> Point taken, John. I'm an idealistic newbie, so forgive me my visions of
> everyone helping each other to achieve a goal. :) I just keep forgetting
> that the ultimate goal here is money, not support of open gaming.
Don't get me wrong--I'm all in favor of helping each other, and I wouldn't
say that money is the ultimate goal, but I can certainly understand why Ryan
and WotC would rather spend time correcting actual errors and violations
rather than answering hypotheticals. :) And better yet if everyone
understands the license and there are no errors/violations to correct. In
the ideal, the OGL and D20STL leave everyone maximally free to spend time
creating content, not worrying about legal issues.
Everyone says "ask your lawyer!" -- and while I of course am going on record
supporting that vanilla advice, the real value I see in the OGL is that it
makes things reasonably easy WITHOUT asking a lawyer, so long as you're able
to read and understand the documents, are willing to do any corrections
should, say, Ryan let you know you're doing it wrong, and accept the
consequences if you screw up.
(And as for asking lawyers--I've seen more than enough violations of various
OGL and D20STL clauses to wonder whether the lawyers being consulted have
actually read or understood the documents themselves. We all have to tell
people to ask their lawyers because we are not ourselves qualified to offer
legal advice or willing accept liability for people following our advice; it
doesn't mean a lawyer actually knows diddly squat to tell you -- but that's
their problem and their bar association's, I suppose.)
------------------------------------------------------
John Nephew voice (651) 638-0077 fax (651) 638-0084
President, Atlas Games www.atlas-games.com
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