Is there any kind of protection for developers on teams?

ID:159442
 
Mar 12 2009, 7:40 pm
A hypothetical scenario.

I was working with someone on a project and we had a falling out. They took the code and published the project under their own name and took full credit.


Is there anything I can do about this situation? Perhaps I could make some kind of dispute claim to prevent that project from being show on Byond? Do I have options?

I suspect the worst for this scenario so I'm also looking for ideas to improve the outcome of this scenario. I understand the inherit risk of working with untrustworthy folks but I'm trying to think of ways to reduce the risk or damage.


DON'T READ BELOW THIS UNLESS YOU ARE TRULY BORED. I FAILED IN MY ATTEMPT TO DRAW OUT A SCENARIO USING CONTRACTS. ITS JUST TOO GRAY.

This would be an example of an idea that could help this situation although it is extreme and unlikely ever to happen.

What if all publishing developers had to agree to allow BYOND staff access to their source upon request. If they didn't comply, their published content could be blocked. Most developers will never be asked for this source.

and now the reason for this little "agreement"...

What if Byond provided a contract for developer teams. This contract is like insurance and members would have to pay a fee to maintain or buy the contract outright. This contract would simply state that if any one of the signing team members disputes the published works of another signing member, the Byond staff would be obligated to perform an investigation. The accused person could have published the project in full making it easy to investigate but they could have also given the project to another member who stripped out features. In the latter case, the Byond staff would approach this member and request full access to the source and game. The accuser would have provided some information on where the suspect feature was seen. The Byond staff would make a judgment and then ask them to remove the feature or else.

bah... this is just a bad idea...

ts
Mar 12 2009, 8:09 pm
I like the idea with the contract, but I'd say you lost you're project. BYOND has no way of knowing that the project is truley yours or there's.

-Gizhy
Mar 12 2009, 8:16 pm
In response to Gizhy
Right. There are ton of problematic gray areas and my example approach won't work as-is. I'm just hoping to maybe spark a few ideas.

ts
Mar 12 2009, 8:17 pm
In response to Tsfreaks
I see what you mean, but sorry for you're loss.
Good thinking with the contract system though.
Mar 12 2009, 8:20 pm
In response to Gizhy
No loss here. Hypothetical only. I'm trying to figure out how to reduce the risk of working with other Byond members.

While we might not be able to totally remove the risk, there could be some ideas floating around that could at least minimize the risk to some degree.

ts
Mar 12 2009, 8:40 pm
In response to Tsfreaks
Yeah, I'm not good with idea's. I'm not the type of "Idea Man", lol.
Mar 13 2009, 1:25 am
number one if no money is involved i see no problem with many people use the resource code and its not technically infringement or anything of the such but wht you could do is ask to be included or your worl removed which wont probably happen and because you were part of that team it was to the understanding that any code done was to be used for that game correct so technically the only thing you really coudl do is just ask to be credited for the work done or if you have the source files from the game itself you could be nasty and release the source to everyone interested
Mar 13 2009, 3:01 am
Post [link] has kind of asked the same already.
I fear that BYOND does not have the manpower to handle a manual attempt and I doubt that there could be a reasonable automatic one.
So, there are only two things left that I can think of.
Copyright (jurisdictional action) and good project management.

Personally, I'd go for the later.
By exposing only the interface of your work to other team members (together with a detailed documentation!), you allow for complete interaction with your code, while you warranty good object oriented design, security and stability.
That way, only the lead designer/programmer will have the full source code and that's one person you ought to trust anyway.
Mar 13 2009, 3:19 am
Truly I just believe that you need to work with people you trust and normally you won't have to deal with falling out, and worry about someone claiming your work as their own. But if it means anything. You know not to trust them again. :P
Mar 13 2009, 4:31 am
In response to Lundex
Honestly, there isn't a good system for this. The only thing that keeps people from doing this in the real world is that companies have the resources to sue. That, and they'll be named a thief, which doesn't go so well with a resume.

Byond devs can't sue. Not only do we lack the legal grounds, but we lack the resources.

Really, the only thing I see that we could do, is ask for references and try and do some sort of a background check, and that is already guaranteed to not to work a good number of times.

Willingly working with shady characters is never a good idea if you plan on keeping your code private.