> woodelf > > in my defense, i look at other open > content licenses, many of which explicitly state that if part of a > work is open, the whole work is derived from open content, and must > therefore be open. i'm not sure this is a practical stance in any > field, much less RPGs.
I guess the real question is what is of greater concern to you: whether a specific bit of fictional material is "open" and stays that way, or whether the work as a whole is "open". From the perspective of an author who's work would be used, I have to say that in either case my material will always be open, so to me (and to many) the point is moot. As has been stated earlier, GNU and Berkley-licensed "open" works are combined with proprietary code all the time and nobody at the FSF have batted an eye. The core of Mac OS X is FreeBSD and MACH, but that doesn't make QuickTime open source (nor should it). And while one can claim that "that is software, this is different", or that "both are flawed but that doesn't refute my position" I say that to take such an ivory tower position is, in this specific case, self-defeating. It reminds me of the old joke about the mathematician and the engineer. They are both placed 6 feet from a beautiful woman and told that they can kiss her only if they can reach her by walking half the distance to her with every step. The mathematician sighs in despair, because he knows that one can never reach her because she is clearly standing on an asymptote. But the engineer strides boldly forward and reaches her after only a few steps, because he knows that a few inches is plenty close enough. The OGL is close enough, and the flood of SRD-based products is proof enough for most of us. Claims to the contrary sure sound like sour grapes. > if people like Gandhi and MLK Jr. Oh please. Gandhi and King were EMINENTLY practical people. They found ways to achieve their goals in the only manner that was both practical and ethical for them. I have no idea where you are going with Hawking. I will leave you with a final thought. In a perfect world where Open Content was universally understood to be your definition, the SRD would never have been created. There would be no Red Hat, no O'Riley, no Creature Collection, no Freeport. Personally, I prefer the flawed world to vacuum. -Brad _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
