WG Console Starting 2018 with Plagiarism

Hello,

How do you do? I hope everyone had a lovely 2018’s entrance!

Wargaming Console seems to have entered with the left foot. Today on their portal they released a VK 45 03 with a special skin called “Adler“:

 

At first glance there’s nothing wrong with it, it looks like the casual half arsed skin job that one with the proper skills can create in 15min but for some reason it can take weeks/months for a WG employee to pull off type of special skins that WG Console releases every now and then but the user “Rodent” from RSR’s Discord noticed something, anything looks familiar?

This is a skin job made by “greyweasel UK” a member of the community, he posted on the console forum back in May, showing a lovely collection of tank skins he created.

So good job Wargaming Console, for making money off a stolen idea without a single bit of time giving credit and when I said above a half-arsed job its because the skin doesn’t even look half as good as greyweasel UK’s original version.

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WG Console Starting 2018 with Plagiarism

65 thoughts on “WG Console Starting 2018 with Plagiarism

  1. Apache1990 says:

    Was posted on the WG Console forum, it was fair game.

    https://console.worldoftanks.com/en/content/docs/terms_of_service/

    10. User Generated Content

    10.1 General. Some Services permit you to create or upload content which you own, have created or otherwise have appropriate rights in (which we refer to in these Terms of Service as “User Generated Content” or “UGC”). UGC includes, for example: Account personas, forum posts, chat posts, voice chat, messenger type features, profile content and any other content or materials contributed by users to, on, or through the Services…

    10.2 License Grant to Wargaming. By posting or publishing UGC, you grant Wargaming a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free right and license (with the right to sublicense) to host, store, transfer, display, perform, reproduce, modify, and distribute your UGC, in whole or in part, in any media formats and through any media channels (now known or hereafter developed). Any such use of your UGC by Wargaming may be without any compensation paid to you.

    1. DecoNoir says:

      TOS also allow them to nerf/buff premium tanks, but you don’t see them rushing to do anything to fix the game itself, do you?

      There are plenty of things people and companies can legally do, doesn’t suddenly mean you’re not complete shite for doing it though.

      1. f16falcona46 says:

        Plagiarism is distinct from copyright. It is not copyright infringement to, say, pretend that MIT licensed software is your own. It is plagiarism, however.

    2. What I wanted to say as well.

      Just playing Devil’s Advocate here, but content made on their own copyright material is technically also theirs.

      Is it nice to do? Probably not. But it is sort of what you already know and automatically agree on when you do it.

      1. blockhaj says:

        Just beacuse they have the right doesnt make it non plagiarism. It just makes it legal plagiarism.

      2. malkavian says:

        but content made on their own copyright material is technically also theirs.

        – No it’s not.

      1. Rita Sobral says:

        Malkavian does have a point, you can’t directly upload pictures on WG forums, they are always hosted by other websites.

      2. Renarde_Martel says:

        @Rita: I’ve uploaded pictures to the WoT forums before and looking at the URL they don’t appear to be using a 3rd party unless there’s a mask in place, but it’s apparent host is “http://cdn-frm-eu.wargaming.net/”

      1. wolvenworks says:

        how many corporates you know are actually honest when it comes to the community? the only big game company i know that are actually honest is Artix Entertainment, since they do integrate community stuff, and fully credit the creator in the item desc

      2. They probably could have and should have (in a moral sense), but knowing WG. In the past, they have been incorporating mod content as well. As far as I know, they haven’t acknowledged those creators as well, but I could have missed it.

    3. haha item 10.2 is in of itself dodgy as hell, and I can almost guarantee WG snuck it in there based upon the perfectly valid assumption that nobody would actually READ the T&A before signing up (Because lets be honest, what % of people actually do that these days?).

      WG has a long history of treating it’s fans with disdain, and this is simply another example of that. It’s part of why I basically don’t play anymore, and why I’ll never give WG another cent of my money.

      1. fr2d2u says:

        So… people play over 20k battles on this game. 6 minutes per battle, give or take?
        That’s 2000 hours. Out of those 2000 hours they can’t take a couple to read TOS and somehow this is WG’s nefarious shenanigans?

        Either you people don’t live in the real world yet or you’re just a couple steps off a very big mishap.

  2. Charcharo says:

    Even if its written in the TOS (which is toilet paper in the EU BTW) , we should protest it and attack WG for it.

    Just because something is legal doesnt mean we should let it happen without some counter lol.

    1. Not sure what you are basing that on. Terms of Service are hardly toiler paper in the EU. In fact, many companies like Microsoft have been actively and successfully enforcing theirs for a long time. As long as it’s a clickwrap agreement, it’s a fully legal and enforceable document.

  3. Otakubouzu says:

    ….different eagle design, different tank.

    Plagiarism? Maybe not legally.
    Should you ridicule WG for copying the design? Yes.

  4. Moshpit400 says:

    So he puts some cool skin pics on the forums, everybody loves them and wants to see them in the game, WG puts them on a tank, and now we’re suppose to be mad that WG used them? Logic I guess.

    1. DecoNoir says:

      Putting them in with zero acknowledgement to where they came from. Didn’t think we’d need to put it in big bold letters, but I guess reading specs aren’t what they used to be.

      1. Moshpit400 says:

        Ahh, is it missing the pat on the back for doing a good job. Want a safe space to go with it? I swear people these days complain about anything and everything.

      2. Anonymous says:

        those two are smart-mouthed wg fanboys
        I did like the paint scheme before i read its origin. It would of been the skinned tank i would welcome.
        As dumb as im making it sound, i think War Gaming are just playing stupid again, pretending to add what the community want: eg, a liked re-skin. getting hate from it, and just saying ‘Well we tried doing what they wanted’ and going off and adding in p2w fake premiums.

        My opinion: credential and financial acknowledgement. otherwise this will cause bigger controversy then the Chrysler K BS

      3. Moshpit400 says:

        If somebody gives WG a pic of a skin and asks them to put it in the game, it isn’t plagiarism. That’s just stupid and you don’t have to be a fanboy to know it. The title should read “Status Report starting 2018 off with crying for no reason.”

    2. Anonymous says:

      Are you after Soviet’s crown or something Mosh? It’s not the fact they used its the fact the person who put in the time and effort into creating it didn’t even get a thank you.
      I’m mean that snooty nob Joco basically took a take from the PC files, WG used it and he got loads of praise and attention (how he gets a headset big enough for that head is beyond me)

      1. Moshpit400 says:

        It would be plagiarism if WG went to a different community, like this blog or the Bunker for example, and took a skin design for their own use with no notice to, or consent from, the original creator or community. That’s not what happened here.

        What happened here is WG used a design proposed on thier own forum by a member of thier own community after giving the member notice and getting consent from the member who designed and submitted the skin. Do you see the difference between those two scenarios?

        This entire article is without merit and baseless. I’m not a fanboy, I’ve criticized WG many of times, but only for things that actually deserve criticism. I don’t just jump at every opportunity, even if I have to imagine one, to do so. This whole thing is rediculous and only takes away from what should have been a good bragging rights day for Weasel. It’s just a bunch of people turning a positive into a negative because they prefer the drama of it.

      2. Moshpit400 says:

        And Joco got heaps of praise and attention from the community. We don’t call it the Joco Chaffee because WG named it that. The community does that on thier own and they could be doing the same for Weasel here, but instead they’re to busy bashing on WG and creating drama with click bait articles claiming “plagiarism” and “stolen idea”.

      3. DecoNoir says:

        Except the AMX Chaffee was never from Joco, it was on PC’s supertest years before there was even a WoT Console (in fact it was covered on our predecessor blog, For the Record). People on console only started calling it the Joco because heaven forbid they actually look at what PC is doing.

      4. I actually managed to ask a colleague of mine who knows a lot more about stuff like this than I do (not really that hard :P).

        What he told me is interesting. In legal terms, the term ‘plagiarism’ does not exist. It’s a term coined by book authors and universities (among others). At worst it can cost you your job, or your diploma. The legal term which people seem to be confusing this with is copyrighted material. Ripping off copyrighted material actually IS a crime (or felony, not the point here). This brings to question whether the drawing greyweaselUK made is copyrighted material (and whose copyrighted material it would be, WG’s or his), which would be somewhat of a debate (depends on several factors).

  5. Anonymous says:

    Good to know wargamings defenders are out in full force even here. I swear they could do a complete account wipe on you guys tommorow and you would still bend over back backwards to kiss their posterior.

    1. fr2d2u says:

      Oh man… that’s way too serious business for these knuckleheads to pour their brain cells over.
      Let’s try and stick with the program here. Some guy posted a link to a image on WG forums. It ended up in game. Playerbase is enraged.

      Proceed.

  6. Liked & shard this with our USA clan Community on our site & Facebook so they can see the awesome work that this 1st guy made Peace keep up the good work thanks for the info & Happy New Years

  7. wolvenworks says:

    i hope WG fixes this “uncredited” predicament before the shitstorm grows to Chrysler level (disaster level) or, gods forbid, the Rubicon (full-blown revolution)

  8. Micky2bad says:

    You could have at least been a tad bit professional about this whole thing and contacted greyweasel to get his side of events before publishing this story, very amateurish of you to do this.

  9. CA says:

    Has greyweaseluk confirmed that he received nothing from Wargaming? It also appears under the terms of service that Wargaming has the right to use content generated by fans. This looks like incredibly sloppy journalism. They didn’t “plagiarize” anything. They may have used content from the community and should have acknowledged the community member, but we don’t even know they didn’t do that because this half baked story was out before a simple confirmation with greyweaseluk was made.

    1. Anonymous says:

      I miss the days of SilentStalker and even Ritas earlier days when they reported and gave the community news about the game. Now it has just turned into this drama center that has no actual based information. To say that WG stole this without even talking to the person that made it is a bold accusation without any real proof.

      Yes we all know that WG has turned into this greedy corporation that seems more keen on making all the money on their game before it completely dies. But does this post do anything to help that?

  10. Anonymous says:

    WG has officially confirmed that Greyweasel gave them his Consent so how about you fuck off somewhere else with your fake news

    1. fr2d2u says:

      Easy dude. They’re trying to make this website great again. Please, no derailment.

      Besides, as I’m sure many snowflakes like myself feel and I will point out, it’s about credential acknowledgement, some might even say financial recognition.

      No, it don’t matter that weasel gave unconditional consent. Who cares about what weasel said, really?

  11. Phoenixlives says:

    I wonder if it occurred to the author that user “Rodent” may have been compensated for the use of his design. I see nothing in the “article” that suggests the artist was contacted for his side of the story.

    1. Anonymous says:

      A better title would be “Wargaming Console to continue to shaft the playerbase into 2018”.

      And queue the fanboys……

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