Mr. Fred wrote:
Mark,
Early this morning, people in Europe learned about the replacement of the PCUP by the FCP. In my community, Pathfinder-fr, the last time I felt this level of despair and low morale was during the OGL-Gate. WOTC decided to change the game, ensuring every product would be released through their platform, giving them the final word on what is acceptable in a creator’s product. This was just one of many changes the OGL-Gate brought.
On Sunday evening, the developer team in charge of the Pathfinder 2e game system for Foundry publicly praised one of our members for her work. The next day, after reading the content of the FCP, we realized that all the work done by our volunteers, not only for our translation projects but also all our adoption initiatives, would have to stop or be considered illegal. The PCUP was replaced by the FCP without any notice—this is a cold shower.
With this announcement, I don’t know if Paizo botched its diplomacy check or critted on a demoralized check for our community, but all our volunteers are totally discouraged.
From your previous answer to Rectulo, I understand that you are not aware of the situation abroad. Briefly, our community has been actively working on the adoption of Paizo products since Pathfinder RPG was released, providing translations where there were none, generating game aids, and building a community through wikis.
Yes, English can be a showstopper in non-English speaking countries, to the point of being a factor of exclusion. Your partner in France, although doing a great job, has a huge backlog. Neither the Book of the Dead nor Guns & Gears are available, and the same goes for many adventure modules or most APs. They have to be selective in what they translate and publish.
Thanks to the PCUP, our translators deliver translations of PF2E Foundry compendiums usually within a month of their publication instead of selectively month or years later. This unofficial fan-based French translation cannot be used for any commercial ends.
We had a team...
This is so messed up. Mark, Paizo... a game lives and dies by its community. You can't just shut them out like this. This is worse than the OGL debacle, because this was done TO YOU first by Wizards. And now you're pulling something similar with Pathfinder's community? How is this remotely fair?
