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Message: <blockquote data-quote="chriton227" data-source="post: 4657369" data-attributes="member: 33263">I didn't mean to imply that I thought copyright infringement wasn't wrong, just that copyright infringement and theft are two completely different things both by definition and by legal code and precedents.  I'm just edgy and worked up because the tools Ema managed to create for his site were the types of tools WotC should have posted on their site on Jan 6 2008 for 4e, and should have had on their site before then for 3.x.  What I'm left with now is the atrociously ugly things that the DDI character creator can produce, where it doesn't even bother to do some of the calculations (how hard would it have been to calculate out 1/2 level plus stat mod for Resourceful Presence?), let you manually edit anything on the character sheet, or even export it to PDF or RTF to be able to send it electronically to your GM for review (important if you run an online game like I do). Technically almost any other 4e character sheet on the web, whether a fillable PDF, a Word doc, or an Excel sheet, violates WotC's IP, at least if it does anything at all automatically or lists the feats or powers.  I did a quick check of several D&D 4e sheets at RPGSheets, every one I looked at was in violation.  If you want to get technical, if I make my own status cards that detail out the effects of the 4e conditions to use in my own game, I'm reproducing WotC's content without prior written consent and distributing it to other individuals (the other players in the game), thus violating copyright law.  Would I even be allowed to enter someone else's character from the game I'm playing in into the Character Builder and print them out a character sheet without violating the DDI/CB licensing agreement or WotC's IP?  When Dungeons & Dragons starts to feel like Lawyers & Lawsuits, it's time to pack up and find a different game to play.Did WotC have the right to shut down Ema's?  Definitely.  Do I feel doing so benefited the game or the community of players? Not a chance.  Do I feel that there should have been some form of middle-ground between ignoring Ema's site and ordering it razed? Absolutely.  I would have loved to have seen some sort of licensing agreement worked out, one that would have allowed the resource in some form to still exist, while at the same time allowing WotC to maintain control of their IP.  But WotC has made sure that will never happen.</blockquote>

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