On Fri, 4 May 2001, woodelf (lists) wrote:
[liberally snipped]
> personally, i'm of two minds about the way that the WOGL has been
> used to date--making very little more than is required Open. on teh
> one hand, i'm disappointed, because i think it undermines the
> synergetic growthi and development that is the whole point of the
> Open Content development model. on the other hand, i'm taking a
> small amount of perverse glee in seeing WotC get bit by the WOGL (the
> glee comes from my reflexive dislike of market leaders, and my
> dislike of the WOGL, which i see, with it's PI protections, as a
> co-opting of the idea of open content to benefit Big Business--so if
> that very set of protections is what undermines it, i feel a sense of
> vindication).
As with many things, it is how people actually use the OGL that
will color how it is regarded by the public. Yes, you can use
the PI clause to make a work that is more restrictive than what's
allowed under existing legislation. But there are also people
releasing truly open works under the OGL.
I wouldn't accuse WotC of cashing in on the "open" buzz. They
will be releasing the SRD which contains lots of valuable material
and doesn't use any PI to hinder reuse.
In my mind, there are a wide range of products:
-truly open, 100% open or PI only used to mark the name of
the product or producer
-balanced, PI used for descriptions and story but does not
hinder reuse of OGC
-very closed, works that use PI to hinder reuse of OGC or
public domain material
I suggest it is a defeatist attitude to say, well it's allowed
under the OGL so that's it. We can certainly encourage truly
open or balanced works. We can politely question very closed
works. My *opinion* is using PI to suggest those that come
after have to get permission to use a public domain name
like Drow with an OGC stat/combat block derived from the SRD
is not in the spirit of open gaming.
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