Re: Posting of WotC Contest Submissions

[toberane]

I believe that the paperwork you had to submit along with the proposal gave WotC the rights to own the 10-page proposal (that's what they are buying and what you are signing to give away to them if they accept it, along with the 100-pager as well).

A one-page campaign proposal is free game for all. Send it to anybody you like and post away. It doesn't violate the contract that you sent in to WotC along with your single-page proposal.

I'm not a lawyer, and I'm working from memory, but do double check the contract you signed if you are genuinely worried.

But, at the same time, I wouldn't offer more than one page worth of info, or go in to the level of detail needed for your 10-page or 100-page proposal. For those of you with campaign websites, I would think you might want to temporarily pull it down, although I find it hard for WotC to say no to a proposal just because you have a website of it.

One pagers and ten pagers = you keep the rights.

100 pagers + $20,000 = WotC owns the rights.

WotC will not own the rights of the 10 page treatments. They do not take any ownership until they have paid you for it ($20,000 to develop the setting into 100 pager).

 

[teitan]

Heh

It's not a contest because it is a job oppurtunity. Most contests do not mean job opps. They are one time things that happen, usually fading away.

I think if they wanted people to view it as a contest then they would have said Fantasy Setting Proposal Contest or Fantasy Setting COntest and not mentioned novels, TCG or anything of the sort at all. It would have read like it was a contest with words like First Prize, Second Prize blah blah blah. I don't see the key words popping up anywhere for contests. A company like WOTC would prolly not prop the cash for such a big endeavour based on a contest. Cash outside the "winnings" (heh heh heh) that is, especially so ambitious a project.

Jason

 

[Mistwell]

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.

In this case, WOTC can call this event whatever they want: submission request, lottery, contest, or National Spam the WOTC Staff week. It comes down to the details of the event, not them name attached to it.

If one of the goals of this event is so that WOTC can a) generate buzz and promote their new settings, or b) generate a mailing list for future promotional and/or sales material for their company, then this is a contest. You give them something in consideration (your contact data, or your attention to a new setting), and they give you the chance at cash. That's a contest.

That doesn't mean they cannot have as another goal the finding of the perfect new setting. But given the number of entries, and the time they have alloted to reviewing those entries, the likelyhood that they could actually comprehend what was sent to them sufficiently in that time period to make a decision based purely on the quality of submissions, rather than a certain element of luck, is small.

This is a contest, no matter what people pretend it is.

 

[dafrca]

Mistwell,

Does this mean when a company (say someone like Disney) places a call for new artists and ask them to submit their portfolio's for review then they are running a contest? We know they would get quite a few "applicants" for such a call. How is this different? What makes this a contest and not a freelance cattle call?

Just curious how an attorney would explain the differance.

dafrca

 

[Mistwell]

If Disney uses the applications to generate a mailing list, or to generate publicity for the event, then yes, they might also be running a contest (the factor being that you give them something of value). In particular, if Disney suddenly gave themselves an unrealistically short time limit to review the applications, rather than the long, intensive, multiple-interview-with-a-panel, background-checked process that they currently use, it would be more suspect.

The most notable cases where I live are the houses that were sold by use of a writing submission contest, where the person who supposedly wrote the best essay (along with their $1000 check) out of 500 people got a $400,000 house in exchange.

That method was banned as illegal gambling recently.

 

[Maraxle]

Please delete this post.

 

[Storm Raven]

The most notable cases where I live are the houses that were sold by use of a writing submission contest, where the person who supposedly wrote the best essay (along with their $1000 check) out of 500 people got a $400,000 house in exchange.

That method was banned as illegal gambling recently.

One disctinction would be that in the case you reference, the participants were required to "wager" cash by including their $1,000 submission fee with their essay. In the case of the Wizards call for submissions, there is no similar requirement.

Now, there are certainly situations in which something could still be called gambling or a lottery in which you do not have to purchase a chance to participate. However, if Wizards is actually in the process of selecting a game setting to publish (and by limiting the submissions to one page they can review many in a short period of time), then this is much more like an open casting call than a contest.

 

[dafrca]

If Disney uses the applications to generate a mailing list, or to generate publicity for the event, then yes, they might also be running a contest (the factor being that you give them something of value). In particular, if Disney suddenly gave themselves an unrealistically short time limit to review the applications, rather than the long, intensive, multiple-interview-with-a-panel, background-checked process that they currently use, it would be more suspect.

So the time frame and the building of a mail list are the two things you seem to think are different here. OK how does a company like Disney avoid the mail list issue when they enter every applicant into a large database "for further contacts"? (and many large companies do this and admit to it, see Disneys Job Website for an example)

If I use your logic here then I did give them something of value (my address and work history) to Disney right? And they did enter it into a data base for future use, ie a mailing list right? Seems to me you are missing something in your legal annalysis.

Could be the differance between what WotC has done and a contest has more to do with what we are expected to do and when does WotC take their rights to that work. By that I mean, contests do not require me to do anything of any real value. (the house example is someone attempting to loophole themselves out of the law, great case by the way)

In WotC's case, we are expected to send in the one pager (application yes, but no real consideration here, they did not pay and I did not give them my rights).

Later as the final three candidates are selected they are "hired" to create their 100 page documents. (now we have consideration going, same as employment right?)

What do you think?

dafrca

 

[Duorin III]

BRAAASIIIIIIL !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chrysoula]

The reason it feels like a contest (and, well, is one, just as sports competitions, art contests and Odyssey of the Mind are contests) is because the prize/price/reward is publically stated and pre-determined with no apparent room for negotiation. The language describing the process is very contest-like as well.

It's no big deal. Contests are a time-honored way of getting the best at something.