save your apartment designs?

[Alexa_Darkness]

(02-06-2019, 03:43 AM)JCF Wrote: I've been asked about this account before privately, but let me state this publicly:

a) There are NO Twitter accounts officially endorsed by MnF Club other than @ClubMnF itself. The account's silence on the matter is not an endorsement of this imposter in any way, and the idea that we'd ever let a complete asshole host designs purely to piss off designers isn't worth dignifying with a response.
b) Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do if someone is hosting other creators' home designs off-site, or has developed a program to somehow extract a loaded background for an apartment/house. A similar issue happened with people copying 3DXChat designs, and the bottom line is that there's very little devs can do if someone is determined to copy player-created data. If we discover who runs the account, they can be banned for impersonating MnF Club staff, and I'll defer to the in-game team if they want to comment on whether that's already happened. And if you ever find someone who admits in-game to running the account, by all means report them.
c) I have reported on Twitter every tweet on that account which contains adult material (and is not flagged as containing it) and/or insults other people, as well as for impersonating @ClubMnF, and I encourage who finds it offensive everyone to do the same if they also think it doesn't belong on Twitter. Openly mocking designers on Twitter after posting designs without their authorization is technically outside the scope of the mod team, but it's a dick move nonetheless. I forget who's currently running the @ClubMnF Twitter account, but they'd need to file a report to get it removed and I know at least one attempt's been made. Again, anyone is welcome to do the same on Twitter.
d) I've heard the suggestion that Elizabeth_Gray somehow gave the files to whoever runs the account. This is, in a word, bullshit. Even if she was of a mind to do it, the mod team does not have any more access to a player's home design than players themselves would.

To sum up: No, we can't enforce intellectual property rights of home designs. But that account is sketchy as fuck and should be reported to Twitter.

I mainly posted the previous response because of what the individual stated on their twitter posts.  They made it sound like MnF Club supported their actions, which is untrue.  The image they posted in response to the designers reaction..  not only insulted all Players of MnF, but also the MnF Club developers themselves.

Most designers work hard on their designs, adding their signature to their designs, so others who like them, know who to contact if they want something similar.      

On another twitter post, the individual stated the following:

Quote:Hey!
If you like some design, but you dont like any stupid inscription or designers name, just write me in PM and I will help to remove it.

As Mods like JCF & Emmie (including the Vadim) know... I host a fan based server on discord called MnF United Nations, so when a lot of Designers got outraged about this individual, I thought it best to post here.

(02-06-2019, 01:38 PM)Emmie Wrote: Botj JCF and Purest_Elf. It's just not possible for us to deal with "design theft" or whatever you wish to call it. That doesn't mean we endorse it, or think it's good. We just don't have the capacity to deal with it. I don't know if it's been added to the TOS as of yet, but way it is right now, the moment a design is uploaded to MnF Club, it becomes public property.

One concern is, you can't download a design from MnF Club... so the only way to obtain public designs, is to hack the Game.

[JohnSins]

(02-06-2019, 07:06 PM)Lady_Alexa Wrote: One concern is, you can't download a design from MnF Club... so the only way to obtain public designs, is to hack the Game.

Or the culprit got it from a re-seller... like how most designs are distributed in the market...

The designers should watermark their work discreetly with a number (doesn't have to be a number, but anything that can help differentiate similar designs from one another) associated to the person they sold it to. That way they can pinpoint the re seller.

Ex: "They see that the picture being shown on the twitter account has a watermark with the number 1, thus its was 'X' person who bought our work and must have resold it to another person. SO, we wont sell to that person anymore since our work keeps on getting leaked because of him/her."

[Alexa_Darkness]

i guess if each design is unique, then designers will know who they gave the design to....

Another way to protect, for those designers who have their own websites that show there designs... make sure any image that is shown, is not room compatible. Yes you can download the design, but if its not room compatible, only the designer can supply direct... plus any illegal seller will have problems trying to sell designs, if they never work.

[Emmie]

No one has hacked the MnF Servers. That much I know 100%. As I understand it, the way it was told to me by Vadim. Once a design is uploaded to MnF, that upload is not encrypted, which means with the correct software, a person could pick up that information ping and get the design that way. Much in the same way you can see how much xp/gold a player has. The information is not being encrypted, cause it's not considered private.
So if I understood Vadim correctly, that means that with the correct software, you can download designs via MnF Club. I don't know exactly how it works etc, so please take what I say with a pinch of salt until someone confirms this.

[Alexa_Darkness]

(02-10-2019, 10:47 AM)Emmie Wrote: No one has hacked the MnF Servers. That much I know 100%. As I understand it, the way it was told to me by Vadim. Once a design is uploaded to MnF, that upload is not encrypted, which means with the correct software, a person could pick up that information ping and get the design that way. Much in the same way you can see how much xp/gold a player has. The information is not being encrypted, cause it's not considered private.
So if I understood Vadim correctly, that means that with the correct software, you can download designs via MnF Club. I don't know exactly how it works etc, so please take what I say with a pinch of salt until someone confirms this.

I have already privately spoken with JCF.

However, I have recently been sent a imgur.com link to a page consisting of 331 room designs.   Whilst scrolling down the images...half way down I found my own room.  But I haven't shared this design with anyone, I have invited a few people a early version of the room, but not the current version.  

So I was curious to know how someone can download a room without ever entering it?  Does this mean all rooms are available to download..?  And do players have to be online for this to happen..?

So I guess this means all the pictures in the Art Museum in Meadow Park can also be downloaded.

Is there a clause in the Terms of Service regarding players images being available for others to download without consent of MNF Club or the individual involved..?

[Emmie]

I think I mentioned somewhere on the forum that if it's not in the ToS atm, it will be added at some point as I understand it. Because when I talked to the devs, once you upload something to MnF Club, it is public, and can be attained by people. I don't think it's surprising that if you put something on the internet, others will have access to it, but I can understand the upset nontheless. I will ask the devs for more specifics, cause I'm not a programmer.

[Desang]

I would like to know if there are news about it.

It's obvious that this person is using some software to connect to game servers or database and steal the designs, which it's against the ToS (RESPECT AND SAFETY 3). Besides he or she is posting them without author consent, which it's also against the ToS (MEMBER PRIVACY 2).

I want to know if this problem will continue like this. I'm not going to start making designs for yachts while they can be stolen easily.

[JohnSins]

(02-16-2019, 08:19 PM)Desang Wrote: I would like to know if there are news about it.

It's obvious that this person is using some software to connect to game servers or database and steal the designs, which it's against the ToS (RESPECT AND SAFETY 3). Besides he or she is posting them without author consent, which it's also against the ToS (MEMBER PRIVACY 2).

I want to know if this problem will continue like this. I'm not going to start making designs for yachts while they can be stolen easily.

Well unfortunately that link does not support your point of this person using some software to hack this game. If you look, a lot of the designs still have the designer's watermarks, which suggests that the culprit has no actual hacking skills, but knows how to take a screenshot from their computer. I mean what person would buy or even set a background filled with watermarks?.... Looks like the person got it from designers trying to advertise their designs, thus the one's without watermarks are most likely from resellers on the black market. Obviously this person is horrible, and catching him or her would be a plus for MnF. However, without any leads or something to base the inquiry on, there is not much anyone can do (We do not know anything about this person at all for any action to take plausible place). So complaining isn't going to help anyone at all, and things are just going to stay the same. If you and other designers set a trap/bait (similar to what Lady Alexa and I mentioned in the previous posts above), we may be able to pinpoint the first reseller and then start a investigation from there to finally get rid of this person.

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news... but even if we catch this person and ban them, how are we going to prevent future designs from being distributed in the same fashion?... Especially since evidence points to the culprit not actually knowing how to hack the game, but getting it from designers and resellers directly... It just seems like a never-ending cycle of designs being posted/sold/distributed without the original designer's consent if the current practices of the "design-selling market" stays the same...

[Desang]

(02-17-2019, 05:43 AM)JohnSins Wrote: Well unfortunately that link does not support your point of this person using some software to hack this game. If you look, a lot of the designs still have the designer's watermarks, which suggests that the culprit has no actual hacking skills, but knows how to take a screenshot from their computer. I mean what person would buy or even set a background filled with watermarks?.... Looks like the person got it from designers trying to advertise their designs, thus the one's without watermarks are most likely from resellers on the black market. Obviously this person is horrible, and catching him or her would be a plus for MnF. However, without any leads or something to base the inquiry on, there is not much anyone can do (We do not know anything about this person at all for any action to take plausible place). So complaining isn't going to help anyone at all, and things are just going to stay the same. If you and other designers set a trap/bait (similar to what Lady Alexa and I mentioned in the previous posts above), we may be able to pinpoint the first reseller and then start a investigation from there to finally get rid of this person.

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news... but even if we catch this person and ban them, how are we going to prevent future designs from being distributed in the same fashion?... Especially since evidence points to the culprit not actually knowing how to hack the game, but getting it from designers and resellers directly... It just seems like a never-ending cycle of designs being posted/sold/distributed without the original designer's consent if the current practices of the "design-selling market" stays the same...

Like Lady_Alexa, I found my own personal designs (Apartment and House) in the imgur link in his twitter profile. How is it possible if I never shared or sold any of them to anyone? I think the answer is quite clear and it's not from resellers.

Throughout this time I have learned to whom I must sell designs, even if only one or two good friends. So the resales are not what worries me. It's the fact that he can keep stealing designs just like he did with my personal ones.

[JustNo]

One of design thieves here (yes, there are many of us).
I am not the owner of twitter account stated before.
Ask me anything.


Mod edit: Sorry John, this AMA is officially closed.