New site Idea the OGC exchange

[Morrus]

You mean the OGL is not written as it was intended to be? Or that people misuse it purposely?

I mean neither. I'm really not sure that I can put my point across in plainer terms. To my mind, I think that you and I have very different fundamental views on the reasons for the OGL's existence, and what constitutes fair, gentlemanly, moral use of the license.

 

[DPGDarrin]

As an issue that has stirred controversy, this is an issue that we have tried to steer clear of for sometime. I've always been of two minds on it - on one hand we should be making money first and foremost because we are a business, and on the other hand, isn't it cool to know that other publishers are interested in your new gaming ideas, and people around the world are using them? Well, to be blunt, my opinion is still split along the same lines.

Frankly, I would probably be willing to donate any material that appears in our free products, as well as anything that we haven't used in about a year. In fact, Dark Portal Games will most likely contact you with some usable OGC in the near future, which has been taken from our first free adventure Dead Fire.

As for the crunchy vs. creamy debate, I look at it in a different light. The crunchy parts are esentially theory. Theory is great because it tells you all of the ingredients that could every be used to make donuts. Creamy is equaly, if not even more, great because it is applied theory! It takes all of the ingredients and makes for one delicious (or sometimes not so delicious) donut. I can respect people that like to do their own cooking, especially since I usually do that myself, but at the same time, there is something to be said for a well baked masterpiece with lots of cream, crunchy fried dough, and sprinkles on top. You shouldn't ever give up on the cream.

 

[NemesisPress]

My point is that the OGL is the OGL. Don't use it if you aren't willing to abide by it. However, that brings up what the real question should be: iven the OGL (in its present, unadulterated form), how should publishers use it (judiciously) to help their business?

 

[Morrus]

My point is that the OGL is the OGL. Don't use it if you aren't willing to abide by it.

Well, yeah. Obviously. That doesn't address my points in the slightest any more than "the sky is blue" does.

I was discussing moral use of OGC. If we're talking about two different subjects, then I apologise. But I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the subject.

 

[NemesisPress]

Well, I just don't see how there can be any controversy: If something is marked as OGC, anyone is free from that moment on to use it under the terms of the OGL. And if the original creater does that knowingly and willingly, how can there be any sour grapes about it, however it's used?

However, it would be interesting to see this question - and the broader issue of just how publishers should make best use of OGC (both theirs and others) - in a panel discussion.

If it hasn't already been done before, why not invite some notables to take part in a thread like that? And after a few rounds, you could open it to selected questions from the public.

 

[smetzger]

So your position is that anything in the world that you *can* do, you *should* do? There are a whole variety of things I can do right now to you - I can call you names, I can ban you from the boards, I can follow you around and edit all your posts. I can post bad reviews of your products, recommend that people don't buy them. All of this is perfectly legal. By your reasoning, it sounds like I *should* be doing these things, and if I do, you have no cause to complain.

This is not a good comparison. The OGL is a license; you have not given us a license for your boards. License means "Official or legal permission to do or own a specific thing." In fact this is much more legal than some of the files that you have on EN World. For instance the sidetreks are not OGL or d20 compliant yet they use rules out of the SRD.

Why have you not released a pdf version of Green Ronin's Freeport adventures? It's quite legal!

I think that the OGL, and, more importantly, the D20 industry as a community, has unwritten rules based on trust. One thing all publishers trust others to do is not rip off each other's OGC wholescale, but rather to use it as intended.

The OGL was modeled after the GNU software license. The intent of GNU is to provide free software. So, the intent can quite easily be construed to be the free use of D&D rules. This is even backed up by WOTCs releasing the d20 SRD for free. WOTC doesn't need to post the SRD on the web they could sell it seperatly or they could have just designated OGC in the books as per the d20 license. My point is that neither of us work for WOTC and were in on the discussions about the OGL/d20; so we can only conjecture about what the 'intent' of OGL and d20 is.

I can see where you are coming from. d20 publishers and authors deserve to be compensated for their work. I agree with this. This is something that the software community has struggled with for some time. Yet, there are companies that are making money by selling software that can be downloaded for free.

I do not think that an online library that is distributing all the OGL and OGC material electronically will hurt sales of products. It may in fact help sales. I am assuming that you feel that it is morally wrong because it will negatively effect someones bottom line.

Why do you feel it is morally wrong? The 'intent' argument does not hold with me because I don't agree with your premise on the 'intent' of d20. Your argument about the 'unwritten rules' is also falling on deaf ears because I haven't seen evidence of a code of honor among d20 publishers. We have seen plenty of d20 publishers who have misused the d20 logo.

 

[Morrus]

Originally posted by smetzger Why do you feel it is morally wrong? The 'intent' argument does not hold with me because I don't agree with your premise on the 'intent' of d20.

Then we're destined to just disagree.

Your argument about the 'unwritten rules' is also falling on deaf ears because I haven't seen evidence of a code of honor among d20 publishers. We have seen plenty of d20 publishers who have misused the d20 logo.

Again, we disagree. Whether or not you agree with my first premise, or whether my second falls on deaf ears is kind of irrelevant - they're the things I believe.