----- Original Message -----
From: "Lynn Fredricks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> Are you going to give your Earth 1066 products away for free AT NO COST
> WHATSOEVER and therefore uncommercialize that very large link at the top?
That would be silly.. After all, Wizards isn't giving away their products
for free either, and one can easily stretch the commercialized conspiracy to
them from the ogf org. Earth1066 does claim to be an open gaming product on
the pages about it.. so one would assume that anyone else wanting to
capitalize on its success later this year would be able to do so, much as
the core of this discuss list capitalize on the d20 system. And thanks for
pointing out that the 'sponsored by Earth1066' was a link.. I had never
clicked it before :)
>
> Again as above, leveraging the Open Gaming Foundation name for sales of
your
> own products. My understanding is that reselling a domain name at a profit
> is only one criteria on which they would have a claim, not the only one.
Why shouldn't anyone who is developing an Open Game leverage the OGF name in
association with their product? If I had a market ready product that was
going to be be Open, I certainly would put up numerous links to the OGF
page, and toss the OGF buzzwords around like a maniac. If it netted me an
extra sale per month, all the better.. That sort of is the nature of a
business, you know, selling stuff and making money..
> Your efforts will certainly appear more altruistic as long as you do not
> gain commercial advantage from it.
Um, isn't WotC/Hasbro gaining commercial advantage from the OGF pages?
>
> Is it in your FAQ?
A.02 What is the Open Gaming foundation?
The Open Gaming Foundation is a non-profit organization (pending) that
promotes the development of open games and advocates for the concept of open
gaming in general. The Open Gaming Foundation is the creation of Mr. Ryan
Dancey, and as such has indirect ties to Wizards of the Coast. It has been
argued on the list that the Open Gaming Foundation is just another marketing
tool. However, since Wizards is the acknowledged market leader, the Open
Gaming Foundation could also be seen as a mechanism for such a market leader
to bring about positive change in the industry.
Seems to spell out quite clearly that OGF is not yet legally an NPO, and
that it belongs to someone else.
> This has nothing to do with your use of the domain names. Your reasoning
> above seems adversarial to WotC.
Isn't any gaming company adversarial to WotC? This is a good thing.. it
means more games to hit the market, more modules, source books, etc that
support an Open Gaming License. However, not everyone will embrace d20, nor
should the world be expected to use only d20 as an open game. Other systems,
with different mechanichs, are quite feasable. Ideally I hope to release a
game during the year, with an OGL, and my intent is to price it below the
cost of the d20 systems, in order to draw in the folks who don't want to be
forced to buy 3-5 $20 books to have their core set. Am I going to kill WotC?
Nah, I won't even be a blip on their radar.. nor will Earth1066, or any
other non-d20 game.
> Outside of the legal issues of the domain names, I think as long as you
are
> promoting your own products by link, you dont have any credibility as an
> independent voice.
Splitting hairs I suppose, but anyone not working for WotC/Hasbro/TSR is
technically and independant voice in the gaming industry. Admittedly Faustus
will have a commercial interest in promoting an OGL and in promoting the OGF
as long as he can make some coinage on doing so.. however, I have seen no
indication that he has grabbed those domain names or participated in this
forum EXPRESSLY for the purpose of pushing his product or self promoting. In
fact, as I mentioned above, until you mentioned the link to Earth1066, I had
no idea it was a link to his game.
Perhaps it might be best to simply say that he saw an opportunity to advance
two of the things he is very involved in, and took that opportunity.
Obviously he wants to promote Open Game dev and clearly he has a product he
wants to promote as well. I do not see where the two should be mutually
exclusive. Lord know there are plenty of others on this list that openly
promote their materials within their .sig lines. I guess I fail to
understand why exactly you are so worked up over this issue when apparently
Ryan has not lost a lot of sleep over it, and in fact, it would appear that
Faustus was trying to do the OGF a favor while inconspiciously promoting his
own involvement (product) within the OGL/OGF revolution.
Rob Lowry
CFO
Non-Profit Int'l Online Gaming Association
www.nioga.net
