> "The OGF exists because..."
> Not what it does but why it became a reality at all.
Oh, that's easy.
TRPGs are a tiny, tiny busines at WotC, being run by a guy known for jumping
off cliffs and hoping to invent wings on the way down (i.e., me.) It exists
because I did it and nobody with any authority told me to stop. Nobody told
me to stop because in general, the experiment is viewed as benign regardless
of outcome.
One day, I went to the NSI page, and registered the OGF domain names. Then
a few weeks later, I bought a computer with my own money, installed Red Hat
Linux on it, put a few basic HTML pages on that computer, and hooked it up
in the server room of an ISP I happen to have an ownership interest in.
Viola! www.opengamingfoundation.org, sans WotC oversight or control.
> From all indications it
> came into being for business reasons (primarily) as supported by
> WOTC.
I believe in doing well by doing good. As I've said before, my analysis
indicated that this was a time when doing something really great for the
community in general was a good strategic business fit for WotC's commercial
interests.
> Most of the discussion here revolves around WOTC and the SRD
We're still waiting for John Nephew's Open Game version of On the Edge... :)
> The logic is true but is the statement?
Ask Chris Pramas. His entire creation (the city of Freeport), presented in
the three d20 modules he's released is Open Game Content.
> but it begs the question: if this is true why isn't everything WOTC puts
> out for D&D open?
Because D&D is the 1 in a 1,000,000 property that actually generated
multi-million dollar brand equity.
The brand of D&D is more valuable than the game of D&D.
> "How can you sell someone a toolbox that they are expected to use to
create
> content, but then expect to enforce a restriction on the distribution of
> that content?"
>
> That's just it...WHY are you giving them the toolbox (or should we say
> development kit)?
Because the original designers in this industry didn't see any other way to
do what they wanted to do with the products they wanted to publish. And
once the genie is out of the bottle, it's damn hard to stuff him back in.
Especially 25 years later.
> The original idea was that Joe gamer went home and made
> games for his group...no threat...no need for legal documents.
Judge's Guild started publishing within one year of D&D's widespread
commercial avaialabiilty. Your utopia lasted less than 11 months.
> "Example: The 'net is >FULL< of documents and sites where people who had
> no problems whatsoever using content from various D&D books as the basis
> for their work attempt to assert a draconian re-distribution authority for
> the derivative work."
>
> But you don't need an OGF, OGL and SRD to stop plagiarism or copyright
> infringement
You misunderstand. I don't want to stop people from creating that content.
I want them to be FORCED to provide the same set of rights they receive from
us to anyone to whom they distribute derivative material based on our work.
In other words, I want to make sure that people can't take stuff WotC paid
to develop, add a few bells and whistles, then start claiming that >OTHER
PEOPLE< can't do the same thing to those bells and whistles. You should
allow others to do unto you what you have done unto others.
Ryan
_______________________________________________
Ogf-l mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
