Hopefully this is the right place to ask my questions so they are not specific to certain scripts or add-ons.
So with rockstars newest announcement, I felt it was clear but also vague as to what is and isn’t supposed to be in our servers. Hoping someone can clarify a few things.
So obviously lootcrates is a no. No gun packs or buying in city currency, etc. what isn’t considered “lootcrates”? Or is tebex needing to be specifically used for purchasing of paid scripts to be used in servers? Obviously we can’t, or shouldn’t anyways, be monetizing off a server, but many servers have things players can purchase to help fund servers so servers can continue to run because servers are not free and can cost a lot to keep going which can be difficult over time for one person to be paying the bill for a ton of other players to enjoy. And many would want a benefit of some kind in return for donations, like priority queue in full servers or I’ve even seen custom license plates offered as well. It creates more incentive for players to assist in financially keeping a city up and running without the server owner going broke paying for it alone. (Side question: patreon I believe used to be an approved platform for such things as monthly prio subscriptions, etc. is that still allowed or was that changed to just tebex?)
I get no name brand items and I read sports teams are included, which makes sense. So I am in the process of removing the name brands and logos that represent them from clothing items, or removing the texture altogether if altering is not doable. A clothing texture that has the same design but no logo name brand is okay, right? I have even experimented with creating my own parody type brands to replace some to still have the feel of wearing a name brand item. Wanted to make sure I am not wasting my time on things not accepted.
The cars are about the same. Remove logos and names, including emblems put into the actual car model.
So if I had a Toyota Tundra in my city or other real life vehicles, if I removed everything Toyota from the the textures that stream in city, as well as edit the model and take off any emblems representing or saying Toyota, the truck would be allowed? Could even make a fake name for the make and model in its place. But clearly it looks like a tundra but isn’t named that in city. (Only textures altered and emblems removed). Would that truck be allowed to be in a server? Or does more need to changed so it actually looks a little different?
Custom maps: isn’t every added or opened up building a custom mlo? For example, hays auto body or burger shot? Tons of cities have those buildings added to be open interior and functionality of a business. Are those okay and not what’s being considered custom maps? Or is custom maps limited to just those servers that created things like “New York” and altered the entire map of the city? Can I still take a house or building and create an interior or change an existing interior to be placed in a server ? (Sorry I know that was half a dozen questions all in one).
I think that’s all my questions right now and I know many others have had similar ones and I think we can all use some more detailed clarifications to ensure we all follow tos to keep our rp servers from being shut down and still enjoy all the cool things creators have designed for us.
Thanks for any input. It’s much appreciated
This is actually a more reasonable and constructive topic than the ones I’ve see thus far about the R* article, and I think this one where I can state some clarification based on my personal interpretation of this article, the earlier mods article, and the context behind this.
This comes from the third item in the Rockstar article, at this time phrased as follows:
(iii) commercial exploitation, including the sale of “loot boxes” for real-world currency or its in-game equivalent, the sale of virtual currencies, generating revenue via corporate sponsorships or in-game integrations, or the use of cryptocurrencies or crypto assets (e.g. “NFTs”)
“Loot boxes” are a fairly well-defined concept describing in-game purchases with an unknown reward in advance, and in a number of countries are regulated as ‘illicit gambling’.
Similarly, paid virtual currency is covered by similar regulation pitfalls, and since it’s unlikely that a server will adhere to these regulatory requirements (GTA Online actually has quite an elaborate tracking system that splits paid and earned virtual currency, and for example does not allow paid virtual currency to be used in the Diamond Casino) and that this may lead to ‘confusion’ in the public - press, regulatory bodies, and other outside entities - negatively/unpredictably affecting Rockstar, it is understandable that this is marked as a ‘no’ by Rockstar.
The other items from this entry that I’d like to note here is ‘cryptocurrencies or NFTs’, which like loot boxes are already disallowed by the Tebex AUP:
1. You may not use any Tebex service for any activity which:
[…]
1.5 Is offering for sale any items that can be converted into fiat (real-world) currency
1.6 Is offering for sale any items involving gambling, or other activities where the reward/prize is based on chance, including, but not limited to casino-type games, betting on the outcomes of any event, lottery-type events or any other ventures that involve a purchase/entry with an outcome based on chance (whether or not legally defined as gambling), including “lootboxes” or similar mechanics under other names.
1.7 Is trying to monetize a server that issues cash prizes, or prizes that can be converted to cash, in exchange for playing, including, but not limited to competitions, ‘play to earn’ or servers that operate prize draws.
(“1.5” and “1.7” refer to cryptocurrency/NFT systems, and “1.6” refers to gambling and “loot boxes”)
On the note of Tebex, your question later in is relevant here:
8. No financial remuneration shall be obtained by the Users from any derivative of, or third-party service, User Generated Content, or Game Server for FiveM, the Game Services, or other entities stated in these Terms, except as expressly permitted by CitizenFX. Entities with permission are included under ADDENDUM D: LIST OF EXCEPTIONS FOR TERM ‘8’
[…]
ADDENDUM D:
Any approved end-user transaction for in-game privileges or User Generated Content through
built-in commerce functionality in FiveM, at this time exclusively provided through Tebex Ltd.
(https://tebex.io/). Note that this still does not include hosting.
This means that only Tebex is allowed for end-user transactions to obtain in-game privileges and UGC, and other monetization is not allowed.
Similarly, that means that the Rockstar terms as discussed thus far have as only relevant change disallowing paid virtual currency, which I believe is reflected in the game-specific policy on Tebex already. (I’d need to log in there so I can’t actually check this at the time), other parts such as ‘loot boxes’ and NFTs were already disallowed on FiveM.
(Of note is the R* article is slightly vague as to ‘loot boxes purchasable via in-game currency’, this can however reasonably be interpreted as only applying to servers that have a commercial component, or as only permitting ‘loot boxes’ being given as a direct in-game reward)
This also leads to the other part in R*'s point iii, namely:
generating revenue via corporate sponsorships or in-game integrations
From our knowledge regarding context here, including some of the published takedown notices against certain RP servers, ‘in-game integrations’ refers to a subset of ‘corporate sponsorships’, for example Brand X paying the server owner to add an in-game equivalent of ‘the new X-Mobile’ as a promotion.
This, as well, was already disallowed by the FiveM terms, as it is not an end-user purchase performed through Tebex, which next to hosting provided by ZAP-Hosting is the only permitted commercial use of FiveM by “Users” (which includes server owners and players).
Continuing on with your post, there’s a small nitpick here:
In many jurisdictions, ‘donations’ are a special term used only for registered charitable non-profit organizations, ‘voluntary contributions’ are a different concept. Many payment processors will explicitly deny service if you call such a thing a ‘donation’ since this is a regulated thing.
Back to the actual questions about the terms.
This is referring to the second point in the Rockstar article:
(ii) importation or misuse of other IP in the project, including other Rockstar IP, real-world brands, characters, trademarks or music
Of note is that this was already disallowed by the FiveM terms, namely by item 7:
7. Game Servers (listed on the Game Services, or otherwise utilized using FiveM) may download content (hereafter “User Generated Content”) to, or run computer code on the Users’ device. The User Generated Content is copyrighted by their respective owner, and the provider of Game Servers asserts that they are authorized to transfer said content to the Users, and, allows CitizenFX to distribute, adapt and/or modify the User Generated Content through automated systems, or other means. User Generated Content is not authored by CitizenFX, and CitizenFX has no obligation to provide or support the User Generated Content to Users.
Discounting that ‘importation of intellectual property (IP)’ being disallowed in itself is an unlikely interpretation (since any content can be considered as intellectual property), I’ll focus mostly on the ‘misuse’ part here, which was already disallowed by the above term: if you’re not authorized to transfer content (e.g. a model/texture - worse if taken from another game! - or a digital representation of a trademarked item) to the users, you’re… not authorized to do so.
Again, the Rockstar article does not change the stance on this.
It’s in fact a thing to be applauded that you’re actually proactive about removing trademarks, and this should reduce any risk in this regard.
Additionally on this topic,
This is a fairly complex situation, as it may be the case some such vehicles have a design trademark, or a patent on a particular representation, even in a 3D design. In general, even Rockstar’s own vehicles generally tend to retain a lot of shapes from the real-world vehicles they are based on, so this is not inherently bad.
This refers to the fourth point in the Rockstar article, namely:
(iv) making new games, stories, missions, or maps
The point has been directly taken from the SP mods article, which states, quite similarly:
or (iv) making new games, stories, missions, or maps
This is a fairly ambiguous point, but a reasonable interpretation could be ‘don’t make any new content that could be misinterpreted as originating from Rockstar and being official Rockstar content’, mainly from the way the item states ‘new games’. The FiveM terms ought to be amended to state this in the ‘Representation’ section, where currently item 24 is situated, and this may very well happen in the near future.
That also likely means that the R* Liberty City map from GTA IV is not permitted, as also stated by the first term in the Rockstar document:
(i) misuse of Rockstar Games trademarks or game intellectual property (IP)
… and, again, term 7 in the FiveM terms, as you do not have permission from Rockstar to distribute the LC map to players. No change applies here, yet again.
It’s likely that any enforcement in this regard will happen in the same way as it did thus far: via the Cfx.re compliance department. Egregious cases, however, may see direct enforcement action taken by Rockstar/Take-Two, though given the complexity involved this will likely only happen for egregious cases.
A final note about the R* article, though it’s fairly obvious, is the fifth point:
(v) interfering with our official multiplayer or online services, including Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online.
FiveM and RedM are separate environments that only use the official Rockstar services for authentication and ownership verification, so they do not interfere in the way e.g. GTA Online cheats would.
In general, the way the Rockstar article reflects our existing terms of service quite well, and that there’s an acknowledgment of the existence of custom ‘roleplay’ servers is actually a very positive thing for us as a project, as well as the users of FiveM/RedM.
Even though this is just my personal interpretation of the information thus far, I hope that the official post regarding this will clarify a few of these points as well, and thanks for the actually helpful and thoughtful topic asking questions about this without the doom-and-gloom that’s been surrounding discussion of this article in the past week.
even the weapons are copyrighted!
if you go to buy an airsoft rifle only some will be replicas because those companies have the authorization, all the others will be similar models without original logos and labels!
without a license they can’t even call the guns by their real name and they use a similar one!
Could our server’s title “GTA Cops and Robbers” be seen as a trademark violation of GTA? Or do you think it might fall under fair use or collateral use? (I have written an email to TakeTwo to ask this with no response)
The Tebex type creator’s stores to sell our scripts is still allowed? or is it no longer in use?
In their mentions they stipulate in-game microtransactions, does that mean that servers that offer skin, cars, boxes in exchange for a transaction is now prohibited?
Is the form of work support (e.g. Patreon) still allowed to support the work of an author?
Personal question, is Tebex the only authorized platform for selling script, ymap, modding or other?
Thanks to the official staff for this clarification.
Sorry for my english, french guy baguette.
Yes, and this hasn’t changed… nor is anything indicating that it did.
It doesn’t say anything about ‘microtransactions’. ‘Boxes’ are however explicitly disallowed in case you’re referring to ‘loot boxes’, see above again.
It never was allowed for FiveM. This hasn’t changed.
Thank you very much for the answer to my questions which concern many developers like me.
Another question, for example I am a web developer (registered and tradermark) and I want to make WordPress templates or others web app and CFX monitoring server plugins for a web app for example, are we obliged in this case also to go through Tebex? I do not think so since there is no script of the game said, and the release version will be without images of rockstar, but only for demonstration purposes.
Closing this topic as it keeps showing up in my notifications with people asking questions - often covered in additional assumptions - that are already answered in the post that they are replying to.
