Music from other games?

What is your opinion about using other games in non-commercial RPG Maker projects?

As long as credit is given where it's due, and you're not making a profit from it, it's alright. Although if it's another forum members' game, you really should get permission first.

I say you ask the permission of the person first. That way you will know if it is okay for noncommercial use, however if you know that the music is free then credit the original creator.
 

To use any resource, you need a licence that allows the use of that music. Ripping music for your own use without a licence is pirating and illegal - it doesn't matter if your project is non-commercial or not. In a lot of countries, the original company is legally required to go against you as soon as they learn of your use of their music without a licence - the only difference between commercial and non-commercial use is the penalty you can expect when it ends in court.


So if you're using ripped music, you might be lucky and the original owner doesn't see that you have pirated his/her music - but you can also be unlucky and get hit not only with a cease and desist to remove your game from the internet, but also with a penalty and have to pay for the original owner's layer costs.


Do you really want to risk that, especially as there are thousands of legally free music tracks out there?

Most people seem to just do it. If you make no profit and if the owner is some big company (and not an individual/company from this community!) then you're usually good.

But yes it illegal. It's just that those companies are unlikely to care. If you make a tripple triad game or use pokemon names/graphics, I doubt that you will get a notice. As long as you make no money from it.

It's still illegal. I prefer use free resources for actual game project. And I already have many free musics so I don't really worry of about the music resources

Honest, straight up answer?

Legally, I'm not a lawyer, so I can't speak on the legality of things. I can tell you that ripping music from commercial games is generally a pretty safe venture if you're not trying to sell your own game for profit. People have been using music from commercial sources for all kinds of things for years without any sort of scrutiny. If Wiz Khalifa can use Schala's Theme from Chrono Trigger in a song, you can generally bet you won't go to GAMER JAIL (or a C&D, rather) for using some Wild Arms theme in your own game.

Using music from a small time indie developer without credit is generally a moral no-no since they're fellow artists of the same kind and they're far easier to go ahead and contact to ask for permission, so go ahead and do that.

From a strictly entertainment point of view, generally in my experience as a consumer, most people don't really care as long as they don't NOTICE. So hearing the FFVII boss theme is likely to snap the player out of the game, because well, so many people recognize that tune. However lesser known themes will usually get a 'hey I remember this song from...some game or something. Oh well, moving on!" at best.

No, it's not. It's NEVER alright to just take stuff from someone else's game - whether theirs is commercial or not, and whether yours is commercial or not.


Just because people do it, doesn't mean it's alright.


Be careful to distinguish between opinion and fact.