Is that supposed to say notation? Has it always said that?
You need to give us at least a link or another quote source to reply to that.
OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000
Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.
1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted;
Well, potation is a real word, but it seems unlikely to be intentionally used in that context. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:
Definition of POTATION
1 : a usually alcoholic drink or brew
2 : the act or an instance of drinking or inhaling; also: the portion taken in one such act
A potation is a rotation of a potato.
Since the license grants you the right to Use the Open Game Content, it seems to be saying, quaff it, roll it up and smoke it.
Q: What is potation?
A: A potato-based Vodka potion. Either that or Poteen made from potatoes that is miscible with potions.
Obvioushly. Doan be shilly. Good shtuff. %Hick!!%
I looked up the official WotC 1.0 version Open Gaming License. Potation is in there. I have no idea WHY it's in there, but it's in there. Also, I'm impressed you noticed it. Did you copy/paste it into something with auto-spellcheck and it got underlined, are you a really careful reader of documents, or was it random chance? How did you stumble across this bizarre inclusion?
I looked up the official WotC 1.0 version Open Gaming License. Potation is in there. I have no idea WHY it's in there, but it's in there. Also, I'm impressed you noticed it. Did you copy/paste it into something with auto-spellcheck and it got underlined, are you a really careful reader of documents, or was it random chance? How did you stumble across this bizarre inclusion?
I just switch to LibreOffice from OpenOffice.org a month or two ago. Last night I updated the spell-check and used it on a file I was correcting for errata. While I was doing the hand-check, I noticed a little red squiggle. Apparently, MS Word's dictionary is extensive enough to pass potation, but the LibreOffice's working version isn't. The first thing I did was Google the term. I was convinced it had to have some legal meaning of which I was unaware; otherwise, how could it have gone so long without someone commenting on it?
Potation means to transfer something into a different format, IIRC. There was an analysis of the OGL back in the day where they pointed out that the lawyers insisted this was necessary legalese. Or else it was written by an american vice prez.
Not even the Oxford dictionary suggests an alternate definition to the one I posted above.. Perhaps it's a very branch-specific term.
Maybe it was used as a metaphor in one specific court case, of which one of the Wizards lawyers was very fond.
You say potation, I say potation.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Brian Lewis, who was Wizards' attorney on this project, and coincidentally is now Paizo's attorney (but of course no longer involved with the OGL), insisted this term be included. It is a legal term of art and refers to a process akin to translating something from one form to another. It's not an error.
I think Brian was just showing off for his legal peers. :)
Potation, Potahshun...
If the potation is intended to be in the copy-pasta, we must be talking about gnocchi.
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Brian Lewis, who was Wizards' attorney on this project, and coincidentally is now Paizo's attorney (but of course no longer involved with the OGL), insisted this term be included. It is a legal term of art and refers to a process akin to translating something from one form to another. It's not an error.
I think Brian was just showing off for his legal peers. :)
What I think he actually did was walk into a pub with some lawyer friends and had a conversation that went like this:
Brian: Howdy folks, how did your week go?
Tom: A divorce. With fighting.
Janet: A terrible due diligence. The CEO was staring at my rear all the time...
Hank: Yeah, and I've had a manslaughter. With a machete. Brian, how about you?
Brian: Well, you guys remember this board game company I work for, right?
T+J+H: Yeah, Sorcerers by the Shore?
Brian: Close enough. So they had me draft an open license for them, and guess what I did? I wrote the word "potation" in it, and when they asked what the hell does that mean I put on my stone cold face and told them it's some Very Specialized Legal Term and it absolutely had to be in.
T+J+H: BROUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA good one! And they bought it?
Brian: Sure they did!
I finally managed to find a non-OGL-related use of potation, in a thesaurus for standardized tests. In the entry for draught, potation is used alongside words such as draft, sketch, design, and plan:
draught: (n, v) draft, sketch, design,
potation, plan; (n) dose, air current,
wind, gulp, outline; (v) blueprint.
So the lawyer was right, after all :)
CEO
|
Brian Lewis, who was Wizards' attorney on this project, and coincidentally is now Paizo's attorney (but of course no longer involved with the OGL), insisted this term be included. It is a legal term of art and refers to a process akin to translating something from one form to another. It's not an error.
I think Brian was just showing off for his legal peers. :)
I guess you learn something all the time! Thanks for chiming in Ryan!
-Lisa
I swear that I asked Brian about this a few years ago, and he told me he had no idea how it got in there.
I think it might be self-explanatory...
2. A drink, especially an alcoholic beverage.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Does this mean that potatoes are Open Content?
Not if Monsanto has done genetic modifications on them.
Could it be a linguistic evolution of "portation" or "porting" perhaps?
I am so baked right now....