Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Interesting Article on OGL and 4E
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lizard" data-source="post: 4041790" data-attributes="member: 1054"><p>AUGH!!!!</p><p></p><p>If someone has a sign reading "Free Papers -- Take One!", is it stealing if you DO WHAT THE SIGN SAYS?</p><p></p><p>There's nothing unethical about using content which people HAVE EXPLICITLY SAID IS OK TO USE.</p><p></p><p>The OGL is viral because, otherwise, the benefit would be solely one way; you could take, but could not give. As it is, the OGL allows anyone to protect any original work; only that which is derived from other free content is "infected". (This got it a lot of criticism from the GPL crowd, but I agree with it.) Many companies went "above and beyond", opening a lot of content they could have engineered as closed, because they respected the very ethical position of "do unto others as they have done unto you". </p><p></p><p>It astounds, and, frankly, disgusts, me that people are, basically, equating the use of the OGL (a wholly voluntary contract no one was forced to sign) with file sharing and similair things (which is out-and-out theft).</p><p></p><p>There is nothing unethical about using content according to the terms of the contract the content was released under. None. Not even a teensy bit. It's not a grey area, it's not borderline, it's not open for reasonable debate. If the contract says "You are free to copy this work, in accordance with the contract", then do so.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lizard, post: 4041790, member: 1054"] AUGH!!!! If someone has a sign reading "Free Papers -- Take One!", is it stealing if you DO WHAT THE SIGN SAYS? There's nothing unethical about using content which people HAVE EXPLICITLY SAID IS OK TO USE. The OGL is viral because, otherwise, the benefit would be solely one way; you could take, but could not give. As it is, the OGL allows anyone to protect any original work; only that which is derived from other free content is "infected". (This got it a lot of criticism from the GPL crowd, but I agree with it.) Many companies went "above and beyond", opening a lot of content they could have engineered as closed, because they respected the very ethical position of "do unto others as they have done unto you". It astounds, and, frankly, disgusts, me that people are, basically, equating the use of the OGL (a wholly voluntary contract no one was forced to sign) with file sharing and similair things (which is out-and-out theft). There is nothing unethical about using content according to the terms of the contract the content was released under. None. Not even a teensy bit. It's not a grey area, it's not borderline, it's not open for reasonable debate. If the contract says "You are free to copy this work, in accordance with the contract", then do so. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Interesting Article on OGL and 4E
Top