Months back, Wizards of the Coast released their “Fansite Toolkit“, essentially a package of images for D&D that could be used for bloggers and similar in exchange for agreeing to, well, a lot of terms about citations, trademarks, and usage.
The release raised a lot of questions among the potential audience for it (bloggers) and so we emailed Wizards of the Coast to get some clarification. They provided us two short answers, which don’t cover everything, but do provide some information.
Critical Hits: Many bloggers are worried that this is full “fan site policy” that has been promised is coming for a while now, and worry they won’t be able to legally talk about D&D 4e without adding a lot of extra trademark notices and whatnot. Is that the case, or is it what others have assumed that those terms and conditions only apply if you wish to use the Fansite Kit (which is primarily, at the moment, a collection of images).
Wizards of the Coast: Bloggers may talk about 4e and our products as much as they like. If they want to use images we strongly encourage them to use authorized images from our fan site toolkit, in which case use of those images and logos are subject to the fan site policy.
Critical Hits: There’s some confusion about producing game content and putting it up on a blog. The Kit says that adventures, monsters and other game content (even ones that are not for profit) are covered by the GSL, but the GSL says it does not cover websites. Where does that leave someone who just wants to post a new power or something?
Wizards of the Coast: At this time, fans are allowed to use the assets provided in the Fan Site Kit, and they are allowed to create their own RPG material pursuant to the GSL. Anything beyond that is not expressly authorized by Wizards at this time.
The first one is a bit more positive, second one not so much, though I have heard that the GSL/Website issue is one that is still being worked out. I hope it at least provides some clarity on the subject, but in the time that the kit has been out, I’ve only seen one site ever use it, and plenty more talking about how bad it is. I suppose time will tell whether it was a good move or not.
If anyone has any more specific questions, I can see about passing those on.
I do daily backups of my site using WordPress’ export feature just in case the day Wizard’s decides web sites can’t have player options. Though most people don’t seem to even care about web sites that host new powers and stuff, so perhaps Wizard’s won’t either.
.-= Wyatt´s last blog ..Spirits of Eden Combat Styles =-.
It’s fascinating to me that, after all this time, WotC still cannot wrap it’s head around the role of the web as a tool for information distribution in relation to tabletop roleplaying. It sometimes feels like they can’t hold the concept of an analog game (ttrpg) and digital communication (the web) in their heads at the same time, so they assume that same intellectual segregation exists for the rest of us.
Well, at least they responded. Hopefully, when they do get the policy done it won’t be crazy like White Wolf’s. Why does it seem like the RPG companies with corporate minders have the least fan friendly fan site policies?
Answer #2 is lawyer for, “Fuck if we know”
Well, I’m going to keep putting out 4E stuff until I’m told not to and I’ll try to keep GSL-compliant. I’m not going to change that until someone representing Wizards directly tells me to.
If there is concern about authorised images of products, I’m sure those with affiliate links will use those. Why saddle yourself with a ton of T&Cs and potential legal action for non-compliance when you can get similar images without the heartburn?
Complimentary review copies would be nice but a site kit probably needs more content than what you can find on Google. Bloggers are vocal fans – it seems like a no-brainer to encourage them?
.-= satyre´s last blog ..morality play =-.
Eh, I’m increasingly disappointed with roleplay publishing companies and their fan-site policies…
.-= Lunatyk´s last blog ..Show Me The Awesome =-.
Can I blunt on this site? How egregiously stupid must you be to send that sort of email to WotC or any other US firm with IP? What answer did you expect? They’re going to have to pass the email on to their legal department and the legal department has only one way it can answer. Honestly, what did you expect? And the worst thing about what you did is it could cause a WotC lawyer to order a review of fansites that were otherwise quietly existing. Remember, lawyers need work and you have possibly handed them an opportunity to create some. Next time you want to fan the flames of nerdrage just stick to a D&D edition war. But next time you want to contact someone about their IP… DON’T!
Derulbaskul: I think you have an incomplete understanding of the situation here and didn’t fully read the responses. We have a pretty good working relationship with WotC PR, and we frequently ask them for information and clarification, just like other news reporters.
According to the first answer, fan sites are free to talk about D&D, so I’m not sure what there would be that would cause lawyers to start going after fan sites. And I know that the GSL/website thing is something they already know about.
There’s nothing here about fanning the flames of nerdrage, just clarification about something that affects my site that they were fine with providing. So chill out, there’s no logical reason to not ask for clarification on a policy that could potentially affect us.
Unfortunately for fans, Scott Rouse has left Wizards. He’s been the only bulwark against a total reversion to the TSR internet policy, so now things are at best very uncertain as to the future of fan content, and fans lost their only remaining ally on the business side.
.-= Propagandroid´s last blog ..The Pathfinder Experiment, Report #1: Tide of Evil =-.
Well, if WOTC is short sighted enough to tie the hands of some of their best promoters (the fan sites) then I would suggest that there are many, many fantasy rpgs that aren’t so short sighted and would gladly accept the promotion.
In reading this, and a few other things at various sites, I wonder if perhaps this is the reason for The Rouse’s departure? I am under the impression that he left WotC rather than the assumption of lay-off or firing that has been made by many. Seems to me that if this is the direction (or lack thereof) that web-fan-interaction is taking, he might have decided to cut his losses while the work he has done for us can be remembered before his position gets associated with a general downhill trend in policy.