RPG Maker Forums

Saw another thread but did'n hijacked, tempting though, so here I am, making a new thread.

I know which RPG Maker edition is illegal and which is legal. After all, it's easy to spot them since the legal ones cost some money and can be bought from well known places like the official online shop or Steam. End of discussion. I also know that legal ones outside Japan are XP, VX and VX Ace SOLD on legit places. I get it. I got a Steam version and I am really happy I bought it. I love the software and deserves the money. 

What I really wanna know is if there is a way to know if a game is legal of illegal according to the Engine edition?

I will explain what I mean.

Yeah ok, if someone uses resources without permission, the game is illegal.

Let's not talk about that, while having an illegal copy of the engine makes the default content illegal too and I also understand that. Assuming the person uses 100% legal content, is there a way to KNOW if a game was made using an illegal engine edition?

For instance, let's say a japanese guy got a legal copy of RPG Maker 2000.

Let's say he used it to make a game with legal content.

Is there a possibility that he could make a version in English with English fonts?

Because in that case, the end user will be unable to determine which game is a derivative of an illegal copy of the engine. Am I right?

I mean, the guy paid for a legit copy of the software and if he used it to make a game using english fonts it might passunder the radar.

Is there a place that there will be SURELY japanese letters (like a non editable menu or part of a menu) that we can spot if the game is made using pirated software?

For what I know, If you change RGSS scripts to show English fonts, it might be impossible for the gamer to determine what is legal or not. 

Bring me an engine anytime and I can tell you if it is legal or not.

For instance using an "English version" of the Engine with scripts in Japanese... well something is wrong here. Dead giveaway.  Actually I have seen an instant ban of such a guy somewhere. 

But there is a problem here.

Since one of the forum rules is not promoting illegal stuff and the penalty is instant ban, the problem is that a member, especially a newcomer who doesn't know a lot, might not have the appropriate information to determine if a game made by an RPG Maker edition is legal or not. Thus this person might endanger him/herself in a potential ban or something, by saying for instance "Wow take a look at this game, it is cool!".

I can understand that the rule was made for people who might promote rips and illegal copies of software and stuff that could mean instant trouble for the forum staff anyway. 

But if most of the time, people don't bother to see legal stuff.   Actually I read EULAS only if my actions have to do with production of stuff.  Like music for instance. I got a piece of fine software, not cheap but worth every Euro. I have read the "Reason" EULA and now I use it and I am really pleased to even contribute stuff I make with it here. I also read the VX Ace EULA and all the Terms of Use of the packs of resources I got. Because I HAVE TO KNOW these stuff FIRST, before I go on. If I am not sure about something, I ask.

On the other hand... when was the last time you read an EULA of a video game before accepting it? 

Yeah, me neither. I just press Aceept to dive into the game as soon as possible.

Is it right? NO. But still it is really a common phenomenon. 

So here comes a sum of questions that rise:

1] Is it possible to make a full in English game using RPG Maker 2000 or 2003 or XP?

2] Can you determine as a gamer if a game made using 2000, 2003, XP, VX or VX Ace is made using a legit copy of the software? 

3] In case [2] has a bunch of "YES"es, how can we tell without doing stuff against EULA? (Remember reverse engineering is prohibited).

4] Is it against the rules of this forum to talk about such games?

5] If there was no bad intentions, would a user be banned for talking about games like this? 

For your reference, the question came to my mind from this thread, because I wanted to talk about the mentioned game, but on the other hand, I am not sure if it is against the rules:

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/34296-ib/

Thank you for your time and sorry for the long post, but since my English is not my native language, I wanted to be as clear as I could, so many words was my only weapon here really.