[cc-community] [Off List] Re: New Open Gaming Licence

rob at robmyers.org rob at robmyers.org
Fri Feb 15 08:51:14 EST 2008


Quoting Jon Phillips <jon at creativecommons.org>:

> Thanks Rob, do you or anyone else have contacts to them...I'll do my
> best to get in contact and talk to them about the issues...

I don't have any contacts, I'm afraid. The guy who started the  
initiative originally has since left.

http://ww2.wizards.com/Company/info/default.aspx

The main issues come from WoTC combining their trademark licence (d20)  
with their content licence (OGL), which means that their censorous  
"community standards" and their anti-competitive "character generation  
rules ban" become a core part of the licence rather than a condition  
for using their trademark.

I'm sure it seems sensible to the suits but it will depress the  
"network effects" that were the economic justification for the OGL in  
the first place.

> What would be the best CC license that could be called an "Open Gaming
> License" to all you nerds out there in cc gaming land wearing a viking
> helmet witha battle axe in tow :)

The OGL is a mix of SA and NC pretty much like the FDL. BY-SA is  
probably the closest, but you'd need to sell them on educating people  
about Trademarks.

- Rob.





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