Doom mods that have content plagiarized from others

[crazyflyingdonut]

If you play Doom a lot, chances are that you've played a mod that has content that have been stolen from other mods. Sadly, this seems to happen a lot in the Doom community. Or maybe you've created something really cool and ended up being a victim of plagiarism, with your name not appearing in the credits anywhere (if there even is a part in the mod where it shows credits).

 

I'll start with what probably everybody here thinks of whenever plagiarism in Doom mods is being discussed: Grezzo 2. If you have never heard of Grezzo 2, I'm not gonna describe it because the game itself is very offensive and has been discussed already by other people. Let's skip to my main point about Grezzo 2 for this topic: There is probably nothing original in Grezzo 2. Literally everything I've seen in Grezzo 2 has been stolen from various sources, mostly Doom mods and Italian culture. Downloading Grezzo 2 is gonna take a while, it is filled with multiple WAD and PK3 files with the game's content, some of it has leftover stuff from the stolen mods that end up being unused and thus, it takes up more of your hard drive than it actually needs to. With pretty much everything in Grezzo 2 being stolen from (including but not limited to): ZBlood, Happy Time Circus, Runaway Train, Doom Center, both Action Doom games, lots of stuff from Realm667, and Batman Doom, there's a very good reason why nobody likes to host the damn mod on their website/server.

 

Now it's your turn to name some Doom mods that have stolen content.

[Gaia74]

mine wad? xD

 

no seriously almost in all mods you will see have stolen content, because is difficult to do a wad 100% original and with many things

Edited December 21, 2018 by Gaia74

[DJVCardMaster]

Mark Klem midis were reused so many times in other wads, Memento Mori music is not even original, most of it is from CRINGE666 (By Mark Klem anyways)

[The Nate]

People believe that Brutal Doom used content without crediting, but in every version I've seen except v19, there's a credits screen you can access by pressing F1. This credits screen has been replaced with a full-on submenu (if you can call it that; there are no options) in v21.

[Linguica]

Big corporations care deeply about copyright. Do you want Doomworld to act like a big corporation? Or do you want to politely look the other way so long as it's not egregious and no one is being harmed by it?

[Fuzzball]

Grezzo 2 though used copyrighted music though- many mods "borrow" from other sources and nearly always give credit for their use.

Outright stealing is not seen so much, even less so if the case of people claiming work to be theirs when it isn't. Not counting those stupid bloated multi-iwad messes though.

[⇛Marnetmar⇛]

How else would I launder money via /idgames if not through high quality MP3 files?

[Dark Pulse]

2 minutes ago, Marn said:

How else would I launder money via /idgames if not through high quality MP3 files?

Uh-oh, I smell an impending doxx.

[Apaul27]

If I make my own mod with my own resources, but then somebody stole my contents for Grezzo 3, that will count as plagiarism?

[geo]

Does Space Trucker count? What about that Greezo.wad? The one that tries to be so offensive.

Edited December 22, 2018 by geo

[[McD] James]

I remember playing this one Doom mod that used the Revenants from Doom 2. Some people have no shame. 

[Mr. Freeze]

Brutal Doom. 

[VanaheimRanger]

18 minutes ago, Ajora said:

I remember playing this one Doom mod that used the Revenants from Doom 2. Some people have no shame. 

I played that one, too.  It's like they wanted to get caught!

[Poncho1]

A couple of Doom 2 In Name Only maps steal elements from the OG WADs. Also, I think there was a map in The Abyss which literally took E1M1 of Doom, and put a second one next to the original version. Simply terrible IMO. 

[kristus]

I used to get quite up in arms about this kind of stuff. But these days I don't bother really. I got to say that I find it tiresome to see the same resources all over the place and if there is something I've worked long and hard to create just for someone to slap into their project, that is offensive to me. But I also understand why people do this. They don't want to go to the same lengths as some of us. And that is ok. But I would appreciate if they atleast asked first or the very least gave credit. 

 

Edit: I do wonder though. That if those who act so callous in regards to sprites and textures etc would be ok with someone doing the same with the maps they create.

Edited December 23, 2018 by kristus

[Gez]

As long as things are properly credited, I don't see the problem.

 

I've contributed code to SLADE; should I be upset when people are using SLADE to make mods?

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

2 hours ago, Gez said:

As long as things are properly credited, I don't see the problem.

Well yeah, if things are properly credited, then it isn't plagiarism.  I think a lot of people in this thread are conflating it with copyright violation, which it often overlaps with, but plagiarism is specifically taking someone else's work and claiming you did it yourself.

[Pure Hellspawn]

Chillax. 'Nuff said.

[kristus]

3 hours ago, Gez said:

As long as things are properly credited, I don't see the problem.

 

I've contributed code to SLADE; should I be upset when people are using SLADE to make mods?

That's false equivolence. It had been an apt comparision if I complained about people playing my games/mods.

 

That being said, I do make difference between using code from different sources and using art from different sources. Some could say it's hypocritical of me. But I make a difference between how you experience the same code in different programs and the same art in different mods or games. Where I am perfectly happy releasing my code under GPL, I am not ready to do so with the resources I make to build my worlds.

 

That is because I see value in sharing code. Not quite the same with art though. It's not without value mind you. But I'd argue the matter is a lot more complicated than can be resolved or explained in a couple of paragraphs.

[TheMightyHeracross]

5 hours ago, kristus said:

I used to get quite up in arms about this kind of stuff. But these days I don't bother really. I got to say that I find it tiresome to see the same resources all over the place and if there is something I've worked long and hard to create just for someone to slap into their project, that is offensive to me. But I also understand why people do this. They don't want to go to the same lengths as some of us. And that is ok. But I would appreciate if they atleast asked first or the very least gave credit. 

 

Well you have to remember that most of the resources that you "see all of the time" aren't just being ripped off without someone's permission, they're usually given to the public by the creator to be used freely, with credit- often in places specifically meant to provide community resources, like Realm667 or the ZDoom's Resources subforum. Something like the Cybruiser, for example.

 

Now if there are actually people taking your project-exclusive resources without your permission, that's not normal, and certainly not acceptable. You should call people out for that. Most people in the community are respectful of creators' wishes.

Edited December 23, 2018 by TheMightyHeracross

[crazyflyingdonut]

Just now, TheMightyHeracross said:

people taking your project-exclusive resources without your permission won't be normalized any time soon

Hopefully it never becomes normalized.

[ShadesMaster]

It's often a thin line in cases like these, spritework I've done in the past for example is out there for general use. Others might feel differently. It's a given if stuff is taken off realm 667 or what have you, that it as meant to be used. It's best to give credit, but if a mod has ALOT of resources from ALOT of places and things are missing - which happens alot I imagine... well, just don't start selling IWADS for money.

 

Than you create a mod and have a map that incomplete that's still in there that's not part of the official map progression, but is in the back files from another dropped project... you get the idea!

[Chopkinsca]

Turning myself in but Phocas Island 2 uses a crapton of Hexen resources. The project kind of started as a Hexen map. At some point, I was thinking about requiring both Hexen and Doom, but not sure how that would have worked. I think the saddest part at the time was that I didn't legally own Doom OR Hexen.

[wheresthebeef]

On 12/21/2018 at 8:00 PM, geo said:

Does Space Trucker count? What about that Greezo.wad? The one that tries to be so offensive.

Space Trucker isn't a mod but it's absolutely a shameless piece of shit for stealing so much content from other games and SOMEHOW still being up available ofr purchase on Steam.

Its all unfortunate because I like the setup and the videos I saw looked interesting but the scummy part of it turns me off completely.

[Kristian Nebula]

Back in 1996, when I was only studying mapping I made a megawad starting from map12 for Plutonia called "20 Days in Hell". It used many ideas from Plutonia/Evilution maps and some original Doom maps and was made with a shareware version of DeeP with a linedef limit of 800 per map. It was never intended to be released into idgames, but thanks to @pcorf it was uploaded there some years ago. Some similar stuff also was in the following the sequel of it, "32 Hours in Pain", done in 97-98, a full megawad for TNT:Evilution done with the same 800-per map linedef limit editor. Both of them are pretty horrible and I would have never really wanted to release them to idgames to be honest. :D

[geo]

On 12/25/2018 at 2:56 AM, wheresthebeef said:

Space Trucker isn't a mod but it's absolutely a shameless piece of shit for stealing so much content from other games and SOMEHOW still being up available ofr purchase on Steam.

Its all unfortunate because I like the setup and the videos I saw looked interesting but the scummy part of it turns me off completely.

To make a long story short, I've had to file a DMCA against a game on Steam. I even gave the publisher a month to get my content out or take it down themselves. The publisher chose to laugh at me instead and in time they wanted me to prove that it was my content, which even the separate developer was saying yes it's Geo's content.

 

Instead, I opted to prove to Steam that it was my content, because you can't just claim DMCA without proof. If I remember, Steam's response took about a week. Once the game comes down, the publisher can decide to fight the DMCA and give their personal information, Steam will put the game back up. Then you have to take them to court and that will take a stupid amount of time.

 

My lawyer told me you can file an injunction to get it taken down quick vs the months and years it will take to go to court. By quick, that still means 15 - 30 days. You also need to register the copyright if you want to sue for attorney fees which is where the bulk of the money goes to. The big companies probably registered their IPs, but did they register every single bit of art? In that 90s era, it would have taken 18 months to get it registered. Even in this modern era it was 6+ months for me.

 

The only real winners are the attorneys.

Edited December 26, 2018 by geo

[crazyflyingdonut]

32 minutes ago, geo said:

To make a long story short, I've had to file a DMCA against a game on Steam. I even gave the publisher a month to get my content out or take it down themselves. They chose to laugh at me instead and in time they wanted me to prove that it was my content, which even the separate developer was saying yes it's Geo's content.

 

Instead, I opted to prove to Steam that it was my content, because you can't just claim DMCA without proof. If I remember, Steam's response took about a week. Once the game comes down, the publisher can decide to fight the DMCA and give their personal information, Steam will put the game back up. Then you have to take them to court and that will take a stupid amount of time.

 

My lawyer told me you can file an injunction to get it taken down quick vs the months and years it will take to go to court. By quick, that still means 15 - 30 days. You also need to register the copyright if you want to sue for attorney fees which is where the bulk of the money goes to. The big companies probably registered their IPs, but did they register every single bit of art? In that era it would have taken 18 months to get it registered. Even in this modern era it was 6+ months for me.

 

The only real winners are the attorneys.

Did you win? Please tell me you won.

[geo]

1 hour ago, crazyflyingdonut said:

Did you win? Please tell me you won.

I "won" in the way that the publisher didn't want to challenge the DMCA. Unwilling to challenge my DMCA they have a worthless game. Although it took me like 6 months to find out they were using my content so they made a few hundred dollars by my best estimate. I'm not famous, so people didn't flood to my aide or tell me about it immediately like Space Trucker. I made nothing, so that makes it sound like a "loss" in the long run for me.

 

My lawyer also told me that if I wanted to push a lawsuit further, the lawyer would just file something legal to have Steam give me the publisher's information. Then he told me to register the copyright to my art, because of the ability to sue for attorney fees. It also cost me money to register a copyright on my art. Yeah wait... I lost.

Edited December 25, 2018 by geo

[crazyflyingdonut]

9 minutes ago, geo said:

I "won" in the way that the publisher didn't want to challenge the DMCA. Unwilling to challenge my DMCA they have a worthless game. Although it took me like 6 months to find out they were using my content so they made a few hundred dollars by my best estimate. I'm not famous, so people didn't flood to my aide or tell me about it immediately like Space Trucker. I made nothing, so that makes it sound like a "loss" in the long run for me.

 

My lawyer also told me that if I wanted to push a lawsuit further, the lawyer would just file something legal to have Steam give me the publisher's information. Then he told me to register the copyright to my art, because of the ability to sue for attorney fees.

You should have done everything you can to prevent them from making money off of something you made for free. If registering the copyright was the only option to stop them from using YOUR stuff, you should have done it.

Edited December 25, 2018 by crazyflyingdonut

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

Latest posts here remind me of the story I uncovered while going through various compilation CDs, of the author of this wad who was clearly rather unhappy with such CDs:

Quote

Authors (MAY) use this level as a base to build additional levels.  
but, Hey - place my name there somewhere you know? Not Like the
cretinous D! compilation, which carefully removed the credit and hard
work leaving all and sundry to assume the did it themselves!

Not only did this WAD (and some of the author's other levels with a similar injunction) appear on the H!ZONE disc with the text files removed, they did multiple times since some of them were included in the HOLYWAR.WAD and HELLFURY.WAD compilation WADs, which also had their info stripped (well, in the case of HOLYWAR there definitely was info originally, since that one also appears on Aztech Home Edutainment 4 with its .TXT intact, I've not found anything pertaining to HELLFURY outside of H!ZONE.)

 

Chances are WizardWorks got away with this scot-free, too.

Edited December 26, 2018 by ETTiNGRiNDER
Edit for clarity