It got me thinking...
I was flamed on another board (and perhaps rightly so, I am not sure
yet. I did not care for how it was done, but I am not sure I can say
the person was wrong) and I had a thought.
This community (DragonQuest) is very protective of private material.
Now obviously, people don't want their hard work stolen, and credit
taken for their work. But I would remind everyone that it is a game,
and one long out of print at that.
Here are a few examples:
About two years ago, I announced that I was trying to put together a
compendium of rules. I contacted several people, and asked if I
could use their stuff. The response was generally good. Most people
said yes. Though many that said yes wanted to make sure they
received proper credit. I asked if a simple inclusion on the cover
page was adequate, many hedged, and asked that they be included next
to the items they included. To sum up, the thought of keeping track
of who sent all the things I had accumulated over the years was
daunting. A lot of the stuff was gained from opinion posts... do I
include all of those? and who posted them?
Sea Gate asked that a copy of the rules they had converted to
electronic format be removed from this site. (not the rules they had
CREATED mind you. just converted to electronic format with some
house rule mods)
What if someone whose material I had included made the same request?
A lot of work for nothing.
(for those of you wondering, my tech writer friend bailed, real life
has intervened, and all of the above reasons have prevented me from
completing the compendium)
I have seen more than one flame war about stolen material over at the
townhall.
Now here is what I am NOT trying to do here:
- Start a flame war
- Suggest that anyone who wants to protect copyrighted material is in
some way not being friendly, or not within his or her rights, or a
valuable part of the community.
Here is what I am trying to suggest:
This is not the strongest online community... and it could be!
Perhaps if we were all a little more communitarian, the game would
benefit. When I conceived a compendium (before I realized what I was
getting into), I thought "wouldn't it be great to have something like
this, for everyone to share". I am not saying I am better than
anyone, who choses otherwise (let me reiterate that as many times as
needed). But if we were more interested in the community, and less
interested in ourselves, we might get far. Perhaps I am wrong. Call
me a commie (or a hypocrite) if you like :-P
Anyone else want to ring in on this one? am I way off base?
PS many people DO put the community very high on their list, and DO
work their ass off for it, Rodger Thorm, Snarafu, John K and others I
am forgetting... don't get me wrong.
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