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Jazuela · 10-21-2003, 10:47 AM

Basically Stilton, Kavir is saying that the right to interpret a license belongs to the person who wrote the license, until and unless a court orders otherwise. Furthermore, Kavir has hashed this out in great length and detail with the DIKU folks, and even has a website dedicated to much of the discussions between them and himself on this very issue.

The person agreeing to the license does not have the right to pick and choose how they will agree. They agree to the letter of the license, and if there is any question on its intent, then the person agreeing to the license must by default go by the intent of the person writing the license. That intent has been made clear by the DIKU people, through Kavir and in numerous discussions in the past.

The straight dope on the matter:

You cannot CHARGE money for anything involving a DIKU game. You can charge for access to the HTML bulletin boards, but you cannot offer game advantages or game perks or game benefits for the fee. The builders, storytellers, or admin cannot collect a salary for their work. The two must remain separate.

You cannot RECEIVE money for anything involving the DIKU game. You cannot take donations in exchange for access, you cannot accept real money in exchange for game perks, you cannot accept real money to pay the builders, not even in donation form.

This is not only the letter of the license, it is also the intent. I don't see any way to get around it with an obscure loophole. Even if you take the part that says you can't PROFIT and try to work around that by taking money and not profiting, you still have to get around the rule saying that you can't CHARGE. No one is allowed to get paid, no one is allowed to charge. No money is allowed to end up in anyone's pocket. You can write off expenses til you turn blue in the face, but those expenses you incur, all by yourself, for the privilege of running the game in the first place. You're not entitled to compensation for that.
The DIKU license essentially tells you that by running their code in your game, you are DONATING your time, your efforts, and your own expenses, and you are not allowed to recoup any losses by doing so.

10-21-2003, 10:47 AM	#50
Jazuela Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: New England Posts: 849	Basically Stilton, Kavir is saying that the right to interpret a license belongs to the person who wrote the license, until and unless a court orders otherwise. Furthermore, Kavir has hashed this out in great length and detail with the DIKU folks, and even has a website dedicated to much of the discussions between them and himself on this very issue. The person agreeing to the license does not have the right to pick and choose how they will agree. They agree to the letter of the license, and if there is any question on its intent, then the person agreeing to the license must by default go by the intent of the person writing the license. That intent has been made clear by the DIKU people, through Kavir and in numerous discussions in the past. The straight dope on the matter: You cannot CHARGE money for anything involving a DIKU game. You can charge for access to the HTML bulletin boards, but you cannot offer game advantages or game perks or game benefits for the fee. The builders, storytellers, or admin cannot collect a salary for their work. The two must remain separate. You cannot RECEIVE money for anything involving the DIKU game. You cannot take donations in exchange for access, you cannot accept real money in exchange for game perks, you cannot accept real money to pay the builders, not even in donation form. This is not only the letter of the license, it is also the intent. I don't see any way to get around it with an obscure loophole. Even if you take the part that says you can't PROFIT and try to work around that by taking money and not profiting, you still have to get around the rule saying that you can't CHARGE. No one is allowed to get paid, no one is allowed to charge. No money is allowed to end up in anyone's pocket. You can write off expenses til you turn blue in the face, but those expenses you incur, all by yourself, for the privilege of running the game in the first place. You're not entitled to compensation for that. The DIKU license essentially tells you that by running their code in your game, you are DONATING your time, your efforts, and your own expenses, and you are not allowed to recoup any losses by doing so.