I had my attorney write up a contract that first and foremost gives Better World Roleplaying, Inc all the rights to the work of the writer or artist. Next, it states that all work will be open content when it is published, and that every contributor will get as much acknowledgement as everyone else.
The big problem with this on the author side is that there is no time obligation on my end. Fortunately I am currently the only writer and artist so it's not a big deal, but this contract is also part of why I am the only artist and writer. : ) This will not always be the case because the work I am going to publish is massive and will rely on the constant feedback and contribution of everyone who plays the game. Basically, I will have a database on the BWR website, organized with a series of codes (codes will have in-game and meta game meanings). Volunteers can drop off their work to be included in the database only if they have agreed to the contract, so publication will go from exclusive property of BWR to open content very fast. These contributions will remain compartmentalized (also for in-game and meta game reasons) so if someone submits a bad strain of OGC we can trace it back to the first problem submission and then cut it off like a dead branch. Our policy will be No Code, No Contract, No Service! We also won't accept any contribution that isn't either original or based on something already in the database. My hope is that this will be enough insurance to encourage users to publish anything in the database verbatim without fear of illegal open content coming back to haunt them. This will also keep everyone's section 15 nice and neat regardless of how many people contribute. Maggie _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [email protected] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
