When did anyone ever compare these two things? There are very few projects done by a team(and even those aren’t really a team in the first place); but aside from that 90% of the hacks in the English community are done by one person. If they don’t have the ability to make their own sprites, they use what’s open source. I don’t think many people care if the story is unchanged because if the purpose of the project was a difficulty hack/new perspective or whatever; no one is paying attention to the story. Of course if there’s some kind of claim it’s a brand new story, then the complaint about a reused story is valid.
I don’t think it matters your reasons for stealing, it’s still stealing. Ask anyone who’s had their work ripped off and reskinned for some other project. If you don’t have permission, don’t use it; it’s not that difficult of a concept to understand. This is the real reason there’s project discrimination. I understand that eastern cultures have a collectivist thinking while the western cultures have an individualist one; but unless I’m completely off, both cultures have a disdain for stealing. These aren’t even necessity acts, they’re purely because someone is bored and impatient. If someone does it for their own entertainment, fine; but once they distribute it, an issue arises.
Frankly I’m tired of doing this because all I ever wanted was to know why any old member can’t do exactly what you do and just join a community and ask. If you don’t understand the language, ask someone who does/use a translator; there are options.