Overview
For many games, the modding community and availability of mods is a crucial factor in retaining a healthy player base. Games like Skyrim, Fallout, and Minecraft are well known for being highly moddable games, and it is because of their mods that some of these games have stood the test of time. Although mods have become extremely common in gaming, the reality is that they have a wide variety of legal implications. Are you free to mod any game? Can you make money from your mods? Do you own the rights to your mods? These are all important considerations that modders should take into account before investing the time to create something.
What is a Mod?
A mod (short for modification) is any alteration of the video game’s code. This can range from simple aesthetic changes to the game’s assets or menus (eg. hud changes and reskins), to adding new assets and content to the game (eg. item mods and map mods), or even changing the core gameplay (eg. new game modes, online mode). What should be noted is that mods do not exist independently of the game they alter and thus are always in some way utilizing the original game’s code.
What can and cannot be Modded?
What can and cannot be legally modded ultimately depends on the game developer’s policy on mods. This can be found in the game’s End User License Agreement (EULA) or its Terms of Services (TOS). In reality, as all mods are derivative in some way to the original game, they all infringe on the copyright of the original game. Furthermore, mods will infringe on the copyright of third parties if they incorporate designs from other franchises (eg. a Fallout 4 mod that adds a lightsaber from Starwars).
Aside from the copyright infringement issue, unless the developer openly supports modding, accessing and altering the game files may require a modder to either pirate the game or jailbreak the game. Jailbreaking is the process of modifying a program to remove restrictions imposed by the developers. This is outright illegal in the US where s.1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibits circumventing any measures preventing unauthorised access to copyrighted works.
Furthermore, even when the developer does support mods, modders should be careful not to infringe on the moral rights of the developers. In particular, the game developers have a right to protect the integrity and reputation of their work. As a result, even if the EULA or TOS exempts mods from copyright infringement, a mod that is distasteful or offensive may be taken down for harming the game’s reputation.
Examples of Game’s Approaches to Modding
Minecraft Mods
- Generally distributed on CurseForge
- Minecraft permits only the distribution of mods and not modded versions of the game.
- Mods cannot be sold for money and cannot be designed to allow players to earn real currency.
- Mods must comply with the game’s Usage Guidelines which prevents mods that are offensive, illegal or obscene.1
- Minecraft’s EULA states that all mods are owned by their creators and modders are free to do whatever they want with their mods.2
- Minecraft’s Commercial Usage Guidelines states that Minecraft has the final say regarding what is and is not a mod.3
- Minecraft modders can still make money through CurseForge’s rewards program which awards Amazon gift cards or Paypal deposits based on downloads.4
Nexus Mods
- Distributes mods for a wide variety of games including Skyrim, Fallout, Stardew Valley, and The Witcher 3.
- If you upload content Nexus you will give them the following:5
- A limited license to use, store, and copy the content and distribute/make it available to third parties.
- A limited license to Nexus users to use the content for their own recreational purposes forever.
- A worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty free, transferable license for Nexus and its partners/advertisers to use the content in any way to promote the site forever.
- You will retain ownership and copyright over their mods, but because of the licenses given to Nexus and Nexus users, modders cannot make claims for use of their content for Nexus’ marketing, or for recreational use by Nexus users.
- You can receive Donation Points based on their downloads which can be redeemed for money on Paypal or games on Nexus, or donated to charity. Donation Points are distributed and apportioned from a pool of money donated by Nexus itself.6
Nintendo
- Nintendo has strict policies against modding.
- All Nintendo Switches have restrictions in place to prevent modification.
- Any modification of a Nintendo Switch is a criminal offense in the United States under s.1201 DMCA.
- Modding a Nintendo Switch also voids its warranty and modified consoles are banned from online services.
- Nintendo has even taken down videos featuring modded Nintendo content for breaching their Game Content Guidelines.
Steam Workshop7
- Steam workshop allows players to download community content onto their steam games. Steam workshop is run by Valve.
- Uploading a mod onto steam workshop gives Valve and its affiliates a license to use the content for operating and promoting Steam.
- Valve can remove your content for any reason and has no obligation to distribute it.
- Paid mods on steam workshop are treated as subscriptions which users can subscribe to. If you remove a paid mod from the workshop, users who paid already for it will still be able to use it.
- If you upload a paid mod to Steam Workshop which valve modifies for the purpose of making it distributable and functional on Steam, and these modifications break the mod, you are not entitled any compensation from Valve.
- If you upload content to the Steam Workshop, you must guarantee that it is your intellectual property.
Offical Mods
- Some developers like Bethesda publish mods as official game content. Bethesda’s Creation Club for example contracts modders and markets their mods as DLC for the game.
- Usually mods published by the official game developer will be treated as the intellectual property of the developer.
Modder’s rights over Mods?
Although mods are in their nature always derivative works from the original game, in theory it is possible for modders to own the copyright over their mods. This would require that the mod is original and also does not infringe upon the copyrights of any existing game developers. Furthermore, you would need to obtain a license from the developers of the game you are modding to create a derivative work.
1 https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/usage-guidelines
2 https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/eula
3 https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/usage-guidelines#commercial
4 https://support.curseforge.com/en/support/solutions/articles/9000197902-reward-program-faq
5 https://help.nexusmods.com/article/18-terms-of-service
6 https://help.nexusmods.com/article/112-donation-points-faq#WhatCan