Is it okey to use pirate content in games?

razar07

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Oct 3, 2017
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Hi guys i've been making a new game as a hobby and i just wondered that is it okey to use content that i don't paid in my game? I mean, if i release this game in the future, will these contents put me in trouble or something? Since in daz 3d contents everything you are using isn't free and i am not that rich right now, i'm using some contents i downloaded from this site. If this is gonna be problem for me, i wont bother at all to release my game. I wondered this because every game i look, they all use same characters, posers etc. Why are they using same characters in every game? Are they just lazy to look into contents or are they using the contents they are paid for or free?
 

Oiz

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Why are they using same characters in every game? Are they just lazy to look into contents or are they using the contents they are paid for or free?
They're lazy, uncreative and suck at what they're doing. The only thing they want is to make easy money on patreon by copying other peoples work and doing minimal work themselves. That's why.

No clue about daz3d and legal stuff, but I highly doubt that all the shitty devs that are like "If I get 1000$ per month I can buy a new pc for faster rendering" have the money to buy all the assets they use. (I also doubt that they're being honest about the 1000$ per month stretchgoal, but that's another story). So I'd guess you're in the clear, especially if you don't sell your game. Can't 100% guarantee it though.
 
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DarthSeduction

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It's not legal, but you're not gonna get targeted by Daz as a small fry. Make sure whatever assets you use, you list, and buy them if you start making money. Understand, it is a risk though, you aren't likely to get caught, but it could happen if Daz gets a wild hair.
 

Avaron1974

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No it's not okay but it's highly unlikely anyone that owns those assets will give a shit.

Unless you are ripping models straight from an EA game in which case their lawyers will make love to you anally and creampie your rectal passage with crippling debt.

Ripping from Daz or the Untity store is fine, ripping from anyone that has a team of lawyers and gets hard crushing small fries isn't a great idea.

I don't know the full legal ins and outs so don'y take it as gospel but Daz haven't actively pursued people ripping their content (that i'm aware of) while large devs and publishers have.
 
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MaxCarna

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Right now this kind of thing is probably not annoying the creators enough, to make them press Daz to make something about piracy. Maybe one day they will, no one can predict what matters they would apply to find the transgressors.

There is no doubt about the violation, all products have defined licenses, the crime is there. The question is if they will ever go after you.

I decided to use only products that I paid for them, I'm depending on DAZ right now, I don't want problems now or in the future.

This decision came with a price, while I now have dozens of genesis 8 models, my game is stuck with free genesis 2 models that I got on the beginning. I want to keep consistency.
 

Rich

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It's actually a slight bit more subtle than that, wrt the legal threat. Except for the ones labeled "Daz Originals," Daz doesn't own the characters - the rights to them actually belong to the individual authors. Daz is simply acting as a marketplace for them. ("Daz Originals" do represent items actually developed by Daz, or where they purchased the rights for them away from the original authors.)

Thus (with the exception of Daz Originals), it wouldn't be Daz that would have to come after you, it would have to be the artist who built the model, and who actually owns the copyright to it - nobody else has the legal standing to do so. Since virtually all of them are private individuals, the odds that they'd be able to mount a legal challenge are even lower than for a company like Daz, since they'd have to hire the lawyer themselves, etc., etc.

If you did somehow run afoul of a corporate lawyer, their first step is almost always a "cease and desist" letter, not a full-on lawsuit. Generally, they're going to be more concerned about having you stop rather than trying to recover damages from you, since they'll know that those are going to be small, and probably not worth their time to actually litigate. Plus, they have to find you - not an easy thing when everybody is hiding behind pseudonyms, etc.

So, illegal? Yes. Odds that you ever get dinged for it? Pretty darn low...

On the other hand, if you do somehow start making money off a game, you might at least consider sending some of that back to the artists who created the assets that enabled you... Just my $0.02...
 

TheFallacyGuy

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Oct 16, 2017
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I don't know a whole lot about this, but how would developers of these assets even know that someone had pirated them? If I see a render of some assets in a game that I have created, how would I even know whether or not that this person has legally purchased these assets and therefore can commercial use the renders they make of those assets, or if they have pirated and cannot?
 
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MaxCarna

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Just exercising the imagination...

Let's suppose that one creator/vendor comes in F95 and find his product exposed. He can try the law to make something, but I believe that is most probably that he will complaint on Daz, saying that they, as content managers, should protect him from something like this.

If the noise rises, for sure Daz will take some action, we can't say what would be. They won't risk losing creators that generate profit. It were few cases, but I saw people being charged only for download illegal music. Random action just to spread some fear, reduce the traffic.

Where I live, if you make money with something illegal, you go to another level. They could even require Patreon to query creators that use Daz, to inform Daz's credentials for the person that are creating the images. Lock the id or Patreon balance.

Anyway, any action would be proportional to the size of the problem, keeping the low profile, probably nothing would happen.
 

joecoe

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Jun 14, 2018
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I don't know a whole lot about this, but how would developers of these assets even know that someone had pirated them? If I see a render of some assets in a game that I have created, how would I even know whether or not that this person has legally purchased these assets and therefore can commercial use the renders they make of those assets, or if they have pirated and cannot?
That is a good question. As far as i know VN Developers do not need to publish their DAZ account information. So how someone can find information about his purchases in DAZ3D shop?
Does the content creators for DAZ3D shop see the list of customers who bought their content, or just a total revenue?
And even if they saw the list, the game developer's nick might be different from the one he uses in DAZ3D.
 
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Rich

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Does the content creators for DAZ3D shop see the list of customers who bought their content, or just a total revenue?
And even if they saw the list, the game developer's nick might be different from the one he uses in DAZ3D.
This came up on the Daz forums a while back. No, the PA's do not see "who," just "how many."
 

FranceToast

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I have a related question - if a product/music/ etc. is licensed as "free for non-commercial use" do games on Patreon qualify as 'non-commercial' when the developer claims the game is free (or makes the game free eventually) and the Patreon is just for 'supporting my hobby'?
 

Avaron1974

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I have a related question - if a product/music/ etc. is licensed as "free for non-commercial use" do games on Patreon qualify as 'non-commercial' when the developer claims the game is free (or makes the game free eventually) and the Patreon is just for 'supporting my hobby'?
In order to use free for no commercial use material you can't be making any money at all so Patreon is out.
 
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MikeMasters

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This comes straight from daz3d.com:
"Terms of Use. Two Dimensional Works. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, User may (i) access, use, copy and modify the Content in the creation and presentation of two-dimensional animations and renderings, (ii) incorporate two dimensional images (including two dimensional images that simulate motion of three dimensional objects) derived by User from the Content in User’s other works, and (iii) publish, market, distribute, transfer, sell or sublicense User’s two-dimensional animations, renderings and other works; provided that User may not in any case publish, market, distribute, transfer, sell or sublicense any renderings, animations, software applications, data or any other product from which any Content, or any part thereof, or any substantially similar version of the Content can be separately exported, extracted or de-compiled into any re-distributable form or format."

Which means, whatever you render in Daz3d is owned by you, for commercial use or otherwise. You can't distribute any parts of the original content i.e. textures, models or any other files downloaded from daz3d. To use textures etc. you must buy so called interactive licence that gives you the permission to use the assets in 3d games.

What does it mean? Because you're the owner of all rendered images, there is no legal way for daz3d to stop you from monetizing your work. So unless you openly state that you're creating content with pirated assets, you're in clear, because they have no way of knowing, whether you've bought it or not. It is different, if you try to create real 3d game, though. If you won't have a licence to use the models and textures, then you're in trouble.
 
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joecoe

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One additional question in this old thread.
Does DAZ check the legality of the content you have installed in DAZ Studio, I mean if the installed content matches your purchases in the DAZ store?
I understand that in the case of sources like Renderotica, it may not be traceable, but in the case of content from DAZ Shop it is probably quite easy.

If they check the legality, then someone who pirates everything is more safe than someone who buys part of the assets legally and pirates only part of them, because tracking someone who has paid at least once is easier than tracking someone who has an anonymous DAZ account.
 

gamersglory

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I could see Daz at some point coming after NSFW creators with them being based in Utah as there majority Mormon. Would not be surprised to see them go after assist sharing sites and Rendererotica
 

pezo

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Mar 23, 2020
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One additional question in this old thread.
Does DAZ check the legality of the content you have installed in DAZ Studio, I mean if the installed content matches your purchases in the DAZ store?
I understand that in the case of sources like Renderotica, it may not be traceable, but in the case of content from DAZ Shop it is probably quite easy.

If they check the legality, then someone who pirates everything is more safe than someone who buys part of the assets legally and pirates only part of them, because tracking someone who has paid at least once is easier than tracking someone who has an anonymous DAZ account.


hey, i am thinking of this too,
if I use daz in oflline mod only, they can track our assets?

Or blocking daz3d net connection via firewall maybe useful?
 

GNVE

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Jul 20, 2018
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Well there are three main reasons I pay for my content:
1: I don't want any hassle. By paying I don't have to worry about this stuff. I know I'm in the clear. (and if I ever had to be scared about persecution I wouldn't have to figure out what I had bought or not).
2: I want to exploit my games commercially and I think that they are more likely to pursue people who make money off of unpaid assets and are more likely to succeed to identify a business (if I ever become one).
3: I am only able to make a game because others make assets that I can't (easily) make. If those creators don't make the assets I won't be able to make the games I want.

Whether they will pursue illegal content depends on many factors. Copyright trolls have made a lot of money by going after people who infringed their copyright. They might send a cease and desist letter but they don't have to. If you infringe you are liable and can get sued period (check out some of the copyright lawyers on YouTube if you want to know the ins and outs). But I'm guessing Daz currently thinks it can make more money by allowing some level of piracy so people become familiar with their product and eventually will pay to use the product. (This is also why they made the program 'free') Lower the barrier to entry and get them hooked.

As for not having much money. I think you can go a long way with little money especially if you are willing to go back a couple of generations and make your game with gen2 technology for instance. Daz often has deep discounts and free assets you can use. Also try to start small. One room two characters for instance. allowing you to get your feet wet meanwhile spending a little here and there to expand your library for a second and third game. There are ways to do this on a budget.

Edit: I doubt they track whether you bought an asset or not. You can get into privacy issues opening Daz up to getting sued themselves. GDPR's fines are very high and even though it is an American company it is still suseptable to this EU law.
 

polywog

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May 19, 2017
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Whenever I read these posts questioning copyright issues... some of the replies are the dumbest things said on this forum.

OP asks, If I steal a candybar from a convenient store, can I take pictures of it, and use them in my game...

Instantly a bunch of pussy-whipped morons come running saying it's illegal.


K864_zoom.jpg

The answer is YES, you own the picture.... you created the picture using a fucking candybar as a model.
You aren't infringing anything. You aren't competing against the inventor of candybars, he can go eat a bag of dicks.