Gee.... ummm...
One would think given Stardock supports "fan sites" and fair use concepts you would have no issues. Now I could be wrong and they could single you out (its personal you know) and take you to court (got a lot of money?) so Brad can retire soon.

Exactly... it´s hard work to create good looking ships with 3DSmax.

For example at guildwars you can find the following information about screenshots:

May I use your art or images for items, such as clothing, toys, or other game-related goods?

Our art assets — be they concept art, in-game screenshots, verbal content, or renders — are all copyright materials. Their use is strictly prohibited unless approved in advance and in writing by ArenaNet.

I dont know, if that rule only apply for screenshots taken by the company (i think so). But i think if anyone would use revised screenshots for a commercial then he would get some serious trouble with ArenaNet.

I really just don´t want to get problems later, regardless the fact, that Stardock would never find it out - it´s still a very small morpg with about 500 users and i have some Photoshop skills to disguise the screenshots
I wrote a mail to the support and i hope i will get an answer soon. I´m no step further yet, i still don´t know if i can use the screenshots. At least it´s a good practice for my english, i think i need it badly

Looks likes you've got the 'OK', with only the following stipulations...

1. In the credits, or on the title screen, include the text "Starship graphics designed using Galactic Civilizations 2 (www.GalCiv2.com) with the permission of Stardock Inc. (www.stardock.com)"

2. Remove the ships if the game is ever released commercially.

3. When the game is done, you ABSOLUTLY MUST....send us a link so we can see how the game turned out

And if anyone wants to do something similar, they'll also have to contact our support team to get per-case approval Thanks!

I have a question for you
you say you don't have good english... where are you from??

DId you know that intellectual property rights are nation-based? So if your site's server is situated in Canada (example) you won't be affected by american laws. You'll also have to check out Canada's intellectual property laws on copyright.


But its all very complicated due to the fact that internet is international...

PS: Just to say that I'm a fourth year law student specialized in biotechnology and I live in Quebec, so I know a couple things about the subject

Just to muddy up the waters a bit you do realize that even if you don't charge for your game any revenue from web ads would qualify your game as a commercial venture

If simply not making money was the judging criteria most of the airline industry would be exempt hehe
So it really doesn't matter if your losing money overall or not since you'd still be making money off their product through ad revenue. Thus it is by definition of the term in 'commercial release'

But truthfully no one really cares about such distinctions but us legal geeks and I'm just making things more complex then they really need to be
You asked, he said yes, that's good enough for a small browser game
Because technically a) An internet forum posting is not sufficient to transfer a copyright and There is no proof that 'BoogieBac' is even in a position to confer such privileges to you. (Though there is probably enough proof to void any damages they could seek, but not enough that they couldn't arbitrary yank the privilege at any time)
But like I said, I'm just being difficult

Because technically a) An internet forum posting is not sufficient to transfer a copyright and There is no proof that 'BoogieBac' is even in a position to confer such privileges to you. (Though there is probably enough proof to void any damages they could seek, but not enough that they couldn't arbitrary yank the privilege at any time)

If Sserpyc had not gotten premission what kind of damages could Stardock get from a money losing website, probably less than their legal costs.
If Sserpyc got permission in writing from Brad, could Brad still not rewroke that permission at any time in the future?

But that would not be very nice, and I would have to think twice about buying Gal Civ 3 then.