> natalie & dave
>
> > > Quit making silly semantic arguments and
> > > step back. Here is the big picture truth: You can make
> > > D&D products because of this license. You could not do
> > > so before.
>
> Somebody should have told Mayfair and Palladium that they
> couldn't make all of those nifty games.
Lose the attitude.
Neither Mayfair nor Palladium were allowed to make products specifically
designed for D&D. They made their own stuff, which bore a *VERY* strong
resemblance, but TSR cracked down pretty hard on anyone who claimed to make
direct add-ons. The System Reference Document allows you to make products
that are based on exactly the same rules ad D&D. The d20 STL extends that
by allowing you to put a "D&D-compatible" logo on the product, in exchange
for certain considerations to Wizards. Such a thing would have gotten you
sued out of existence in the days of the Judge's Guild and RoleAids.
> Isn't that what his point has been all along - that the "Open" in "Open
> Gaming Foundation" is misleading because it invites comparisons with the
> "Open Software Foundation?"
The heart of Open Software is the Copyleft concept: Once Open, always Open.
The OGL uses the same concept. They diverge when it comes to working with
things that aren't Open. The OSF says they should be like oil and water and
never mix. The OGL takes a less severe stance, and says the two can
coexist, but they must remain distinct and in all cases must the Open
material be available for use by any who wants it.
Once an OGL game is created it will always be open. Nobody can close it
off. Nobody can prevent anyone else from using it. That's "Open" in the
same sense as "Open" software. The difference lies in the fact that with
the OGL you don't have to make everything you create "Open". But that has
no effect on the parts that are Open.
One interesting situation that has developed in the Linux world is that
frequently the documentation for Open Source code is itself copyrighted.
That is very analogous to what we have going on with Scarred Lands. The
Gazetteer is the documentation for the world, but the Creature Collection
and Relics and Rituals are the mechanics that bring the world to life. So
far the only response to this trend has been from a few extremists. Most of
us are perfectly happy with the situation.
> "Linus? Linus, who? Never heard of the man."
He didn't release a whole operating system either - just wrote the kernel
(certainly the most important piece, but useless without the ancillary
components). He made other people write a whole bunch of stuff to turn it
into a useable operating system. I don't recall hearing them whining about
him not doing *ALL* of the work for them.
The SRD is not analogous to an operating system. It isn't a complete game,
and complaining that it isn't will not change anything. The OGL *DOES*
allow you to create games, but nobody has done that yet. If you want a
truly open game, you can release one under the OGL. You can even use the
SRD to do it. Did you really expect Wizards to do *ALL* of the work for
you?
-Brad
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