D&D 5E Community Content Enforcement in the DM's Guild (Does it literally even?)

Xethreau · Feb 1, 2016

Is it just me, or is there a lot of content on the DM's Guild that breaks its Community Content Agreement? As an author who uses it, and tries to make money off it, I am very conscious not to unintentionally cross lines. Even so, I often see products uploaded that seem to do so explicitly.

I have seen inaccurately cited and uncited art. (It is quite one thing if said art exist in the public domain, and another if it is clearly used without permission.) On the licencing side, I read one product today that is to be used with "the fifth edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game - the one we can’t name due to trademark laws." ( :erm:

Except you can? Are you telling me this is posted somewhere else?) I read another product from the Guild that even had an Open Content declaration and came affixed with its OGL!

So, since some of this stuff clearly has to do with possible IP law violations, I would image that the powers that be would respond to protect themselves. Even so, how they would do so seems unclear. Are there report buttons on the Guild that I don't know about? What does breaking the CCA look like as far as punishment is concerned? Is it even enforceable? Can we all sweep this under the rug with Fair Use?

I wonder what the community makes of this, or what insight you guys might be able to provide.

Jester David · Feb 1, 2016

The problem is there's not much of a guide for how to do this. The FAQ is limited and there's few guidelines. And asking for clarifications and details mostly gets you replies of "you should go talk to a lawyer", which is the opposite of helpful for a site where almost no one is likely to make enough to cover the hourly rates of even an incompetent lawyer*.

The DMsGuild site is meant to be for anyone to be able to come and publish, but you still need to parse through a heavy terms of use document that most people are going to skip. And with so many people making iffy decisions, there are few good examples to use as goalposts for design and formatting.

* Seriously.
32 products have hit copper status, 43 silver, 2 electrum, 2 gold, and 0 platinum. http://www.dmsguild.com/metal.php
Copper is around 50-75 sales, and each successive metal is incrementally harder to hit. 91.82% of products on the DMsGuild have sold *less* than 50 copies.
Even if you're one of the few that has sold, oh, 200 copies at $2 a pop, that's still only $200 heading to you. A short talk with a lawyer would likely mean still being in the hole.

Zardnaar · Feb 1, 2016

Jester Canuck said:
The problem is there's not much of a guide for how to do this. The FAQ is limited and there's few guidelines. And asking for clarifications and details mostly gets you replies of "you should go talk to a lawyer", which is the opposite of helpful for a site where almost no one is likely to make enough to cover the hourly rates of even an incompetent lawyer*.

The DMsGuild site is meant to be for anyone to be able to come and publish, but you still need to parse through a heavy terms of use document that most people are going to skip. And with so many people making iffy decisions, there are few good examples to use as goalposts for design and formatting.

* Seriously.
32 products have hit copper status, 43 silver, 2 electrum, 2 gold, and 0 platinum. http://www.dmsguild.com/metal.php
Copper is around 50-75 sales, and each successive metal is incrementally harder to hit. 91.82% of products on the DMsGuild have sold *less* than 50 copies.
Even if you're one of the few that has sold, oh, 200 copies at $2 a pop, that's still only $200 heading to you. A short talk with a lawyer would likely mean still being in the hole.

If I had to guess most of it is going to be sub standard crap.

Jester David · Feb 1, 2016

Zardnaar said:
If I had to guess most of it is going to be sub standard crap.

Probably.
Without content filters or an approval process, the majority of it will be crud.
And the majority of the remainder will be adequate.
But some will be good. And a few will be really good; possibly better than the official stuff.

I'm trying to be positive and focus on the amazing stuff forthcoming.

Xethreau · Feb 1, 2016

It seems to me that saying "Go ask a lawyer" is some pretty messed-up mugwumping (and I say that as a die-hard moderate). To me, if you don't want DM's Guild stuff to be OGL, say it is forbidden. Explicitly.

But I guess other people have that idea in mind too and say "Easier to ask forgiveness than permission."

NotActuallyTim · Feb 1, 2016

They're probably using this to collect data on what people find most confusing about the DMs guild content policies before making some kind of big announcement and cleaning up the site.

Unless no one cares. Then they won't do anything at all. I mean, if it doesn't bother anyone, then why bother policing content?

Quickleaf · Feb 1, 2016

It's a work-in-progress. And it only started 2 weeks ago (Jan. 12th).

I mean, they're still ironing out the actual legal language regarding art used in DM's Guild products, right? I still can't get an answer on whether or not a person publishing on DM's Guid needs to own the full rights to art commissioned by artists, or if there's some middle ground.

On one hand, we can criticize them for not having things more explicitly laid out.

On the other hand, we can applaud them for being daring and opening up a way for people to write about Forgotten Realms and make a little profit, while scouting out new profit.

Jester David · Feb 1, 2016

They actually updated their terms of use regarding art.

Nikosandros · Feb 1, 2016

Some kind of monitoring is going on. I've already noticed two products that have been removed. One, in particular, was really noticeable since it was for 4e.

Zardnaar · Feb 1, 2016

Jester Canuck said:
Probably.
Without content filters or an approval process, the majority of it will be crud.
And the majority of the remainder will be adequate.
But some will be good. And a few will be really good; possibly better than the official stuff.

I'm trying to be positive and focus on the amazing stuff forthcoming.

Well spent $4 on it to try it out and got a couple of freebies. THe archtype on was quite good and have not looked at the Bloodhunter, Gun slinger or the 18 feats one.