Adm_Z, if you wind up being in trouble over this, you'll be behind me. I used BSG music and sound effects in both the SB34 Pegasus Mod and in the BSG Half Race Mod. And these are sound captures from the web or the series or the released soundtracks. My TOS Adversary Mod uses sound effects from Star Trek: TOS. Just seemed right to use the correct sounds and ridiculous to do it any other way. About 35-40% of how we perceive a game comes from the sounds. Having something ingame which does not have the expected sounds causes the game, or mod, to be perceived as, "close but no cigar".
Companies copyright and trademark things not only to profit from them, but also to control the usage of these items. All companies desire the public to perceive their products in a certain way or with certain associations. This ensures the originators continue to profit from the original work and derivatives of said work. Companies are very sensitive to anything which can cause damage, with a resulting loss of profitability, to the perceptions the public has of their work. For example, there was recently a prophylactic manufacturer who wanted to tie in their product with the Harry Potter series of films. They were told, 'No!' rather quickly(Thank God!) by the copyright holders.
I doubt very much Bear McCreary or Ronald D. Moore will release the legal hounds to track and take down one Adm_Z or Thunderfoot, for the following reasons.
1) First and foremost, we are not attempting to profit from their work. Nor are we interfering with or reducing their income streams from BSG and related indicia. Our materials have a very specific application and cannot really be used outside of A2, FleetOps, or any related science fiction PC games.
2) What we've done does not appear to conflict with any of their future plans for BSG. At least none they've stated publicly.
3) Neither of us has portrayed anything or anyone connected to BSG in a slanderous or defamatory manner.
4) Our mods can be proven to contribute a positive publicity and additional positive interest in their work. (Yup, much as you may not like it, we can be seen as adverts! lol)
5) Paramount has not brought legal actions against any of us which I am aware of. And we've hammered their copyrighted materials into any shape we wanted for far longer than either you or I have tinkered withe BSG stuff.
6) And this may be the most important one of all. We are not big enough to bother with and the end result is not worth the negative publicity it will instantly generate acrosss the Web. I am quite sure some DRM thug is right now having a screaming fit over this part. Good. If I can cause one of these to pop three or four neurological arteries, then this post is time well spent. I find it amusing the entertainment companies are all okay with stealing from artists, just as long as the rest of us do not steal from them.
Thanks guys, puts my heart at ease.
