What happens if you get a pirated asset and you sell the game with it?

Reading this reminded me of Cyan's Making of Myst video where they hook a rubber hose and blew bubbles in a toilet to achieve the sound effect base they desired and then tweaked it in sound editing software. Or the clock bell which was a wrench vibrating.

Then you have the "example" from Monty Python where they bang a couple of coconuts together to imitate horse riding.

One of my favorite packages is Audacity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audacity_(audio_editor)

 

Speaking of pirating assets, I know of a guy that made this "Happy New Year" image from scratch a few years back. Basically, he owns the right to this image. A while ago he discovered a website had used his image without permission. He did a google image search and found about 200 unlicensed uses of his image. He sat down and wrote 200 invoices of 200 dollars each and sent them out to the respective websites. Not sure how it all panned out, though.

 

Basically you won't get caught if you use a pirated software, like a cracked 3ds max, to upload stuff to sites like Turbosquid and Asset Store, especially if you aren't a well-known publisher. I know it because... uh.... a friend of mine did that when he was younger, but he already purchased the software

Neither Asset Store nor Turbosquid is stupid enough to reduce its own content producers by checking whether they use legit software. They just say "it is not our job to check these" and close their eyes, probably having an agreement where you promise that you use legit software, but it is neither checked nor enforced, so you can guess how effective it is.

Especially an FBX, png or a jpeg, you cannot tell whether they were done in a legit software or in a pirated one. You can even delete the metadata from these if you want, so no one will even know the software, much less if it was legal or not.

Also if you make a game that has a revenue like 500$, then it is not worth to sue you, because there is no way that enough money can be extorted from you to worth the risk and the cost.

But as others told, nowadays there is not much reason to pirate. A lot of the stuff is really cheap or free.

 

Most user centered content stores usually push the responsibility to the users. Curating that amount of content is almost impossible, so they often implement ways for the users to issue DMCA takedowns.

 

I was mostly talking about the really big expensive VSTs and plugins. There are also many free VSTs, SoundFonts, and generators out there.
It will take some more work to get the desired sound but in the end you'll be doing it for free.

When I get some time I'll post a list of the stuff I used back in the day when learning.
Now I only use plugins and DAW which I've purchased and have licenses for.

With regards to getting music and sound effects, there are many musicians who are always willing to work even for free on small/indie projects.

 

Pretty interesting post actually, I heard that when the FBX gets imported into Unity or whatever the info of where it was created basically becomes lost.

But a FBX coming out of say Maya has information in the ascii saying it was created in Maya, right?

But when you import it in Unity or Cry Engine or UE4 etc this information becomes lost?

So the only option that these companies have is to raid your studio? and that only happens if say they do an audit etc?

But then if a kid in a basement is making 3D models and selling to Unity Asset Store or Turbosquid it would be pretty much pointless chasing after him especially since its likely that Autodesk would actually gain if he is indeed pirating that software. Say this kid in his basement becomes successful and opens an actual studio, he will be dependent on Autodesk software and therefore end up purchasing their software later on. And if he doesn't then Autodesk would have a perfect opportunity to sue for money, say they try to stop him in his basement they would ruin all chances of ever making money from him in future and drive him away to a competitor.

I wonder if Autodesk could wave a magic wand and make it so that everybody who pirated their software in history never did and instead used a competitor software or blender would they do it? I am 99.9% sure they would NOT. It would be like making a few $ billion disappear from their bank account. Especially since Microsoft is on record asking people to pirate their office and windows just so they wouldn't use open source or a competitor's product.

The car analogy never works for software piracy because if someone steals a copy of a Skyline GTR from Nissan then that is money lost because it costs $15,000 to build that particular car. Pirated software circulating over the net copied thousands of times are not money lost as those copies cost nothing to make except electricity from the next basement kid PC. But infact if the kid learns it he will likely use it for the rest of his life and hence buy it later on or find a job in the industry that uses it.

 

Just think of the amount of people who have Pirated Unity Pro prior to 5.0 now just think of this, what if they pirated Cry Engine or UE3 instead of Unity? then Unity wouldn't be as rich and powerful as they are today. Probably not a perfect scenario since there was always a free Unity but I am certain many people pirated Unity prior to 5

Infact I bet there are people pirating current Unity just for the dark skin.

Here is a story I want to share, prior to learning Blender I emailed a few companies and one of them was Side FX. I asked if I could use their student indie copy to make a game and sell, and when my game sell the first $200 it makes I will pay for a license I said this is my first ever software and my 2 main choices are Blender and Modo Indie and if I cannot use Houdini for commercial I will instead learn Blender. They responded by saying while its against the EULA they would be cool with it so long as I stick to my word. Then went onto say they hope if I become successful and setup a studio I will consider filling it with Houdini products. And the only reason I didn't go with it was because there are more tutorials for Blender on youtube than it has for Houdini and when I tried to get low poly tutorials for Maya it still had more for Blender LOL and to top it off Blender has built in CUDA render while none of the expensive softwares even come with it lol

Funny how life works out eh?

 

@Tusk_ It really seems like your fishing to see if you'll get caught using pirated software.
Besides being morally wrong - I think anyone who uses pirated software is a POS and has no room to complain when there game makes $0 dollars (if they're ever able to get that far) because its being pirated 10,000 times a day on a torrent site.
Really - if a person can't afford a high dollar software - learn/use another software that is cheaper. Blender is the indie option for people who can't afford other 3D packages.

Personally - if someone stole something from me I'd be pissed and I'd seek to get my property back. And would hope ill to come to someone who chooses to steal rather than work for what they have.
Why does anyone think a software company doesn't have the same right to want someone to pay for there product - just like any indie game developer - instead of stealing it?

A couple free/cheap music and sound fx links I've gathered over the years - cause I suck at music stuff.
(disclaimer - I've not checked licensing on any of these links)
https://audiojungle.net/
http://www.indiegamemusic.com/index.php
http://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html
http://www.abundant-music.com/

 

Then you assume wrong since I use Blender because it has the most tutorials on youtube, only 300mb install size for my SSD has STEAM integration, only software with 16X Multi Sample for View Port Anti Aliasing and is the only 3D modeling software that has built in professional Nvidia CUDA render which goes excellent with my monster GTX 1070 FTW+ which actually rips any core i7 to shreds when it comes to Rendering speed. So I would have to be crazy to use multi thousand dollar software that still lacks basic integrated CUDA rendering to this day.

So now that we have those suspicions of yours out of the way, why does Microsoft demand that you steal from them?

Shouldn't Microsoft be setting an example and saying do NOT steal their software and use open source alternatives?

WHY IS MICROSOFT ENCOURAGING PIRACY OF MICROSOFT PRODUCTS AS OPPOSED TO ENCOURAGING THE USE OF OPEN SOURCE?

http://www.informationweek.com/if-y...-steal-from-us-microsoft-exec/d/d-id/1052865?

Why on earth would a established company like MICROSOFT promote piracy?

Why don't they say use open source instead?

Surely it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Piracy made them rich and open source is a bigger threat to their business than Piracy ever will be right?

Shame on Microsoft I demand that we force Microsoft to encourage open source instead of Piracy. Let us setup a group to demand Microsoft do the morally right thing who else is with me?

I also demand that Autodesk stop encouraging piracy of Auto Cad in my country aswell which they have done on a number of occasions. I demand that Autodesk do the right thing and say no to Piracy and support open source or support businesses switching to cheaper alternatives from their competitors.

 

There has to be a reason why Microsoft is publicly encouraging piracy of Windows and Office products instead of doing the morally correct thing and suggest that people switch to open source instead as we all know Piracy is wrong.

Whatever the reason is I WILL Find out one way or another and I will make Microsoft and Autodesk be held accountable for encouraging piracy of their own products by small businesses.

 

You'll find many of the big boys are moving towards free versions of the software, with paid versions for big commercial users. Free is often better then pirated.

 

Yeah its funny when I was looking for an IDE I was about to download open source alternatives then I saw Visual Studio is legit FREE!!

This used to be a very expensive piece of software. Then google started the online office thing, funny enough I now use that free service even though I have microsoft office installed on my pc. lol

 

A lot of times peoples opinions are just that, not fact, and other people should stop believing other peoples opinions are fact when reading them on the internet.

 

I found another interesting option the other day. This site uses their own version of musical AI to create custom tracks in different styles for you. The cost for a small indie is "free" if you credit them, or $0.99 per song if you do not:

https://www.jukedeck.com/pricing

 

I didn't know a documented statement from Microsoft literally saying to pirate their own product was an opinion, I thought that was a fact....

http://www.informationweek.com/if-y...-steal-from-us-microsoft-exec/d/d-id/1052865?

I guess you learn something new everyday, hmm.

If its true how come nobody corrected me sooner? anybody else want to comment on this?

If You're Going To Steal Software, Steal From Us: Microsoft Exec
Microsoft business group president Jeff Raikes estimates that between 20% and 25% of all software used in the United States is pirated, but said some pirates end up becoming paying customers.

If you're going to be a software counterfeiter, then please copy and illegally use Microsoft products.

The above plea isn't from a posting on a hacker forum. Rather, it's how Microsoft business group president Jeff Raikes feels about software counterfeiters. "If they're going to pirate somebody, we want it to be us rather than somebody else," Raikes said.

The remarks might seem surprising, coming from a senior executive at a software company that spends millions each year fighting software piracy and developing copyright protection technologies.

 

I find it weird that the above article is an opinion. Shouldn't it be a fact? that Microsoft is telling people to illegally use their software if you are going to use illegal software?

Why didn't Microsoft do the morally correct thing and say to use Open Source alternative if you have to steal? why say steal from them? why on earth will Microsoft say PLEASE steal from Microsoft?

Lets see if somebody here can answer this question.

 

It's not "morally correct" if they openly state that they're alright with the piracy. You're projecting.

 

No I am asking why don't they do the morally correct thing and say to use open source instead of pirating Microsoft's products. Why on earth would Microsoft even make a statement like this saying to Please Pirate Microsoft Products, why would they do something like that?

Shouldn't they do the right thing and say to use open source if you cannot afford Microsoft's product? why on earth would they say to pirate Microsoft's products if you can't afford it? how could they possibly gain anything from this or be ok with this?

Still waiting for someone to answer the question, my question is clear.

 

No, your question is ridiculous. If Microsoft says it's okay to pirate from them, that makes it morally correct as you have been granted permission.

 

You only answered part of the question and it is the last part you answered.

But your answer is interesting that it is morally ok to pirate from Microsoft since they have publicly granted permission.

So let me ask the question simpler in 2 parts since you already answered 1 part.

1) Why on earth would Microsoft say to PLEASE PIRATE MICROSOFT'S Products instead of saying to use open source?

2) What could they possibly gain by promoting piracy of their own products?

^ Still waiting for these 2 questions to be answered.

 

No, because that is not what MS said, it is not what they are doing. Piracy is still something they pursue. It was a conference talking about counterfeiting software, and he was speaking in context of a discussion on that topic. The article chose to take a single line out of a discussion and make it headline on blog. That is NOT MS setting policy.

 

1) They didn't.
2) Irrelevant since 1) didn't happen.

 

^ Ok thanks I understand now.

 

The misinformation on this thread is truly funny

 

So is reviving a thread from 6 months ago to criticize it, when it was more or less settled by input from industry veterans.

 

I've got a valid excuse for being here (I look at bumped threads as a mod) but megabrobro turned up because obviously, he's been searching for this. Wonder why.