At 10:06 PM 2/11/2002, Dominion Games wrote: >Lizard wrote: > > > FUDGE and Fuzion were examples of well-designed game systems released > > under open or semi-open licenses prior to the D20 SRD. Neither can be > > called a commercial success. The D20 market exists because there's > > something worth taking out of the open pool that provides an incentive > > to put stuff in. > > > > If the only material in Mr. Lessigs digital commons is stuff that > > couldn't be sold to a large corporation, why even bother? > >I don't want to seem holier than thou here (please forgive me if I do), but >speaking from the vantagepoint of a non-d20 gamemaker whose system might >well be lumped into the same category as FUDGE and Fuzion, ie well-designed >(we think!) but not commercially successful, I want to say that we think >there *is* some point to all this beyond selling out to a large corporation.
Ah, but the question is not "Would you sell?" but "COULD you sell?" Or, to put it another way, if the only things opened, or placed under shortened copyright, are things which are of such limited appeal that they had no commercial value, the experiment will fail. The net is already overflowing with more free content, in every genre, in every media, than any human being could ever hope to consume. This has not in any way dampened the demand for commercial content. This says something about the quality involved. >We get really nice emails from people all the time raving about Dominion >Rules. Especially in Eastern Europe where d20 stuff is hard to come by. >People are having a lot of fun with DR, as they have with FUDGE, Fuzion and >D&D. Sure, I can't quit my day job. But this is an exciting, fun experiment >and I'm glad to be a part of it. I'm glad for you. But how many other people are using dominion rules? How much new content are you breeding? I am not trying to "put you down" or criticize DR. I'm just commenting that cultural movements, including a shift towards "copylight" (reduced copyright terms) requires a powerful impetus. Open software works because tools people really want -- EMACS, Perl, Linux, gcc -- are open. D20 works because the D20 SRD has a major marketing pull, not because it's a perfect rules set. There needs to be a strong force to get the ball rolling; otherwise, this is going to be nothing more than a showpiece for Mr. Lessig, and, when it fails, an opportunity for him to declare that confiscatory legislation is "needed". Lessig has a strongly anti-property ideology that drives his actions, and even when I agree with him on specific points, I am very wary of the philosophy behind it. _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
