Mods and UGC are concepts that refer to the intimate relationship between a game and its community. Both of these elements are created by a community of players, which can be an individual or an organization that builds content based on an existing game, or in other words, a collection of code and other elements. However, because of the popularity of these concepts in the gaming community, it has gradually raised questions about whether Mods and UGC have the ability to infringe the intellectual property rights of game manufacturers or not.
Basics of Mods and UGC
Mods
In the gaming industry, “mods” is an acronym for “modifications” which are user-made changes to a video game. Mods can take many different forms but will still keep the original game element at the center, such as adding new levels, new characters or improving game mechanics, graphics or adjusting game balance,…
For example, in the Witcher 3 game, one of the factors that makes many players uncomfortable is that the looting mechanism is too complicated, forcing the player to press the collect button continuously. Both the risk of damaging the keyboard and creating a sense of boredom when the process is repeated for several dozen, several hundred hours of gameplay, prompting the Witcher 3 mods community to create a mod that allows players to press only once to be able to collect all objects within a certain range.
In addition to the Auto Loot mode, the Witcher 3 game also has other mods. For example, mods that allow users to teleport anywhere on the map, the ability to fly, more beautiful and unique costumes for game characters, combat effects, better spells, etc.
Mods are created by members of the gaming community and are usually distributed online through various platforms or websites to that gaming community. They can be created using a variety of tools, such as game development software, programming languages, or specialized modifiers.
Mods have been popular in the gaming industry for many years and have contributed to prolonging the life of many popular games by keeping them fresh and giving players new experiences. This is necessary and recommended, supported by most game makers because a game without mods or constantly updated new content will not be worth replaying.
Players will usually only play a game once, or according to number of gameplay, about 100 hours. When they clear the main campaign or when they are bored, they will proceed to the next game. Mods are one of the factors that make a game in the 22nd century worth playing and more importantly worth replaying.
Some game developers even encourage the creation of mods by providing tools or APIs to make the process easier for users. Currently, some games have been built with mods in mind right from the development stage and even optimized the development of mods instead of the original game.
For these titles, UGC would be a more appropriate concept.
UGC
Quite similar, even in some areas can be considered the same, but UGC is still a bit different from Mods in terms of scale. UGC (User-generated content) is defined as player-generated content that may include the concept of mods.
UGC is any form of content, such as images, videos, texts, testimonials and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media networks, discussion forums, etc. UGC is a product that consumers create to disseminate information about products online or the companies that market them.
The most obvious concept of UGC in the gaming world appears in the game Roblox or Minecraft. The common point of these two games is that it acts as an online platform based on the principle of experiencing the world (Minecraft) or the game (Roblox) created by other users.
Based on the original code, players can use basic game elements such as Minecraft’s low-resolution squares to create a 1:1 wonder of the world like Ha Long Bay of Vietnam, the Grand Canyon of the USA, the Great Wall of China, etc.
With UGC, a game will become famous, most typically with the success of Roblox and Minecraft. Realistic interaction with content created by players like themselves is the highlight of UGC, attracting a large gaming community around the world.
Are Mods and UGC Infringing Intellectual Property Rights?
Although Mods and UGC bring a lot of value to game makers, will the great success of Mods and UGC become a hindrance in the eyes of game makers?
Thereby, can they use intellectual property rights to protect their game products, prevent users from creating Mods and UGC products on their platforms, and even sue to claim indemnify?
As people keeps playing, creating and sharing Mods, UGC based on video games will always involves using the intellectual property of the game in one way or another, because Mods and UGC are built on that game product.
If a gameplay mods includes the same sound or mods that increase or decrease the volume, making the sound quality smoother, will the mods file be considered an audio copyright infringement by the manufacturer? What if the audio doesn’t belong fully to the game developers?
If it is the case of cooperation, even if the game producer agrees with the development and sharing of Mods, it is unlikely that the music producer would agree, because it infringes on their interests. The music producer may not have a direct connection to the benefits that will be achieved if the game develops more, because the contract between the two parties is usually just a supply contract with a fixed benefit, independent of revenue.
However, if the manufacturer has agreed with the suppliers and thereby, becomes the sole owner of the intellectual property rights of all elements in the game such as sound, graphics, text, style,… including economic and moral rights, the only thing that UGC moders or users need to pay attention to is the “End-user license agreement” that regulates the use of IP assets in game.
In most games today, before entering the game, the player must confirm that he/she has read this agreement (Although almost no one actually reads it). Although not read, but that confirmation is a proof of the legal contract between the two parties. If a player violates something in the agreement, they may be held liable.
In particular, the term “Limit of use” or “Limit of personal use” is a provision that stipulates what users and players can do with the game. It will normally include the following: “The user is not authorized to modify, copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, perform, publish, license, create derivative works, transfer or sell any information, software, products or services obtained from the Service (except for personal non-commercial use) without the written consent of the game manufacturer/publisher.”
Regarding the issue of posting game content information online, there is a regulation: “Other users can view any Content publicly posted by users. Users may remove certain types of Content upon posting. However, not all types of Content may be removed once publicly posted.”
Except for the large content that can be compared to DLC (Downloadable Content), most of the Mods and UGC are self-created without any direct or indirect agreement or approval of the game manufacturer. Thereby, it can be seen in one direction that most of the Mods and UGCs on the network today are products that infringe on the manufacturers’ intellectual property rights.
However, as mentioned above, manufacturers will often support and encourage this behavior if it does not create a negative impact on them. In the event that the effect is negative, they will be able to use the contents of the End User License Agreement as a basis to defend their interests, request removal or compensation.
Although rare, this is not necessarily impossible. In March 2020, Sony was forced by Nintendo to remove UGC featuring the popular Nintendo protagonist Mario from the Dreams video game released by Sony. PieceofCraft, the creator of Mario in Dreams, said about this incident on their Twitter page. However, it seems that Nintendo did not request anything other than a takedown request as PieceofCraft itself said that it considers Nintendo’s move to be ‘kinda like a slap on the wrist’ meaning only a warning, requesting removal and there is no more serious action.
Currently, most game manufacturers and developers do not have the ability or the need to eliminate the use of every part of Mods and UGC if they do not want to face alienation from the gaming community. Therefore, in the future, the gaming industry will certainly see many similar cases like Sony and Nintendo.
However, apart from a few small cases, in general, Mods and UGC will have sustainable development as science and technology continue to advance. In about 10, 20 years will be the era of virtual reality games (VR games). However, creators always need to remember and respect the existence of Intellectual Property Law.
Creativity is good, but uncontrolled creativity can affect the creators and game makers themselves. Thereby, moders and users need to work with the spirit of respecting the original work and efforts of the game production and publishing team, and when receiving ‘a slap on the wrist’, they should comply and cooperate with goodwill to prevent the soft slap from turning into a giant legal case that the creator is almost certain to lose.
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