PBBGs using copyrighted images

[Jackolantern]

Obviously PBBGs are fairly accessible to develop so there are many out there, but there is something I keep seeing over and over again: use of obviously copyrighted images. It almost seems like it has become commonplace to just rip images out of commercial games and plaster them into your PBBG. Here is a terrible example here. I can't link directly to the screenshots, but they are right on that page. Click the first one. There is a character image from the PS3 game "Catherine", the reward images in the middle are from Borderlands if I remember right, the images along the bottom are direct movie posters, and I would assume pretty much everything else is stolen as well. The other screenshots show similar theft.

This was the game that finally pushed me to post this, but this is not the first time I have seen it by a long-shot. It will be hard for PBBGs to gain more acceptance with this kind of childish content stealing showing-up all over the place

[hallsofvallhalla]

definitely agree. I have seen the same stuff in so many. I can understand place holders for alpha or a small beta but to release the game with all stolen images is a little brazen.

[Lord Rahl]

It's mostly because of who develops them. Those without big budgets, and who are developing for the first time rarely stop to think if they can use an image from somewhere like Google.

[Jackolantern]

It's mostly because of who develops them. Those without big budgets, and who are developing for the first time rarely stop to think if they can use an image from somewhere like Google.

Very true. Probably a lot of them also believe the myth that it isn't illegal as long as they aren't making any money. While that can influence the decision of whether the content owner will send a C&D letter, it of course makes no difference with the law. But then again, often their games are plastered with ads, so they are even making money off of them lol.

[Verahta]

I use other peoples IP but only for development until I can create graphics myself or buy graphics. Definitely it is amateurs who are naive to the law who publish public games with content they do not own the rights to.

[Jackolantern]

Yeah, it is definitely fine, and actually even smart, to use placeholders while you are developing on a local host server or while the game is otherwise not publicly accessible.

This is probably just the tip of the iceberg in our current Internet culture, though. So many Facebook groups have made huge followings by simply stealing other people's work, from digital artists to photographers. And a lot of people seem to think "Well, the content creators were the ones who put it online...", like it is common knowledge that once someone puts something online all ownership is revoked.

And something that hits a bit closer to home is the copying and rehosting of HTML5 and Flash games. It is already hard enough to make a living from the creation of traditional client-side HTML5 games

[Verahta]

Jack, isn't there a way to encapsulate or insulate your HTML5 game from theft?

[Jackolantern]

Jack, isn't there a way to encapsulate or insulate your HTML5 game from theft?

Have a server-side component. That is about it. But client-side HTML5 games that don't require any server connections can easily be copy-n-pasted to a thief's webpage.

[Verahta]

That makes sense, well it being HTML afterall.

[Jackolantern]

That makes sense, well it being HTML afterall.

I could be wrong, but I do believe part of the DRM initiative in the HTML5 working group would be to add a site-locking feature to HTML5 apps similar to the one Flash has. However, even Flash's site-locking can be broken, and there are parts of the DRM initiative that some of the browser vendors have objected to (not to mention that DRM is a hotly-contested subject to begin with), so I would not expect it to be available anytime soon.