From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Kal Lin
Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2000 1:44 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [Open_Gaming] The Spirit and the Letter
<< If you use open content more than fair use allows then you may
have your entire work seen as open content by someone. >>
And I doubt fair use will be relevant very often. This is not exactly
commentary or parody or instruction. A fair use defense seems awfully shaky
to me.
<< If material does become pushed into openness against people's
wishes, I don't see it as being bad for the community. More
content is available for people to build on and increase the
open content pool. Sure, some of the creators who had their
stuff pushed open, might be upset and leave the community but
so what? They were making mostly closed material or they
wouldn't be such a target. Good riddance. >>
But a few well-publicized ugly court battles that end in creators losing
rights to their work could discourage new creators from joining the
community. Maybe even some existing creators. If OGL develops a
reputation -- even undeserved -- for being a way to lose control of your
intellectual property, that could be bad for the community. And we can't
possibly avoid the inevitable court battles; but we can build a buffer
against them by being as clear as possible, and by providing a resolution
mechanism that will handle all the easy cases.
<< I may be a dreamer but I think this will eventually encourage
people do the "right thing". >>
I hope you're right. If OGL is structured well, I expect youi'll be right.
But I think there's a wide range of opinion on what the "right thing" is.
For instance:
<< If people make most everything open
content: new rules, objects, monsters, spells, classes, etc.
while keeping the artwork and a four page background story closed
material, no one will feel the need to push their work open so
they can build on those rules/objects/monsters/spells/classes/etc. >>
See, I think this is fine; but it's not the only "right thing". I might very
well do a 100 page book, almost all of which is closed, and still be doing
the "right thing" in my view. How? Simple: a new adventure in a new setting
using new NPCs all of my creation, but using no new rules, magic items, or
monsters. In this case, the open content would be the names and stat blocks
of the NPCs and monsters (but NOT any text describing their actions and
motivations in this adventure), the stat blocks of the magic items (if I
even chose to list the stats, rather than referencing the original source
documents), and that's about it. The setting, the NPCs, the maps, and the
plot are all my original work and closed content.
Martin L. Shoemaker
Emerald Software, Inc. -- Custom Software and UML Training
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.EmeraldSoftwareInc.com
www.UMLBootCamp.com
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