Would this be considered stealing?

[theforgiveable]

Hello,
I’ll make a long story short. I’m a computer developer and I make very simple video games. Their is something called “source code” that we use to make our games/programs. I saw that a small group of developers have sort of “emulated” another game in a sense(it wasn’t theirs). Their are 3 main parts to the game. The first part they have programmed all on their own. This part i’m not worried about.

The second + third part however is the part I am worried about. When the real owners of the game made it they you know uploaded it do their website. People could then play the game. The developers I told you about before took these files, decompiled them (pretty much taking the files that the computers reads and making it so they could edit it. They edited it down, created the other part that was needed to run with it (the first part). Thats the part where i’m worried I think it’s just as bad as right clicking on the this website, hitting view source and taking the source code from it. (why is common and accepted)

Now the third part of the game were the models and pictures. They took them out of the game and put them in another format.

The only reason I want this so bad is because I can learn so much from it. I have no intentions of selling or even lending it to someone else. Sorry if my explanation sounded extremely confusing. I’m just confused if it would be stealing because the game is 12 years old and they did edit the files that were legally put out on the internet.

Thanks

 

[1ke]

The age of the game is irrelevant, unless it is out of copyright. Copyright and intellectual property protections such as patents would not have expired in 12 years.

The code is someone else’s intellectual property. If you want to learn from them, I suggest you contact them and ask permission to analyze their code.

 

[theforgiveable]

The age of the game is irrelevant, unless it is out of copyright. Copyright and intellectual property protections such as patents would not have expired in 12 years.

The code is someone else’s intellectual property. If you want to learn from them, I suggest you contact them and ask permission to analyze their code.

I suppose you are right. I actually did Realize that I did get it before . Um alot. I’m currently attempting to remove every bit of it.

 

[PaulinVA]

Uhm, most software licenses stipulate that you will not decompile, reverse engineer or otherwise determine how they did what they did.

The new game can not be licensed to you, as the developers of the new game do not own the intellectual property.

I want to say that you can examine the new source for educational purposes, but, frankly, I don’t think that’s actually true. Legally, I think you have pirated code that you should steer clear of.

 

[theforgiveable]

I know this may seem kind of silly, but i’m scrupulous. Is pictures saved from the internet (funny ones I find) ok?

 

[1ke]

I know this may seem kind of silly, but i’m scrupulous. Is pictures saved from the internet (funny ones I find) ok?

Go talk to your priest.

It depends upon whether or not they are copy protected and what the creator has given you permissions to do. Some pictures are either not copy protected or the owner has given certain permissions for use under creative commons or others. For example, those who place photos or clipart on Microsoft’s online clip art site for use in Microsoft products give certainly limited use permissions to those who download them.

If you don’t know what the licensing or copyright status of something is, assume it is not yours to download.

 

[theforgiveable]

I actually did quite a bit of research over the past few days and found a few issues. One of the legal issues was reverse engineering (what i’m doing when I look at the code). My purposes are completely legal. The game was obtained legally (not by me but by another who then passes it on). It also can become illegal if the TOS is against it. As for circumventing copyright protection, it’s legal in RE and wasn’t even done by me.

I took a look at the TOS and It said that reverse engineering was disallowed, but allowed by law. Also the TOS doesn’t apply because I agreed to it when I was a minor, which makes any contract in the Us invalid. The TOS just shares rights and gives them the right to delete my account and protects them from lawsuits. Regardless the TOS pretty much gives the OK.

As for IP goes thats pretty much copyright. Certain parts are copyrighted and none of them will even be seen in what i’m using.

As for morality goes this isn’t stealing. I also won’t be committing a mortal sin of breaking the law because it doesn’t appear then I am breaking any. Even I was (which i’m pretty certain i’m not) it wouldn’t be serious enough to be mortal.

The custom part of the game: Legal

The part originally from the company: Legal under RE and TOS

Pictures and what not: They were pretty much in their original format when the game was actually in use, except one part was zipped up so it could be read.

Now obviously this could turn bad if I were to sell any of this or use it in future works. Which I won’t be doing. This “project” is just as fine as a cook going to McDonalds, buying a big mac and seeing whats in it for educational purposes.