[MUD-Dev] Criminalize Community Volunteers?

[Madrona Tree]

>From: "Dave Rickey" <daver at mythicgames.com>
>Reply-To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
>To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
>Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Criminalize Community Volunteers?
>Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 10:10:44 -0400

[snip]

>     But it could *seriously* impact the development of commercial
>efforts.  For example, NWN is predicated on the notion that players
>will develop their own content and let people into their worlds, what
>if Interplay had to pay these people royalties (since this free
>content is an assumed part of their product)?

Here's the difference:  Interplay/Bioware is selling a product; AOL is
selling a service.  Bioware won't continually make money off my NWN
campaign.  They may sell a few more copies of their game if I convince
my three friends to buy it and play it with me, but that's no different
than a table-top game.

[interesting thought:  what if I decided that my campaign was so
wonderful that I charged a fee of $5 to anyone who wanted to download
it?  I'm sure Bioware has discussed this issue - i wonder what they
decided?]


>iD released Q3A with minimal included gameplay, Deathmatch only,
>expecting the fans to implement more sophisticated game types for
>free, does iD owe them money for finishing iD's deliberately
>incomplete product?

No.  iD sold a set of tools, which is also a product.  Does iD charge
for their game-matching service?  If so, I think that might change the
situation.


If I were on the jury, I'd find for the plantiffs.  I do not believe a
service such as AOL (or EQ or UO or any other such for-profit
corporation) should use volunteer labor.  They are taking away a job
from a person who really needs one.  If they need help running their
service, that's fine -- just hire somebody to do it.  That's the way the
world works.  And what better employee to have than the people who have
already shown that they'd do their job for free!


Madrona Tree.



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