Hmmmmnnnnn...... someone help me understand why fans can't create and distribute fun stuff for free?
Perhaps the copyright laws are that strict? In which case, the entire industry has been hijacked.
Well I'm not a lawyer (nor do I play one on TV), but it seems to me that in cases like this a lot of power rests in the hands of the copyright holders. Whereas a company might turn a "blind eye" towards fan/community created works that utilise its IP, there is nothing that actually prevents them from deciding to take action against a particular instance of "infringement" if they so desire.
While our hosts here at Paizo have provided a Community Use Policy that details how the community can use its IP, thereby setting out the rules and requirements for fans who wish to create "non-infringing" works, WotC is still working on their version of such a policy, so at this stage it's unclear what they may or may not take umbrage to. I think it was mentioned upthread that the lack of such a policy was one of the reasons behind the quietitude at Candlekeep.
So while you could still attempt this project, you need to be aware that until such a time as WotC have a formal community use policy in place, they may decide to stop you from using any of their IP (this might take the form of a "cease and desist" letter rather than a lawsuit). Even with a community use policy in place, there may be a clause "you agree to present Wizards of the Coast, our products, and the Wizards of the Coast Material in a generally positive light" (paraphrasing a similar clause in Paizo's policy), so care would need to be taken to not to let any bad feelings you might have towards WotC appear the material you produce.
IMO, this project still seems to be one that is worthwhile pursuing, but it would pay to get some good advice from people doing similar things before you start.
Well, that's informative.
And, wouldn't you agree... too bad? I mean whatever happened to the Dragons of Pern fan club? Maybe its time for someone to create a wonderful campaign setting that itself is true open source. Then have all gamers around the world be able to develop and create for it.
It sure would be nice to feel a sense of community across the globe that way.
Perhaps the only way to do this... is to become a publisher and a game designer ourselves. And this gets us back to something I heard Monte Cook mentioning recently in one of his interviews... we're on the verge of an industry where we might see the rise of gamers publishing for gamers. The open design concept seems to be walking that way.
Thanks, Gamer Girrl.
In some ways, yes, it is too bad, but for an author protecting their livelihood it is unfortunately necessary.
Many of the clubs are still in existence (ours went into a long hiatus because the most active members were burning out keeping it all going for the casual show ups).
Something truly open would be awesome, but would probably still have to have someone "own" it to protect it from someone else trying to claim it ... and the worst part would be policing it to keep folks from putting in names, characters, info that they don't actually own (How many of us have seen L3G0LA5 etc in their fave MMO? <G>) I've had friends as GMs in Everquest, and the headaches they have finding and replacing all the illegal names alone would turn you old and grey ;p
I hope we can get to a point of having access to a totally open shared world that folks can play with and have fun, but until then, you'll find me happily exploring Golarion :)
Maybe its time for someone to create a wonderful campaign setting that itself is true open source. Then have all gamers around the world be able to develop and create for it.Something truly open would be awesome, but would probably still have to have someone "own" it to protect it from someone else trying to claim it ... and the worst part would be policing it to keep folks from putting in names, characters, info that they don't actually own (How many of us have seen L3G0LA5 etc in their fave MMO? <G>)
An intriguing concept...
Perhaps you could forestall some of these problems by using a similar open source license model to that used by Linux distributions. That is, start off with a "base" campaign world, and allow people to publish their own variants of it as long as they allow their modifications to be used by anybody else. Such a license should also have a clause to prevent people using IP (names, characters, etc.) that they don't own.
This would give individuals (or groups of individuals) the freedom to develop areas of the world that interest them without forcing them to submit to a "central authority", but rather allow their work to be "peer reviewed" based on how widespread it is adopted by the rest of the community.
|
I have read throught this thread. And believe me, I have a large collection of Realms Lore.
But in direct answer to you, I need to say ...
The king is dead.
And if, ten years from now, WotC does some legalistic thing to make Golarion cease to be published, claiming that it is derivative of their 3rd edition IP, I'll still have all of this Paizo stuff, and the dispensation of the king will matter not a bit to me.
I'll continue playing in the setting of my choice, just as we continued to run games in Greyhawk long after WotC abandoned that setting and in the Scarred Lands well past White Wolf pulling the plug on that one.
(Ditto Trinity, Aberrant, Adventure! and Vampire the Masquerade, all 'dead' White Wolf settings that my group still enjoys.)
But I'm completely immune to this spellplague thing. *My* Realms died in the Time of Troubles, when they killed off the gods of assassins and illusionists, because they thought those classes were ceasing to exist, only to find out after the fact that there would still be illusionists and assassins in the Realms and going 'doh.'
|
WotC does some legalistic thing to make Golarion cease to be published, claiming that it is derivative of their 3rd edition IP
In relation then, to the Forgotten Realms, has it been common knowledge that "playing in someone elses IP" can result in lawsuit?
I understand that writers need to be protected. I understand that artists have to eat. I'm not trying to steal anything. I am asking if it is reasonable, for a megacorp who makes its billions on crunch and fluffy imaginative bits to mandate any such limit as to how the "user" expresses their creative use of something designed for creative use.
Let me explain...
Pepsi-cola or mega-corp X makes product Y. Product Y earns billions of dollars because drinking it is fun and tastes great. Does mega-corp X get to mandate exactly how product Y must be sipped, swallowed, or gulped? Albeit a poor analogy, I am asking whether the mega-corp in an industry based on imagination, thought, and fantasy ideas should be able to deliver a product that is designed to be thought about, imagined, manipulated with thought, and expressed in story, idea, fiction, imaginative word and writing... whether that coporation should get to have their cake and eat it too?
Isn't the implication that the published works are just material used to build stuff? The actual Forgotten Realms Campagian Guide, and subseqent books such as Power of Faerun, and Serpent Kingdoms, are MATERIALS that are solde under the auspices that they are the raw materials for consumers to USE in the process of being creative, expressing a story, and making adventures with others.
I am okay being wildly off-base if this has come up before in law cases over the years. I'm simply asking whether DIY, or Home Depot, or LOWES has a right to mandate that I tear down a garage made from the raw material of lumber they sold AND WERE PAID FOR.
The makers of fantasy role-play games aren't just selling a non-permeable game system. Arguably, they are selling the raw materials with which gamers, fans, creative, expressive, PROLIFIC folk will take and shape into something such as a fanzine, new written character blogs, and maps of castles and keeps they've received from kings and lords living in "IP Protected" cities nearby.
As such, this all strikes me oddly, and suddenly. And, again, they have been paid handsomely for imagining, writing, creating, publishing, binding, and shipping these books containing raw materials.
I guess I just always saw the consumer's product as being quite similar to electronic bits like wires, fuses, coils, bulbs - - - and if an imaginative person wishes to pay for these parts, that person is entitled to freely share and distribute small clocks, or electronic buzzers and the like without fear that "wires" are somehow owned by Hasbro.
Further - and please forgive me if this sounds naiive, but I would seriously like to know - - could a mega-corp provide a cease and desist to make you tear down an outbuilding made of their lumber? Should a mega-corp require that the wires be ripped out of a building because the building is a public facility.
Please look past the inadequate metaphors, as this is just a messageboard post and not a refined legal argument. I am just asking - - - how is it that such products for which consumers pay handsome fees, come with such restrictions? And, shouldn't this type of product NOT be governed by the same "book" authority that a finished work receives?
If I pay for an R.A.Salvatore novel, I know that what has been sold to me is a finished work. When I pay $44.95 for a fantasy "supplement" I expect that it is filled of creative ideas designed for me to use for my own imaginative purposes, in ways never imagined or even intended by the designer/publisher.
And yes, I realize I am writing on the messageboards of a publishing company - - - but the world is changing you know, and perhaps it is time to question whether it was right for an IP Owner such as WOTC to "cease and desist" fan-created items, when in fact, the products that are paid for are designed to produce an outcome of "user-created" imaginative bits of fluff and crunch of their own accord, and which was, in fact, a featured appeal of the product for which the consumer paid hansomely to use.
?
In answer to your question about why a work like a gaming source is treated differently than a Soda or the Wood from the Lumber Yard ... the LAW. Copyright legalities have made it so that Corp X is FORCED to protect their intellectual property from any kind of non-licensed public use, whether it be a printed work, a computer code, or whatever, because if they do not, then they lose the right to protect it from all public use.
It may not make sense, but it is the law in the USA, where many of these companies are based, and they don't want to lose their livelihoods. And those billions of dollars, that's not going to an individual, but all the folks that belong to that company, and supporting the continuaton of that company. They have the right to protect that livelihood.
EDIT: Yes, you paid for it, for PRIVATE consumption/use. Not public. The laws are still changing and evolving because of the Internet and the spread of Computer use. But the presumption of all right of use is for use in your home and/or a private function. If you take it out of that environment, you are bending if not breaking the law.
In answer to your question about why a work like a gaming source is treated differently than a Soda or the Wood from the Lumber Yard ... the LAW.
There is also the fact that the former example is intellectual property, while the latter two are material properties. Intellectual property's worth lies in your ability to protect its use, since intellectual property made public can be used freely. Material property is, by its very nature, limited in use. You only need to protect material property as long as it is in your possession; once you have sold it to someone, the way in which it is used is no longer of consequence. Intellectual property is, if unprotected, unlimited in its use.
If someone has a soda, and they share it with someone, pretty soon that soda will be gone. It will have been consumed, and no matter how much attention they might have paid to it while it was still in their possession, they can't share it with more people. Its use is limited.
If someone has a set of game rules, and they share it with someone, their rules are still there. No matter how many people they share those rules with, and no matter how many people make use of the rules they shared, they will never "run out" of those rules. Their use is unlimited.
This is not simply a legal issue. It is an economics issue. Every time you run out of soda because you gave yours to someone, someone else has to make more soda, and this requires that you buy more of it if you still want some. No matter how many people you share those game rules with, the person who made them will not be able to profit off of you again unless he creates new rules. He cannot simply reproduce his intellectual property and sell it to the people you shared it with. No one would buy it, because they already got it for free.
This is why we have intellectual property laws. They weren't created just to make consumers' lives difficult, and as a body of law they make perfect sense.
As far as the "protect it or lose it" thing goes, that doesn't really apply here. That requirement only holds for trademarks, not copyrighted material. And even then, the company that owns the trademark does not have to actively enforce its registration if the offending non-registered use of the trademark is seen as minor or inconsequential.
Sorry for the thread jack but a quick question are you the same Fuchs who did the campaign Chronicle Titled Unther Buck I and if you are could you tell me if there is any way to get a copy?I run a heavily modified FR setting.....
Yes, that's me. The book is just a private work for my gaming group though - printed on demand - so there are no public copies, sorry.
|
|
Material property is, by its very nature, limited in use. You only need to protect material property as long as it is in your possession; once you have sold it to someone, the way in which it is used is no longer of consequence
Well, at the very least, I feel like I've conveyed my point. I think coming up with names of a town, some NPC descriptions, and a short list of potential adventures there is on the level of "raw material." That stuff doesn't seem like the output of a life's-work, its not a magnum opus, not a trade secret formua for Arby sauce... sometimes it takes less time that writing this post—as such, I hardly feel it deserves perpetual and undying protection, especially since those items were sold as raw intellectual materials to-be-used for another user created output; again, one of its selling points included in the value proposition to the consumer.
If I had my way, I would make the distinction in this fantasy rpg genre, that what is being sold are intellectual raw materials. In the case of novels, they would continue to fall under the established copyright laws, whereas, part of the implied value (included as a feature/benefit) of the product, is its maleability, fungibility, and otherwise potency to become part of the user's creation. I hold these items akin to those craft items one picks up at a craft store, for the purpose of becomming the components for home made crafts that may be sold.
And thus, it all strikes me as a bit off, still.
I'm glad, however, Scott, that you have added how much they make "perfect" sense - all the more reason for someone like me to try and re-think it a bit. Where you see black and white, I tend to see many more colors and shades; but as you are describing the law, I must defer to the black and white on this issue for now. Thanks for your information.
-Pax-
I'm glad, however, Scott, that you have added how much they make "perfect" sense - all the more reason for someone like me to try and re-think it a bit. Where you see black and white, I tend to see many more colors and shades; but as you are describing the law, I must defer to the black and white on this issue for now. Thanks for your information.
-Pax-
Someone like you would be better served to rethink throwing around veiled insults, Pax. You seem to see only in the colors WotC and not-WotC. No one bothers to call you out on your obvious and fanatical biases; you ought to extend the same courtesy to others. You especially shouldn't imply that a person's gaming preferences have any bearing on their good judgment, lest the same be said of you.
I think all of us would be better served getting back to indulging our games of choice, rather than debating the merits of decisions far outside our realm of control. Whether ranting or defending, all of this is an exercise in futility, and only serves to keep negative emotions festering.
The idea of a OGL setting is interesting, but I don't think it is really viable. Who would maintain it? Who decides how it develops? Who gets to pick the maps of the setting? Who chooses the deities and the planar relationships? Who ever gets to make those decisions is going to feel that the setting is more theirs than others. Everyone involved is equal, just some are more equal than others.
|
|
The idea of a OGL setting is interesting, but I don't think it is really viable. Who would maintain it? Who decides how it develops? Who gets to pick the maps of the setting? Who chooses the deities and the planar relationships? Who ever gets to make those decisions is going to feel that the setting is more theirs than others. Everyone involved is equal, just some are more equal than others.
Where's your sense of adventure? Your questions are good ones, but better addressed once we get something off the ground. I try not to let "no-no" type questions stop baloons from lifting. If we can even get something like this off the ground would be the starting question.
And, no offense meant, your questions are good ones, but heuristically speaking, I wouldn't know that until we got off the ground or further down the road (insert favorite metaphor here).
|
|
Someone like you would be better served to rethink throwing around veiled insults, Pax. You seem to see only in the colors WotC and not-WotC. No one bothers to call you out on your obvious and fanatical biases; you ought to extend the same courtesy to others. You especially shouldn't imply that a person's gaming preferences have any bearing on their good judgment, lest the same be said of you.
I think all of us would be better served getting back to indulging our games of choice, rather than debating the merits of decisions far outside our realm of control. Whether ranting or defending, all of this is an exercise in futility, and only serves to keep negative emotions festering.
Okay, I won't call anyone out on their fanatical biases. Good idea.
When it comes to the destruction of the Forgotten Realms, however, WotC is banking on a reaction that is the same as the past, that of sheep who placidly say nothing, and betting on a generation who will acquiesce in helplessness or go along with the incoherency formulated by corporate greed.
So, yes, gaming preferences at this particular tipping-point in gaming history do reflect a judgment - the consequences of which will affect the community for years to come.
For example: When the GSL (original) was released... we were OUTRAGED, and it was amended. But any negotiator knows that a good counterpart has an entry point and an exit point - - - they came barreling in with an unrealistic GSL, and had nothing been said, you bet they would have just kept it as is, and in their favor, and harshly written with such iron-clad restrictions to demonstrate who the boss in an attempt to monopolize the genre.
So, while I do accept your good counsel to not call-out to others lest I be called out, I maintain that on the side of what is right in this matter, the Destruction of the Forgotten Realms is far from "perfectly" sensible. Even the law is not necessarily perfectly sensible because just because something can be done, does not mean it should be done. And the Destruction of the Forgotten Realms should NOT have been done as it seems an afront to good reason and good judgment.
So, yes, it makes me do a double-take when something seething with such damaging nonsense is accepted blindly by someone who is a demonstrated supporter of the company that committed this crime against fans of the Forgotten Realms everywhere, as though it possessed a "perfect sense". Under these circumstances - the LAST thing that company should do is begrudge a community for continuing a timeline 1385+ that is consistent with their generational experience through patronage with the product for so many years. As pointed out, the LAW in this particular case unfortunately does not seem to make sense...if they have ostensibly "destroyed" the realms and abandoned support for what was, who would side with their technical "right" to Cease and Desist against Candlekeep, or a fanzine that continues the realms without WOTC.
What sense does that make?
I was upset with how WOTC handled the Realms, but honestly, its their property. They can do really stupid things with it. Just like DC can do stupid things with Batman and Marvel can do stupid things with Spiderman.
They don't owe the fans anything, they just can expect the fan base to stay intact if they do something stupid with the property.
I would have been one of your stupid, moronic sheep that you lump people into if WOTC had done little to the setting and just printed it as a 4E setting, because in a lot of ways, until recent changes weaned me off of the setting, I was a bigger fan of the setting than I was of any ruleset associated with it.
I written tons of articles for Candlekeep, and never once would I even think to begrudge WOTC their right to ask Candlekeep to take them down. They own the IP. While I think they haven't done the best with it, if you want comparisons, WOTC has probably been more respectful of Ed Greenwood than, say, DC Comics was of Seigal and Shuster, or of Bill Finger.
Honestly, I think this is verging on fanaticism at this point. I've vented, said my peace, and moved on. Its WOTCs property, and they can do with it what they want.
Pax, you have your ideas, and obviously you are going to stick to them regardless of what other folks say. Sometimes what you say makes sense, sometimes it is downright insulting, and honestly calling folks "sheep" because they enjoy anything that you do not is really being rude.
Material in a legal sense is something you can physically touch. It doesn't matter how much fancy dancing you do around trying to show it as something that applies to intellectual property such as a game world, it won't fly in a legal manner.
I appreciate that you are passionate about your likes and dislikes, but ramming it down everyone else's throat and calling names on those that don't follow you around blindly agreeing to your ideals? Pfui. I bow out of this thread, I don't like playing in toxic sludge.
For example: When the GSL (original) was released... we were OUTRAGED, and it was amended. But any negotiator knows that a good counterpart has an entry point and an exit point - - - they came barreling in with an unrealistic GSL, and had nothing been said, you bet they would have just kept it as is, and in their favor, and harshly written with such iron-clad restrictions to demonstrate who the boss in an attempt to monopolize the genre.
I’d be more than happy to discuss the GSL in another thread. Personally, I think it accomplished exactly what WotC was aiming for, and I have no complaints. They didn’t owe us an update of the OGL, and the original OGL did not accomplish what WotC had hoped it would.
When it comes to the destruction of the Forgotten Realms, however, WotC is banking on a reaction that is the same as the past, that of sheep who placidly say nothing, and betting on a generation who will acquiesce in helplessness or go along with the incoherency formulated by corporate greed.
And the Destruction of the Forgotten Realms should NOT have been done as it seems an afront to good reason and good judgment.
So, yes, it makes me do a double-take when something seething with such damaging nonsense is accepted blindly by someone who is a demonstrated supporter of the company that committed this crime against fans of the Forgotten Realms everywhere, as though it possessed a "perfect sense".
Honestly, I think this is verging on fanaticism at this point.
I disagree. It has clearly passed well into the realm of fanaticism. Pax, under all of that hyperbole, you aren’t really saying anything of substance. You may have spelled out what you refer to as “an affront to good reason and good judgment” earlier in the thread, but now you’re just screaming nonsense.
I’d played in the Forgotten Realms before 3E, and I knew the basics like who Elminster was, etc.; however, when I got my hands on the 3E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, I was enthralled. I started buying every FR supplement WotC released, scouring the internet and places like Candlekeep for information, and everything I ran was all Forgotten Realms all the time. Then one day, I sat down to brainstorm a one-on-one campaign for my wife. I wanted to set it in the Realms, but in an area where there was no established canon. I couldn’t find a single area. It seemed like everywhere I looked I saw “No Vacancy” signs. When I finally checked out the Great Dale, seemingly the emptiest place on the map, I found that it too was taken. Someone had already written a novel set there, and we’d have to contend with the Rotting Man. The Realms started to lose their luster. As 3E wore on it seemed like everywhere I looked Elminster and the Seven Sisters were constantly running amok, often naked and promiscuous, clobbering evil wherever it reared its ugly head, backed by the goddess of magic herself, who, although described as neutral, was clearly good by her actions, and the Symbul was singlehandedly holding off Thayan invasion. Eventually, I read Tears So White by Ed Greenwood himself, and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The confrontation between Larloch, the most powerful non-deity persona in the Realms, and the Symbul was simply too much. I officially became a disenchanted Realms fan, or what you seem to refer to as a sheep. All of the little nitpicky details about the Realms that didn’t quite fit added up to a mountain of discontent. The tacked-on feel of obvious real-world locals like Mulhorand and Maztica, the overcrowding with too much canon material, the WTMI level of detail down to how Realmsians wipe their rear-ends (I’m not kidding. You can find that info in one of Ed’s answers on the Candlekeep forums.), deities constantly hogging the spotlight, the masturbatory, Mary Sue feel of Mystra, Elminster, Khelben, the Seven Sisters…it was all too much. That became what the Realms was all about – too much of everything.
Judging from the barrage of complaints WotC was receiving in the forums, I wasn’t the only one. The Realms seemed to have become a place where WotC stable of authors set their stories, and there wasn’t any room left over for everyone else. So, just as they answered the overwhelming complaints they were receiving about 3E when they designed 4E, they went about fixing the overwhelming complaints they were receiving about 3E Realms when they designed 4E Realms.
I was ecstatic to hear about all of the changes when WotC first announced them – both with the system and the Realms. After a while I started to feel bad, though. I purchased the 4E Realms books, but I’d long since moved on to working on my own setting. I started to buy into the nonsense about WotC blowing up the Realms to please a bunch of ingrates who never liked it in the first place. I started to sympathize with those who had seemingly lost their favored setting for no real gain. I began to wonder just how bad the damage was, so I started reading the 4E Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide.
You want to know what? It’s not nearly as bad as everyone seems to think it is. In fact, as I’ve been reading it, I’m falling in love with the Realms all over again. All of the little pieces, the little bits of detail that make the Realms unique, are still there. As much as the Spellplague is described as such a brutal, destructive force, it has neatly and surgically trimmed away the bloat generated by a bunch of authors running wild in the setting and made it beautiful again. Rich Baker stated that a design goal for the 4E Realms was to universalize the Realms experience, and they did a good job. Returned Abeir, unlike some previous locales, doesn’t feel tacked-on. The long and beautiful history of Faerun is still there and very much acknowledged, but the present and future are left wide open for DMs and players to shape as they will. There are still some epic events brewing in a few areas, but there doesn’t seem to be the lurking threat of utter catastrophe at every turn. DMs don’t have to worry that Tilverton won’t be there tomorrow. It’s ironic that what’s perceived as the most destructive and world-changing RSE in history turns out to be the force that serves to settle things a little and give us a reprieve from the constant calamity that’s been the hallmark of the Realms for nearly two decades (real world).
The bottom line is that if you loved Maztica, Mulhorand, Unther, Halruaa, Mystra, or the Seven Sisters, you’ll probably be disappointed. Otherwise, everything else is still there, still relatively intact, and there are a few new places to explore. Some of the writing isn’t the most inspiring, and sounds more like designer-speak than artistic description, I’ll give you that; but if you love the Forgotten Realms for its intended purpose, that of a campaign setting and not a novel setting, it’s actually a really good time to be a Realms fan.
The idea of a OGL setting is interesting, but I don't think it is really viable. Who would maintain it? Who decides how it develops? Who gets to pick the maps of the setting? Who chooses the deities and the planar relationships? Who ever gets to make those decisions is going to feel that the setting is more theirs than others. Everyone involved is equal, just some are more equal than others.
Joint world development isnt anything new. A quick google search will prove that.
A "founding" group of members could build a "Bible" to help define and guide development, then its all the matter of following the guide lines voted on by the Founding members.
H.P. Lovecrafts Mythos is an example of joint creation also.
Its really not to different than allowing players in a gaming group to assist in world development. Gygax did that with Greyhawk, and The Realms has been developed a rich history by way of serveral game designers and authors.
Im all for an excercise like this...
Eric
The idea of a OGL setting is interesting, but I don't think it is really viable. Who would maintain it? Who decides how it develops? Who gets to pick the maps of the setting? Who chooses the deities and the planar relationships? Who ever gets to make those decisions is going to feel that the setting is more theirs than others. Everyone involved is equal, just some are more equal than others.Where's your sense of adventure? Your questions are good ones, but better addressed once we get something off the ground. I try not to let "no-no" type questions stop baloons from lifting. If we can even get something like this off the ground would be the starting question.
And, no offense meant, your questions are good ones, but heuristically speaking, I wouldn't know that until we got off the ground or further down the road (insert favorite metaphor here).
Well, there is an adage, "Look before you leap." I would hate for someone to start a project only to see it ripped out from under them by someone with low morals, just because they didn't do any real planning. I mean what if a project was started and got popular and WotC came in and started producing fiction books with it and then claimed and won the right to say it was their IP (please do not ask how that could happen, I don't know)? That would be pretty horrible. As I said I find it interesting, I just am not sure how realistic it is. If some ideas of how it could work were shown, heck I would probably be behind it.
EDIT: Besides to get started, you pretty much have to answer "Who would maintain it?" Who is going to provide the resources for it? If you do not answer that question, then the whole thing will never get off the ground to begin with.
|
I think Sebastrd is right - that WoTC was reacting to people on the forums complaining about the detail and depth of the Realms. But I think they were a very vocal minority. I think most Realms fans enjoyed all of the detail and the novels, otherwise, it would not have been one of the most popular and bestselling campaign settings in history.
I also think that companies do owe their fans and customers something. Most businesses do not operate on a "my way or the highway" business model. They try to please their customers and fans if they want to be succesful and continue to have customers buy their products.
|
|
Well, there is an adage, "Look before you leap." I would hate for someone to start a project only to see it ripped out from under them by someone with low morals, just because they didn't do any real planning. I mean what if a project was started and got popular and WotC came in and started producing fiction books with it and then claimed and won the right to say it was their IP (please do not ask how that could happen, I don't know)? That would be pretty horrible. As I said I find it interesting, I just am not sure how realistic it is. If some ideas of how it could work were shown, heck I would probably be behind it.
Good point. Some planning and research would need to be done.
The fact that this thread came about again as the result of thread necromancy (it was dead for about 10 months) and the fact that repeated warnings and the deletion of insulting posts has not clued everyone in to the fact that we'd like this thread to CALM DOWN, I'm closing it. Everyone has said their piece and there can be nothing positive gained from allowing this thread to continue.