This is so wrong on so many levels. You always own rights to your creative works, which are retained until 50 to 70 years after the creator's death. This applies to literature, art, software, et cetra. Creators have a right to control the terms under which others can benefit from that creative work, be those terms including a price tag, or other additional limitations (provided they don't impinge on fair use).
A mod maker is completely within their rights to produce a proprietary mod. This could be strongly enforced by only running the mod on their own servers, or more weakly by distributing a compiled version only. Being indignant about how a programmer doesn't have rights, or invoking a no-true-Scotsman argument (which is a logical fallacy, by the way) is patronizing and insulting, and you should do better.
Regardless, however, you're not likely to get source code to Renegades mod from the authors any time soon -- ambitious individuals could pursue development of a DSO disassembler and decompiler if they really want source. Secondly, there's not enough information in this thread to determine the precise cause for UEs when hosting in this configuration. I asked Maiwand to test a couple things out when he was asking questions on IRC, and it looks like GeEkOfWiReS1097 was able to get it working in a dedicated server configuration, so there is some other factor (in terms of installed scripts, maps, networking) causing the UE other than just the mod.
A mod for Tribes 2 is a "derivative work" and as such is the property of Sierra On-Line, Inc. It says as much in the EULA.txt we all supposedly agreed to when we installed T2. We don't own it, but neither does Renwerx.
Technically TN is in violation of that EULA, but I don't think Vivendi is going to send a C&D anytime soon.
That kind of provision in an EULA is legally unenforceable for reasons I discussed already. See:
Incidentally, the Tribes 2 end user license agreement attempts to stipulate that you don't retain the commercial rights to any modifications you develop for the game. The Minecraft modding restrictions imposed by Mojang/Microsoft are also similar. (With IANAL disclaimer...) If either of these terms were challenged legally in the United States, they would not stand -- there are Berne convention, fair use, and first sale doctrine legal precedents that would limit Dynamix/Sierra or Mojang/Microsoft from enforcing those terms. These legal structures are precisely those that allow TribesNext itself to operate in the clear (provided you follow some very carefully constructed processes). I don't have any vested interest in the Minecraft modding legal wonkery, but if I did, I'd make sure to get their dubious terms struck down and set a solid precedent for the future.
If people are folding to DMCA notices in this situation, that's only because they don't have the resources to mount a legal defense -- if they did, they'd win.
It's the same kind of legal smoke and mirrors the NFL tries to play with trademark law around "the big game". It's a house of cards, but nobody has actually gone through the motions to blow it down.
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It's the same kind of legal smoke and mirrors the NFL tries to play with trademark law around "the big game". It's a house of cards, but nobody has actually gone through the motions to blow it down.