>From: "Martin L. Shoemaker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Thank you Martin. A fair and impassioned plea, as was Clark's some 12 hours
ago. I understand the logic. I even agree with the sentiment.
What I don't agree with is the notion that ME not doing this will in any way
stop it from being done. Someone WILL make "The Great Netbook of Open
Monsters". and "Spells", and "Feats".
And people will use this database. They will link to it and download stuff
and make open content based on the material inside. It will be in demand.
You KNOW, when something is in demand, people will make it happen.
We can't stop it.
The ONLY way we can minimize the damage is by making the cleanest, most
comprehensive, most unimpeachable reference that we possibly can, and make
it available to everyone.
Better me than some high school kid that doesn't give a damn about your PI
and can't find his own OGL with both hands.
Faust
><< You are again being very literal. You know you *can* win a lawsuit, but
>still lose money, time, and public goodwill? IMO *any* lawsuit will shake
>faith in the OGL. TSR "won" against Mayfair, but TSR AND the gaming
>industry "lost" a great deal in the process. >>
>
>Interesting theory: the conflict between intentions and consequences. And
>you cite some plausible examples of how such might happen. Others disagree;
>but I think you make a case for plausibility.
>
>Now... Clark has made a case for the conflict between your intentions
>(making a database of maximal utility to OGL developers) and a plausible
>consequence (potential consumers downloading so much stuff from your
>database as to make OGL commercially unviable). You may disagree; but I
>hope
>you can see that Clark's concern in plausible.
>
>And in BOTH cases -- the filing of the suit and the creation of the
>database -- the acting parties would be entirely within their rights as
>specified by the OGL. That does not make the consequences one less bit
>serious, should they come to pass.
>
>You will choose to do what you will. You may argue that the benefits for
>any
>commercial producer outweigh the costs. But YOU don't get to decide that
>(though I urge you to keep making your case, since we're all better off if
>you're right). Clark does, for SSS. Steve does, for White Wolf. And so on,
>and so on. And just as you urge people to avoid the law suit if they can,
>because you fear the unintended consequence... they urge you to consider
>the
>"reference list" database, because they fear the unintended consequence of
>the "exhaustive" database.
>
>Now I fear a different but related unintended consequence. As a D20
>consumer, I fear that I'll see no more products like "Creature Collection"
>or "Death in Freeport" or "Three Days to Kill". Why do I fear this? Because
>I fear that, until things settle down a bit, the major commercial producers
>are on the same verge that I as a wannabe commercial producer am on: ready
>to chuck it all and go back to my home brew system, where the risk that I
>will invest vast sums only to watch it all get downloaded away are less.
>Now
>the potential benefits are less, of course: Percentile Curves is just not
>as
>well known of a system as D20, and would make me happy to sell 100 copies.
>But the major players have had to carefully balance risks vs. benefits
>before sticking their toes into the water. Now your eager efforts to
>produce
>an exhaustive database are changing that balance. I GUARANTEE that this
>discussion is giving commercial producers doubts about the viability of
>this
>endeavor. What none of us know is just exactly how much doubt will cause
>the
>commercial producers to start the exodus. And just as you fear a
>consequence
>you cannot quantify, and Clark fears a consequence he cannot quantify... I
>fear that you may tip the balance past some unquanitifiable instability
>point beyond which there is no return.
>
>So while I would never try to tell you not to do what you can legally do, I
>would ask you to consider carefully the concerns that others have raised.
>Like your fears, theirs are not unfounded just because they cannot
>definitively prove them well-founded.
>
>Martin L. Shoemaker
>Emerald Software, Inc. -- Custom Software and UML Training
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>www.EmeraldSoftwareInc.com
>www.UMLBootCamp.com
>
>-------------
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