CF: Licensing

[dragonm <dragonm@leech.org>]

Reading the WorldForge page today, I noticed something else that applies to
Crossfire -- a license.

The Crossfire code itself is distributed under the GPL, but there's a great
deal more than just the software involved in a game.  The artwork, sound
effects, rules, and documentation are all material that the GPL doesn't
really cover very well.  Richard Stallman has been busily addressing that
problem.  Version 1.1 of the GNU Free Documentation License was released
this March, and bears investigating.

For a comparison of the various available non-software "open source"
licenses, see:
http://www.neptune.net/~bryce/licenses.txt

The article compares the OpenContent, GNU FDL, and the Open Gaming Licenses.
The author concludes by settling on using the GNU FDL for his content.  I
like the FDL as well, and would like to see some discussion about using it.
Primarily, I think the Player's Handbook should be explicitely licensed
under the FDL.  This would require concurrence from all of the copyright
holders, which is a fairly long list, but I think it's worth pursuing.

Other components of the game, such as the graphics, might benefit from some
more applicable, explicit licensing as well.  I don't know that the FDL
would apply to the game graphics, or that the terms of the OpenContent
license are acceptable (since it doesn't explicitely require redistribution
of what the FDL terms "Transparent" sources, i.e. editable), but I think it
bears investigation.

Opinions?

DM

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Wedel
To: crossfire mailing list
Sent: 3/24/00 8:31 PM
Subject: CF: Re: Split engine vs rules?

dragonm wrote:
> 
> This concept echos the design of the WorldForge Project.
> http://www.worldforge.com

 Thanks for the pointer - I hadn't heard of that before.  Others on the
list may
be interested.

<chop>
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