Hi, My name is Rimuru, I have been going around and informing creators that their game is on another website without their permission. here is a list of the games
Santa Can't Breath On Mars.
Snow Plower.
Polar Panic.
Dot Gobbler.
Planet Wreckers.
BK'S Super One Wheel Adventure.
Last Christmas.
X-Zero.
Mouse Maze.
Mars.
Funklost.
and many others. The website is ArcadePreHacks. To find your game, go on their website, Click the Unity box so you dont have to look through Unity games but leave the Flash box ticked and look through the website and if you find your game go on the forums and talk about it in one of the existing forums. I will get back to you eventually.
Honestly they can just request that lexaloffle is a website where they cant copy games
Last time we had this conversation, I was irritated that they hadn't deemed any of my games worthy of being hacked.
Not any more!
http://www.arcadeprehacks.com/game/34560/retro-brothers.html
Finally! Recognition!
This made my day!
I'm famous !
http://www.arcadeprehacks.com/game/33537/mildews-manor.html
But yeah, they should ask first. ... ?? Aww man they got CHEATS on my game now. That really bites. It's supposed to be an intellectual challenge.
I just want to know how others feel on this subject, because from where I stand, I would be flattered to have my work stolen, and indeed, encourage any hacks, re-implementations, or reuploads of the stuff I've made.
The one thing that would be pretty shitty would be to remove my name from anything that had it, but even then, I wouldn't care. If my work is good enough to steal, upload, bring someone else some visitors, then good for them. Hopefully, they take the time to review the code and become a better developer.
I just could care less about my stuff being used, honestly. How do others feel?
Thanks for this post! both Taco360 and myself have contacted them requesting the removal of various low effort "hacks" of games and mods made by the community. But yeah I was pretty mad at the fact that Funklost, a mod I spent months organizing was uploaded without my permission.
>"I just want to know how others feel on this subject"
I figure there's no good creative work that's not being ripped off and pirated. Even the mighty Walt Disney Corporation can't make that stop.
So, I'm honestly happy to see this solid evidence that one of my games, in its own very small way, has graduated into that category.
It beats the alternative.
Well it can you make you feel bad too though, @apLundell. I mean I remember when I was miffed about my fireball routine getting jacked by a competitor Fantasy Console to Pico-8.
https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=56488
But maybe the words here serve a purpose. The only code that was changed was adding cheats. Likely the hacker realized he'd get in big trouble if he changed anything else in the source code, especially credits.
All he did was take the existing source code and add controls by using the 2-player buttons for cheating. In my case to give you more time on the clock for levels 1-3 and to give you infinite matches which normally you must find in the rooms.
So - he didn't. He didn't change anything except posting our games in a site we didn't know about and adding his own set of cheats for them by modifying our publicly listed source-code.
Bottom line we get a bit more publicity and a bit more internet coverage. I guess that's not too bad ...
... I don't like the cheats though so I sent a request in the FORUM to have it removed from there.
@Rimuru, thank you. You are quite the detective.
@Rimuru Thanks for the heads-up.
Yeah, this has been a constant battle. 😒
I actually reached out to the owner of the the site a couple of years ago...
https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=45263#p
..since then, they have at least been linking to the author/original game - which was my biggest gripe.
Back then, they said that they'd remove games at the creator's request. So, if you (or anyone else) would still prefer they did not host your game, best send them an e-mail to: [email protected]
Unfortunately, if games are posted here without a licence attached (which is in the "spirit" of PICO-8 development) - then there's not a lot we can do to stop "gaming websites" like this. Hey ho. 🤷♂️
well, arcadeprehacks are not the worst, they're putting some kind of effort to it and do seem to link back to the creator after all.
but others just leech from sites like itch.io. if that really bothers you, you could try:
Piracy Protection with 0.1.11g? but beware that stat(102) does not work for iframes (for now)
> Unfortunately, if games are posted here without a licence attached (which is in the "spirit" of PICO-8 development) - then there's not a lot we can do to stop "gaming websites" like this.
@Liquidream Actually, copyright works the opposite of how you think it does. If a licence is not explicitly attached, then copyright implicitly applies.
International copyright law says that a creator's work is always copyrighted, and explicit permission is required to redistribute it. A licence is that explicit permission.
On Wikipedia you can see the list [1] of countries which have ratified (accepted) the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, which states that copyright does not need to be explicitly registered nor indicated for it to apply.
Furthermore, the PICO-8 licence states that:
> Files generated by exporting a cartridge with PICO-8 (Javascript, HTML, executeables and data files) may be used for any purpose, including commercial applications, and to alter them and redistribute them freely, provided that permission to do so is also granted by the authors of the cartridge.
(emphasis mine)
Therefore, provided that the website in question resides on a server in a country on that list, creators are in their full rights to file a DMCA claim against the copyright-violating redistribution of their original and/or derivative work.
Having said that, I personally think it's a fool's errand. Great work will always be copied and derived from. Unless you are willing to spend all of your time and effort playing whack-a-mole with pirates, your work will always be available via unauthorized sources. Copying is a core aspect of Internet culture.
My advice is to sign your work and unleash it upon the world, and look with pride as the people enjoy it, share it, and build upon it; and only strike with fury if someone tries to pass your work as their own. (as reflected in the Creative Commons Attribution licence)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_agreements#Table_of_parties
@Xii Thanks for the Copyright reminder/lesson 😉
Yeah, I was probably a bit hasty in posting that reply.
At the end of the day - Copyright law means nothing to most of these kinds of sites.
I actually meant to say that, by even POSTING your cart on the BBS, your code & cart is available for all (regardless of license/copyright laws).
Which, again, is in the spirit of PICO-8 - sharing code - it's built into the core of the fantasy console.
However, it is also at this point that it becomes available to such websites that may decide to take and do whatever they please with your carts.
It's a double-edged sword. But, as you say - it's mostly a fool's errand to try to even keep on top of it.
So probably better to just focus on the positive community benefits of sharing such creations. 🤓
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