Must resist...must not give in...oh, the hell with it...
In a message dated Thu, 19 Oct 2000 11:09:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
"Christopher DeLisle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
<< Clark, I've been keeping a close eye on this issue and I hade to disagree
with your stance. I understand where you are coming from and I can see how
a complete Reference Document for a company's OGC could be seen as a threat.
But you simply can't restrict these from being created.>>
"Gee, the guys in Turkey are gonna go ahead and pirate Windows and sell it
for $5, so lets just post the whole CD on the web to make it easier for them."
See, it doesn't make sense that way, either...
<<What you are, in effect, saying by the attitude on
your message is that you don't want to give other OGL developers the same
rights to use your OGC as WotC is giving you to use theirs. Where do you
find WotC's OGC? In the D20SRD which is posted on a website for the whole
world to see. Granted, right now it's not on their website but it's also
not finalized yet. To do any less is to work against the interests of the
OGL development community and against the spirit of the OGL.>>
I don't believe Clark wants to prevent legitimate use of OGC, as I don't want
to prevent it either. What he wants to do is prevent people from getting
something for free rather than buying the book.
<<You can't
freely use someone else's OGC and then try to prevent others the same
freedom without appearing to be a hypocrit.>>
He's not doing that. If you can type, you can use the OGC in any book that
has it.
<<You seem to be saying that the entirety of the value of an OGL product is
the OGC.>>
No, buts it is one of the many hooks intended to drag people over to buy the
books in the first place.
<<
>I'm worried that your repository of stuff will lead to
>less open content.
I don't buy the "More freely available OGC leads to less OGC" theory. More
OGC that is available, the more incentive there is for developers to use it.>>
The more OGC that is available like this for free on the web, the less
incentive there is for people to buy those products that featured it.
<<The value of an OGL product is not the OGC alone. It also gains value from
the graphics, layout, production quality, Product Identity and Trademarks
that make it up>>
True...but that's kind of like arguing that you should charge for the engine,
frame, wheels of a car, and only charge for the body panels and the chrome
since they are the visible parts.
<<as well as those who purchase it and give it good reviews.>>
OT - this doesn't add value to a product.
<<Sure someone can get the basic text of the PHB off the net, but how useful
is it to them in a text document with no page numbers to refer to, no
graphics, no layout and no character creation/advancement rules. Doesn't
sound very useful to me as a player or as a DM.>>
Actually, the SRD (as I've seen so far) is actually a bit easier to use than
the PHB...less fluff lets you find things faster. YMMV
<<The value of a product
comes form the sum of the aspects that make it up.>>
That's right...so why take a significant chunk of something and make it
available free and easy, thus lowering the perceived value of the retail
version???
<<Yes, you should. The result is that OGL developers will have easier access
to your OGC and be more inclined to produce their own OGC. Some people will
use the material without ever buying the product it came from, but there's
nothing that says you are required to purchase an OGL product to derive OGC
from it. You've even stated that you would send copies of the OGC to people
who request it so why bog down the process with this limitation?>>
So as to not reduce the perceived value of the product it comes from.
<<Again, I don't think this will happen unless people start producting OGL
products with no value beyond the open content, in which case they probably
don't deserve to make any money off of them.>>
Please don't get into who "deserves" what. Publishers of quality product,
regardless of whether new OGC is included, will be rewarded by the market.
Publishers of crap, even if its chock full of new (albeit crap) OGC will not.
-Paul @ Team Frog Studios
Publishers of Crunchy Frog & Nightshift Games
www.teamfrog.com
-------------
For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
