D&D Fan Site Toolkit: Petition!

[theodudek]

Hey everybody (-_-)

I've created a petition against Wizards' Fan Site Toolkit at Wizards of the Coast, Retract Your Fan Site Policy Petition. Please sign if you believe that RPG fan site policies are unworkable and counterproductive!

Here are some excerpts:

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We, the undersigned, believe this policy to be in violation of U.S. Fair Use doctrine (Fair use - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Wizards should not follow the example of companies such as Viacom, owner of the Star Trek franchise by cracking down on fan sites (http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1997/10/756), squashing the artistic expression of people whose only desire is to pay tribute to the fiction (or games) that they love.

We believe that Wizards' Fan Tool Kit would not stand the legal test of fair use. We furthermore believe that, rather than providing "approved" artwork and threatening restrictions and legal action for the use of images, text and creations related to the Dungeons & Dragons "brand", Wizards should chart a general company policy towards open gaming (as exemplified by the creative explosion following the original OGL and d20 licenses in 2000) and the philosophy of Creative Commons (Creative Commons). To attempt to restrict fans to a small number of "approved" images, with countless "unapproved" images available freely everywhere on the Internet, is to swim upstream in the face of technology.

In the case of Dungeons & Dragons specifically, the D&D "brand" is in itself founded on public-domain names, imagery and ideas: from dragons, goblins, gnomes and other mythological creatures, to thinly disguised borrowings from the works of authors such as Jack Vance and J.R.R. Tolkien. In the process of forming their "brand" for Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards should not follow the example of the Walt Disney Corporation, claiming the absolute right over adaptations of works which were originally in the public domain or out-of-copyright (Cinderella, Snow White, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, etc.).
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Please sign if you want Wizards to retract this unenforceable, inappropriate fan site policy! : D Thank you!

 

[Tewligan]

This online petition will most certainly cause WotC to entirely rethink their toolkit.

Also, you don't have to use it.

 

[JPL]

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

 

[JPL]

Wizards of the Coast, Retract Your Fan Site Policy - Signatures

What's funny to me is that when you click to see the names of the (two so far) signatories, you get the following ad:

Search For Sex Offenders
Are Sex Offenders Living In Your Neighborhood? Find Out Now - Free!

Seriously, man. Eliminate this policy in favor of what? Because WotC did not create the word "dwarf," you should be free to use any dwarf-related WotC IP you want?

 

[Umbran]

Respectfully, I think you misunderstand. The toolkit does not seem to represent a policy. It is a specific package of licensed content.

You must agree to the license to use that specific content. It is not relevant to sites that do not use the specific content and images distributed in the toolkit.

Given that the petition shows a lack of comprehension of what they have issued, I doubt it will do much to sway WotC.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Generally, starting a petition against something that is completely voluntary won't gain much support. If tales of WOTC sending out a slew of C&D letters to people who do not choose to use the kit, then you might start getting some signatures.

 

[Turtlejay]

Not a fan of online petitions really. This one seems a little more snarkily worded than strictly necessary as well. I think for a petition to truly work there needs to first be some outrage about the problem, and then be some verifiable signatures on the thinng. Any joe can sign an internet petition, hence it is practially worthless as an argument. Now, stand out in front of my local library with the other guys and solicit acutal, real signatures, and it becomes something to worry about.

I just don't think that the rage is there for this thing though. Sorry.

Jay

 

[theodudek]

@umbran I'm aware that Wizards is not planning to crack down on existing sites, but what I would like to see is a general shift in policy for WotC in favor of more "open gaming" content. While I realize that they are a business and need to make money, I am always alarmed by attempts to control information usage & permissions in this way, when it is simply a matter of logos and images which should be covered by fair-use, not a matter of uploading entire bootleg PDFs of RPG supplements. Companies must expect logos and to a certain extent images to be reused and repurposed... I am reminded of the "Consumer Whore" case when artist Kieron Dwyer was sued by Starbucks in 2000 (http://www.cbldf.org/pr/001130-starbucks.shtml).

I am not fully aware yet of the benefits WotC plans to confer to their "official fan sites," but it seems like a lot to ask for the use of some content which may arguably be fair use anyway @_@

 

[Cadfan]

Fail for not including a link to the fan site policy you oppose.

 

[Cadfan]

Alright, I found it.

Fan Site Kit

Here.