> So, you want to play in WOTCs yard but you don't want to play by their
> rules?
>
No one's talking about not playing by the rules, only about what we as OG
publishers should try to do to create the healthiest OG publishing
environment.
> This is starting to look like people are ONLY interested in making their
> bucks but not actually participating in the open gaming concept.
IMO this implies a purely idealistic approach to OGC that is as flawed as a
purely profiteering approach. If you remove all or nearly all profit
potential from OGL releases as you wave the banner of free love and free
game content, I believe we will be left with OG releases of substantially
lower quality and also a lower volume of product than you would see if there
were some profit potential.
How would Chris get rights for a Brom cover on Freeport unless he can make
that money back selling a product? Will he have to settle for a high-school
art student's fantasy babe in chainmail 'cause those are the only people
willing to work for free?
If we reduce the OG producers down to those who do this 100% for love and
glory of seeing their work in public consumption, then we're going to miss
the talents of all the folks who have honed their various editorial, graphic
design, illustration, etc. skills to the point that it is their profession.
Maybe those professionals will still produce some works, but their volume of
output will be substantially reduced with no profit potential. I know plenty
of illustrators who have to decide weekly whether to do higher paying
commerical work on Coca-cola ads or do rpg art they love to do. If there's
ZERO money in the rpg art, then they'll be doing Coke ads everytime to
support room and food.
So I would ask all you hippie, free love, free game, radicals ;) to try to
balance your outlook on this issue.
Then there is reality. Napster proves that people by the millions will
gladly trample artists rights through the anonymity of the web and that's
something that publishers have to deal with too, whether material is OG or
normal copyright. As a publisher, we tend to take the Metallica approach
with this stuff whenever we find it.
I don't see the logic in actively supporting websites that make product I
would prefer to sell available on the web for free. Further, if there is a
popular and systematized site that offers any of my OG product for free to
fans a week after my book hits the street, then that will absolutely affect
what material I would want to make OG vs. PI. If you think that's bad,
tough, I've got employees who want to feed their families. I would also
prefer to publish high quality OG material, and that's only possible if
people of professional caliber skill can be employed to work on it.
I have no probelm with other OG publishers BUYing my OG releases and then
using the OG material from them in their own works. I do have a problem with
those that want to make that material available for free to fans and thereby
take away the economic incentive to do OG books at all. I think it is
destructive to the OG publisher community to put up such materials in a
venue where fans can get it for free. Will this happen anyway, yes probably
so, but the logic of having any of us supporting such an endeavor that would
give away our materials for free - escapes me.
Regards.
Steve Wieck
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