From: "Brian C. Robinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> So, I could make a computer game, for instance, that included
> everything in the SRD as well as my own versions of the things it does not
> cover?
You're just going to love this answer.
I have no idea.
Translating the D20 system rules to a computer game is going to remove them
from any copyright we might have claimed on the system as a whole. Adding
back in the skills, feats, spells, magic items and monsters returns us to
the grey area. However, it would be pretty easy for a lawyer expert in this
field with a good research assistant to advise you what is and is not
material from the public domain. If you don't use the descriptions, or the
stat blocks for presentation, you're getting farther and farther away from
the potential copyright issues.
You can clearly black box D&D. Everquest and Diablo have demonstrated that
it can be done without repurcussions.
In other words, the OGL may not add much value to a computer game. Access
to the D&D product identity is valuable, but that's not what you get, from
the perspective of a computer game, with the D20 SRD.
In addition to that, I really don't know how you can mark parts of the
computer code as "clearly identifiable" Open Game Content. I don't know
what happens if you combine OGC inextricably with proprietary copyright
code - someone may claim that they have the right to duplicate and
distribute that the OCG code, and it's your problem if that code is not
"clearly identified".
In short, the OGL is not a good software license. I think that an OGL
project, combined with an OSI certified software license is a viable
project, because the access to the sourcecode provided by the software
license will remove the problems with OGC being identified.
If I were a publisher, I would not rely on the OGL for a software product,
especially not a game.
Ryan
