Initiate Mage
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2013
- Messages
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So I've been doing a lot of research into this topic, to which my results have remained largely inconclusive for a number of reasons.
The issue arises when using donations as a means of paying yourself. Which means you are not using money gained through donations for the server or its improvements, rather to fill your own pockets. This can lead to a number of problems such as donation fraud and tax evasion. Aside from this, civil copyright infringement seems to apply. However, this may be circumvented if you give the owners credit for their material. Then again, the creators of Fiesta vs. its publishers are not one in the same. I'm still unsure, but the whole private server legality issue seems to be one big grey area. What are your thoughts on this?
*Disclaimer*
I am in no way trying to promote or justify illegal private servers who aim is to willfully infringe and steal revenue from their copyright holders. What I am trying to discern is the legality of running a private server for the purposes of learning coding languages/game administration.
- Fiesta Online files have been uploaded and are available to the public. I'm no expert on development but, from what I can tell these files were leaked and reversed engineered (something that is supposedly legal).
- The people running these servers are doing so using a donation system - which, operate using a micro-transaction model (virtual goods/currency) in exchange for items. Due to the donation system in place, even if you do take some money for yourself (reimbursement for expenses paid/work involved with running the server) - you are not infringing anyone's copyright as you have no intention of profiting off of their work. At least, to my understanding you are not.
- Fiesta is a free-to-play game whose software is available free to download. There is no subscription cost associated with Fiesta. As a result, there is no retail value to these files as they are not available for purchase, though I could be wrong.
The issue arises when using donations as a means of paying yourself. Which means you are not using money gained through donations for the server or its improvements, rather to fill your own pockets. This can lead to a number of problems such as donation fraud and tax evasion. Aside from this, civil copyright infringement seems to apply. However, this may be circumvented if you give the owners credit for their material. Then again, the creators of Fiesta vs. its publishers are not one in the same. I'm still unsure, but the whole private server legality issue seems to be one big grey area. What are your thoughts on this?
*Disclaimer*
I am in no way trying to promote or justify illegal private servers who aim is to willfully infringe and steal revenue from their copyright holders. What I am trying to discern is the legality of running a private server for the purposes of learning coding languages/game administration.
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