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PCGen to Charge for Data Files
ChrisDolan writes "The folks who benevolently dictate the creation of PCGen, a D20 character generator tool (e.g. for D&D), are going to start charging for downloads of data files. This comes after a long series of talks with Wizards of the Coast. The PCGen code will continue to be LGPL, but some of the data files (a separate download) will be more encumbered than just OGL (Open Gaming License). The specific data files that will cost are ones that were never released under OGL and have WotC IP in them. Details on the Code Monkeys site." PCGen is a nifty app, but all this stuff annoys me. I bought all the 3rd ed books already after all... it seems stingy to charge users twice.
That you'll be able to download them off your favorite P2P client in a short time?
Boy... Wotc is sure grabbing for money now... this play, as well as the upcoming revised editions of the core books... which in all likely hood will not get the same reduction in price to start with as the un revised version did...
I have to say I like third edition much better than second. It's much easier to play and to convince newbies to play because mysterious concepts like THAC0 have been eliminated in favor of a more intuitive system. I wouldn't say it was sheerly a sales-motivated release, it was also an improvement.
On a semirelevant note, I modified an IRC bot I wrote to roll arbitrary numbers of dice of arbitrary sides and print totals to the channel so if for some reason you're playing over IRC you don't have to rely on any person to roll dice, this way everyone can see the roll. See here.
Sure, the fee is a pain, but I would like to stress how good a product PCGen is. I play 3 sessions a week, and although I only use PCGen for one of them (The others are an insanely complicated multi-prestige-class-class-altering-equipment-usin g monk/cleric/thing and another is essentially a crane samurai under the Rokugan d20 rules), the rest of my party in all 3 (and the DM sometimes) use it for quick, easy character generation, because it's fast, it's easy to level up your character, you have a nice backup in case your sheet turns into a dew towel and let's face it, some players are either too new to do this without some assistance (whether PCGen or another player) or just really, really suck at simple math.
That said, I would really like PCGen to stop paying full attention to just wizards. Yes, it's D&D, d20 is the 3E system and D&D is a very important game. But I think this is a VERY good opportunity to help some excellent companies (or at least one) who are REALLY in bad shape, and have been for a long time. I'm refering, of course, to Alderac Entertainment Group, publishers of two excellent games (L5R CCG and RPG) who started after wizards and really never stood a chance in hell of unseating them, and have been sitting around getting financially beaten up because no one will give their product a second look. It would be really, really nice if PCGen would branch out and try to include a game like L5R to help a great company (who at the moment have to pay their writers something like 2 cents per word. Well, at least the one I know) and help those of us who play either Oriental Adventures or Rokugan d20 in a conventional or L5R setting. For an extra few bucks, I think that would be a good deal for everyone involved.
Threewave CTF ? Team Fortress ?
I was introduced to AD&D about fifteen years ago and played/DM'ed heavily for a few years in college. What stuck, however, was mapping the game mechanics into whatever the programming language or technology I was learning. I think I've done something similar in Pascal, C, C++, VB, Java, data in XML, DOS, Windows, *nix, QT, and PocketPC platforms.
That said, my god how tunes change. I remember when TSR was trying to say they had a patent and/or copyright to the game mechanics and probability tables in alt.rec.adnd.utils (? been too long) The community slammed them hard, and much like slashdot's armchair lawyer'ing - the general consensus was they could get bent on the data charts. The copy for a fireball description was protected by copyright, but a method for calculating damage by rolling 1d6 for each level of the mage? No way! Well, with current one-click patent rulings, I'm sure it is...
If people play, they will buy the books. I've got one of the TSR 'Core Rules' CD - A character generator and all the core books in RTF and a few other formats. Even the cheapest of the bastards went off and purchased a PHB (or stole mine), rather printing the file and make a bootleg copy . I still prefer paper for gaming, but the RTF's were handy for coding.
The in-game helper software was not created or usable. Paper and dice diminished. I watched all the folks who had played AD&D get sucked in by Magic, then Everquest rather than buy the later 2nd Edition or 3rd Edition books. I'm sure this move will bolster homegrown efforts to embrace the OGL and D20 licenses and improve the product. The technical term for this is "Pissing in the wind"...
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
If you bought two copies of the Players Handbook, would it seem 'stingy' to be forced to pay twice?
Uh, that's a big no, actually. Game rules are not copyrightable. They can be patented, but as far as D&D goes, the time for that passed long ago. Any copyright that exists is only on the specific way the rules were written. Rewrite the book yourself, using different wording but preserving the same meaning, and you'd be ok. Certain terms may be trademarked, but they're easy enough to discover and work around.
This is why the d20 license thing has been absolutely mystifying me. The only thing in it that is in the least bit worthwhile is the ability to _say_ that it's a d20 system and use that mark... but so what? You can do that for free, as fair use (n.b. trademark fair use is NOT the same thing at all as copyright fair use) permits comparisons between actual branded products, as opposed to with a thinly disguised 'Brand X.'
So what precisely is the hold up?
(I will agree that anyone is less litigious than TSR was, but litigiousness doesn't equal being right; check out the frontispiece in the first "Phil and Dixie" book for a good joke along these lines.)
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Let's assume they did this. Let's also assume that they don't want the hassle of opening all those envelopes and looking at proof of purchase labels. (All that does cost some kind of labor in-house, or paying a rebate-type service company to do it for you.) So they charge you a $2 handling fee.
Is that any different than the small fee they are going to charge for the data files?
Look at it this way, it's just a convenience fee.
IANAL but it seems obvious to me that you can certainly make up your own datafiles from the books and use them for your own personal use.
If you can't or don't want to be bothered, you can always pony up the couple of bucks (they claim from 1 to 5 USD in the article) and pay to download the file.
Never confuse feeling with thinking.