Legal Information (English Version) Preamble: French Reforger Mod is a French community, but we accept all nationalities, so we can all speak French as well as English! French Reforger Mod is also a bilingual community ! 1. Overview When you purchased and installed Arma Reforger, you were presented with a set of terms and conditions of use under various names (whether on Steam or in-game, and even when you registered on the Bohemia platform), including the Terms of Use, the Workbench Terms, the Bohemia General Terms and Conditions, the Privacy Policy, the Reforger EULA and the DMCA. All this lengthy text is not insignificant; it's there to explain what you are and aren't allowed to do, and what you agree should be done to you and your work. Here you'll find the licenses that apply to Bohemia: https://www.bohemia.net/community/licenses/ For the uninitiated, I know this isn't easy, but we're going to talk about it quickly so that you understand. Everything related to Bohemia's tools (in our case, enfusion) is not subject to any specific license, since it is entirely a Bohemia right. So if you deploy a 3d composition, a sound or anything else via a single Enfusion tool, you lose your rights over it, it belongs to Bohemia and therefore indirectly to the community through the workshop. Through Workshop-terms: https://reforger.armaplatform.com/workshop-terms. 2. Licences We have learned that we can use APL, APL-SA, APL-ND and ADPL-SA licenses for our work on Reforger. Here are the license acronyms: APL : Arma Public Licence SA : Share Alike ND : No Derivatives AD : Arma & Dayz APL : Arma Public Licence APL-SA : Arma Public Licence - Share Alike APL-ND : Arma Public Licence - No Derivatives ADPL-SA : Arma & Dayz Public Licence - Share Alike Now that you understand licenses, here's what they mean: APL : Attribution: You must respect the source material as the author has done. Non-Commercial: Not for commercial purposes Arma Only: Only Arma in its entirety SA : Share Alike : You can adapt and develop the material while respecting the basic license. ND No derivatives : If you remix, transform or build on the basic material, you cannot distribute it. 2.1: Example Now that the licensing basics are out of the way, let's look at the rest. Let's take an example, as Bohemia has been clear about the hardware and its deployment. I'll take a mod we're all familiar with, RHS. Just go to the description and you'll see that the license mentioned is the CC (Creative Commons) license, which is not a Bohemia license. It would have worked outside Arma, but here it doesn't respect the Bohemia license, but it is explicit about its use: Attribution Non Commercial No Derivs. The modder(s)' wish is that there be no modification and no commercial use. Many modders think their work is protected, and do anything but, despite apparent protection, it doesn't respect Bohemia's EULA. Their license should have been “APL-ND”, but the legal framework doesn't protect them. Let's continue with an explanation, then: we want to apply a license like APL-ND correctly, so that nobody touches our work. Our mod adds an APL-ND-licensed Ferrari, this mod is called “BEAUTY-FERRARRI”. Today we've found a mod called “CAR-FERRARRI” and the model is extremely similar, if not identical, so we'd like to report it because the modder has probably copied our 3d model and modified the configuration as he sees fit, which doesn't comply with the APL-ND license. What do you think Bohemia's answer will be? I can quote it for you: “You have published a 3d model that you made in a tool external to bohemia tools, imported it in accordance with Reforger EULA rules and applied an APL-ND license. However, after studying the file, we have decided, in accordance with the rules in force, to remove your mod from the Workshop, as it did not comply with Reforger's EULA rules and the mod in question. Indeed, Ferrari is a registered trademark under the name Ferrari S.p.A., and 85% of its vehicle design and 55% of its engine sound are protected by EULA. You therefore have no right to publish material and claim it as your own while it is not your basic property.” (translated french to English) The bottom line is simple: stop worrying about licenses, rights and so on... What you want is to create, test, play and have fun. You can't make any profit from it, because it's explicitly explained, and you don't have the legal skills to protect your content in a Workshop. You're going to create an ultra-stylish and violent rifle? bad luck, the name was copyrighted. You're going to modify the name - not cool, there's a patent on the design and unfortunately yours looks too much like it. You modify its appearance, but the sound is 76% similar to that of a Star Wars blaster - too bad the Star Wars copyright is unanimous... Anyway! You'll never win in this kind of situation, Bohemia has an army of Lawyers on this device, whether consultants or mandated. Pass your creations in APL-SA, get in touch with the moders who modify your work so that your work is recognized as quality and that you are always quoted, that's what you should do. Now that the “basics” are clear, and you understand that you don't own anything on the Workshop and that ambiguity is easy, let's take five minutes to talk about us, the Communauté Francophone pour le Modding. 3. French Reforger Mod in all this We reminded you that copyrights are complex. We've made it clear that you can't be remunerated or make any profit from mods. We remind you that it is tedious work to make mods, regardless of the size of the mod or mods. We would add that you are not forced, obliged or coerced in any way to make Mods (or any work on Enfusion). Good. So what are we waiting for? Let's get together, work, think and help each other to get the Workshop moving. A team of modders has already done what you wanted to do, but you don't like it? Take it from the beginning and together we'll make a new mod - different name, same goal, more work to make it possible. Our strength lies solely in our abilities, and alone we are limited. When there are teams like (to name but a few from Arma 3) RHS, AMF, CUP, TFAR, Operation Trebuchet, FOW, ACE or TOW and many others, what do you think you can do on your own? Worse still, when your work is released and appreciated by all, how will you feel when one of these teams releases a mechanic identical to your mod, but in their own mod with their own identity? This will mean the end of your reputation, the end of player support for your mod and the death of your mod, because 100% of them will be using at least one of the mods from the big communities and won't want duplicate mechanics. Through the French Reforger Mod discord, we have the opportunity to get together, exchange ideas and work together, in English and French, and with great simplicity. Let's get together, really, for everything, whether it's videos, tutorials like I'm writing now, gaming communities, modding, official or unofficial teams, let's all work together to make the game we love great, and not let our efforts be in vain. Let's not repeat the mistakes of arma 3, let's make the French-speaking Community a major player in the development of Reforger and not just a bunch of whiners greedy for profit and misplaced ego 😂. Share your creations, explain them, develop them, help others, and if we all act like this, we'll have a solid base for working together ❤️ In conclusion, I still see too many people working in their own corners, making slow progress and getting no credit. And when their work is finished, to see them leave Enfusion, Reforger or development in general because another team has released something similar in half the time. It saddens me because I know that among you, and others who aren't here yet, there are some truly motivated and extremely good modders. I don't claim to be any good, far from it, I'm still learning from this engine, but we can all be good at something with a minimum of information and mutual help. Let's not shoot ourselves, others are already doing it very well. Thanks to [змея] наш for doing the research and writing this post in the French Reforger Mod discord. and thanks to you if you're still around, I'm sure arma reforger and Arma 4 can be 300x better than Arma 3 by uniting and sharing our knowledge, let's do it ✨