No 4E Fan Content Allowed on the Intenet?

This seems less like "No Fan Content!" and more like "We're not allowed to say 'Who cares what you post on your webpage?' Nope, definately not allowed to say 'Do what you want.'"
Exactly, fan sites just aren't officially authorized just like they haven't been officially authorized for most of the history of D&D and the internet. Nothing new here.

Several free sites have received cease and desist letters and threats of lawsuits. I believe that they all had some interactive component, like card/character makers, IIRC.
Ok, so have any sites received cease and desist letters that weren't basically giving away all of the PHB and/or other books? WotC has gone after those kinds of website since they first bought D&D. So there's nothing new here. (I know, I helped them crack down on a late 2e site that wasn't only giving away PDF D&D books but also other fan sites' content claiming it as their own.)

There are plenty of websites with interactive components that are still around. The difference is they don't give away huge swaths of WotC's content.
 

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(. . .) giving away all of the PHB and/or other books?


I think the only people doing that were the pirated PDF distributors that WotC is currently suing. I think the interactive sites only received C&D letters (essentially only threats of lawsuits) for having some information within the programming (not whole books, IIRC). I guess the question becomes how much info constitutes too much? I wonder if they will only go after interactive sites with IP?


On a similar note, what sites besides EN World have large amounts of fan created 4E materials available freely? Does RPGNet have a similar community? How much stuff is allowed on WotC's forums from fans? Did they restart their fan magazine (was it Knowledge Arcana?)?
 

Ok, so have any sites received cease and desist letters that weren't basically giving away all of the PHB and/or other books?

None.

There really is 'nothing to see here'. Post your content, have fun with it, if WotC someday sends you a C&D you might have to take it down. It's not like the thought police will show up at your residence and whisk you off to some secret gulag.
 

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you that when a business is asked for an official response to an official policy that they would dare state that they want you to follow said processes.

This seems less like "No Fan Content!" and more like "We're not allowed to say 'Who cares what you post on your webpage?' Nope, definitely not allowed to say 'Do what you want.'"

Absolutely.

Once again I stand in awe of the egregious stupidity of someone contacting WotC with loaded questions. These loaded questions are going to get bounced up to someone who is a lawyer or who at least understands the accurate legal position of WotC and it's pretty easy to know what the reply is going to be.

Now I wonder if this has been asked by a News Corp (psuedo) journalist. They have an empire-wide policy of asking these sorts of questions because the subsequent furore provides more page hits/newspaper sales than anything else.

This is trolling of a different form, nothing else. And the rule still holds: don't feed the trolls.
 

I mean seriously, is their an industry award show somewhere that gives out awards for Worst Marketing to a Fan Base? I mean there's gotta be a goal they're shooting for somewhere along the line, right?

Yes. It's the Lorraine Williams Awards, with prizes for things like Least Helpful Customer Service, Most Extreme Overreaction, and Most Inscrutable Policy. The grand prize is the TSR Implosion Award, given only to companies that manage to raise disregard for their fanbase to the level of actual bankruptcy.

***

To be fair, I don't think WotC has come anywhere near this level. But I have to agree with those who have not been impressed with their attitude toward fans and 3PPs. I would like to try my hand at creating and distributing a 4E campaign setting, but every time I look at the GSL I end up deciding that I don't like the idea of making something WotC can arbitrarily revoke my right to distribute or sell.

It's not that I think WotC is currently plotting to kill off 3PPs, but... well, I don't remember where I first saw this, but I always thought it was a good principle where business and legal matters are concerned: "Assume both of you are going to die tomorrow and your heirs will hate each others' guts."

(The power card site was another story; that was a clear-cut violation of Wizards' IP and I don't blame them for responding as they did.)
 
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This is trolling of a different form, nothing else. And the rule still holds: don't feed the trolls.


You're accusing Morrus of trolling on his own News page? That seems a bit much. He plays 4E regularly and runs the largest 4E D&D website next to WotC. If he has some concerns about fansite policies I think they can be discussed in a thread without accusing him of trolling.
 

I really don't see the big deal about those statements.

I understand there's some ambiguity about using the GSL for fan content on the internet, but it's been like that since the release of the GSL and the Fansite Toolkit.

I don't see anything new in those statements.

I also don't see where it's said or implied that 4E fan content isn't allowed on the internet (other than the ongoing ambiguity).

Other than what people already didn't like about this situation (me included), how has anything changed?

What new info did this actually provide?


Maybe I'm just not seeing it!?:-S


:erm:
 

There is nothing Wizards of the Coast can do to prevent people from creating 4E material and distributing it. They can prevent the use of WotC trade dress and any implications that the material is officially licensed D&D material, but they can't prevent me from making and distributing a class for use in the game.
 

There is nothing Wizards of the Coast can do to prevent people from creating 4E material and distributing it. They can prevent the use of WotC trade dress and any implications that the material is officially licensed D&D material, but they can't prevent me from making and distributing a class for use in the game.

Okay, while my instinct is that you're correct and I certainly want you to be, I have to ask: AYAL*?

*Are You A Lawyer?
 

Honestly, it seems a lot like the character builder.

Technically, you're not allowed to let anyone but yourself use it in your own home (just like any program) but there's nothing preventing you from actually doing that.

WOTC is simply NOT going to come out and say "sure, we give you the legal right to give it away to friends" since you and I both know, some body will take a mile from that and put it on their website and point to "Hey, WOTC said I can give the char builder to friends".

What exactly do people want WOTC to say yet won't allow it to be permission to be abused?
 

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