> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of The Sigil > Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 8:10 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Ogf-l] (Rant 3) - PI, OGC, and (especially) IP... > > > Let me start with a couple of quick-hit responses... > > >>but the voice of the frustrated fan > > > >If you are just a fan why do you care. Play the games and don't worry > >about it. The only people this applies to are publishers. > > That sounded rather elitist, but that's okay - I don't expect a lot of > people to be looking ahead.
Forgive me, but THAT sounds elitist: claiming that you have more foresight than others. There IS a distinction between publishers and fans. They have different needs and different perspectives. For the fan, the OGL will likely never be a matter of great financial risk. For the publisher, it usually is. That's the biggest distinction, but there are certainly others. Now as you point out, the line between "publisher" and "fan" is blurry; but in your original rant, you ONLY described yourself as a fan. It doesn't surprise me, then, that someone reacted to you as such. (For the record, I am a fan who hopes to be a publisher some day. I didn't find the "why do you care" comment offensive to me as a fan, because the OGL doesn't restrict me as a fan.) > My point is: Save the PI designation for the REALLY important stuff. Don't > dilute its value by frivolously designating everything as PI. Since no two people will ever agree on a definition for "the REALLY important stuff", I respect the right of creators to decide for themselves. They're the ones with the financial risk. > And I say, "you never really had ownership of it to begin with." > > This goes into the concept of "ownership" of ideas - one of the grossest > misnomers of our time is "Intellectual Property." I apologize in advance > for the heavy dose of social theory, but here goes... > > "Property" is something which, if I possess, nobody else can simultaneously > possess. In other words, possession of property is exclusive. If I possess > the car, you can't possess the car. (Joint ownership is the same type of > thing - if 5 people jointly possess the car, everyone else in the world but > those 5 people cannot possess the car.) > > An idea is *NOT* property (and I cannot emphasize this strongly enough) > because it fails the possessive exclusivity test. Assume for a moment that > you have an idea. You can write it down. You can say it. You can sit and > admire how brilliant it is. You can do whatever you want with it - it is > yours. "Property" is a concept defined in law. So is "Intellectual Property". While it is true that they are very different in character, they are equally valid concepts. In fact, as far as US law goes, the ONLY right enumerated in the Constitution prior to the Bill of Rights was in Section 8: "The Congress shall have Power... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries...." Call it a misnomer if you like, but it doesn't invalidate the concept. > Society is formed for the mutual benefit of its members. It stands to > reason that if all the members can be benefitted, improved, and enriched by > the sharing of an idea, society ought to foster the sharing of ideas. Society also ought to foster the creation of ideas. And sometimes, the "ought tos" conflict. > Thus, copyright is the attempt society makes to bridge the gap between its > goal of enriching all with your idea and your goal of being amply rewarded > for the effort you went through to write it down. Society would like to > have a copyright length of zero so that the idea is maximally available. If that discourages the creation of ideas, zero would be a really bad target. Society should want some undefiniable sweet spot that encourages the creation of the most shared ideas. Every so often, we need to tweak our efforts to hit the sweet spot. > To say that the OGL was merely a way for WotC to increase the sales of their > Core Books *may* be true, but I would be lying if I said I didn't think that > somewhere in the back of their minds, this "grow the pot" paradigm was > rattling around. I'll have to let Ryan answer that one definitively. He already has, many times. You're absolutely correct about his goals. But he could only get buy-in from Wizards when it was demonstrated to serve their goals. > This is why it frustrates me to see publishing companies trying to dance > around the OGL and release as little USEFUL OGC as possible. They are > trying to defeat the spirit of "Open" stuff - and doing so completely in > their own self-interest - which puts them at odds with society. As a member > of society, I have the right and ethical responsibility to call them on it > and say, "you are my enemy." > > I could publish this sentence under the OGL and say that all pronouns and > prepositions are OGC. > > That would be a sentence of 17 words, of which 7 words are clearly OGC. > Wow! That's what, over 40% OGC? But is it at all useful? No. I have > complied with the letter but not the spirit. I know you have tried to be polite by not pointing out specific examples; but you have also admitted to knowing only a tiny fraction of products on the market. I fear that weakens your argument: without specific examples, I'm afraid I cannot understand your insistence that there is little "USEFUL" OGC. I see LOTS of useful OGC out there, and others do, too. So I think you'll need to cite specific examples of non-useful if we're to understand your point. Don't talk about absurd hypotheticals like prepositions and pronouns; talk about actual things you think were done incorrectly. > As a fan, I have as much right as anyone to speak up, and so speak up I > will. No argument here. Martin L. Shoemaker Martin L. Shoemaker Consulting, Software Design and UML Training [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.MartinLShoemaker.com http://www.UMLBootCamp.com _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
