Copyright issues on ..::LvL and an apology

[Tigger]

TL;DR
Copyright violations can now be quickly reported on ..::LvL from either the Review, Media or Overview section of any listing. I also want to publicly apologise to Theftbot for my overly defensive response / rant at their comment.

Full details:
Although this is no excuse at all, I was having a very rough week :[ Then I read Theftbot's comment that implied that ..::LvL had no respect or concern for Copyright. Of cause the site does and by extension, so do I. I always have and always tried to inform people about possible issues (it has been a part of my job's over the years). I over reacted and I apologise for that, sorry Theftbot and sorry to all that read that rant.

I then calmed down and realised that Theftbot had no reason to think anything differently. Nothing on ..::LvL said a map submission had to be free of Copyright protected assets. There was also no way for a Copyright holder to quickly or simply report a possible violation. They could always use the contact page, but... it was not as easy as it could be.

This has now changed. Authors of maps submitted from now on have to have ticked a button that mentions Copyright before they can submit. All listed maps have a "Report" link that allows a Copyright owner to submit a possible violation of their work from either the Review, Media or Overview sections.

Note: Only the Copyright owner or an authorised representative can report a possible infringement. Based on my research this week, this appears to be the industry standard. See: Facebook and YouTube and Vimeo (I read a lot more, but these are clear).

[MKJ]

I condone this message.

[m4xpower]

[...] I was having a very rough week [...]
phew... been there, lol!

[...] I read Theftbot's comment that implied that ..::LvL had no respect or concern for Copyright[...]
if he was under that impression, he must have been high as a kite...

[...] All listed maps have a "Report" link[...]
as I suggested ; very good - could use a font-size: 16px and font-weight:bold though, imho...

[...] Only the Copyright owner or an authorised representative can report a possible infringement.[...]
anything else would be reckless and might lead to the abuse of the report link...

On that note:
As someone, who has benefited time after time from your effort, work and love for , let me just say
Thank you!

Personally, I do not take ..::LvL for granted and as a fellow developer I can appreciate the work and heart poured into creating and maintaining ..::LvL

[KittenIgnition]

I feel like I should use lvl more, but most of those maps are on worldspawn anyway (or should be ). But it is a nice site.

[cityy]

Thank you for your commitment Tig! While I noted that you put up hints regarding potential copyright issues, I think extending the site functionality in this particular regard is a great thing. lvl is a great site and I hope we can enjoy it many more years!

[Hipshot]

I think the entire matter got blown up a bit.
I don't think Lvl should crack down on some level using Q4 textures in a Q3 level and I guess it won't happen either, since iD, Activision, Raven, Zenimax or whoever owning the Q4 assets probably won't report it.

[obsidian]

Whether or not copyright holders ever file a claim against someone is irrelevant nor is there generally a need for a "crack down". But as a community, I think it's important to educate our peers on the importance of respecting the work of others. If Lvl could do its part with a little note on the submission page saying, "hey, using the work of others without permission isn't cool", then I think that goes a long way in mentoring other level designers to understand why this is important.

So for that, thanks Tig.

[V1979]

Moreover, I visited their site and it seemed to me that they aren't interested in Q3, Q4 anymore. Q3 was released more than 15 years ago, Q4 was released 10 years ago. Commercial aspect of these games is gone. Only new games based on new technologies can draw attention of professional developers.
But I respect Tig's right to decline a map if he think that he can have problems with copyrights.
As for maps VQ4DM7LITE and VQ4DM7CTF that he has removed from the queue, at the beginning I was going to replace textures and ask to return them into the queue. But then I thought that in such a case the maps would be "made of gold" and that it doesn't deserves such efforts.
It was an interesting experiment for me to convert a map from Q4 to Q3 format. I don't hide what map was the sample (base), as well what technologies I used to succeed.
So, if you find these maps somewhere else, you will use them as they are and at your own risk.

[CZghost]

Well, copyright infridgement is a risk even after bunch of years and even when id Software seems to ignore Q3 or Q4 assets abuse, it might not be true as most people think. I saw somewhere on YouTube video from Rage that shows easter egg sending player to initial section of Quake I (a lot older game than Q3), so I can't say they're not interested in these (g)old games anymore and sometimes can happen that they take something from these games to include something of these in new games. New game, Wolfenstein: The New Order, there is a scene where you are in car with your friend. Notice the car keys of the friend. There is Rocket Launcher from Q3 as decoration. Also seen on YouTube So you never know what actualy new games will come with and which things from much older games they can place in new games, as easter eggs or anything else And for copyright infridgement, you never know, it's not worth the risk of being banned for offering copyrighted stuff illegal way...