Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 1824394" data-attributes="member: 812">One of the most interesting things about the OGL + electronic distribution is how it narrows the divide between "publisher" and "non-publisher".Is somebody who posts an alternate class or magic system on the house rules forum a publisher? How about somebody who creates a website full of original material for people to use? Somebody who creates an online SRD product under proper licensing and everything? Even if we say "publisher" = "person who distributes content with the intent to make money" it doesn't get much clearer. How much money? How much of a percentage of their income?It gets confusing and I don't see where the line gets drawn.For myself, I think the OGL is a great thing. I don't think, for example, that Phil's biggest problem is the OGL. I think it's thieves ripping him off by distributing his copywritten work without paying him. But OGC is stuff I can put up on my websites for my players to use, stuff I can incorporate into my own for-sale products (my upcoming article in EN Gamer uses some OGC, for example), and I don't have to worry about making sure the original creator knows me and approves of me. The law tells me what I can and cannot do, and that gives me a secure base to produce work from.I'm not dependent on this work for my daily survival so loss of income is a very small deal to me. Of course it's going to be a much bigger problem for someone without any other income.Unviable business models are a problem in every industry. Or rather, they're a reality. It's only a problem for people who can't recognize that their model doesn't work.</blockquote>

Verification