WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW?

author=arcan
I'm wondering if it's legal to remake a fully copyrighted game if I don't intend to profit from it.

Technically, yes, but you have to know how to do it. Okay, here's the thing: if you create an original story, you can't copyright the names or titles or anything like that. You can only copyright content. If you you are taking someone else's work and copy the content word for word, that is called plagiarism. In order to make a remake that is legal, you have to re-envision and rewrite the story from your own vision. You're allowed to make overall elements recognizable. You're not allowed to copy dialogue word for word (fair use laws allow you to do it a few times).

In the fanfiction community, there is a question of what constitute's plagiarism and what doesn't. Fanfiction writers often tend to stay dangerously close to the source material, and are sticklers about details. Technically, fair use allows you to quote the source material from time to time, but if you are rewriting page after page of a scene from an episode of Star Trek, there are grounds for legal action. However, a completely original story using Kirk, Spock, and McCoy is legally untouchable (note, names cannot be copyrighted, only trademarked. Copyrights protect your work from being copied. Trademarks only keep your work from being sold by a third party.).

Paramount spent years trying to shut down the fanfiction community, (which is largely what alienated the Star Trek fans during the 90s and the previous decade...you don't piss on your fans if you want to keep them). They failed, the courts only prosecuting direct plagiarism, and ultimately throwing out everything else.

It is set in stone. You cannot copy what has been written, but the characters in the stories are legally yours to do with as you please as long as you don't sell them.

BTW, graphics fall under the category of copyright-able content, so you'll need to make alterations to appearance.

author=Pizza

author=Adon237
what are furries??

I am the resident expert on this topic. Unfortunately I can't articulate my knowledge in a safe for RMN manner.

Umm...I don't think anyone can.

author=LockeZ

author=Adon237
what are furries??

a quick guide:

Cracks me up every time.

author=pianotm

author=Pizza

author=Adon237
what are furries??

I am the resident expert on this topic. Unfortunately I can't articulate my knowledge in a safe for RMN manner.

Umm...I don't think anyone can.

*deep breath*

You see, there are varying definitions of "furry":

1. Those who simply enjoy the spiritual bond between human and animal or placing human-inherent qualities on animals (anthropomorphism). This sort of thing can be found in some ancient cultures where there were gods created to resemble a blend of both kinds which governed a plane of existence or a celestial force. In the modern day, we typically only see such creatures in cartoons as they allow an ease of entry for children into subject matters they may otherwise not care about by engaging with their imaginations. Adults who feel the same way likely have this connection due to some stunted growth during development.
2. Those who genuinely feel like they have a spirit animal inside them and wish to express it outwardly by dressing up in fursuits. This is most likely a symptom of personality disorders but also may be spurred on by the person's exposure to matters concerning the proposed sociological similarities between man and beast.
3. Those who find sexual gratification out of depictions of anthromorph animal-people in explicit situations/positions or otherwise, though mostly the former. This likely has its origin in cartoons which, like 1, carried through into puberty and remained an influence into what a person views as pleasurable. This does not necessarily mean, however, that the person condones any pursuit of bestiality.

You can kind of view 3 as the "gateway drug" of fetishes that many would consider strange (such as bondage, tickling, burping/farting, or expansion-related fetishes) as those whose line is blurred by this will likely find no problem with or may even experience pleasure by tapping into such taboo subject matter. The trigger for such things have been proven to be linked to situations in cartoons that were originally intended for comedic effect (a character being blown up like a balloon and then flying away by a stream of released air) but instead had an adverse reaction in the viewer that resulted in an affinity with said situation.

It's not something that can necessarily be drawn out on a line as 1 must lead to 2 which eventually leads to 3 or anything. Instead, it depends on the interests of the person. However, they can be combined and, in most cases, are, though there are those who simply exhibit behavior inherent with 1.

The verdict is still out on whether or not those who claim to apply strictly to 1 are being honest or are denying given the nature of their affection.

*Runs around updating passwords*

author=Travio

author=TehGuy

author=Travio

author=arcan
I'm wondering if it's legal to remake a fully copyrighted game if I don't intend to profit from it.

According to everything that's happened to every Chrono Trigger remake project ever - no.

Well, that's due more to SquareEnix not wanting anyone to do that..

Black Mesa is really the only entire remake that the original devs were completely fine with that I know of, though

More a guide of assume it's not legal until permission is given.

Fanfiction, remix music, and using screenshots or quotes from the game in a forum discussion are actually all exactly as illegal as a remake of the game. Copyright law is extremely broad so that content creators never have to worry about someone skirting around the edge of the laws. They can technically prosecute basically anyone who mentions the game's name, as long as it wasn't part of a news broadcast or an accredited educational curriculum.

The question is not whether it's illegal but whether they will ask you to stop. If what you're making gets enough publicity and they believe it might cut into their profits, they will ask you to stop.

For the record I think they've only shut down two Chrono Trigger fan games? Maybe three? There are a few hundred others they've left alone.

author=BurningTyger
*Runs around updating passwords*

Make sure the sites/games/whatever have actually fixed the Heartbleed bug before you do this! Many haven't yet, and changing your password will only make things worse. (Has RMN fixed it? Was RMN even affected?)

Also, if you didn't log into a particular website/game/whatever between Monday and when they fixed the bug, you don't actually need to change your password. The Heartbleed bug only lets people steal data that is in the server's active memory; i.e., stuff that the computer has been thinking about recently. Thank god, because I easily have over two thousand online accounts.

I wouldn't sweat it.

author=LockeZ

author=Travio

author=TehGuy

author=Travio

author=arcan
I'm wondering if it's legal to remake a fully copyrighted game if I don't intend to profit from it.

According to everything that's happened to every Chrono Trigger remake project ever - no.

Well, that's due more to SquareEnix not wanting anyone to do that..

Black Mesa is really the only entire remake that the original devs were completely fine with that I know of, though

More a guide of assume it's not legal until permission is given.

Fanfiction, remix music, and using screenshots or quotes from the game in a forum discussion are actually all exactly as illegal as a remake of the game. Copyright law is extremely broad so that content creators never have to worry about someone skirting around the edge of the laws. They can technically prosecute basically anyone who mentions the game's name, as long as it wasn't part of a news broadcast or an accredited educational curriculum.

The question is not whether it's illegal but whether they will ask you to stop. If what you're making gets enough publicity and they believe it might cut into their profits, they will ask you to stop.

For the record I think they've only shut down two Chrono Trigger fan games? Maybe three? There are a few hundred others they've left alone.

To be fair, the ones they did shut down had actually hacked the roms to use the source information, meaning they were messing with code that Square did not want anyone messing with, ever. I don't think they've ever bothered with an actual game that wasn't a rom hack, though I could be wrong.

Marvel did send a cease and desist on a game before (Marvel Brothel), which is understandable considering the actual content of the game. XD

Not sure I can recall any RM projects that were shut down. I know a few have received warnings from 'companies' but they turned out to be fakes from people who felt like the game was too close to their own games. :/

It may just be my bad memory though. I've an inkling there was at least one other that was cut short due to cease and desist orders, but can't quite recall which it was.


Oh, and before you start updating your passwords, check that the site is no longer a risk or it'll be for naught. There's a site that checks for you (Here!) and I know Tumblr is currently safe (it's the only one I bothered changing XD).

Well, as long as you don't use the code. Remember, Square tried to patent the ATB system but only managed to get the code since an IDEA can't be copyrighted. Pity for them~ :DDD

So, they're very touchy about their code being touched and their image being confused too, it seems. (Don't blame them for the code at all and trademarks make sense to protect especially when it comes to a game like CT which is highly regarded as one of the best jRPGs of all time.)

It's software patents! Just hire somebody who can make it awful and vague enough then you to can get a patent on minigames during loading screens!

Or patent the most exalted video game idea of all time.

author=Liberty
No, you're right. Square tried to take the idea and make it inaccessible to anyone else but they were overruled. Thus, only the code itself is theirs, not the actual idea. I like to think there was a lot of hair-pulling and mouth-frothing when the next RPG came out that used the same system. XD

Don't get me wrong, Square is a company I've loved during my youth, but they have kinda slipped a bit and it is nice to see them frothing at the mouth a little, eating that ol' humble pie. They could do with a few more chomps and then, hopefully, rise from the ashes as a better company.

Square Enix as a company is, at least, starting to come to it's senses. Between the view from Bravely Default's massive success and Yoshida actively speaking out about them being a decade behind the times and doing it wrong (and being able to get away with it because hey, he saved the company from bankruptcy), I think the company as a whole is finally realizing it needs to go back to doing things how it used to do it.

author=GreatRedSpirit
Or patent the most exalted video game idea of all time.

PLAYER quotes MARX
"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."
WORLD is inflicted with SERFDOM

I just read through all the flow charts in there and I'm laughing. Thank you - my last few hours of planned work time today will now have to be postponed until I can get back on track. ;)