Charging money for a fan translation

Dr Shroom

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So some noobs decided to re-translate (there was a translation before made in '93 IIRC) SD Snatcher for the MSX2 and they want 12, 50 € for it (just for the IPS files of course)...I mean disregrad the fact that its probably somewhat illegal to sell it anyway, what is the general opinion on this? Should people ask for money for such things only because its such a niche market? I can't remember groups like Aeon Genesis ever asking for anything for their work.

PS: its already been leaked ;)
 
skinny503

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I'm sure konami would find it very interesting. My view, translations should be for the good of the gaming community. If your translating or altering then charging for it, your no better then Drakon...PERIOD!

Speaking of Drakon, anyone heard anything about him lately? Konami was very interested in him attempting to sell one of the castlevania's for the nes or disc system that he supposedly modified.
 
ballzdeepx

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Asking for donations is probably the way to go, yeah they put time into it, but it's not their IP.
 
StevenK

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They've put time into something but the main reason they've done it is for the recognition and their own enjoyment, if money was ever a driving factor then they're going to end up disappointed.

They would probably have ended up with more money if they'd gone the donation route and also wouldn't be having threads like this made about them.
 
theMot

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I would charge. Like a wounded bull.
 
Ancient Flounder

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Donations are fair to ask for, but charging for the translation is just asking for trouble in a variety of ways. And any group with half a brain should know that stuff like that is going to leak really quickly.
 
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Dr Shroom

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I'm totally fine with donations.
However I'm not fine with holding this stuff for ransom.

Oh well. Whoever is interested in this thing can PM me.
 
El Maricon Loco

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Shrooms, I don't know how many folks are active with MSX right now, but I would see like 2 people paying for the file then it just getting distributed. I don't see how this lil gray area business wouldn't eventually correct itself. They got a website or something where we can leave some shitty comments?
 
Viewpoint

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skinny503 said:
I'm sure konami would find it very interesting. My view, translations should be for the good of the gaming community. If your translating or altering then charging for it, your no better then Drakon...PERIOD!
Click to expand...

Fucking this. Charging for shit like that where you don't even own the original source material is fucking criminal and egotistic.
 
Dr Shroom

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El Maricon Loco said:
Shrooms, I don't know how many folks are active with MSX right now, but I would see like 2 people paying for the file then it just getting distributed. I don't see how this lil gray area business wouldn't eventually correct itself. They got a website or something where we can leave some shitty comments?
Click to expand...

Consider this: the patch was released in january but hasn't been leaked until four days ago, this should tell you how "big" the interest is. fuck it, download and spread it.
http://www.project-melancholia.org/guestbook.html have fun.

I hope this whole "pay us for shit you faggots" stuff doesn't become a trend...imagine all those other translation groups or anime fansubbers suddenly asking for money because they can...
 
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NeoSneth

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Shroom said:
Consider this: the patch was released in january but hasn't been leaked until four days ago, this should tell you how "big" the interest is. fuck it, download and spread it.
http://www.project-melancholia.org/guestbook.html have fun.

I hope this whole "pay us for shit you faggots" stuff doesn't become a trend...imagine all those other translation groups or anime fansubbers suddenly asking for money because they can...
Click to expand...

I have no problem with people charging for translations, IF, they did all the work themselves.
It is a massive undertaking to translate everything and then hack the rom to fit the text into all the boxes correctly.

The gratitude of the fanbase was enough to encourage early translations. People just demand and complain now. Why wouldn't you charge for it?
 
Taiso

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Translating a game as a labor of love and then charging for it is not too cool in my book, but I am the kind of person that gives away stuff I got or did for free all the time. I'd probably take any donation money thrown my way, but I wouldn't ask for donations either before or after the job was complete.

If, however, I were a fan translator and someone comissioned me to do a game for them that I might not normally translate, I would take the money as payment for the time and effort, along with the caveat that I am also going to distribute it for free on my site. Also, the client would have to provide me with a copy of the game so I could get started. I don't need to keep it after the work is done, but I'm not going to buy a game I wouldn't normally play or translate.
 
NeoSneth

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It would probably be more productive to ask for a Donation, but not require one for the download.
That model has worked for some projects in the past.
 
GutsDozer

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I agree asking for donations is the way to go. I know it's a lot of work and it takes up huge chunks of time and effort.
 
ebinsugewa

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This is why you ask for donations, or you get a few hot sales and then the shit is everywhere. I've done a small amount of translating, and I don't think I'd ever charge - mostly because I'm not super great at it - but all of what I do is for various communities as my way of giving back a small bit.
 
S

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Unlike Deuce, at least they actually did the leaked translation.
 
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