On Thu, 29 Jun 2000, Brad Thompson wrote:
> This is more relevant to original games than derivative works, but I thing
> we pretty much agree here. A distinction needs to be made between
> protecting the copyright of a work and protecting an entire game system
> and/or theme. The former is useful for OGL works that want to share in a
> common genre, setting, or game system. If you intend to lock down a game
> system so tightly that others can't even create supplemental materials that
> depend on your core works, then the OGL, indeed the entire Open Gaming
> concept, isn't for you at all. At that point, you are gaining nothing by
> using the OGL, and nobody will gain anything from you from your use of it.
What if someone wants to lock down a theme tightly AND have
access to the D20 trademark? They would have to include some
open content derived from the d20SRD and have to deal with the
OGL. They probably also want to do it in such a way as to make
D20 players comfortable playing their products (ie. more than
just trivial inclusions of the d20SRD) while blocking anyone
else from entering that segment.
--Kal
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