Open-source and ethics

What is open-source?

Open-source means that code is publicly available, to be used, edited, and distributed by anyone. It fosters a collaborative and public approach to software development. There are a number of important things to take into account when developing open-source software, however.

Licenses

A GitHub repository without a License is not open-source:

without a license, the default copyright laws apply, meaning that you retain all rights to your source code and no one may reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from your work.

source: https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/managing-your-repositorys-settings-and-features/customizing-your-repository/licensing-a-repository#choosing-the-right-license

This means, if you actually want to properly open-source your mods, that you'll have to pick an open-source license. This might sound scary, but it really doesn't have to be. GitHub created a very simple and nice website to find a license that fits your project: https://choosealicense.com/

WARNING

Obligatory "we are not lawyers". Our interpretation of these licenses is primarily based off of the choosealicense website, as well as personal experience.

We recommend going with one of the following two licenses for mods:

• GNU General Public License v3.0 -- the main benefit of this license is that anyone using your mod's code (be it as a spin-off version, updated version, or in other games) will have to use this license as well. This means your work, and any derivative work, will remain open-source. It means people can't grab your work and create a version which has no public code, and it means the community will forever be able to build upon your work and keep your mod alive, even if you lose interest in it.
• MIT License -- this is a more permissive version of the GNU General Public License. It also allows users to create closed-source versions of your mod. This means a user is not required to share their updated code publicly. They must, however, still retain the original license's copyright notice readily available.

Healthy collaboration

A modding community thrives when users help each other out. Keeping your mods open-source means current (and future) modders can learn from your current work, and perhaps even keep your mods updated if you ever leave the community.

It is, however, important to be ethical about this. We understand a modding community can get competitive. Please, refrain from taking code and claiming it as your own - always properly give credit where credit is due.

Likewise, when other users help you by fixing bugs, and want to submit a pull request, please accept that, rather than taking the fix and implementing it yourself - this gives them some credit for the fix, and fosters a community where people aren't afraid to help out.