'Take-Two' News 2015: Sends Private Investigators to Modder's Home, Takes Page from GTA Playbook
When Reddit user "ntauthy" opened his front door, he never thought he'd be greeted by two private investigators.
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Imagine his surprise when the men handed him a phone, and the voice on the other end wanted to "discuss how to cease (his) activities with regard to Grand Theft Auto.
"Ntauthy" had been creating a mod-friendly version of GTA Online, much to the chagrin of Take-Two and Rockstar, Grand Theft Auto's publisher and developer.
The modder explains that the man on the phone "didn't want to talk about general modification policy," but it's pretty clear that such an extensive mod is a breach of Grand Theft Auto's terms of service.
The mod in question was called FiveM. Its purpose is to allow GTA V gamers to utilize mods while playing online by circumventing Rockstar's official servers.
Since GTA V's release for the PC, hundreds of mods have been released that can be used during solo play. Rockstar has always been supportive of its customers' creativity, as long as it doesn't jibe with their official services.
However, mods such as FiveM and GTA:MP (a similar mod-friendly online mode) do just that, and in doing so infringe on Rockstar's intellectual property rights.
Rockstar's official statement in August read: "the FiveM project is an unauthorized alternate multiplayer service that contains code designed to facilitate piracy. Our policy on such violations of our terms of service are clear, and the individuals involved in its creation have had their Social Club accounts suspended."
Whales shooting out of guns? All in good fun. Stealing source code from game developers? Absolutely not.
