sounds weird), no talent in music or coding (i don't even know what that exactly means...)

also... <insert noob face here> who is ivanovic? i'm sry, it's my first day.. *starts sobbing in a corner to self*

P.S. also, this being a hard school year for me (6 big and important exams throughout the year), i most probably can't help you a lot sowie...

[MDG]

well... should i go tell them to put the common link + references (can't find a better word, again, sry) to Wesnoth? if yes, i'll do it, np

Maybe wait for someone on the project team to answer this one.

p.s. Is the game any good?

do you think i'm going to even TRY it? it's (i believe) one of its first weeks, and it has like 260 members only (or so)

i got better things to do than "Tribad" also

Fair enough!

EDIT who is ivanovic? i'm sry, it's my first day.. *starts sobbing in a corner to self*

Sorry, my mistake. Ivanovic is one of the senior developers, a site admin, and effectively leads the translation/internationalisation effort here.

[Psycho14]

well... did any mod/admin/site official read this and considered doing something? if so, please let me know! thanks!

[Yogibear]

I think we did (i did at least ).

We are pretty relaxed about this. We had another similar issue like that before. The guy that took not only the art but essentially the whole game introduced just enough changes that it would have been difficult to take legal action against him. Then he put the "new" game on his site - for money, of course.

While we don't appreciate such behaviour (in fact we regard those kind of people to be disgusting), nobody here has the time and/or the money to accuse those persons at court.
Edit:
I maybe should clarify this: What we don't appreciate is not that someone takes our work but that he tries to earn money with it by investing the least possible effort. That hints for a lazy and egoistic character.

I think Jetryl summed up the official position of most of us very well here:
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic. ... a&start=90

I especially like this one:

To wit:
"You can't steal a gift." Dizzy Gillespie, defending another player who'd been accused of poaching Charlie Parker's style: "You can't steal a gift. Bird gave the world his music, and if you can hear it you can have it."

Our stance is/has been to do likewise.

[Mica]

My only concern is that the resources [such as the art] is not easily found, or at least not from what I saw. I can't even find the licensing info, though I didn't check their forums.

[Psycho14]

though I didn't check their forums.

Oh but i did. Absolutely nothing, no where. the forum, being a new one, hasn't got too many messages posted in it, but i still couldn't find any link/reference/suggestion/whatever.

took not only the art but essentially the whole game

well... as i said before, i'm not rly interested in playing it, so i didn't try

i am angry, as everyone else is (ofc, the programmers are more angry, being THEIR work and all...). Just that I, being just a lil' kiddo in a big big world, don't have any idea whatsoever on what actions you will take. still, i am as-best-as-i-can at your service

notify me when something is (if it will) happening please

[woodmouse]

I think I saw some sprites somewhere in the internet... It was a sprite forum (you know, where people submit their sprites) ,where was MANY sprites from Wesnoth. And the guy who put them there said something like this: "These are not free to use, give credit to me" in the post. And claimed he made them all... I don't remember where the forum was or anything, I was just so angry to that guy...
It's sad. I mean, what does he do if someone catches him from that? Even if he's not trying to make money with it, but still...

[michchar]

Is it be illegal if they don't give credit to Wesnoth for the art? I mean, Wesnoth stuff is free and may be distributed, changed, etc as long as they give credit, right? But I don't see the words "Wesnoth" anywhere there, so are they breaking the law?

[Jozrael]

Yes.

[Akkarin345]

Don't wesnoth need a copyright for it to be non stealable and illegal to steal it?