Is it legal to use modded game assets for a dating sim?

Paddycake · Jun 25, 2023

I'm planning to make a real-time 3D dating game similar to The Twist, but with videogame characters. I would use modded (nude) 3D models ripped from SFM (female characters from DOA, Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat).

Is this legal or maybe a gray area? If it's a gray area, can I get in trouble for doing this?

chainedpanda · Jun 25, 2023

Depends on your countries copyright laws. The general answer would be yes, its illegal. All parody games are in violation of many countries copyright laws. It's simply a matter of rather or not a company wishes to make use of those laws.

That said, I'm not a lawyer and I doubt anyone who would reply to this is one either. However, you likely won't face any serious trouble. At most you'd receive a DMCA request, forcing you to stop working on the game. Only if you ignore that request would you face any real legal trouble.

That said, the number of games that are known to have even received a DMCA request can be counted on one hand.

Count Morado · Jun 25, 2023

This has been asked and answered many many times over the years and easily found using the search function to look for the term copyright. Before I go further - the idea of "fair use" is not a free ride to do whatever you want. It's a legal defense that you would have to court to defend - and pay an attorney and the fees associated with doing so. You can't just say "FAIR USE" and think you're home free.

Bottom line is - it depends on a lot of factors. Since you already know it might be a problem, if you go forward it shows you would have the intent to not care about the legal consequences and that is one factor a court would look at. Whether you do it as a way to earn money (either directly from the sale or from subscriber support) is another. There are many factors for a court to consider.

It's most likely a violation of IP and copyright laws and if an IP/copyright holder discovers your use of their work then you should expect no less than their attorneys sending a cease and desist notice to you and any site hosting your game. With Patreon and similar sites, this would, at the minimum, put your account and all funds on hold until it is cleared - if ever. If you continued to create content using their work, you could expect a claim filed in court and you would need to hire an attorney to represent you (which you would pay for). If you continue to defend yourself (say, on the grounds of "transformative work" or similar defenses) and win - you're still out the money you paid your attorney and any fees associated, while not earning anything from the game (even if you never attempted to get money from it in the first place - you'd still have pay out an attorney, etc). If you lose, the court could assess fines as well as compensation you would need to pay the IP/copyright holder as well as their attorney costs and fees.

If you are actually worried that you might get caught -- asking here is not the best thing to do. If you are actually worried about the possible legal ramifications of your actions, you should consult an attorney with experience in the gaming industry or, at the very least, copyright/IP issues. There are people who have ripped off IP/copyright content and have never gotten caught... and then there are people who have gotten caught for the simplest of things. I, myself, had to reply to a letter of inquiry from a comedy troupe because they thought my little stage musical in a medium-sized town in the midwest US (so not on Broadway or in Hollywood, or even Chicago or Minneapolis) was ripping off their content - when in fact, I was using the same public domain source material as they but not referencing their work at all. Though I did state in my reply that this experience was going to be added to the musical as a running gag of our actors being chased by their lawyers. The attorneys never followed up with further questions.

On F95, we are all anonymous people with our own opinions with varying levels of concern for our fellow humans and their welfare. Some will say you will never get caught. Some will say you have a slim chance. Some will say don't do it at all (this would actually be me - because do you really want to take that chance when you could use original ideas/art). Some just want more content to blow their loads and don't give a shit about anyone else's experiences or consequences.

Again, all this is to say - you have to make the decision and if you want the best advice to make the best decision for you, speak with an attorney.

chainedpanda said:
the number of games that are known to have even received a DMCA request can be counted on one hand.

The number of games from here. Yes. But those are only the ones we actually know about. It is more common than some might think - we just don't track them.

chainedpanda · Jun 25, 2023

Count Morado said:
The number of games from here. Yes. But those are only the ones we actually know about. It is more common than some might think - we just don't track them.

I generally disagree with this. While it is possible that some games have flown under the radar, it's likely not that many. Simple logic suggests that the more popular a game is, the more likely that any company would take notice of said game. As such, said games are the most likely to get a DMCA. It simply makes sense from both a logical standpoint as well as a business one.

What makes the most sense is for a company to target the larger games first. This forces new developers, and even smaller games, to rethink their decisions. This is a far more organized approach for companies rather than targeting every individual in violation of copyright stuff. It's why only a few Pokemon rom hacks get targeted, or why only large Youtubers get DMCA'd by Nintendo or some other Japanese developer.

Furthermore, if this is true, then it only makes sense that we have a general idea on how many games get DMCA'd. If a popular game gets a DMCA, then its more likely that the player base becomes aware of it due to its size. As a result, I think we do have a pretty good understanding on how often games get DMCA'd.

Count Morado · Jun 25, 2023

chainedpanda said:
I generally disagree with this. While it is possible that some games have flown under the radar, it's likely not that many. Simple logic suggests that the more popular a game is, the more likely that any company would take notice of said game. As such, said games are the most likely to get a DMCA. It simply makes sense from both a logical standpoint as well as a business one.

What makes the most sense is for a company to target the larger games first. This forces new developers, and even smaller games, to rethink their decisions. This is a far more organized approach for companies rather than targeting every individual in violation of copyright stuff. It's why only a few Pokemon rom hacks get targeted, or why only large Youtubers get DMCA'd by Nintendo or some other Japanese developer.

Furthermore, if this is true, then it only makes sense that we have a general idea on how many games get DMCA'd. If a popular game gets a DMCA, then its more likely that the player base becomes aware of it due to its size. As a result, I think we do have a pretty good understanding on how often games get DMCA'd.

We're both really arguing from the same side of the fence. I agree with your logic and hypothesis, in theory. However, again - I use my personal experience - a little amateur musical in a no-name town that had about 700 people see the show (at $10 per seat) in a local theatre festival got the notice of the law firm of a famous comedy troupe and followed up with a letter of inquiry that was mailed within weeks of the announcement to audience members of a different show that the musical was to be written (it hadn't even been written) a year out from the expected performances. Only a few hundred people knew that the musical was in the works and yet word got back to the law firm of a comedy troupe across the ocean.

So logic doesn't always follow suit - all it takes is one disgruntled fan whose waifu doesn't get enough time in the game or doesn't like that there is or is not NTR for them to submit a form or send an email for the game to get noticed and the ball starts rolling from there.

Again, I agree with your position - but in a world where people can be spiteful - the best thing a person can do is seek professional advice from an attorney on matters like this in order to make the most informed decision. It would suck if you put in thousands of hours on a game and just start seeing some kind of reward, benefit, profit, whatever from the development only to have it yanked out from under you. And just because we don't hear about it on F95 or Kotaku or Polygon or whatever, doesn't mean it's not happening to smalltime developers more than we think. The smaller the developer, the less likely they will get any mention about their demise in the industry and fan news sites. Usually, only the bigger cases get coverage.

Paddycake · Jun 25, 2023

Thank you both for your long and detailed answers.

I wouldn't make this game to earn money. I am a full-time software developer and making small games in UE and Unity is just my hobby, I don't rely on this financially.

The reason why I though this is a gray area, is because all of the freely available 3D models that contains original assets. You can download hundreds of models from