22 minutes ago, JulieMaru-chan said:

If you're upset that people are actually playing your game because someone else decided to promote them for you, using their infrastructure, then by all means censor your own game with copyright law. But I think that is absurd. I would love for my games to be redistributed en masse without me having to do any work, and I never want my work censored.

Furthermore, what exactly do you expect is going to happen when you censor the copies of the game that people are actually playing? You would be a fool to think they would just flock to the official version. No, they would simply stop playing and move on to something else.

Again, that's not the issue.... The problem is these 3rd party distributors are generating 'REVENUE' off of his IP. It has nothing to do with free distribution... The business model behind the game was to offer entertainment with the option to donate in order to support the developer for their work, it wasn't designed to be a free game sitting on a blank page based on the OP.

For argument sake, let's assume the game was released freely without any donation buttons or any expectation to generate money on the developer's site or approved distributor's site. What gives anyone else the right to create a revenue stream from your product without a formal agreement? I would be ticked off if someone else is making money off my work.

FYI, the game already has copyright upon creation, and having registered copyright doesn't prevent theft, you still have to enforce your rights which is costly and time consuming depending on the scope. I've handled many legal cases in my professional career prior and enforcement isn't clear cut. It can be a big time and money sink for little return. "You can't get blood from a stone".

The problem is these 3rd party distributors are generating 'REVENUE' off of his IP.

And I'm saying you shouldn't care about that, and in fact you should explicitly allow it in the game's license. It helps you, and you can take advantage of it. This is not even a new concept. Doom only became as successful as it did because there was a free version that anyone was allowed to distribute, and even sell. id Software didn't make much from Doom. But they took advantage of the free publicity they got, and the rest is history.

Stopping other people from making money off your work by doing something you can benefit from is like refusing to show up to your job at McDonald's because the restaurant is making money from your work that they aren't giving to you.

What gives anyone else the right to create a revenue stream from your product without a formal agreement?

You have it backwards. Copyright is a monopoly that has to be legally enforced. What gives someone the right to "create a revenue stream", as you call it, is that they own the server that is doing the lifting and of course they have a right to make money while providing a service to their visitors. The only reason it's illegal is that there is a law (copyright) that says you're not allowed to share, and I think that law is unjust and outdated.

FYI, the game already has copyright upon creation

I'm well aware. That's why my suggestion included lifting those copyright restrictions.

22 hours ago, JulieMaru-chan said:

... and I think that law is unjust and outdated.

I disagree with most of your post, but that doesn't really matter -- I'll only focus on the quoted part.

The poster is not asking for a discussion about copyright laws and how they could or should be changed. This is very clearly a "what can I do to prevent this" question. As such, your subjective feelings on the matter don't really matter. If you really do feel strongly about the topic, maybe you could start another thread, but my opinion is that you shouldn't keep on derailing this thread.

23 hours ago, JulieMaru-chan said:

You have it backwards. Copyright is a monopoly that has to be legally enforced. What gives someone the right to "create a revenue stream", as you call it, is that they own the server that is doing the lifting and of course they have a right to make money while providing a service to their visitors. The only reason it's illegal is that there is a law (copyright) that says you're not allowed to share, and I think that law is unjust and outdated.

Are you seriously implying that people should make money off products solely because they are providing a server that hosts the thing and that all games should be free?

Why would anyone want to make things if their work goes unrewarded? I personally speak out against people that I feel are earning far in excess of what their efforts deserve but that is like the extreme in the opposite direction and is just as bad.

That said I honestly doubt a lawyer would help much here, if anything it'l probably be a waste of the OP's time. History has shown us that with the ridiculous law systems we have in place it is often completely out of your favor to take legal action against someone else because if they are even someone you can take down(not in China or something) you'll probably spend more on fighting it than you would earn from winning a court case. But a lawyer would be able to give you their honest opinion at least.

1 hour ago, Satharis said:

But a lawyer would be able to give you their honest opinion at least.

And while a protracted legal battle can be very expensive, an initial consultation should be relatively cheap.

Thanks to all for the answers. All opinions are valid. @JulieMaru-chan said something about trying to take advantage of the fact that the game is getting downloads, and i think he might be right. I gotta keep thinking about how can i turn this into a positive position, given the fact that i do not have access to most of the pages that became published. However as most of you mentioned, i'm doing this for getting something in exchange not just to help other people to make money from it. That could be in the first place, an enough financial support to keep doing what i love or else professional recognition.

Thanks!

1 minute ago, Nicolas Lorusso said:

Thanks to all for the answers. All opinions are valid. @JulieMaru-chan said something about trying to take advantage of the fact that the game is getting downloads, and i think he might be right. I gotta keep thinking about how can i turn this into a positive position, given the fact that i do not have access to most of the pages that became published. However as most of you mentioned, i'm doing this for getting something in exchange not just to help other people to make money from it. That could be in the first place, an enough financial support to keep doing what i love or else professional recognition.

Thanks!

I would work on creating your 'brand', build a following, and have enough value that people continue to go to your developer page to play your games, get updates, and participate as a community. This is not easy to do, so I would start focusing on your next product and keep pushing forward. It's unfortunate what happened, but the truth is that is happens all the time to developers all over the world. It's up to you on how you wish to deal with it, either through legal means or by attempting to solve the problem yourself, or even just letting it go and moving on.

It doesn't hurt to talk to a lawyer so you'll at least have an understanding of your rights in such situations.

Best of luck in the future.

Are you seriously implying that people should make money off products solely because they are providing a server that hosts the thing

I thought I said that explicitly, but other than that, yes. I am in favor of capitalism and free markets.

and that all games should be free?

No (at least, not in the way you're thinking). There's nothing wrong with commercial exploitation, and that includes charging money for copies if you figure that is an effective business model.

Why would anyone want to make things if their work goes unrewarded?

That's an invalid question because people do make things with no expectation of reward all the time. It's so common that listing examples would be silly. It's also an invalid question because I'm not opposed to seeking a reward for work. In fact I encourage it. My key points are that copyright is obsolete, and censoring your own work because it's not directly making you money is counterproductive. It's hard to make a specific recommendation without knowing what kind of game it is, but given that these unauthorized copies are by and large your primary source of users, the smart thing to do is to use that situation to your advantage to make money indirectly from it.

<moderator voice> Please stop derailing the thread. You are welcome to create a new thread to debate the ideologies surrounding copyright. </moderator voice>