The current licensing on makerworld is killing the remix culture which is a huge part of our 3D printing hobby. To get the most points you force designers to post it as “exclusive” and that automatically gets a “standard digital license”. I think if there was another license type available for exclusive models that allowed remixes but those to only be posted on makerworld that would be great and still contribute to MW growth.
Remixes on models is what makes our community as amazing as it is. Multiple designers contributing to constant improvements of a design.
No one is forced to post as exclusive. Supposedly if someone is posting as exclusive, then they want it to be the standard license and don’t want copies of their model. Not everyone wants people to remix their model.
A model can’t really be deemed “exclusive” if there are other versions of it posted anyway. If someone spent time designing a model and want all the points, then exclusive is a great option for them instead of remixes taking away their points.
There are still lots of models to remix out there that people choose to post with an open license.
I would be happy to post my exclusive models with remixes allowed if that was an option. I dont look at it as “taking away their points” but as someone contributing to the design. I see the standard digital license as a way for bambu to grow their platform. I am just saying would be nice to have a choice of license for exclusive models (remix allowed, but only to be posted on MW).
One of the benefits of the exclusive program is that MW will help on cases of infringement, hence the requirement for the standard digital file license.
As pointed out by the other comment above, the exclusive program is only an option. If one wants a model to have remixes, then don’t put it into the program.
There are also other platforms that allow remixes. So there is really no lack of venues for remixes.
I don’t know if it helps, but usually when I remix something, I keep it for myself, usually I add Skadis support, or make a Frankenstein creation, but I never upload it, for the reason you are mentioning.
I am not proud of it, but I fall into this category. Allowing remixing on my models has really been a very negative experience for me, including direct copies that restricted the license. I don’t bother anymore.
I think the remix culture works great and, arguably, is critical in a rewards-free environment. But people abuse the heck out of it in the context of makerworld.
Yep. There seems to be an active community of thieves here. Grab a popular model, make a minor change (if that), and repost it as a new profile. Profit while skimming points from the people who actually created the thing.
Thankfully my stuff isn’t popular.
I only leave models open for remixing if I don’t care what happens to them. Anyone who wants remix freedom is hopefully actively reporting the thieves.
IANAL but I think there’s no problem with remixes for personal use. If anyone needs to change a model to make it work better for their own use, I don’t think there are restrictions. There is a carve-out for personal use. At least the odds of getting caught and prosecuted are vanishingly small.
If people can remix for their own use, what’s the problem? I think the loud ones want to just skim points and don’t like their rackets shut down.
Life is full of choices. You have the choice to post your models with a license that allows remixes, or you can choose to enter the program that gets you bonus points, but doesn’t allow remixes.
As you stated, you made your choice, but now you want both. That is not how life works, it is full of give and take. You have to choose; you can’t have it all.
I feel this. I lean into the digital license more so these days, but there’s times where I want to make at least part of the project remixable. For my case designs, I’ve been trying to provide step files of the inserts more, so people can customize. I want people to be able to post their remixes of that part!
For my StarCore case, I specifically encouraged people to upload and share their versions of the insert. The model as a whole is exclusive with the digital license, but that insert part I don’t want to fall under the same restrictions.
The whole point here is points…
Without them no one would care about remixes.
Been there, done that in more than a few places over the years and it always goes down the drain once the hoster decides to provide ‘incentives’.
I see it that way:
If I want people to do whatever with my model I upload it as such and usually include the STL files as well.
But if I DON’T want some cheap person who refuses to give credit to abuse my model I try a matching license scheme.
Remixing WAS a great thing until it turned into something of financial value.
With this single move the entire culture perverted.
In my case, I’d wished I could remix a few designs and give them a twist so I could use them for my own designs, and upload them in case anyone finds them useful. What ends up happening is if I find myself in the need to remix an unremixable design, I measure the critical dimensions and then use them to model my design taking them into account. Also, most of these designs only offer STLs which make it more difficult to remix, I even on exclusive designs always include STEP files at least, on parametric designs I include Fusion files.
I would prefer if remix points were split between original designer and remixer.
I do think it’s a bit sad as “mashing up” models from thingiverse was how I got my first start in 3D modelling and it’s a good way to be creative without having the overwhelming start from scratch.
While I like the idea that someone can earn rewards for their work once such a system exists it attracts its share of the people that are in to try and maximize reward potential with the minimum of work, and that starts to rub off a little bit onto others and it spreads. At that point it’s too late, you can’t put that genie back in the bottle.
Perhaps it’s because I am of a certain age, but I can see where the behavior and attitude has rubbed off on people. I can see it in almost every other model that has some “please boost me” message beyond the banner. It’s hard to wrap my head around the millions upon millions of hours of free, volunteer work that, frankly is allowing anyone to read this message, that allows us to have the internet in its current form at all. This was work with no expectation of reward, and contrast that against someone that spent 10 minutes remixing a model and making a flashy cover image wants you to reward them “to keep them motivated” ; “so they can keep bringing you useful items” ; “to help cover the costs of developing the model.”
I don’t know what the correct balance is or how it might be implemented. Maybe without any reward incentives we would only have a small fraction of models compared to what we currently have? Dunno, but I am pretty sure that the “get them to your system and keep them there as long as possible” playbook that … every website is participating in right now can’t be helping.
It would disincentivize skimming points but still takes d/l’s away from the original creators.
Best is to just let the original creator decide. Then, those interested in actually helping others with remixes might contact the original creator first before posting and see if they are cool with it so as to not waste their time. Or not. Either way the original creator should get final say.
The reality is most people who post remixes are probably just skimming points.
