Is This Legal?

[FlaffWaffle]

I love Tabletop Simulator, and honestly it doesn't matter to me what sort of legal ground it's on, but with all of the very clearly copyrighted and licensed content that is not only being recreated within the game,but uploaded to the game's workshop, I was wondering HOW this game is allowed to exist.

Is it just flying under the radar, or does it have some sort of obscure legal protection? I mean, youtube was forced to create a content ID system for this very phenomenon by various court cases. You have entire boardgames with licensed content like Dark Souls, and pretty much the ENTIRE card library of systems like Yu-Gi-Oh and Star Wars Destiny.

This is just an academic curiosity of mine, and I mean no ill will to the game or its developers. I'm going to continue to play and support the platform regardless.

[YourPeepingTom]

usually companies that dont want their work shared like that are looking out for that and it gets taken down sooner rather than later with a cease and desist thing, I don't think you get sued or any of that but you wont be able to upload that to the workshop again, there are some of those in game that you have to have subscribed and saved when it was on the workshop and now you can only let others save it to be able to host it

[Kelson]

Companies that don't want their work shared in the Workshop send requests to remove it. That doesn't mean everything is 100% legal, though. My personal style is if I play a game more than once or twice I buy a physical copy. Then I play it here as much as I like.

[DR. Mind Flayer]

I agree with Kelson, I started board gaming with tts and have a small library of my own now. It's not legal, but free advertising. There are some new board games being released on tts before being published, to make a player base beforehand. This should be enough to keep the game going imo

[Mentize]

As far as I am aware, it is down to the owner of the IP (Such as Nintendo for Pokémon) to contact Beserker Games and issue a TakeDown request.

Typically owners only do this if the Workshop Author is making money from the uploaded item, doesn't like how they're portraying their product, or plan to have somebody release an official DLC.

Otherwise it's just free advertisment for them, if somebody play's yugioh or dark souls alot in TTS it's going to improve their opinion of the actual game it's associated with, making them more likely to purchase the standalone game or reccommend it to others.

[The War of 1812]

You could absolutely get sued for damages if you create an unlicensed/unapproved mod for a boardgame. Will you? Probably not. Might get a Cease and Desist letter.

[DizzyChimera]

I do believe it is legal to do so under the condition you own the physical game, yes, but nobody really gives a sh!t anyways.

[Kelson]

I had one mod that I was asked to take down right around the time the game was being released on Steam as it's own stand-alone application. So I immediately complied and removed it from the workshop. I will continue to create/update mods and remove anything upon request - and buy the physical games (assuming they're still being produced).

[Sekkuar666]

Originally posted by Super Suit 12:

but nobody really gives a sh!t anyways.

The truer words said on this post

[Marquise*]

I know there was a summer camp that got sued to play some pop music at their firecamp without permission. But how much cruel megacorps can be to sue families to let kids playing with their IPs on tables? (no charge?)

[Nothing Matters]

I think I get it now. When a game is on Tabletop Simulator, it takes away no business from the real-world games. If I can gather with my friends in person, there's no way we'd load up tabletop simulator and play a simulated board game. We'd buy the real thing. Free advertising. The exception I see being if there is already a successful online version of the board game.

[Kelson]

Yep. I actually find it to be the opposite - it generates sales. I know I've bought physical copies of quite a few games that I discovered on TTS. And like you, there's no way we'd be playing on TTS if we were in person.

[ulia]

The workshop is user generated content and for the most part we don't intervene with what our users upload to it. Naturally we do not endorse copyright/trademark/IP infringement, but as it is something that needs to be dealt with on a case by case basis the best we can usually do (and are actively working on) is bringing official content to our platform both in terms of DLC games and highlighting original creations from our community.

When you do upload something that you don't own the rights to the rights owner can and often will take action against it. Steam and most similar platforms really have quite strict policies against this and for very good reasons, distributing what isn't yours in ways that are not fair use is not good - you could pretty much call this piracy.

That said this is not us setting some sort of ground rules for the workshop - Steam/Valve have already set them with their extensive collection of ToS/EULA and workshop rules/guidelines that you've agreed to by using the platform. I do think it's important to clarify that subjective viewpoints about it being "free advertisement" are not valid justifications and will not help you when a DMCA/Takedown request is sent your way.

[ArcadeVault]

We can see more and more OFFICIAL tabletop games here, which is good, the developers realized the marketing power in TTS.

Its like - video gaming and board gaming policies are the exact opposites. Its understandable - of course- becouse in gaming there are no physical copy for you, but a good board game box will never lose its charm. :)

[Ermitaum]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned games workshop.

[MADE IN IRON]

Originally posted by ArcadeVault:

We can see more and more OFFICIAL tabletop games here, which is good, the developers realized the marketing power in TTS.

Its like - video gaming and board gaming policies are the exact opposites. Its understandable - of course- becouse in gaming there are no physical copy for you, but a good board game box will never lose its charm. :)

I think boardgames can be compared to books in some aspects, not only to videogames. Some people really loves printed books, some other find digital way more practical, and with board games it's similar, physical copies have a special charm, but digitalization allows you to play with people all around the world.

With books, the digitalization made piracy easier, for sure. And I think a mod game and workshop stuff made from a real physical boardgame would be like an unauthorized copy of it, despite the media. It's the same as books, if I buy a book, I only have rights over my physical copy, I'm not allowed to scan it and distribute it, even for free.
That being said, digitalization opens the door for piracy, but it also opens the door for a lot of potential players that might not buy a physical copy (because of market availability or lack of people to play with) but that will be willing to play board games online.
Publishers are aware of that, so maybe now that TTS created a platform that became popular, they can officially enter the platform with their own games, something that they might not have been able to do on their own, to develop their own platform individually for the digital market.

I think TTS and modders here are setting the ground for boardgames to evolve into digital media. It's a good thing for all us boardgamers.