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Cyberpunk 2077 VR mod flatlines, after CD Projekt file DMCA strike and request its creator drop their paywall (www.rockpapershotgun.com)
submitted 9 months ago by [B] to c/gaming@lemmy.zip
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[–] 30 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Although I would like to see the mod maker get some money for his work, he really should've just went the donation route. Not surprised it got striked.

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    • [–] 75 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    Tbh thats fair

    Make it free, would be better

    Charging for a mod is usually what causes studios to lawyer up

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  • [–] 23 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Paid mods suck for everyone, but free mods (especially giant frameworks like the one Luke Ross was working on) suck mostly for the people who make them. Not just because of the unpaid labor, but also because the worst kind of people (entitled freeloaders) end up harassing them.

    I don’t blame him for charging for his work, or choosing not to challenge CDPR in court

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  • [–] -4 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I don’t blame him for charging for his work

    It's a normal thing in other kinds of software like video editing and audio software as well. Sometimes entire companies spring up to create custom plugins for things like After Effects or one of the many DAW softwares. Then they sell them and sometimes even license them out. Maybe it just hasn't caught on in gaming yet?

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  • [+] -7 points 9 months ago

    For every VR mod that gets used in Cyberpunk, the game also had to be sold.
    CD Project Red got its money too.
    They're whining that someone added value to their product before they could, and want to sell it themselves.
    So this just seems like monopolistic behaviour to me.

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    • [–] 19 points 9 months ago

    Good. If it's not official licenced game content it should be free, if it is official game content then put it on a real store as DLC not some random person's Patreon page.

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    [–] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    I'm not a developer and not knowledgeable about how his tech works, but shouldn't it be possible to make a free mod that can interface with his proprietary VR software (which he then could license)?

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    • [–] -5 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    No paid mods. (And if you ask me, no paid GAMES either ! But the world isn't set up for that yet)

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    So game devs shouldn't get paid?

    Fuck big publishers and their stupid decisions, but the actual devs and indies deserve to make a living.

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  • [–] 15 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Generally when you see people advocate for not having to pay for things like that, it's because they want to do away with currency and the concept that a living is something that needs to be earned rather than something everyone gets as a basic right. Plenty of people make art, including games, without a profit motive, so it's not unreasonable to think that enough games would be made if everyone had way more free time and games were all made for free.

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    • 7 comments in c/cyberpunk2077@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 77 points 9 months ago

    This directly violates our Fan Content Guidelines: we never allow monetisation of our IP without our direct permission and/or an agreement in place. We were in touch with Luke last week and informed him that he needs to make it free for everyone (with optional donations) or remove it."

    This is an entirely reasonable position, and much more progressive than you'll see for any other game publisher.

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    [–] 17 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    I think it’s not that clear from the article but basically he has like a base VR conversion mod that can be adapted to many different games, and the entire thing is behind a recurring subscription. So you have to pay monthly but then have access to VR for every game you own which his mod supports

    CDPR has it written specifically in their TOS that you can’t paywall any mods for their game. Some type of corporate logic about using their IP as a monetization platform, I don’t really understand why it’s a bad thing as people must buy the game anyway to use the mod, but it is what it is

    So he just dropped support for the one game but his mod is otherwise still up for the other games. It also isn’t the first time this exact situation has happened, if I had to guess probably most games have similar TOS but just haven’t bothered to intervene

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  • [–] 11 points 9 months ago

    usually when it comes to this situation, its part branding that its meant to hook into a specific game and using the games name/trademark to functionally sell something.

    if it was advertised as a geneeic vr thing that latches onto games, thats one thing. its another to advertise it as VR mode for Cyberpunk 2077.

    i dont think either side was wrong. but more that how the dev acted after the fact doesnt paint himself in good light. he could have silently removed the mod and people would have critisized him less (there are hardliners who will complain, but both are in the right to do what they did)

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  • [–] 13 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Likely to do with copyright. If you let someone else profit off of your IP so directly, you risk losing the copyright, since that's kinda the entire point of copyrights. Letting them profit directly is failing to defend your ownership.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    You're thinking of trademarks, which can get "diluted" or gnericized by allowing unauthorized use. There's no parallel in copyright — copyright holders can enforce them a little, a lot or not at all without losing their rights.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    The RealVR mod in general is not locked to a subscription, aside from paying for an initial month. You can subscribe, download it, and cancel your subscription but continue to use the mod. Sometimes game updates can cause the mod to stop working, and then you may need another update which may require a subscription.

    I paid for one month and then played Elden Ring in VR for a long ass time, and it was great. Cyberpunk was cool in VR too but I can't maintain interest in it enough to keep playing it. But I went ahead and disabled updates for that in Steam when I read about this news so I can continue to use the prior versions of the mod on it.

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