Custom assets - opinions?

[Mudbill]

1. I do not think it's expected to share your hard work in that way. Most people will always ask if they can use assets that aren't explicitly allowed beforehand. Of course there will probably be those who will try to use them no matter what you tell them, but I think that will be a very small minority, and if you say your assets are restricted access, then they might even get reported and receive a penalty for it, which can be an obvious sign for people to stay away from it.
   
2. I don't think so, because anyone who has made a lot of custom assets will know the work put into it. Then again most people probably haven't made a lot of custom assets, but I do think they'll understand if you explain it to them. It depends on approach, in my opinion. If you say: "Stay away or ye will regret it," then yes, maybe you'll be seen as stingy.
   
3. As I mentioned, a few probably will, just like people do many things they aren't allowed to. For example ripping content from other commercial games and releasing it, maybe even getting paid for it. I know this is a monstrous deal on deviantArt regarding art thieves, and I think it should be serious. But most people are probably rational enough to avoid such if they are proud of their work.
   
4. Personally I haven't had much experience. I did work on a few assets for a mod once, though I never restricted access to them and ended up just uploading them to the public as available for use. It depends on what the mod is and what you want to be associated with. With quality work like yours I can totally understand why you'd want to be exclusive It is, after all, your original work.
   
5. I have thought about such things before myself regarding people claiming to own work I've released (because it has happened). I made a Minecraft mod once, and I occasionally saw people re-upload it as their own mod. Luckily people recognized it and reported it, often before I even got to know about it, which makes me happy. I'm sure that if you say this is restricted work, should people happen to use it, those who know you made it and know you do not allow re-use will report it to staff or yourself if they see it.
   

I sometimes thought about adding a few hidden details to prove the work to be mine. I would add small comments that would be rather tricky to hide from a pontential thief. For example in the .dae files, you can of course specify the author of the model. A lot of people probably wouldn't know to edit that, if they are dumb enough to try to steal it. There's your legitimacy, in case the worst would happen that people start thinking you're the thief of their work.

Oh, and for "A Coward's Debt," the creators mentioned they didn't want re-use of their monster. Perhaps they have some input about this?