Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Dear MUD Administrator:

If your MUD contains: EnvyOLC, "ROMolc", "IvanOLC", "Sam's OLC" and several other MUD OLCs which utilize a modal editor "MEDIT" "OEDIT" "REDIT" and include a "RESETS" command, or use area files with keywords like "#AREADATA" and "#ROOMDATA", then your MUD is using an OLC which is based on The Isles OLC, and is part of the NiMUD source code package. It is owned by its surviving author, myself, and to preserve its open source integrity, we request that you comply by placing the following notices into your software:

In the title sequence, during login, near the Diku authors, pick one of the two following taglines:

1)
Contains code from NiMUD by Herb "Locke" Gilliland and Chris "Surreality" Woodward

or

2)
Based on NiMUD by Locke and Surreal


In the help files, there should be a help document viewable by anyone (by typing 'help credits') that is called "NIMUD" and contains the following credits notice:

------------

This software contains code that originated in NiMUD as The Isles OLC by Herb Gilliland and
Chris Woodward. The "online creation" system was first released in 1993 for Merc/Diku muds.
Parts are copyrighted (c) 1993-2009 H. Elwood Gilliland and Chris Woodward (deceased).
Originally ported to "pure" Merc by Jason Dinkel and later adapted for use with ROM as ROMolc.

NiMUD and its latest version of OLC can be found at:

If you or the administrators of this MUD paid for a copy of this software or one of its derived works,
you have been defrauded and should contact the appropriate authorities immediately to try to get
your money back.

The authors of OLC would like to thank:

Kalgen of Zebesta - world interaction, area detail, combat
Kahn, Hatchet and Kith of Envy Mud - user-friendliness, portability
Morgenes of Aldara - innovative, intelligent ideas, code:P
Alander of Rivers of Mud - good debugging!
Surreality - the late great chris cool

We also salute all those who have come before us, namely those who wrote the
innovative mud softwares of Silly, Diku, Copper, Circle, Merc and Aber.


--------------


Also, Jason Dinkel added the following requirement to the OLC itself, which your mud may or may not be in compliance with. A command "version" must exist in the OLC and display the following messages:

/*
* The version info. Please use this info when reporting bugs.
* It is displayed in the game by typing 'version' while editing.
* Do not remove these from the code - by request of Jason Dinkel

*/

#define VERSION "ILAB Online Creation [Beta 1.3]"

#define AUTHOR " By Jason()\n\r" \

" Modified for use with ROM 2.3\n\r" \
" By Hans Birkeland ()"

#define DATE " (Apr. 7, 1995 - ROM mod, Apr 16, 1995)"

#define CREDITS " Original by Surreality() and Locke()"

#define ADDONS " Mudprogram's (Mobprogram, Objprogram and Roomprogram) originally\n\r" \

" by the SMAUG development team\n\r" \
" Ported to EmberMUD by Thanatos and Tyrluk of ToED\n\r" \
" (Temple of Eternal Death)\n\r" \

" Tyrluk - or \n\r" \
" Thanatos - or \n\r" \

" Heavily modified by Zane () "

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Time flies, wasn't aware it was that time of the year again. How much popcorn will I be needing for this round?

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Are you saying that these requirements were in the original OLC code and people aren't following them or are removing them, that you're adding these requirements fourteen years retroactively to all OLC-using games, or that you're adding these requirements to games that download OLC from now on?

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

LOL.

I was thinking the same thing.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Are you saying, Wik, that these credits were never required previously, and are only now being required for the first time? That wasn't the impression I got from Locke's notice (which looks like it was probably e-mailed to to anyone who has been known to use that source code). It looked to me like a polite reminder to whoever admins a game utilizing that code, to make sure the appropriate credits are included. And it looked like he took the time to tell the admins exactly what the appropriate credits are, rather than asking them to look it up themselves.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

1) There were requirements in the original OLC code which have not been adhered to.

2) While the license remains unchanged, I have merely provided a different presentation of it to be more succint and to, hopefully, avoid problems in the future.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Some perspective for those who don't know who this guy is:

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Nice. You should at least put some NSFW tags on that for people who have actual jobs and bosses who wouldn't understand why that's on the screen.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

After reading his homepage, I would ask if he were serious :eek: ... but I've seen enough in life to know he probably is! I guess that's what you get from a self-labeled megalomaniac.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

The more curious among you might want to ask him why he's stripped the Diku+Merc credits out of his codebase but is insisting his own credits get plastered all over everything.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Careful, he invented "homepage"...
;)

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

The term you're looking for is narcissist. It makes you wonder why a person develops such insecurity and need to make wild claims to build their self-image. My guess is that it was his name. It couldn't be easy growing up with the name Herbert Elwood and if my parents named me something like that I suspect I'd have grown up feeling insecure as well.

The funniest thing is that amid all the boasting of his intelligence he manages to make numerous punctuation errors.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

I'm pretty careful with that, but I do admit I have some of my own opinions on English which may not fit in with yours. Looks like you're like the rest of these folks: you prey on other people's mistakes. You know what they say about glass houses..

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

We've dealt with this elsewhere. Perhaps you should visit that forum to follow up on that thread. I have not "stripped the credits", I have written new files that do not include the credits because they are new files. I challenge you to find more than a few lines of similarity between Merc/Diku and NiMUD. I do credit them, but I will not add those notices to every single file because those files are not Merc/Diku's files.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Except for how they are, and for how Davion proved it. And any cursory examination of your files will show the same.

And where have we heard such BS before? From everyone's favorite code thieves of course. The Mercthievia team. "We rewrote the whole thing so we don't have to follow the license anymore". Sound familiar? You haven't done anything any more substantial to Merc 2.2 than anyone else and yet you seem to be one of the few who insists their work is now your work.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Keeping in mind that I credit these people in my title sequence and in the help documentation . . .

Medievia did this in the late 1990s. They charged for their services. They also had only added a few features beyond DikuMUD itself. Medievia was not signfiicantly different than Merc/Diku and included much of the content from Merc/Diku.

I do this because I have a vision. If you choose to ostracize me that, again, is your ignorance. There was a point, sitting alone in my office, when I realized that I did not like the idea of being a slave to another person or concept. I do not feel that I am a slave to Diku and Merc, and I feel putting their names on my work is going beyond the line. I think they would agree. Why would they want their names on my work?

I think the relationship between NiMUD and Merc/Diku is already effectively described by including commentary from prior sources, and does not need anything more than the credits being in place because, frankly, they did not write the following files:

admin.c (similarly purposed like wiz.c)
config.c (similarly purposed like act_cfg.c)
grammar.c (my grammar engine)
map.c (from a snippet)
string.c (contains some credits to Diku)
admin_edit.c (from The Isles OLC)
convert.c (a file that I wrote that converts Merc/Diku areas to NiMUD area format)
graphics.c (my ascii graphics engine)
map2.c (from a snippet)
net.c (contains some mention of Merc team members)
admin_info.c (similar to, but not exactly like, wiz_info.c)
crypt.c (from a snippet)
handler.c (a file similarly purposed to Merc/Diku, but expanded considerably with all new systems)
mem.c (contains some mention of Merc team members)
parser.c (my script parser)
tips.c (my help tips system, fashioned after smaug)
alias.c (my alias system)
def.c (similarly purposed file, but more extensive)
html.c (my html generator)
money.c (my money system fashioned after ZebestaMUD)
props.c (the extensive NiMUD object system)
track.c (from a snippet)
ascii.c (my ascii renderer)
disease.c (from a snippet)
info.c (features I wrote based on Zebesta MUD)
mood.c (my feature idea)
translate.c (from a Perl application)
bit.c (a big long list of bits and their string meaning)
door.c (my advanced doors)
interpreter.c (very similar to merc/diku, but not really)
mount.c (from a snippet)
shop.c (not a diku shoppe)
board.c (from a snippet)
edit.c (The Isles OLC)
language.c (my language system)
move.c (my enhanced movement system and advanced room interactions)
sigsegv.c (from a snippet)
warmth.c (contributed warmth system by Duarven/MPV)
castles.c (my castle system)
events.c (my event queue)
lists.c (my linked list functions and some from a WOL snippet)
skills.c (my unique skill system with learn-by-doing)
worldgen.c (my world generation routines for dynamic space)
client.c (my client language, plus some MXP, MSP)
functions.c (my scripting language)
load.c (my original db and file formats now used elsewhere)
social.c (derived interpretation with some input from Smaug)
xrand.c (from a library)
combat.c (written by me and Newt)
furn.c (my furniture routines)
magic.c (original magic system)
spells.c (original spell system)


Facts:

Major differences:
NiMUD does not use Merc/Diku area files.
NiMUD has its own communication routines which are not like Merc/Dikus.
NiMUD has its own scripting language and OLC + OLC security
NiMUD has its own graphics system that incorporates MSP/MXP
NiMUD uses scene-based repop, not area-based repop like Merc/Diku
NiMUD has its own combat system and created HIT_FUN() weapon functions
NiMUD no longer uses the Merc/Diku memory manager.
NiMUD 5 uses different nomenclature than Merc/Diku ("actors", "props", "scenes", "cues")
NiMUD has its own Skill and Spell editors that work with its unique language.

Minor similarities:
NiMUD has a command table array like Merc/Diku.
NiMUD uses a few variable names and has a few lines which are similar to Merc/Diku.
NiMUD uses a few string functions from Merc/Diku that have had bugs fixed.
NiMUD has a few macros that are similar to Merc/Diku.
NiMUD uses some command names that are similar and function in a similar way.
NiMUD uses an attack system that is derived from Merc/Diku
NiMUD has a similar, though far more advanced, weather system to Merc/Diku
NiMUD has a similar calendar system to Merc/Diku
NiMUD uses something called an "extra description" (which I've seen in other, commercial products [games])
NiMUD has a far more advanced equipment system with more slots and generative descriptions

Features that are not owned by Merc/Diku that are present in many muds post-dating Merc 2.2, and, specifically, NiMUD, where they are all original implementations:
ANSI color features
Races
Extended skill system
Classless system
Levelless system
Language system (goes with Race system)

Features whose implementation is unique and/or original in NiMUD: (things I wrote based on other features or with similar aims to other snippets/features seen elsewhere or in RPG books)

Advanced furnishings (I wrote this for my MUD, it was later extended by Morgenes for Aldara ]I[)
Player castles
Deployable area templates and builder language (unique to NiMUD)
Copyover (I wrote it myself because the snippet didn't work or was incomplete and Erwin's is too)
Mounts (fashioned after Zebesta)
Warmth system (not even installed, was submitted)
Objective multi-coin money system (I wrote this from Zebesta, and I have seen it used on MUDs probably borrowed from me)
Trading/bartering/advanced shops/repair shops (my interpretation, all original code)
Space travel (includes real NASA HEASARC data)
Ranged Weapons
Grappling hooks and other minor vehicles
"extinguishable" lights (not present in Merc/Diku)
Generative HTML pages from NiMUD
Portals
Saveable areas and player housing
Concealed and secret doors
Lockpicks
3 magic systems: Ritualistic magic, Gem magic, Psionics
Clothing
Tools

Snippets I used that are not present in Merc/Diku, and were all heavily modified:
map2.c
map.c
track.c
disease.c (lycanthropy snippet)

If you write something for something.. such as a snippet .. this is not derivative because it is new work. It is compatible, yes, but it does not follow any particular license unless one is specified by the snippet author.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

So the code was in the public domain? You do realize that causes you to forfeit all rights to it, right?

As far as your little file comparison, shot down easily. net.c is comm.c with a few small revisions. Therefore NiMUD is clearly a Diku derivative and you are in violation of the terms by removing their copyright credits from the source files.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

So he's not just a narcissist, a braggart, a delusional egomaniac, a liar and an unfortunately named kid, he's also a thief?

LOL

Poor Herbert Elwood Gilliland the T'ird.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

You left out hypocrite. Remember, he's expecting other people to comply with his terms when he doesn't comply with Diku/Merc :P

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

I'm not sure what sort of discussion was hoped to be garnered from this post.

A reminder like this should have probably been sent privately to MUD owners suspected of using the code, if there are indeed any rights attached to it. This would have, at the least, showed an intent to pursue and enforce the matter.

I am assuming Locke is intending to pursue the matter, yes?

If not, you're just throwing dust to the wind. As someone planning on entering the software industry myself, AND as someone who cherishes the idea of supporting their community, I understand the concerns behind wanting to protect your work. Unfortunately, -this- particularly community is not made up of professionals or even well-intentioned hobbyists. While I have come to know some VERY professional and trustworthy people here, there are just so many people here that couldn't give a rat's ass about your rights... assuming you do indeed have any to begin with. This is especially true if you can't even earn enough respect from your fellow MUD admin because you've got a cyber-persona that is.... well, not very likeable to begin with.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

This is something Locke does every year about this time. Shows up on forums and demands credit for code he can't prove he even wrote, much less deserves credit for. The Isles OLC is his, but only people using that codebase, NiMud, or some version of ILAB could even be argued to be covered by his license.

But therein lies the problem. The code that was released got that way WITHOUT A LICENSE. There's no possible way anyone using it could have any idea who wrote it. Even the text of the ILAB distribution itself says The Isles OLC was released into the public domain - which means anyone can use it any way they see fit.

His claims that he is owed credit for any other OLC are patently absurd, he's demanding it if all you have is an OLC with the command name "redit" for instance. Well I have news, the partially complete OLC we had access to on Crystal Shard contained a command named redit, and the original implementors of the MUD said it had been in place since their initial launch. Which was in 1992 - before Locke decided to try and claim credit for having invented all this. I wouldn't doubt it if his initial efforts actually stemmed from the same source and he simply stripped those credits off like he's done to the Diku/Merc credits.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Locke,

I type faster than you.

Just so you know.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Would you all please stop insulting this man's intelligence.

He ponders super massive blackholes and singularity. I want to totally go over the event horizon with this guy and just die in a black hole to see what it's like.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

I was the co-author of The Isles OLC. It's not in the public domain, it's copyrighted to me and my friend, Chris Woodward. Jason Dinkel is not my representative, he cannot speak for me.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Then I would suggest you take this up with Jason Dinkel and not with everyone else who either isn't using your code, or used it with the innocent expectation that the license it *DID* carry was accurate.

Either way, retroactively applying a license that lacks a clause allowing for that to happen would not survive a court challenge. This is something I specifically asked the company IP lawyer once when a similar situation came up with one of my own projects and I was advised in no uncertain terms that the only way a license can be retroactively applied is if it originally came with a clause stating so, like you find in various ToS agreements with ISPs. Your code has no such clause, ergo it is not possible to retroactively apply the license to existing users. Only to new users from this point forward.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

In a world where sex offenders get 1 year in jail for sodomizing 4 year olds, anything is possible. I doubt your amateur legal opinion has any real significance.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Well said.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

The reverse is also true and your "amateur legal opinion" is equally worthless. However, his opinion happens to agree with the law. Your's does not.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Whereas I dont know much about the codebase in question, I was going to ask why the big deal about slipping a mention or two into a games credits if there was a chance that the authors code could have been used....

...then I soon realised what an obnoxious person Locke apparently was and lost interest in showing support...

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Mine may not have any real significance, but the company IP lawyer's does and apparently he got curious enough to have even come by for a look this weekend because I got an email from him more or less saying you'd lose and lose badly in court by trying to assert license control over a work that you yourself are violating. So much so he even wished it had been our IP so he could get started on the lawsuit tomorrow morning :)

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

This thread has it all: Black holes, legal arguments, child sodomy. What else can you ask for?!

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

I'm amazed at the quality of fiction you are producing, but maybe it's better suited to a creative writing forum?

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

According to Stanford.edu

"Transfers of copyright ownership are unique in one respect. Authors or their heirs have the right to terminate any transfer of copyright ownership 35 to 40 years after it is made."

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Thanks. That was what I was doing.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Terminate does not mean modify and that little quote refers to a transfer of ownership, not terms of use. Unless you were planning on transferring ownership of something you held copyright on to someone else, you're quoting something that's irrelevant to the discussion.

For all of your claims, you're really not very bright, are you? Or are you that desperate to not concede that you're wrong? Or is it both?

For what it's worth, I don't think you're being deliberately deceitful. I just think you're an idiot.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Ok, dude............

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Maybe I misunderstood.

To whom did you transfer ownership of your IP?

I thought you just released it with a license.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

You're the most qualified person here to comment on what's fiction and what's reality given you're an obvious master of fiction considering you're laying claim to something you can't even prove you wrote, much less that other people are using.

And since you don't even know the difference between a transfer of copyright and a license to use, are you sure you should even be commenting on it? Or are you backhandedly trying to tell us you transferred your copyright to Jason Dinkel? Because if you did, you have no legal rights here at all.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

No one's called anyone else a Nazi yet. I'm waiting with bated breath.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Well, to Envy, ROM, Jason Dinkel (sort of), and anyone uses the software. I have not defined a EULA, but I have defined a license, for the end-user if you consider the administrator the end-user, which stipulates the terms of an agreement. To use my software is to agree to my license. In a way, players/builders are also under a license. Licenses are owned and provided by the copyright owner, who is given the right to change his or her mind, the license, etc., at least within the provided 35-40 year range. In this case I am changing the contract by revoking it and issuing a new license. A license is a form of contract, but is considered technically a legal instrument.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Which brings us back to the point that you cannot retroactively change a license someone agreed to in the past unless that license contains a clause specifying that the user must comply with any future changes to the license.

You also can't revoke one someone agrees to in the past without a clause allowing for such a revocation.

In either case you cannot impose new terms.

People downloading and agreeing to your new terms would have to comply, but then they'd be complete fools to do such a thing given your track record.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

We've discussed this before, and it's not as simple as either of you (Samson or Locke) appear to make out. A bare licence can be revoked at will, but a contractual licence, or a licence coupled with an interest, cannot. Even lawyers disagree on whether or not open source licences (such as the GPL) are bare licences, so I don't think we're likely to reach any consensus about the NiMUD licence.

The issue is further complicated by the fact that the software in question appears to be a joint authorship, but we don't know whether it was one or both authors who issued the original licence, nor to whom the other author's rights were transferred when he died.

There just isn't enough information or legal precedent to give a clear answer. We can only speculate.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Yes, we've been over this before, and the above statement sounds about like something that was said during the last hashing of the issue of bare licenses. I have to think that a snippet getting released and becoming pervasive more or less satisfies the dependence issue on that snippet.

The bigger question still lingers around weather Locke even has the copyright on that big list of stuff to be dictating license terms to begin with.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

You're talking about promissory estoppel, which is both difficult to prove and unreliable in court tests (and also a principle of contract law, which may or may not apply in this case). Honestly, this situation is far from clear-cut.

He claims credit for so many things (and attempts to rewrite history so freqently) that it's practically impossible to say for sure, and really difficult to even guess. I know for a fact that GW2 isn't based on any of his work though, so I just delete wiki entries that claim otherwise.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Promissory estoppel certainly seems to be mentioned a lot in relation to bare licenses - both the real property version and the copyright version. So I don't really think it's as non-applicable as you may think.

He's made the same sorts of claims against Smaug too and Thoric had to chase him around for awhile removing bogus wiki edits trying to claim credit for Smaug's OLC too.

Considering who we're dealing with here I'm almost wondering if Chris wrote the code and Locke is only claiming credit for the work knowing the dead guy can't dispute the claim. May seem a bit ghoulish, but, well, Locke.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Makes you wonder what he's trying to make up for doesn't it? Parents that don't love him? Inability to get laid? A half-inch erect penis? Also makes you wonder what sets him off on his crusade to spread these false claims every year. Flunking out of remedial English classes? Anniversary of the failure of his only date? Lack of prescription refill due to his psychiatrist's annual vacation?

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Ok, first of all a license is a form of contract. Secondly, the bundle of rights that comes with copyright ownership dictate what you can do, and what you are allowed to do is revoke licenses within 40 years of their enactment. See Stanford.edu's Fair Use information for clarification posted somewhere else in another thread.

Well, Chris didn't have kids (second generation heirs) so his family (father, mother) get the other 50%. They have expressed to me that it's up to me. They have watched this thread and I'm sure they aren't happy about insults directed at me and his son, especially where people claim that we aren't its authors.

Also, there seems to be some confusion about the term "OLC" - while I did create this term along with Chris, I don't own it as a trademark. However, for historical purposes, I am the first person to call "online building" "online creation".

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Personally, I give credit just because it's the right thing to do. I don't know why it's a big issue either. A MUD that claims code as their own vs a MUD that credits the originators is no better or worse than each other.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

No, it isn't. It's possible for a licence to also be a contract, but that isn't necessarily the case. Note that while a bare licence can be revoked at any time, the same is not true of a contract.

You might find this of interest:

"A third problem with bare licenses is that they may be revocable by the licensor. Specifically, a license not coupled with an interest may be revoked. The term interest in this context usually means the payment of some royalty or license fee, but there are other more complicated ways to satisfy the interest requirement. For example, a licensee can demonstrate that he or she has paid some consideration–a contract law term not found in copyright or patent law–in order to avoid revocation. Or a licensee may claim that he or she relied on the software licensed under an open source license and now is dependent upon that software, but this contract law concept, called promissory estoppel, is both difficult to prove and unreliable in court tests. (The concepts of consideration and promissory estoppel are explained more fully in the next section.) Unless the courts allow us to apply these contract law principles to a license, we are faced with a bare license that is revocable."

Within 40 years, but after 35 years. See here:

"Section 304(c) of the Copyright Act, says that a copyright owner (or his or her heirs) can terminate all grants, licenses or transfers of rights (made prior to 1978) beginning on the 56th year after that assignment was made. This allows authors to benefit from laws that extended the term of copyright from 56 years to 95 years. The Copyright Act provides a five year period beginning in the 56th year, in which these grants, licenses and transfers may be terminated."

"Post-1977 grants, such as a songwriter agreement with a music publisher, may be terminated during a five year period beginning 35 years after the grant was made. To exercise the 35-year right of termination, authors must give written notice not less than two or more than ten years from the intended termination date."

If you issued the current licence in 1994, then you can revoke it in 2029.

Re: Compliance reminder if your MUD uses OLC
 

Thanks. I see it pretty much the same way. I tend to favor proper credit, though. However, Fair Use gives people the right to do things that are beyond the Diku license, as these cronies seem to be claiming. What I mean by that is that since its free, and your work is free, it has no measurable impact and one cannot sue for remuneration. You can view transformative works (like NiMUD) as fair use.


From Stanford's Copyright and Fair Use library:

Unfortunately, the only way to get a definitive answer on whether a particular use is a fair use is to have it resolved in federal court. Judges use four factors in resolving fair use disputes, which are discussed in detail below. It's important to understand that these factors are only guidelines and the courts are free to adapt them to particular situations on a case-by-case basis. In other words, a judge has a great deal of freedom when making a fair use determination and the outcome in any given case can be hard to predict.
The four factors judges consider are:http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-b.html

On transformative works:

1. The Transformative Factor: The Purpose and Character of Your Use
In a 1994 case, the Supreme Court emphasized this first factor as being a primary indicator of fair use. At issue is whether the material has been used to help create something new, or merely copied verbatim into another work. When taking portions of copyrighted work, ask yourself the following questions:http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-b.html