This topic has been debated on this list (among others) for years now. Hundreds of books have been published using the OGL. Is there even one publisher (the people who have their money on the line, and who hopefully have consulted with actual lawyers about the finer points of the license) out there who doesn't believe in the interpretation of the OGL that there are three types of content (Open, closed, and PI)? Are there any drafters of the license who don't believe in the existence of closed content? Can you point to any statement from WotC in an FAQ or in a list debate where they state that they interpret the OGL to not include the possibility of closed content?
With the Devil's Advocate hat on:
But how much legal weight does that have? If a legal contract says one thing, and everybody who's using it agrees that it actually means another, what happens when someone comes along and insists on sticking to the letter of the contract? I definitely accept that the license was intended to recognize three sorts of content. But i'm not yet convinced that, taken on its own, with no knowledge of the minds of the creators, it actually *does*. I find it a bit implausible that it's just coincidence that almost every new person to this list comes in with the same misconception: that there are only two sorts of content under the WotC OGL (PI and OGC). Yes, you can interpret the license in a way that is compatible with "regular" closed content, and some sections make more sense when you do. But others make more sense if there is only OGC and PI. And, in any case, it's interpreting the license to match that condition [3 types of content], rather than finding clear recognition of "regular" closed content in the license itself.
And, at the most extreme, if this is all just a legal fiction, with everybody agreeing to pretend the license means this when it actually doesn't, it doesn't strike me as all that implausible: it is precisely the publishers who benefit from the existence of simple closed content under WotC OGL-licensed works.
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woodelf <*>
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