Things have changed! When you attach a file to a forum post, you are offered a bewildering array of options. Suddenly, we are asking questions about that file you're attaching: Where'd you get it? What can other people do with it?
And it would be reasonable to ask some questions right back at us like: Why are you pestering me with this stuff? What was wrong with how we had it before? Is this what George Orwell was talking about in 1984?
Okay, let me explain...
I've observed the forum for three years now, and I know that we have something special here. The forumites are much more creative and intelligent than the typical gaming forum. It really is true--just look around! I love it when people make new holds, art, stories, and songs. It's really wonderful to see people's capabilities.
I want to promote more creativity and media-sharing on the forum. When someone decides to get serious about a project, I would like the forum to be useful for expressing and protecting how that person's work can be used. So Schik worked his monkey magic, and now we are putting a new tool in your hands to do this.
When you post something as an attachment, and it's your own work, you get to decide how you'll allow others to use it:
1. The default option is "
public domain"
--that means anybody can use it for whatever purpose with no obligations. This is the simplest and most generous licensing option. If you aren't concerned about how your work is used, then I encourage you to specify public domain licensing. As an example of doing this, Caravel released all of the media (not the source code) from
DROD: Architects' Edition into the public domain.
2. You can also post an attachment under a Creative Commons license. There's a lot of info about this kind of license at creativecommons.org. Basically, you can allow people to use and distribute your work, but put some restrictions on it like they must give you credit as the original author or the work can't be used for commercial purposes. A nice thing about CC licenses is that once you understand what the icons mean, you can see at a glance (without reading legalese) what you can do with someone else's work. There are many sites out there that have CC-licensed content you can grab too, so if you learn about how to use CC licenses on DROD.net, the same knowledge can be used in hundreds of other places.
3. There is an option to post attachments with "
All Rights Reserved"
licensing. This means that nobody can use your work without your permission. This is the most restrictive licensing option, and should be used when keeping control over the work is more important than making it easy for people to use it.
4. Finally, for licensing your own work, you can also use the "
other"
option. I recommend avoiding this option unless you have a good reason to use it, because it will be harder for people to know what your intentions for use are.
There are also licensing options for when you are not the original author of the work. When you choose these, you are just trying to represent the original terms that allow you to redistribute the work, as opposed to making a selection based on your own preferences. If the thing you are trying to post doesn't give clear permission for you to use it, then you may want to link to the work on a different site or ask the author/copyright holder for permission to post the work on the forum.
Some licensing options require that you specify your real name in your profile. This is so that the agreement with the public is legally enforcable. To specify a handle instead of a real name in a legal agreement, makes the agreement hard to take seriously.
There are many examples of content on the site that doesn't have licensing specified for it. We aren't going to go back and retroactively say how things are licensed. (Too much work!) We'll just leave them all with an ambiguous "
Other"
licensing. If anyone posts an original work of their own on the site (a hold, contest entry, etc.) by default under American copyright law, the author reserves all rights to it, and that's how we'll treat it.
This is the first step in a big plan to fill the forum up with crazy creative energy. In Caravellian style, the next step of the plan will drop into place without warning. There are dramatic events in store. You are in the right place at the right time!
-Erik
____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
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[Last edited by mrimer at 09-22-2005 07:11 PM]
For example I selected all rights reserved when attaching the file to this post.
