Mathew Gray wrote:
> " As long as they are shrink wrapped together I think it would be just
> fine. In a book with no wrapping, I think it would be too easy to get lost
> and then the problem starts.
> Basically it has to be guaranteed to be in the product when a consumer
> buys it. If it was folded in some envelope type setting (like the CD Demo
> in the PHB), it would also work."
>
> Right. Like the kind of "envelope" software agreements are printed
> on/contained in.
I don't buy this. First, the software analogy doesn't work, because the
license is also (virtually) always included in the software, not just on a
scrap of paper in the box. I do admit, however, that the wording of the
license only says that you have to include a copy of the license in the
distribution. I think they're assuming (perhaps foolishly) that this will be
read by reasonable people.
Could you print the license in Swahili while the rest of the work was in
English? Of course not. So too, is it unreasonable to print the license in
one-point script on a ragged-edged scrap of toilet tissue with the words "THROW
AWAY" circling the print. Some things are just obvious. I think that someone
buying it used should also get the license.
It might be useful to think of all the little ways to get around the exact
wording of the terms of the license, but it sounds like these practices are
being advocated as practical. Why try to bite the hand that feeds you? Why
try to ruin it for everyone who wants to work with WotC in good faith?
Christopher Weeks
central NJ
-------------
For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
