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KaVir · 01-09-2007, 04:51 AM

Agreed, but when talking about third parties (in particular, those such as myself who criticise licence violations) I don't think it's a "double standard" to assume other people have permission, unless there is evidence stating otherwise (such as Tad Williams, or the Diku team, stating their intent - and me being aware of that intent).

If mud X starts using codebase Y or snippet Z, I don't simply accuse them of theft until they can prove otherwise - I assume they are using it with permission unless evidence suggests otherwise. Equally, if someone is running a mud based on a novel, my stance is exactly the same. It's only in the case of codebases, snippets and authors where their intent has been made clear that I will criticise their use of IP.

Obviously, because of my background, I am more familiar with the intent of mud authors than novel authors - and perhaps because of the attitude of many authors towards fan fiction (as opposed to licenced software) it can often be difficult to determine the intent or wishes of an individual author (often because, while they perhaps don't mind fan fiction, for legal reasons they don't want to give any official permission). However I have criticised both types of copyright infringement in the past, when the intent was known.

Which obviously I wouldn't do - but neither would I shout "STOP! THIEF!" and phone the police. If the clerk had seen the person wave and walk out with the soda, I would likely assume that they had had permission to take it (or perhaps had some sort of tab set up). And if I had doubts, I would ask the clerk.

As an aside, my personal stance in regard to my mud own is that other people can't download my codebase and create derivatives of it, but they are welcome to create fan fiction (write stories, etc). So far only one staff member has written a short story based on it, but a couple of players have expressed an interest in doing the same, and I'm all for it - I've no personal interest in writing a story (let alone a novel), but it could provide some good publicity for the mud!

01-09-2007, 04:51 AM	#13
KaVir Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Name: Richard Home MUD: God Wars II Posts: 2,052	Agreed, but when talking about third parties (in particular, those such as myself who criticise licence violations) I don't think it's a "double standard" to assume other people have permission, unless there is evidence stating otherwise (such as Tad Williams, or the Diku team, stating their intent - and me being aware of that intent). If mud X starts using codebase Y or snippet Z, I don't simply accuse them of theft until they can prove otherwise - I assume they are using it with permission unless evidence suggests otherwise. Equally, if someone is running a mud based on a novel, my stance is exactly the same. It's only in the case of codebases, snippets and authors where their intent has been made clear that I will criticise their use of IP. Obviously, because of my background, I am more familiar with the intent of mud authors than novel authors - and perhaps because of the attitude of many authors towards fan fiction (as opposed to licenced software) it can often be difficult to determine the intent or wishes of an individual author (often because, while they perhaps don't mind fan fiction, for legal reasons they don't want to give any official permission). However I have criticised both types of copyright infringement in the past, when the intent was known. Which obviously I wouldn't do - but neither would I shout "STOP! THIEF!" and phone the police. If the clerk had seen the person wave and walk out with the soda, I would likely assume that they had had permission to take it (or perhaps had some sort of tab set up). And if I had doubts, I would ask the clerk. As an aside, my personal stance in regard to my mud own is that other people can't download my codebase and create derivatives of it, but they are welcome to create fan fiction (write stories, etc). So far only one staff member has written a short story based on it, but a couple of players have expressed an interest in doing the same, and I'm all for it - I've no personal interest in writing a story (let alone a novel), but it could provide some good publicity for the mud!