Talk:Open Game License

Open gaming

If any editors familiar with the OGL, and with "open gaming" in general, would like to visit the Talk:Open gaming page and participate in the current discussion, your time and expewrtise would be greatly appreciated. -- BBlackmoor ^(talk) 19:38, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

References needed for criticism section

Almost the entire Criticism section of this article is currently unreferenced. Particularly troublesome is that talks about "various" sources making specific complaints about the OGL without actually citing specifically which person or which group is making which complaint and where editors can go to verify the complaint was made. So that section badly needs cited, verifiable references to back up who is specifically making what criticism about the OGL. Dugwiki 21:12, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

And now the "Criticism" section is completely missing. But there is a BIG one: game rules are not copyrightable at all. So all the license grants is the use of a trademark. All the rest is just bogus; granting you rights you already had (or even taking away some). Seegras (talk) 09:00, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Wizards' own FAQ section on the OGL includes questions such as "Does this mean Wizards can take my work and profit from it? Isn't that unfair?" IMHO, the criticisms that were levelled in the old version, though uncited, were certainly valid and important -- would-be licensees may come into this page looking for a non-legalese explanation of the rules.

Does anyone know anything about the implications of dual-licensing under the OGL? Smoke003723 (talk) 00:41, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

The Criticism section is in serious need of reinstatement. There is nothing mentioning how many believe the OGL to be a move, spearheaded by Ryan Dancey, to trick other companies into unwittingly giving away their rights as defined by US copyright law. The OGL claims to give rights (and limited rights, at that) to something that everyone already has the full, unlimited right to do under US law: that is, the right to copy game mechanics ( see: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html ). 24.78.202.178 (talk) 19:11, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

Copyleft?

How exactly is this copyleft?

Under a copyleft form of copyright license, the restrictions imposed are that the work can be copied, modified or used in any subsequent work if, and only if, the author of that subsequent work agrees to grant the same copyleft rights to the public to freely copy, use and modify the subsequent work.

While the OGL clearly states you cannot use their works in a subsequent work made using the OGL

7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity,

Doesn't that contradict it being copyleft?

So what exactly is the OGL? Sounds like nothing more than giving permission to create something so long as it doesn't infringe on copyright...which is the same as not having the OGL in the first place. So is Wizards claiming they have the right to sue for anyone creating something without including their OGL to it? It Wizards basically just trying to gain access to freely use 3rd party material without paying for it? shadzar|Talk|contribs 08:07, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

The OGL allows other content producers to use Wizard's D20 system (explicitly rather than ambiguously) and D20 trademark on their publications. This normally wouldn't be allowed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.48.5.2 (talk) 23:02, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

To be clear, the trademark issues have nothing to do with the OGL; those fall under the distinct (and now, defunct) d20 System Trademark license. That being said, to back up the prior poster and clarify, only a portion of a work would be specified as "Product Identity", a term invented by the license. The remainder of the material would be "Open Game Content", which can be reproduced ad infinatum without further permissions from the copyright holder, and requiring preservation of those rights. That fits the definition per the Copyleft article. - Sangrolu (talk) 19:53, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Notability tag removed

I removed the notability tag from this article. The edit note indicated that it was added because the article didn't have sufficient references. That's not the correct tag to use in these cases, since there is a difference between being of questionable notability and not having enough references. The correct tag to use in a case where there aren't enough references is the "refimprove" tag, which I added to the article. Rray (talk) 13:18, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

The notability of OGL is still in doubt because the sources cited do not meet the reliabilty requirements of WP:RS. The sources cited at the time of writing are:

1. An interview with the vice president of the publisher of OGL;
2. A blog, which is self-published;
3. A FAQ, issued by the publisher of OGL.

Please restore the Notability cleanup template which was placed on the article to address these issues, which should be left there until evidence of noability in the form of citations from reliable sources can be found.--Gavin Collins (talk) 18:53, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Context tag

I've removed the context tag, as I think the introduction provides context. If someone still thinks insufficient context is provided, feel free to re-add the tag or (better yet), rewrite the intro to provide the additional context that is needed. Rray (talk) 17:01, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

4th edition GSL/OGL/SRD?

does something need to be placed here or anywhere regarding these things? the special conference i think that was in a podcast and the article (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20080108a) on wizards website stated a few things, but nothing has been heard since about this. should it be noted that the OGL may be changing with 4th edition. or at least a new OGL specifically for 4th edition will exist seperately form the 3.x OGL and SRD? shadzar-talk 02:22, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

so no one has any idea on what if anything should be included about the several month old information about the new OGl that requires a fee to use? wouldn't that be a closed gaming license since only businesses with the $5000 USD are allowed to have acess to "OGL" amterial with the new editon? shadzar-talk 22:46, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

ok so now new information has come about the D&D 4E GSL. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20080417a shadzar-talk 21:29, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Be bold. If you see something that needs doing, go ahead and do it. I'll add something using your source. =Axlq 13:45, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

I am adding if/when information becomes available, but I do not understand legal stuf enough to add too much about a license. Currently there is a new version of the license being created and I also have little to no ability to cite things and ever get them to work in wikipedia as references. Thanks for looking into adding something for this. shadzar-talk 17:47, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Mutual Exclusivity and "Compatibility" of OGL and GSL

The article reads the "The GSL is incompatible with the previous OGL. The GSL directly prohibits material to be published both under the GSL (compatible with 4th Edition) as well as the OGL (compatible with 3rd Edition and Edition 3.5)."

According to the 4E GSL FAQ "There is no provision in the GSL preventing the of use [sic] the OGL but publishers must take care to not assume content in the OGL SRD is the same as like-named content in the GSL SRD."

I read this to be a warning against confusing like terms between the two licenses, not a prohibition against releasing material that utilizes both licenses. If, for example, a publisher were to release a product which includes GSL references then they could still release the non-GSL portions of that product under the OGL.

I think this is merely a matter of precision: Wikipedia's prominence as a reference tool necessitates rigorous attention to such precise details. In the absence of further discussion (or objections) I will edit the article to more accurately reflect the relationship between the OGL and the GSL. highmind89 (talk) 00:13, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Go for it, dude. 204.153.84.10 (talk) 00:29, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Notes on large edit of Aug 8 - 9, 2010

Just cleaning it up a bit. But as I worked I realized it needed a lot of work.

The introduction gave to much background and didn't explain the significance of the document. The change I made was to rephrase the introduction to a brief explanation of the of the significance of the OGL and to take all the other things that were previously included in the intro and create a new section titled "background"

Next, I have removed he section about the GSL as related to wizards. even though the same sort of document it has no direct relevance to this topic, outside of a tangent off its background. I have noted and linked it to the background section.

I added to the "terms" section missing info and clarification. Then split "terms" in two renamed it and expanded the new section for completeness and removed some inaccuracy from both sections

Now I moved the Background section beneath the use section and finished for the night.

I realize these are a lot of things all at once, but please refrain from reverting just based on that. If you don't understand what was changed, please let me know first and I'll better explain it to you.Ken Zug (talk) 07:12, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

It's not a frequently edited article, so I'm sure no one will mind the changes, but good work! :) 24.148.0.83 (talk) 16:24, 9 August 2010 (UTC)