Hey all! Im going to move to Germany soon, and I know that there is some problems with copyright and all that stuff, and I dont know if playing MapleRoylas is legal in Germany or not... I will be glad if someone can answer me for that question. Danke!
I don't know German law, but I know that German players and players located in Germany are allowed to play on our server from a rules perspective. I struggle to see how it would be illegal for you to play, though.
Thank you very much for you comment! You said: "I struggle to see how it would be illegal for you to play, though" I think it would be illegal because Private Servers is not something that Nexon accept, and they can say that servers infringe copyright(At least as far as I know). What do you think about that?
Disclaimer: I am not qualified to answer this but I am going to share my opinion given it's unlikely that anybody here is well versed in German law lol Copyright laws would apply in America as well (and most other countries). If anything it would be more easily enforced (but it's not, seeing as nobody suffers legal consequences for playing) in North America or Asia where the company (Nexon) is located. I cannot see how/why Nexon would pursue a legal battle against somebody located in Germany for playing a private server when they do not do so with those located in a much more convenient location (Americas). Hope this helps! Take it with a grain of salt and please double check what I am saying. Think of it like an illegal live stream of a UFC fight or NFL game. They aren't going after those who view the streams, rather, those who host them. Players are the small fish in this equation, the server host (Matt) would be the big fish. Pursuing the small fish is a waste of their time, money and resources.
I'm a german young man living in Portugal for 3 years now but I recall having 2 friends from my hometown that used to play this server, without a problem. I don't think there is any german law or any legislation from European Union regarding this, so you can chill because playing royals is not forbidden. It's completely fine
@Matt @Evan I will be glad if you will answer me too about this question. anyway, thank you very much!
Hosting a private server is illegal since it violates the copyrights. However, there is no legal punishment for people who play in private servers, but the host can suffer consequences such as a lawsuit. Same thing applies when you crack a game or download some movie torrent, they will only care about the people who shares the copyright content, not the ones who benefit from it by downloading. I think it might be illegal to do so, but piracy is kinda decriminalized so if the police somehow sees you playing maple royals they won't do anything to you, since they really just care about the big fish so you don't have to worry bro.
Thank you again for your comment! I aprreciate it! when you said: "Same thing applies when you crack a game or download some movie torrent, they will only care about the people who shares the copyright content, not the ones who benefit from it by downloading." I read about people who were fined for direct viewing or downloading torrents, so I dont think that what you said was 100%, or that I didnt understand you. Sorry if I'm harassing you, I really appreciate the time you give to me for answring my queastion, I just want to be sure that what im doing is legal and I want to understand the law clearly.
In germany there's an incentive on law firms to be independent and to work as freelancers so they can look for copyright violators and you can get fined when you download to much piracy, that's the only difference. So it's always a risk, I guess. I'm no expert but like I said they usually care about the big boys and content hosts. I know there's ways to torrent safely tho, but I can't help you on that :/ since Im a computer nub. Regarding a private servers, I think is fine because I have friends who do it but don't quote me on that. We'll have to wait for germans to help
To clarify on copyright laws in the United States, it is only illegal to intentionally install or use copyrighted material for commercial purposes. So it is not illegal for you to install MapleRoyals as a player in the United States. Keep in mind that violation of copyright laws are civil liabilities and not criminal liabilities--meaning the government will not send you to prison for it, but the owner of the copyright is free to sue you for it. And like others have mentioned, the chances of Nexon filing a lawsuit against individual players for playing MapleRoyals is anywhere between zero to negative likelihood. I also can't speak to the laws in Germany (and I highly doubt anyone else on Staff can either since none of us are based in Germany), but I imagine it is similar to the United States. In either case, you will not face any lawsuits by Nexon for playing MapleRoyals. If anything there might be federal laws that fine players for piracy, but this is probably unlikely to occur just from playing MapleRoyals. We've had quite a number of players from Germany in this server and I have never heard of them facing any legal troubles.
