I am not an expert either, and I guess we can't treat an WAD like we treat
the software, however, as it has been done before with hardware copyleft [0],
I'll like to put the WAD against the 4 software freedoms:
(Check [1] for the definition of a WAD,IWAD and PWAD)
--0 The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
*If you own the ID's IWAD you can play with it on any engine.
--1 The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your
computing as you wish.
*From what I read here [1], you could actually see the WAD inside, you could
even edit it.
--2The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
*Here is the fail, legally you can't get a copy of the ID's IWAD for free,
then, you can't either share it.
---3The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.
*I guess this applies to the PWADs, that take data from the ID's IWAD, cause
it still requires it. So it fails here too.
Unless who is gonna get the PWAD, already owns a copy of the ID's IWAD,
because that way the person will be able to use you mod.
Clearly it fails in the freedom #2 and sort of fails on the #3.
-------------------------
Now I want to talk about other WADs:
The freedoom project's philosophy and goals are good, and that is very
important when you come to help the software freedom. And according to [4]
it seems to be the only project that pretends to replace all the ID's IWAD
content.
this next part is personal, feel free to argue, I'll read.
So, I think that using those WADS that are in the web for free is OK, as long
they works with the IWAD from freedom or any free IWAD.
[0] http://www.slideshare.net/itsas_ehu/f4hc-2011-hardwarecopyleft (spanish)
[1] http://doomwiki.org/wiki/WAD
[2] http://www.nongnu.org/freedoom/about.html
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_WAD#Notable_WADs
[4] http://doomwiki.org/wiki/Total_conversions
ps. I'll accept any correction. =)
