Gleemax Terms of Use - Unacceptable

[Captain Tagon]

The solution to all this seems almost to easy, just don't post there then..

So true. I've played games made by Wizards for almost eight years now, and never once have I posted anything on their forums.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

The solution to all this seems almost to easy, just don't post there then..

I for one never have posted at those boards or even registered an account for exactly that reason. I don't like the TOU. Fine problem solved for me personally I just post elsewhere. But at a deeper level I find the TOU ethically disgusting just like about every EULA I've ever read.

 

[Shining Dragon]

The World hasn't ended and I expect that it will not over these TOU. People seem to have read them in the worse manner possible, despite not being lawyers and legalese being a language almost unintelligible to those of us not of that profession.

People are happy to accuse WotC of wanting to steal their precious ideas without thinking about the reverse: people on their boards claiming WotC ideas as their own. Easier to do if you post to their boards - harder if your idea is posted elsewhere where you'd have to prove that WotC read.

WotC are just Covering Their Arses, plain and simple.

 

[prosfilaes]

People seem to have read them in the worse manner possible, despite not being lawyers and legalese being a language almost unintelligible to those of us not of that profession.

So what you're saying is that people should sign agreements that are almost unintelligible to them without worrying about what they may mean? If you're presented with an agreement that you can't understand, the only reasonable thing IMO is take it in the worst-possible manner.

 

[S'mon]

So what you're saying is that people should sign agreements that are almost unintelligible to them without worrying about what they may mean?

Under UK contract law and Lord Denning's 'Red Hand rule' (you're only bound by unreasonable terms if there's a big red hand pointing to them), that's a reasonable position.

 

[Ealli]

Wasn't this topic already discussed here on this other thread:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=203100

I remember that one getting people all in a tizzy only to learn that the Terms of Use had not changed from what the Wizards forums had always had. Maybe there has been an update to the ToU, but I suspect that there hasn't.

 

[GSHamster]

Look up Marion Zimmer Bradley and fan fiction if you want to see why WotC has the policies it does. From Wikipedia:

She created the planet of Darkover as a setting for her own series, writing a large number of Darkover stories as a solo author and later collaborating with other authors to produce Darkover anthologies, where once again she encouraged story submissions from unpublished authors. For a time, Bradley actively encouraged fan fiction within the Darkover universe, but this came to an end following a dispute with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had similarities to some of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel remained unpublished, and Bradley demanded the cessation of all Darkover fan fiction.

More here: http://www.fanworks.org/writersresource/?action=define&authorid=53&tool=fanpolicy

 

[meleeguy]

Digital Initiative/Gleemax

I don't want WotC's worlds, I want to use their "platform". While there are other alternatives, the WotC/D&D brand carries alot of weight. Players will definitely flock to it.

So if I use their digital service (which I would like) and upload a custom map who have I licensed my map to? Sounds to me like WotC. That is a deal breaker for me.

There may be some other TOU/TOS involved here and if so thanks to whoever points it out in advance.

 

[Sonny]

I would like to point out, recently Wizards has published a book that was put together by a fan and first distributed across the Internet. But they did it the right way. They contacted the person in question (Brian R. James), and not only got his permission, but paid him for his work. Brian is now working on materials for the 4th Edition Forgotten Realms setting.

With this in mind, I do think that if Wizards saw something they wanted to publish that was posted on Gleemax, they would do the right thing.

 

[Shining Dragon]

So what you're saying is that people should sign agreements that are almost unintelligible to them without worrying about what they may mean? If you're presented with an agreement that you can't understand, the only reasonable thing IMO is take it in the worst-possible manner.

Or not sign it.