Legal violations by A3L: Arma 3 life

[thryckz 1]

Okay, this is coming from one of the founding developers that was on the team. However, take what I say with a grain of salt because I haven't been on the development team in a few months. This is only coming from my personal experience on the team.

Where to start? The copyright claims is what's getting the most attention so I want to clear that up (Or make it gloomy). Now, when I was on the team, we had reach. It was a pretty cool thing having developers come to us and asking us if we could use their mods. We loved it. However, at the time (Arma 3 Alpha) no mods were really what we wanted in Arma 3 Life. We had to hire some 3D modelers & texturers to handle some shit we needed with cars,clothing and weapons. The 3D modelers were pretty good, they weren't on the team persay, but they made stuff for the gamemode (i.e. The Taser). A few days after the first teaser (where Caiden showcases the phone). I would like to point out that we were using the TFAR for the audio streaming and we did not have permission to do so. Caiden figured that no one would really care if we used it in alpha/beta of the gamemode and we could always get their permission before release. Now, we skip later on in the development and flay gives us permission to use the hang glider. I remember this fully because in the second teaser video I kept pronouncing his name wrong (I think I said flec or fleek or something). As for the Ivory mods. We kept asking for his/her's permission to use their mods. They never responded to us and believe me, we asked alot. On the second or third teaser, we are using the ivory mods. Again, we did not have their permission for this because at the time, ivory never responded to us. And the one I remember the most, is Kiory's random hat's. I don't know if we got permission from them later on but during my entirity on the team, we had never got a response from them or never told me about it. Caiden just added it one day after Zannaza kept asking for it and it is demonstrated in the teaser videos (I believe). As for Blastcore, that is a clientside mod and I don't believe that should actually be listed.

As for the developers of A3L I personally hate them and I just want to share my story with why. Popcorn is recommended. Now I was on the team for a few months now, and caiden's old friend started coming on steam again. Me and him were cool at first, but then caiden is like "So, you wanna be community leader"? he's like "Yeah! That will be great!". Again, didn't bother me, sounded like a real cool guy. Now about two nights before I leave the team, me and him get into a real deep discussion about life and religon (lol). I learn he is crazy about religon and starts saying "Man, you should really start going to church". I'm like...nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The next day, I log on and learn they that were already doing a teaser video. That really bothered me because as a team we plan out the teaser videos. I didn't even know that they were working on anything big for the gamemode and pretty much everyone else on the team knew about it except me. I learn that their friend wanted it done. Then! He start's bossing me around like I'm a fckin slave. He's been on the team for 3 days. Give me a break. So time goes by in the day,I'm trying to get access for the database as they keep on changing it and then blaming me for being behind on my work. (I had to update my code for the launcher to fit their updates to the database which were extremely frequent and were completely unnecessary). Then! I get into another scold fest with the community "leader" saying I'm not doing my part of the work being on the team. So this is where the heat comes down, I log off and shut my computer down. I get on the next day to find their friend is on, I try to reason with him about him scolding me for not turning shit in on time. If anything, it's his because the updates caused from the teaser video screwed up the launcher and had to re-write everything again. He started calling me an ignorant shit, child, and such and I am like "why are you mad all of a sudden?" and he's like "I'm not mad" (but he's calling me all these names and really hurt the feelz. So I get Caiden in teamspeak and was like "What's up with [friend]"? And Caiden is like "What's wrong with him"?. And I'm like "I asked him about yesterday and he just flipped out on me". THEN! He checks with [friend] and gets back to me a few minutes later. "So, you're mad that no one tells you anything in the team? Tough shit, be more active." I'm on mostly every day and for that duration had little recreation time to myself (I tried to scramble some code at least once every three days) and when I wasn't I was lecturing myself on MySQL DB writing so I can learn how to optimize the launcher for security. At this point, it is clear that who side Caiden took. I send him a picture of the chat that me and [friend] had, and I just said "I'm done. Go fck yourself."

Now the above paragraph may seem like I over-reacted. But this is with weeks of them saying I'm a really important developer, talking down to me, and not telling me shit about the gamemode. I had to find out whenever they screwed something up so I can fix the launcher or the website or whatever. But [friend] knew before me about everything and neglected to tell me. It was like I was just a pawn on the team when they hired [friend]. And to really be an asshole, on their forums on the "about page" it says some shit like "We had to let our programmer go as he had personal issues to deal with" or some shit like that. I joined their teamspeak and hell broke loose.

I hope those "slimy" dev's get what they deserve. Better yet, I hope they read my post. That ought to bring some laughs.

Edited November 23, 2014 by ThRyCkz

[ShastaRoF 10]

Yeah this is a military sandbox game and if you can't handle that then leave.

Well to be honest as a modding platform, Arma is a hell of lot more than just that, and if you don't like it...well, you know.

[miketim 20]

-snip-

[StevenW129 10]

As for Blastcore, that is a clientside mod and I don't believe that should actually be listed.

If it is included in the modpack that they distribute through the launcher then yes, it should be included as redistribution is part of the license breaches on many of the mods.

[eggbeast 3684]

well going forward, if there is a forward for them after the tax bill, and the various legal investigations that have been sought, almost NO MODDER will work with these guys, or allow them to use their materials. They have reached a level of infamy that will last forever in this game engine.

[xgamer224 1]

well going forward, if there is a forward for them after the tax bill, and the various legal investigations that have been sought, almost NO MODDER will work with these guys, or allow them to use their materials. They have reached a level of infamy that will last forever in this game engine.

They seem to be doing fine to me. Donations are still flowing in swimmingly. Steaker seems to be getting his shit done with the framework.

And i think caiden can slip through this whole "tax" thing. I honestly dont see them going down because of this.

And as for this whole "infamy" thing, they may be infamous in developers eyes, but they arent in the vast majority of people who play life mods.

Their community is HUGE and is still growing day by day. And this whole "new framework" thing is just bringing on more and more people.

so, yeah. Im not saying what they are doing is right in any way. but Im almost completely positive that there is, in fact a "forward" for them

Edited November 23, 2014 by xgamer224

[CrazyChrisX 10]

Steaker seems to be getting his shit done with the framework.

hope you know that steaker left their team a long time ago, since they deiced to randomly remove everything he had done, without even asking him, what did they change to well you have seen it, altis life even tho caiden said 100 of times, they would NEVER change to altis life, because he kept saying tonic took his shit, which has been proven that he didn't, he had made a life mission for A3L from the very bottom, delgado can agree to it, he was the person who could make everything that caiden promised would be in the server, but they back stabbed him and he left them, i dont know how much time he spent scripting everything but i would say it was well over 2-3 months of hard-work on his part...

Their community is HUGE and is still growing day by day. And this whole "new framework" thing is just bringing on more and more people.

the ONLY reason why their still alive, is because of all the streamers, you lure them away or take them away from A3L and i will guarantee, they wont make it before the end of this year, maybe if their lucky they might make it to the end of January.

And as for this whole "infamy" thing, they may be infamous in developers eyes, but they arent in the vast majority of people who play life mods.

that's probably because a vast majority of the people who play life mods, consist of underage kids who dosent know that A3L is breaking a crap ton of copyrights and so forth, their only there to play a game or something around that line.

Edited November 23, 2014 by CrazyChrisX

[JonSnu 10]

Steaker never left the community, he was only away for a few weeks. And that about him taking his work with him was a complete lie confirmed by both Steaker himself and Caiden, it was a rumour that was spread around. He spent some time away from the community but never prohibited them from using his work. Right now he is almost everyday on the teamspeak and has an active forum thread where he shows the work he is doing on his framework.

[CrazyChrisX 10]

care to share proof i dont trust anything that comes from that community at all, but if you are telling the truth then i take that back, i have then been misinformed by people, who clearly said he left and took his shit with him.

[JonSnu 10]

Hop on their ts server, he is there right now and anyone who has access to the forums can see his thread.

[NoWay_AsWay 10]

Hi Timmac,

I'd like to begin by saying I'm grateful and want to thank you for all the laughter you have given us fans. You strike a perfect balance of maturity, enthusiasm for silly shit and great RP.

/**Warning**The following (while being respectful as possible) is intended to shame you just a bit.**Warning**

First off; Acknowledging and addressing the problem of a3l-intellectual-property.

It feels to me like your attitude is "not my job not my prob i'm going to the warehouse to polish my knob" (joke from The Office). If so, that’s fine... You’re a grown man and can form your own opinion. That’s fine. But (my opinion) it is incumbent upon you to explain your position concretely to your thousands followers and the ArmA community in general. I like the way Lewis (PsiSyndicate) has done this very thing like a man at:

. Again hats off to Lewis for being a man about it.

Secondly; (!)

When I see this subject is brought up in your chat it instantly devolves into an argumentum ad hominem followed by a chat ban for those who dare say anything against A3L. Perhaps there can be a (!a3l-intellectual-property) command to briefly explain your position and/or link to an explanation including (just like the "!no-meta-gaming") a define what is acceptable in chat.

**END_Shaming**/

Lastly; ArmA has a close knit and generous community.

All drama aside, developing a game is hard, time consuming and extremely technical e.g. from ibtimes.com “GTA 5’s†$265 Million development and marketing budget also rivals Hollywood blockbuster budgets, such as “Avatar’s†$237 million budget". Point being, The ArmA community is well established, close knit and are generous with helping each other (for FREE). I just don't understand why anyone involved with ArmA would treat this community with the disdain A3L Project Lead Caiden has. They are too arrogant to admit it but I think this attitude has decimated the quality members of their dev team. Personally; I think the real asset A3L has is its awesome streaming and role playing community. If the streaming community banded together on this, you guys have the power to enact substantive changes for the ultimate good of A3L.

Ref:

http://arma3-life.com/forums/index.php?/topic/35121-a3l-intellectual-property-statement

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?184772-Legal-violations-by-A3L-Arma-3-life

Quick about me for reference: I started playing Bohemia Interactive's Operation Flashpoint Cold War Crisis(now ArmA) in Oct. 2001 after building my first computer (Overclocked Athlon XP, 256MBDDR, 40Gig WD hd). Over the years have downloaded literally hundreds, if not thousands of community made add-ons. I have infinite love and respect for all the hard work put into helping make ArmA the greatest game ever made.

Take care bro,

[Polymath820 11]

Point them to the fact they've violated copyright when it comes to big company, names. DayZ avoided this by naming their vehicles wierd name Handover etc. They've blatently used company TM's / Copyrighted content including interior design which is a really big thing that if the companies knew, would be very angry indeed.

These names are not limited to:

Chrysler,Dodge, Ford, Landover,Mitsubishi,Hyster,DELOREAN,Fiat,Volvo you want them to piss their pants, the list goes on contact the companies who own the TM's

Theft of universal pictures content

Theft of both that and Steven Spielburgs movie.

They'll get their asses either sued off or get a real cease and desist order.

On average each copyright infringement "willfully" amounts to around $500,000 each.

They require permission OF EACH company and then they also will pay royalties

https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/metaschool/fisher/domain/tm.htm

[

Institution: Cornell University Of Law

Website Title: "15 U.S. Code § 1114 - Remedies; infringement; innocent infringement by printers and publishers"

Publication Date: "2005—Par. (3). Pub. L. 109–9added par. (3). "

Medium: Web

Date Accessed: 11/24/2014

prev | next

(1) Any person who shall, without the consent of the registrant—

(a) use in commerce any reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation of a registered mark in connection with the sale, offering for sale, distribution, or advertising of any goods or services on or in connection with which such use is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive; or

(b) reproduce, counterfeit, copy, or colorably imitate a registered mark and apply such reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation to labels, signs, prints, packages, wrappers, receptacles or advertisements intended to be used in commerce upon or in connection with the sale, offering for sale, distribution, or advertising of goods or services on or in connection with which such use is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive,

]

***ILLEGAL, ILLEGAL, ILLEGAL***

Now you can get the popcorn.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Polymath820

[xgamer224 1]

hope you know that steaker left their team a long time ago

actually, no...

http://i.gyazo.com/96010e481e097e2934923c0e9b77669f.png (614 kB)

[icebreakr 3159]

Just got this:

Mr. *********: Hello IceBreakr, I would like to talk to you about using your Panthera map in an Arma 3 Life mod.

^^ guys, is this the same mod that gathered so much hate?

[BL1P 35]

Just got this:

^^ guys, is this the same mod that gathered so much hate?

Oh so now they start asking for permissions :)

Might as well say yes Ice because they will just ignore you and use it anyway if you say no.

And there is nothing you can do about it as far as I can tell from this thread.

[jasin 1]

Just want to point out that "an Arma 3 Life mod" does not necessarily mean the Arma 3 Life mod. And not all of the Life servers for Arma 3 are that bad.. the bad ones are definitely the minority.

[Sooke 13]

If really nothing can be done against A3L and if BIS just don't give a fuck about its own community members stealing each other work then...why don't you guys "steal" A3L ?

Most if not all the shiny stuff they have, it's yours.

You have all the permissions, the content, the talent you need to just blow A3L out of the water.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Sooke

[nuxil 2]

..why don't you guys "steal" A3L ?

Nothing worth stealing. besides there is no point in going down to their level.

[Sooke 13]

no, no, no, I didn't meant stealing in that way, not talking about actually stealing content or anything.

Their mod is based on content made by this community. Why can't this community unite its effort for some time and create a "legit" replica of A3L or give a hand to the existing life mods.

I'm just saying this if there's no other way to take them down.

[Polymath820 11]

Didn't everyone not read what I said, they are using copyrighted trademarks that can get them in extreme trouble if you just send a polite letter to the companies who own the trademarks.

[nuxil 2]

Polymath820

I did.

Question is. Are there any legal action that can be taken in this matter. Just woundering since this might fall into "fair use".

They might not even be interested in pursuing individuals since there little money to get there.

This also means that you have to take same action against. "c3l and other mods." since they are also using vehicles that are trademarked.

[fluttershy 2]

Polymath820

I did.

Question is. Are there any legal action that can be taken in this matter. Just woundering since this might fall into "fair use".

They might not even be interested in pursuing individuals since there little money to get there.

This also means that you have to take same action against. "c3l and other mods." since they are also using vehicles that are trademarked.

Yes the Vehicle names fall under Fair-use as there ingame representation is fairly accurate, thanks to several racing games who "borrowed" there models and surely gave permission to both, A3L and C3L to go ahead and offer copyrighted material for free.

[enti 0]

So its "Fair use" to "rip" the lamborghini police high speed pursuit car from "Need for Speed" ????? i wonder if EA would like to comment.

this is what will stop addon makers making addons little "Duche Bags" ripping thier hard work and profiteering off it.

I hope A3L pirates walk the plank and sink into the depths of doom. Where they will be kept in Davey Jones's locker of hurt and shame.

Edited November 24, 2014 by ENTI

[eggbeast 3684]

@ Icebreaker - i would say a very firm NO to A3L using your maps, on the grounds that they have historically, routinely, and obstinately commercialised content they do not own, refused to remove it immediately on request from concerned authors, and acted in a very smug and hostile manner to any criticism. Allowing them to make use of your content is like injecting new life and approval to their team of pirates and ne'er-do-wells. The sooner we see them ostracised FULLY from the community, the better.

[nuxil 2]

ENTI .

Using models from other games without permission is another story. this does obviously not fall under the "fair use" category.

Copyright/Ip theft is not the same as fair use.

If i where to make a model of car X that is trademarked and i release it for non proffit. i belive this will fall under fair use. correct me if i am wrong here.

But if you want to make proffit from a trademarked car/whatever you need to pay royalties.

As we saw in arma2 bis uses a toyota hilux car, but was named coyota so they didnt have to pay royalties to toyota.

There are so many laws involved here that one needs to be a lawyer to understand them all.

Although there is no excuse for what A3L has done in regards of Copyright/License/Ip infringement & monetization.

Edited November 24, 2014 by nuxil