Unofficial Mirror?

[PyTom]

Some of you might have seen this link. For those who haven't, it's visual-novels.net's doujin mirror. Some of the games are OEL, and some are translations.

At least some of the games seem to have been put their without the permission of the translator, and I'm not sure if they have asked any of the OEL game creators.

What I'd like to ask is:

1) If your game is up there, did you get permission? (Or is your license permissive enough that it allows unlimited mirroring.)

2) What should we, as a community, do about this. I'd hate there to be a precedent that it's okay for our games to be mirrored without permission.

[Misuzu]

I for one did not recieve permission to have my translation of Plain Song to be mirrored.

I also no that none of insani's releases did they seek permission for, and insani does prefer if you seek permission.

Finally, I don't mean to bash visual-novels.net, but they have relatively consistently been incorrect or did not do enough research/presented incorrect factual information that I prefer not to have my things associated with it.

An example of this is my friend shinji's release of Shooting Star Hill (quoted from my IM convo with him):

[19:52] KawatoriShinji: they didn't even look at them, they just tossed the games on there and ripped links from the at2006 site
[19:53] KawatoriShinji: the circle (company) is ebishuumai II, not azuki >.>
[19:53] misuzukamiochan: rofl
[19:53] misuzukamiochan: complain about incorrect information

Oh, and obviously shinji was not asked his permission either, and in his license of the translation, it specifically states no distribution without prior permission first.

As for what I'm doing, within the translation community, I'm contacting the translators of various works and asking their opinions and what not on it so that they are informed and take the appropriate action based on their views.

For the record, VisualNews has seeked and gained permission to mirror every file we have available, and we are proud of it.

Thats my two cents on it.

[lordcloudx]

I see some of mine there (without my permission). Ah well, I don't mind that much since I submitted them to download.com they're all over net... hmm, maybe somebody from here put them up since the link to my site is the new visualnews.net url.

[dizzcity]

Well, I saw my story hosted there without permission being asked from me. However, since my artist happens to be part of the staff of that website, I concede that it's fine for Lakeside Sunset to be hosted there.

-Dizzy-

[Misuzu]

And I just notice that they spelled the circle that did Plain Song, Plain Song Christmas, and the Poor Little Bird... three times! ;---;

It's eno... not enu.... that kinda sounds like emu.... (poor Eno-san)......

Orz.....

[DaFool]

afaik all the projects I've worked on are free to redistribute as long as the contents (which include license files) are not reverse engineered. Although only Colorless Day is up there.

As far as lordcloudx's games being linked to his new site, yesterday I did change all of RD2K2 games to point to visualnews, maybe that was right before mutio did his mirroring binging spree.

I'm not sure if we'll see the rest of our stuff there eventually, or this is just what he happened to pick n choose.

I am glad that VisualNews is much more professional than visual-novels. The same way I am glad that the Lemmasoft creation community also holds a certain degree of professionality.

But I don't think we should harp on them for providing what is after all free advertising. But yeah, if the original Jp creators or translators have their rights violated, that is something to take care of, even with free works.

[Misuzu]

The thing about some of the al|together releases is that we seeked out specific distribution channels and methods from the authors, and I know for one, like Shooting Star Hill, the original author only wanted it distributed via the specific distribution channels mentioned by him, which were VisualNews and the offical at2k6 site. I guess thats what really just bugs me about their acting... thinking that "Oh, everyone wants their stuff mirrored!", while not actually thinking about it a bit more to realize that not everyone does appreciate it.

[monele]

Do they even think they're helping out at all? I kinda doubt it's their goal.

[Misuzu]

Who knows?

[Blue Lemma]

I don't see ToL on there ;_;
*offended in a twisted way*

When I released Shoujo Attack! I explicitly stated that permission was needed to redistribute... of course, that didn't stop [some] people from reposting on various sites. On one hand, I was irritated that people who are getting free games wouldn't even follow simple rules and courtesy. On the other hand, it meant more people playing the game which I wanted. I decided it was more trouble to do anything than it was worth.

As for the matter at hand, has anyone contacted them?

[rioka]

lol @ Blue Lemma
It was probably so good they didn't want to share it with anyone else.
Like those "best kept secrets" deal.

It would be up to each maker to decide whether to ask each site that mirrors their work to either a) take it down b) ask them to make sure they ask permission first for any future games or else risk being asked to take it down c) contact the hosting company that XYZ is mirroring your product without permission and you'd like them to do something about it. Or not do anything if it doesn't bother you.

For me, though it would be nice to receive permission for mirrors, I would be more concerned if someone was distributing my work with viruses in them or if they were altered or tampered somehow.

[Misuzu]

A very valid point on why you want to control your mirrors. Who knows what random person Y may do with your file if he feels bored and/or doesnt like you.

As for someone actually contacting them, I did and they did comply with my request.

[rioka]

^^^^ That's good to hear.

[ponydash]

*sigh* Not sure how to start this damned post but let me have a try...

G'day. As I'm sure a couple of you have noticed from my avatar and name, I'm one of the (two) people who started Visual-Novels.net.

First of all, I would like to thank Misuzu for pointing out that we did remove his files as soon as he asked us to.

I know the people who own these files are probably very upset right now, and I can fully understand. I cannot defend our actions nor can I deny them. All I can say is this. The person who set up that section on our website did so with only the best intentions in heart; the intention and will to spread the translations that you all have made to a wider range of people, and to get more people interested in Japanese Visual Novels.

I am slightly hurt by monele's suggestion that we are only doing this for our own good, although their view is understandable in this case. Visual-Novels.net was started as a project of love for Japanese visual novels, and it still is six months from launch. As we've grown, slowly but surely, the number of staff members have increased whilst I myself (having got a new job) have had to downgrade my role (although I'm still actively involved with the site). We dedicated ourselves to bring news and reviews of the best Japanese games around, all for free, and all for the benefit of other people like us who enjoy Japanese gaming.

If anyone has a problem with us hosting their files, please don't hesitate to contact us and we will remove them immediately. Again, it was not our intention to annoy anyone or to break anyone's distribution laws, and yet this is clearly what has happened.

I am very sorry for the trouble this has caused, and for the need for PyTom to start this thread. Please accept my apologies, and the apologies of the rest of the Visual-Novels.net team.

[Misuzu]

Np ^^...
Apologizies accepted.