BIS - Mission PROTECTION

[mattxr 9]

Oki, as a mission maker i please like to request something be done about "mission fruad". One thing i dont mind is a mission maker opeing my mission to see what scripts i used for his/her own purposes but to open someones mission and to add a few new bits and bobs and then call it there own is just beyond me and really pisses me off.

So can you make some sort of tool to Encrypit the mission.sqs from people being able to open it from within the mission editor or notepad.

It really puts me down when people can do that and theres no stopping them and with a tool that can do that we can protect the missions we want to protect and have others free.. i just really hope you will consider this for the future of mission editing becuase if i see one more of my missions been copied i will cease mission editing for the public full stop.

Sorry for having to post like this but i really need it taken into consideration for all mission makers who have experienced this...

[ArMoGaDoN 0]

I'd rather see folks being able to learn from our work, as we did from other's missions. Protection like this will only cause the folks new to mission editing to lose sources from which they CAN learn. I agree with what you say, it's impolite to just nick it and make a tiny change and call their own - but think of the 'unlocked' evolutions etc., and everyone tailors stuff the way they want it, but credit should be given, and explanation that the mission has been modified and by whom is essential. Nothing worse than someone modding it and then bugs appear then you get the blame for their mistakes and the map gets a bad name.

Education is the best way here I think, not protecting the maps as you suggest: as it will cause more folks to find it even harder to get into editing.

[xxbbcc 6]

I'm most definitely against encrypting missions, even though I can imagine that some use the freedom to rip off others. I'm not a scripter (have no time for it), but on rare occasions it's still good to have the ability to tweak missions here and there if I really don't like something. For example, there was a mission which used some extra menu items in the Actions menu that were really annoying (to me at least), so I opened it up and got rid of it. It made the mission immediately a lot better and the author was not willing to do it in the real one because he was convinced that everyone liked it.

Of course, distributing a ripped mission is wrong if you don't credit the people who did the original, but locking it down would be a lot worse.

(Not to mention it helps others with learning how to script something.)

[mattxr 9]

Well then tutorials can be made for learning, plus the mission folder can be accessed just that the mission.sqs cant be modified.

[baddo 0]

Encrypting missions is not an appropriate solution to this problem.

Something else...

[mattxr 9]

There is no other way than not releasing missions at all

[russin 0]

i don't see the problem with it adding or changing maps means people like the mission and add there 2 cents in to make it more fun for them to play new added twists is allways cool to try

most maps that are duplicated and edited people know it is a edited map....

a lotta folks don't know how to make so taking a map that works and changing things is there only way to play in the editor

just my thoughts

[baddo 0]

- File a complaint to the person who distributed a work which is based on your work and didn't ask you permission to do so or even did not credit you at all.

- If complaint doesn't give good results then make your complaint in public.

- Then leave it at that.

Also, you could have one central place for all your missions, in which you state that these missions were made by you, and these are the people you give credit to, if any. Then give a signature of the files and say any file which doesn't have the same signature is not your work and should not be trusted as being the same quality or even to work at all. Maybe many people won't ever read it but at least you said exactly what is yours and that the rest is not.

[Doolittle 0]

Matt, I agree with you one thousand percent. I have been asking for this for years!

[[aps]gnat 28]

Agree Matt, if you don't like it, don't release them.

Its worked well for OFP for many years, so why go "anti-community" now and start locking missions.

..... you should consider it flattery if someone goes to the trouble of understanding your code and building on it. I did.

That doesn't mean I agree with straight copy and take as your own/give no credit. But thats not common, most people do the right thing.

And lets face it ...... VERY FEW peoples code / mission design could be considered 100% original, we all learnt something and copied bits from others, starting right back with BIS themselves and the original OFP missions/codes

[mattxr 9]

I think it should be the mission makers choice weather he wants it blocked or not.

Becuase then if someone likes something in the mission they can ask the mission maker via PM "Oh how did you make that artilliary" and if the mission maker is nice they will PM the scripts or an example mission" Problem solved.

edit: btw never compair the ofp community to the armed assualt community. Becuase it never will be the same.

[william1 0]

yes agree with [APS]Gnat , trying to lock the missions for just an isolated case is like killing flies with a bazooka

[[aps]gnat 28]

edit: btw never compair the ofp community to the armed assualt community. Becuase it never will be the same.

Why the #$@@ not ??!!

Seems to be same so far.

Same developer, same type of game, same flexibility, same players (mostly, if not exactly lol), same tools, same principles ....... oh ... and same forum

[Balschoiw 0]

I guess there was a thread about this in the mission editing section a while ago and the results were basically the same as here. Some people would like to have a method to crypt the missions while others don´t. I also would be happy to have a crypt function as a lot of things are stolen without any mentioning of initial author.

Imo there is a difference between Arma com and OFP com. People do not even feel the need to do proper credits and furthermore promote that as their own stuff. This has happened with missions and addons so far.

Though I think it´s unlikely BIS will implement such.

[stainer 0]

Becuase then if someone likes something in the mission they can ask the mission maker via PM "Oh how did you make that artilliary" and if the mission maker is nice they will PM the scripts or an example mission" Problem solved.

edit: btw never compair the ofp community to the armed assualt community. Becuase it never will be the same.

What happens when the creator of a locked mission drops out of the community and is no longer reachable? Problem not solved.

I'm fully with Gnat on this one, locking missions simply stifles creativity and makes the learning process for budding scripters/mission makers a lot harder.

As for a different community that's ridiculous. Balschoiw don't be ignorant - the issue of 'permission' was prevalent in the OFP days with people bitching left, right and centre about lack of credit.

The only real instance I've seen of mission spinoffs is Evolution, but I bet most people playing it won't know of Kiljoy (or any of the spinoffs creators for that matter) and really don't care so long as they are enjoying themselves.

The creators of the missions should be pleased that people are taking it upon themselves to edit their mission, seeing how they made it and then adapting it to their individual needs and get maximum enjoyment out of it, even if it doesn't have their name stamped all over it.

[baddo 0]

Could open-source type projects be considered to avoid your need of even discussing encrypting missions.

1) One mastermind starts a mission project, with a website and project administration tools in place, including source code repository, subversion or the like.

2) The masterind makes a design document and an initial version of a (potentially good) mission.

3) Attaches a license to the work, which essentially makes it open-source and excludes commercial usage.

4) Puts it to the source code repository.

5) Other people who like the mission and would like to see improvements done to it will join the project.

6) The community then contributes improvements to the mission source code repository. Changes must be approved by the mastermind before they are merged into the main development branch.

Could this kind of setting work for the experienced mission makers who'd like to be more in control of their missions and derivates?

Wouldn't you get the glory you need if you'd set up an open-source mission project and take the leading position? * The main point is, you could let other people join the development process but still hold the last word what goes into the mission and what doesn't.

Obvious drawbacks are, this requires lots of work to set up initially, and lots of motivation from the individuals to keep people (not least themselfs) interested in the project.

* You would get s*it too but that's a fact of life and can't be avoided, especially in leading positions you will always face opposition and complaints.

[Doolittle 0]

Get the glory?! It's not about glory. It's about CONTROL. Control of your work & your vision.

[suma 8]

Given no game developer was able to come up with a reliable copy and reverse engineering protection for their own games, I afraid expecting to get this for user content is simply not realistic, and I am convinced it will not become possible until some trusted computing platform (like MS Palladium proposed some time ago) will be widely adopted. As the trusted computing faces a lot of opposition, I think you will have to wait very long for this.

Currently no reliable encryption is possible, because the game needs to be able to decrypt the data, and as long as anyone can reverse engineer the game, anyone can get the decryption key. Hacking any such encryption is so easy it is simply not worth implementing it.

[xxbbcc 6]

As the trusted computing faces a lot of opposition, I think you will have to wait very long for this.

Thank God for that! Having "Microsoft" and "trusted" in the same sentence would be a joke.

And as for mission makers craving "control": don't release your missions, then no one will be able to take anything from it. But I for sure like the ability to change things if I need to. I've seen mission makers being less than helpful when asked about changing some aspects of their mission, because they thought it was perfect and everyone liked it that way.

[quiet_man 8]

Quote[/b] ]I think it should be the mission makers choice weather he wants it blocked or not.

Becuase then if someone likes something in the mission they can ask the mission maker via PM "Oh how did you make that artilliary" and if the mission maker is nice they will PM the scripts or an example mission" Problem solved.

by paying for the game I pay for the development of the tools you use to create your work. So I have some minimal rights on your work.

I would only agree on protection if it would be limited. The author would need to refresh his rights every e.g. 3 months with a limit of 1 year.

Everything else would bring up the bad money ghosts. Someone would create a company to created masses of cheap missions, sell them and treat other mission makers with legal consequences if they "steal".

By the way, how much money have you put back to defend your work?

Quote[/b] ]edit: btw never compair the ofp community to the armed assualt community. Becuase it never will be the same.

Arma community is going through the same development as OFP and any other gaming community. In some weeks more an more people will drop out and only the real fans will stay. Then it will calm down.

It was this way, it is this way and it will be this way.

QuietMan

[lwlooz 0]

I would like the author of this thread to explain to me in plain words how encrypting missions is going to help the community?

Unfortunately it seems with ArmA we get a lot of scripters and mission makers that think they are so uber-amazing that they have to behave like diva-3D modellers , can't recall that being the case in OFP. "Put my amazing script with source code on OFPEC for other people to learn from?!?! NEVER!!"

Honestly,if someone uses your work,it is always a plus,you made it,you enhanced the game by making it.And this is the reward right there,if you look for anything else,I happen to think you are in the wrong area of editing.The fun in mission making and scripting is in doing it,not in reaping in the laudations. How one exactly loses "control" over his own project just because someone makes an inofficial branch is beyond me.

So all in all,ignore the idiots and just realize your dream mission or script without interruption and have fun doing so

[sickboy 13]

Amen Looz

[luemmel 20]

in general i totally agree with matt but i do not understand why you are now so surprised after 5 years about this issue. everyone is able to copy/modify the work of addons or missions since the release of OFP.

matt, i am sure that you know that this could be happened. if you have a problem with this, you dont should create anything for ofp/arma. (but i hope that you will go on! the world is bad and it is obviously that someone will try to steal the work of other people.

but on the other side, the community lives from the work of everyone and at the end every work that will be overworked from the origin creators is mostly a benefit of our common hobby.

[Doolittle 0]

Well there should be a tool that obfuscates the sqf stuff. People write source code, it gets compiled into an exe or dll... you release it to the public and you don't need to worry about it being reverse engineered because all comments and stuff have really been stripped out. And the computer can still "read" it.

[mattxr 9]

Doesnt matter anymore, i found a way.