I think that you pretty much have the bases covered. No glaring errors of fact of the way the lisence works. The only thing that really bothered me was the connotations as to the emotional value of someone's work. When creating a piece of work under the OGL, a great deal of the point is that you are creating a gift for others to use. To imply that someone might feel 'ripped off' undermines that. If someone decides that they want to use the OGC that you created then that means they liked it, that should be viewed as a compliment. When taking from other sources, I think you do need to keep in mind what the source is. In the case of Doug, he is one person working on his projects. I'm sure that he would love to hear from people who want to use his work and help with adapting it. As you start to go up the ladder, take Soverign Stone for example. Many people really like the magic system presented there.. But I doubt they'll have time to work and talk with every person who expresses such interest. A message saying "hello, here's something I've done with your work." Should suffice in such cases. Moving even higher, you get to Wotc who very few people will be sending greetings too. The fact of the matter is, the OGL treats them all equally anyway. There's no need for people to ever find out what you did with their work.. But its cool to find out when people liked what you did.
-Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: Clint [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 11:23 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Ogf-l] Exercise in using OGC (long)
Hello everyone-
In trying to decide to if I should use the OGL to open
up my game rules, I've been going over different
scenarios in my mind that will help me understand more specifically how the OGL works and what may be possible or not possible in using it. I want to apologize is this exercise gets lengthy or may be simply redundant to some of you...I'd like to get opinions on my interpretation of certain aspects of the license. This may be more for my benefit than anyone else's. Here goes...
Let's say I release my game system under the OGL. In
this scenario I'm going to use Doug Meerschaert's work
"Craft of the Mind" as part of my illustration. Doug
has also released "Craft" under the OGL, opening up
his rules for Psionics for other developers. Of
course, he has written "Craft" with the D20 system in
mind, so the mechanics use the D20 system.
I come across "Craft" on his website, and I like how
he's set up his system of Psionics. I like it enough
that I want to use it in my game system. Let's say I
don't want to take the time or effort to write my own,
but only want to modify and alter slightly what he has
done. Since he has released his work as Open Game
Content ("The contents of this work are Open Gaming
Content") I can use it word-for-word, reproducing it
as my psionics system in my game as long as I
acknowledge Doug in the copyright notice of the OGL I
include in my document.( along with perhaps
acknowledging it as a derivative work of the SRD?).
Since my system doesn't use the D20, I'd only need to
make a few modifications and changes to the operation
of the mechanics. This would fall under the
"Derivative Material" section of the OGL. The only
parts of Doug's game I could NOT use would be the name
"Craft of the Mind" or the name "Sasha" he uses as a
character example, since he has clearly indicated both
of these as PI I don't need to use "Craft of the
Mind" in any way, and I can rename "Sasha" to "Helena"
, remove all references to D20 system and redescribe
her using my system's stats, and continue on...I could
even use his Mindwalker Class name, since he has not
indicated this as his PI. I could NOT claim
"Mindwalker" as MY PI, because Doug has already
declared that as OGC. Once it has been opened, the
original owner or someone else using the material
cannot close it.
So now I am using Doug's OGC for my game system,
slightly modified. I haven't had to ask his
permission, only acknowledge him in the Copyright
Notice. Doug has spent a lot of time writing and
perfecting his system of psionics...I have come along
and BAM!...adapted his work and in a short time have use
of his writing as part of my system.
Doug comes along and sees where I have used his open
material in my system. How would he feel about that?
Would he like that I used his material since it was
open content, or would he feel like I ripped him off?
But if you open up your work under a license such as
the OGL, you're basically allowing anyone the freedom
to copy, modify and redistribute your work. They don't
have to contact you, only make sure they include you
in the copyright notice and make sure to reproduce the
entire OGL in the new work.
Am I missing something here? Have I misinterpreted how
the Open Game Content can be used by others? Of
course, from a polite or semi-professional viewpoint,
I would never just use Doug's work without contacting
him first and expressing an interest in what he has
done, perhaps even ask him if he would want to adapt
it to my system himself. I would do this out of
courtesy to Doug., but someone may not be considerate
in that manner. This helps me to understand how MY
work may be taken and used by others if I decide to
open it up under a license such as the OGL.
One last question/point: in the reproduction of the
OGL Doug has in the back of "Crafts of the Mind",
under the COPYRIGHT NOTICE, should he also have
included:
Craft of the Mind (c) 2000, Doug Meerschaert. ?
(Maybe you have Doug, I have an older version of your
document)
Thanks-
Clint Jackson
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